D.C. is Getting a Duggar

TLC

Josh Duggar, the oldest of the 19 Duggar children, is leaving the family's home state of Arkansas and moving to D.C. for a job with the Family Research Council

By Abby Ohlheiser

Jun 5, 2013

Twitter's Jaded Reaction to the NSA's Phone Records Collection Program

huge Guardian scoop Wednesday evening revealed confirmation of an indiscriminate phone records collection program, encompassing the calls of every Verizon customer on a daily basis — that's millions of Americans' phone data. 

Comments | 3,893 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 5, 2013

No, Knives and Clubs and Bats Will Not Be Allowed on Airplanes After All

A bit of bad news for those of you hoping to play a few rounds and/or skin an animal while zipping between LGA and SFO. The TSA's plan to allow bats and small knives on flights — announced three months ago today — has been scrapped.

Comments | 216 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 5, 2013

Issa's Pet Issue Brings Down an IRS Obamacare Administrator

Darrell Issa, please come collect your scalp. It's a valuable one: The guy the IRS put in charge of implementing Obamacare has been placed on leave for taking improper gifts.

Comments | 1,514 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 5, 2013

Is the Immigration Deal Doomed? It's Not Just Rubio Anymore

Marco Rubio is threatening to vote against his own immigration reform bill, Utah Sen. Mike Lee says he "cannot support" the "nonsensical" bill, and now comes a report that bipartisan immigration talks in the House have failed. But here's the real problem.

Comments | 865 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 5, 2013

The Value of a New Media Shield Law Depends on Your Definition of 'Media'

Senator Lindsey Graham needs to know what a "journalist" is. No, really, he needs to know that. He needs to know who is a member of the media and what constitutes reporting if the federal government is to give them people protection under the law. It's  a question that has become only more complex.

Comments | 865 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Jun 5, 2013

The GOP's Acceptance of Susan Rice, in 5 Stages

This time, conservative leaders and critics are beginning to drop their defenses much more quickly — perhaps because there's no confirmation process for Rice's new position as national security adviser, and there's nothing much they can ultimately do about it. Here's a guide, still with plenty of anger but ultimately acceptance, to that transformation in the making.

Comments | 5,404 Views

By Connor Simpson

Jun 5, 2013

Joe Flacco or Joe Biden: Delaware, Who Ya Got?

The Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens arrived for their customary visit to the White House on Wednesday, only for President Obama set up a battle of the Joes, for the eternal affection of Delmarva and beyond.

Comments | 649 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 5, 2013

Virginia GOP Candidate E.W. Jackson Says Yoga Will Make Satan Possess You

The candidate for Virginia lieutenant governor has a lot of opinions — especially on gays, like that they are "ikky" — that have made him more famous than you might expect. On Wednesday, we learned that Jackson's book warns that yoga can put you at risk for satanic possession.

Comments | 29,327 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 5, 2013

Secret Report: Panetta Gave bin Laden Raid Details to 'Zero Dark Thirty' Makers

Government investigators have figured out the source of one particular leak of classified information to the media. But that leak probably won't be the subject of the seventh Obama administration leak prosecution. The leaker was the former Secretary of Defense; the leak recipient, the makers of Zero Dark Thirty.

Comments | 2,593 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 5, 2013

Obama's 'Defiant' Tapping of Susan Rice Says He Thinks He Won Benghazi Again

Republicans wanted a do-over on Benghazi. They got it, but with today's appointment of Rice as national security adviser, Obama is signaling that he thinks he won round two. Here's the tale of the tapping — and how the emails went mainstream, and then didn't.

Comments | 3,025 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 5, 2013

Americans Are Worried About All of the 'Scandals', Just Not the President

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Wednesday is one of the first to combine assessments of the current controversies with an historic look at voters' approval of the president. In that way, it's revelatory.

Comments | 1,296 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Jun 5, 2013

Jon Stewart Declares China the Winner of the Iraq War

On The Daily Show last night, Jon Stewart announced the prize for victor of the Iraq War, and the nominees were Iraq, the United States, and Daniel Day-Lewis. But the winner wasn't even nominated. It was China, for its oil.

Comments | 62,793 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Jun 5, 2013

Susan Rice to Replace Tom Donilon as National Security Adviser

In a big shake-up of the President's inner circle (and a big thumb in the eye of Senate Republicans) National Security Adviser Tom Donilon is resigning his post ... and it's going to Susan Rice.

Comments | 4,723 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

Jun 4, 2013

Michelle Obama Stares Down Heckler at a Fundraiser

Michelle Obama isn't quite as tolerant of hecklers as her husband is, if a late Tuesday confrontation is any indication.

Comments | 22,670 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

Jun 4, 2013

The Unconstitutional Abortion Bill That's Advancing Through the House

Republican Representative Trent Franks wanted this May to be the sequel to America's "Newtown moment" on gun control But instead of pushing for background checks, Frank is trying to pass a nationwide ban on abortions after 20 weeks.

