Boehner warns House GOP will be weaker without immigration reform  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) urged their House Republican colleagues to pass immigration reform legislation in a closed-door meeting Wednesday, with the Speaker arguing that the party would be …

Billionaire Koch Brother Says Eliminating The Minimum Wage Will Help The Poor  —  A conservative mogul worth $43 billion says he knows the secret to helping poor people.  According to Charles Koch, the U.S. needs to get rid of the minimum wage, which he counts as a major obstacle to economic growth.

Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch Detail Role of Justice Department in Organizing Trayvon Martin Protests … Document: DOJ Community Relations Service was deployed to Sanford, FL, “to provide technical assistance for the preparation of possible marches and rallies related to the fatal shooting …

House blocks enforcement of light bulb standards  —  The House on Wednesday voted to block the enforcement of light bulb standards that many say would effectively force people to buy more expensive compact fluorescent bulbs.  —  Just like last year, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) …

‘Free Jahar’ Chant As Boston Bombing Suspect Heads To Court  —  BOSTON (CBS/AP) - A small group of demonstrators showed up at Moakley Federal Courthouse in South Boston on Wednesday to show support for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.  —  Tsarnaev appeared in court for his first public hearing.

Egypt's preferable tyranny  —  Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi knows neither Thomas Jefferson's advice that “great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities” nor the description of Martin Van Buren as a politician who “rowed to his object with muffled oars.”

Spitzer Leads Stringer in Comptroller Race: Poll  —  Former Governor Who Resigned After Scandal Is Frontrunner  —  Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer leads Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer by nine percentage points in the race for New York City comptroller, according to a Wall Street Journal-NBC 4 New York-Marist poll.

Adam Kokesh charged with possessing hallucinogenic mushrooms  —  Police searched the Northern Virginia home of activist Adam Kokesh Tuesday evening and took him into custody on a charge of being in possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms while also having a gun, authorities said.

The NSA slide you haven't seen  —  Recent debate over U.S. government surveillance has focused on the information that American technology companies secretly provide to the National Security Agency.  But that is only one of the ways the NSA eavesdrops on international communications.

HISTORIC: Senate panel advances trans-inclusive ENDA  —  A Senate committee made history on Wednesday by approving for the first time a trans-inclusive version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and picking up key Republican support from Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Wage deflation charts of the day  —  NELP, the National Employment Law Project, has taken a detailed look at what happened to wages during the recovery — specifically, between 2009 and 2012.  They looked at the annual Occupational and Employment Statistics for three years — 2007 …

Begich: Is Palin even a resident?  —  Sarah Palin “quit on Alaska” as governor and “ has lost touch” with her home state, Mark Begich told POLITICO.  —  The Democratic senator said Palin, who said Tuesday she's considering challenging him for his seat in 2014, might not even be a resident …

The Decline of Black Power in the South  —  To understand the depth of the damage that the Supreme Court's June 25 decision, Shelby County v. Holder, has inflicted on the voting rights of African-Americans, you have to measure it against the backdrop of the takeover of state legislatures, primarily in the South, by the Republican Party.

Lois Lerner in 2011: Receiving a Thick Questionnaire from the IRS Is a “Behavior Changer”  —  A reader sends a very interesting tidbit buried in a November 17, 2011 Businessweek.com article about the IRS and not-for-profit universities.  The article is about the IRS making inquiries into …

Walmart Threatens To Shut Down Stores If DC Passes Living Wage Bill  —  Walmart fought hard to persuade DC residents to let it open stores in the district.  But now the retail giant is threatening to walk away from three planned sites if the DC City Council passes a “living wage” …

Senate Dems heading back to the drawing board on student loans  —  Senators working on a fix for higher interest rates on student loans are headed back to the drawing board after Democrats failed Wednesday to advance their preferred plan to curb the increase.

Branstad, Braley lead in Iowa  —  PPP's newest Iowa poll finds that Republican recruiting failures in the US Senate race have given Bruce Braley a substantial early advantage.  He leads by margins ranging from 9 to 13 points against the potential GOP candidates.

Snowden: I never gave any information to Chinese or Russian governments l Glenn Greenwald  —  As a new poll shows widespread American approval for him, the NSA whistleblower vehemently denies media claims  —  NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, in an interview on Saturday and then again Tuesday afternoon …

Fed Affirms Easy-Money Tilt  —  Bernanke Says Retreat From Bond Buying Separate From Decision on Raising Rates  —  By - VICTORIA MCGRANE and - JON HILSENRATH -  —  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sought to reassure jittery markets that while the central bank could start winding …

The Cost of Compromise  —  In his 2011 memoir, “Five Chiefs,” the retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens offered a mildly eyebrow-raising reflection on Brown v. Board of Education.  The landmark school desegregation decision is celebrated not only for its outcome but also for the unanimity …