Comments | 6,835 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 4, 2013

Rubio's Amendment to Kill Obamacare Is a Great Campaign Prop, at Least

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who everyone expects to run for president in 2016, has proposed a bill that would amend the Constitution of the United States to prevent the government from enacting Obamacare. It will never, ever happen.

Comments | 1,726 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 4, 2013

Obama's Trade Nominee Has a Romney-Style Love of Cayman Bank Accounts

Another Romneyesque figure has been spotted in President Obama's administration. Michael Froman, nominated to be the U.S. trade representative, has about $500,000 in a Cayman Islands account.

Comments

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 4, 2013

The Military's Power Play on Sexual Assault Is Old-Fashioned Progress

Military commanders made it very clear, in a Senate hearing on sexual assault in the armed forces on Tuesday, that they do not want a bunch of senators taking away their power to discipline their own troops. The question now is how much power they'll lose.

Comments | 2,571 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 4, 2013

Donald Rumsfeld 'Can't Tell' if Obama Wants the Terrorists to Win

Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under Bush, jokingly suggests in an interview that he "can't tell" if maybe President Obama now wants the terrorists to win the War on Terror. We assess how Obama can prove his loyalty.

Comments | 3,883 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 4, 2013

This 'New' $49 Million IRS Spending Report Is Pitch-Perfect for Darrell Issa

The expenses detailed in an Inspector General's report are embarrassing, including $50,000 for videos like that Star Trek parody. But in 2011, the president signed an executive order barring such excess. Which would be close to the end of the story if it weren't for the three politically-charged letters on the report's cover: I. R. S.

Comments | 216 Views

Gallup Explains How It Messed Up 2012 Presidential Polling

Nearly seven months after President Obama won reelection by a margin of 4 percentage points, the Gallup Organization, the world's best-known polling firm, identified in a new report four main reasons why their 2012 surveys badly understated Obama's support.

Comments | 2,371 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 4, 2013

House GOP Still Loves the Anti-IRS Show — 'Jackboot of Tyranny' and All

Representatives of a handful of organizations targeted by the IRS appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee today at Congress' fifth hearing on the scandal, offering more anecdotes and quotes than insight into the IRS' behavior. This is where the investigation is: If you've got an interpretation of how the IRS acted badly, the president's opponents are all ears.

Comments | 862 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 4, 2013

Chris Christie Sets Special Election to His Own 2013 Advantage — Not 2016

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has set the special election to replace Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died on Monday, for October. The primary will be in August. So we now have a little window into how Christie's making his calculations — and getting the love of New Jersey voters is pretty clearly his priority over the love of conservative presidential primary voters.

Comments | 4,959 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 4, 2013

Fox News Is Still Waiting for Woodward's 'Watergate' Stamp of Approval

Bob Woodward is perhaps the country's only official validator of political scandal. For months, Republicans and sympathetic parties in the media have been enticing Woodward to apply the stamp to Obama. So far, they've had no success.

Comments | 2,802 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 4, 2013

Did Boehner Spoil the GOP by Sparing the Rod?

While pundits wonder why President Obama won't impose his will on House Republicans, the  mystical manipulation mystery for GOP Congressional leaders is why they won't impose their will on House conservatives.

Comments | 1,724 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 4, 2013

Meet the Three Judges Who Could Bring the Senate to Its Knees

The White House Rose Garden is rarely a scene of insurrection. But the president used the setting this morning for phase one of a strategy that could end with Senate Democrats exercising the "nuclear option" to reset rules around the use of the filibuster. All by simply saying three names.

Comments | 31,038 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Jun 4, 2013

Jon Stewart Explains How John McCain Got Photobombed by Terrorists

The Daily Show returned from a week off last night, and Jon Stewart decided to tackle John McCain's trip to Syria, where the senator may have taken a picture with two men who may have kidnapped Shiite Muslims last year.

Comments | 4,095 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

Jun 3, 2013

Vaccine Exemptions Could Help Make Whooping Cough a Thing Again

The rising percentage of parents opting out of at least one mandatory vaccination could be a major factor in the recent increase in whooping cough cases, according to a study out today

Comments | 2,585 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

Jun 3, 2013

Jill Kelley is Suing the Government Over 'Violations of Privacy' in Petraeus Scandal

Jill Kelley, the Tampa "socialite" who inadvertently led the FBI to evidence of Paula Broadwell and David Petreaus's affair, is suing the FBI, the Department of Defense and other unnamed government officials because, she says, the agencies violated her privacy, as well as that of her husband.

Comments | 6,030 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 3, 2013

Millennials Don't Hate Big Government, but They Do Hate the GOP Economic Fix

The College National Republican Committee goes where the Republican National Committee wouldn't dare in its 2012 election autopsy — they admit that it's not just the party's positions on gay marriage and abortion that repel young voters. It's the economic policy, too.

Comments | 4,307 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 3, 2013

The Conservative Case Against Mental Health

President Obama gave a speech about bringing mental health "out of the shadows" on Monday, and because he is for it, that means somebody has to be against it.

Comments | 6,458 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 3, 2013

How Senator Lautenberg's Death Makes the Senate Even Less Functional

On the third-to-last day that Senator Frank Lautenberg ever voted in the Senate, he joined with 53 of his colleagues to support a compromise on new gun regulations. His vote wasn't enough. Now, Lautenberg's death makes the prospect of revisiting that issue — and a number of other Democratic priorities, including the filibuster and immigration reform — substantially trickier.

Comments | 21,295 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 3, 2013

Stat of the Day

299 Senators Have Died in Office

After the death of Frank Lautenberg, the United States Senate has now seen a remarkable 299 sitting senators die in office, according to data from the body's website — nearly enough to populate three senates of their own. On average, that's one death every nine months.

Comments | 4,089 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 3, 2013

Donald Trump Still Blames Romney for Failing to Use Trump's Superpowers

Trump says that even though he won the Republican primary for Mitt Romney, Romney didn't call him a single time. Trump thinks he could have won Florida for Romney, too, if Romney hadn't been too chicken. But that's fine, because Trump is considering another fake presidential campaign.

Comments | 3,214 Views

By Philip Bump

Jun 3, 2013

Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey Has Died

New Jersey's senior senator died early Wednesday morning at age 89 of viral pneumonia. Governor Chris Christie is likely to appoint a Republican to the seat.

Comments | 15,378 Views

By Lois Beckett, ProPublica

Jun 3, 2013

Now, You Can't Ban Guns at the Public Pool

In a decades-long campaign by the National Rifle Association and other groups to deny cities the power to regulate guns, even the smallest local rules are now coming under attack.

Comments | 4,304 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

Jun 2, 2013

How Steven Seagal Helped the GOP to Stop Worrying and Love Russia

A group of GOP congressmen, with Steven Seagal as tour guide, wrapped up a fact-finding trip to Russia, where they apparently failed to find any significant clues related to the Boston bombings. But the mission had a secondary effect.

Comments | 5,377 Views

By Connor Simpson

Jun 2, 2013

The Sunday Grind

Issa Says IRS Scrutiny Was Directed By Washington

Everyone was talking about Attorney General Eric Holder and the IRS scandal on this week's Sunday talk shows. Issa made the biggest statement with a transcript that might show direction for Tea Party scrutiny came from Washington while also calling Jay Carney a "paid liar." Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer says immigration reform will pass the Senate on July 4!

Comments | 3,010 Views

By Connor Simpson

Jun 2, 2013

This Is What Mitt Romney's White House Would Have Looked Like

If things had gone differently last November when President Obama soundly secured a second term over Republican nominee Mitt Romney, had Romney come away the victor, the White House would have received a massive Bain-ification day 1 makeover. 

Comments | 11,382 Views

By Sara Morrison

May 31, 2013

Prep Blog Intrigue in the North Carolina State House of Representatives

Meet Bryan R. Holloway. He represents North Carolina's 91st District in the state House of Representatives. He's also, if Ivy Style and Complex are to be believed, the author of a preppy clothing blog called Wasp 101.

Comments | 6,000 Views

By Philip Bump

May 31, 2013

Mini-CNN Reporter Survives Run-in with Giant Fake Asteroids

On Friday's edition of The Lead with Jake Tapper, Emmy-winning reporter Tom Foreman (also the guy with that hologram sheep) took the risk of Fantastic Voyage-style interactions with several dangerous asteroids. When we say Fantastic Voyage-style, by the way, we mean "predicated on corny special effects."

Comments | 2,357 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

May 31, 2013

Conservatives with Tax Problems Like to Blame Their Problems on IRS Targeting

Through a month of scandal, a growing number of people conveniently claimed that the IRS had audited them because they are conservative — and claimed as much without much more proof than that 1) the IRS had audited them and 2) they are conservative.

Comments | 1,071 Views

By Philip Bump

May 31, 2013

Bloomberg Takes a Strong Stand Against the 'Hoax' of Medical Marijuana

Michael Bloomberg revealed in a radio interview Friday that his understanding of how marijuana works could be considered as baffling as his administration's approach to marijuana-related crimes. Except that his weird justifications might explain the bad policies.

Comments | 4,714 Views

By Philip Bump

May 31, 2013

The McConnell Taper's Ill-Considered, Unrepetant Confession

Curtis Morrison, the guy behind the recording of a Mitch McConnell campaign strategy session, has confessed to the deed in a lengthy post at Salon. In summary: He has not learned any lesson.

Comments | 2,977 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

May 31, 2013

Bush & Romney Should Be the GOP's Top Leaders but They're Not Leaning In

The two men are absent by choice, and they say as much in new interviews out today. Lean-in pioneer Sheryl Sandberg would probably have some advice for these guys.

Comments | 4,272 Views

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App