Pat Dollard

Huffington Post” Now that Michele Bachmann is out on the stump and breaking upwards in most polls, it seems to be time to start putting her personal life through the media churn. So far, the result is mostly a litany of things you already knew, or could surmise, from her rather plainspoken Christian conservative beliefs. [...]

Washington Post: This Fourth of July weekend, some of the CIA’s dedicated counterterrorism officials will be celebrating more than our nation’s freedom from oppression — they will be celebrating their own. On Thursday, after a grueling two-year investigation, the Justice Department announced that a special prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder found no criminal [...]

Chron.com: WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has warned domestic and international airlines that some terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into humans to carry out attacks, the Associated Press has learned. There is no intelligence pointing to a specific plot, but the U.S. shared its concerns last week with executives at domestic and international carriers. [...]

FoxNews: The Justice Department is obstructing the congressional investigation of a U.S. law enforcement operation intended to crack down on major weapons traffickers on the Southwest border, according to the embattled leader of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Ken Melson, the acting director of the ATF, lobbed the accusation when he sneaked [...]

CNN: The Obama administration has reversed a White House policy of not sending condolence letters to the next-of-kin of service members who commit suicide, a senior administration official confirmed in a statement to CNN. The move comes nearly six weeks after a group of senators — 10 Democrats and one Republican — asked President Barack [...]

The Hill: Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Wednesday slammed President Obama’s decision to transport a suspected Somali terrorist to New York for trial in a civilian court. “It’s astonishing that this Administration is determined to give foreign fighters all the rights and privileges of U.S. citizens regardless of where they are captured,” McConnell [...]

CBSNews: In the latest White House social media foray, Twitter will enter the East Room. President Obama will respond to “tweets,” questions from Twitter followers across the country. The White House hoped the event would focus on jobs and the economy. Officials said Twitter would choose the questions based partly on how often they were [...]

Politico: Mitt Romney has spent the past few months shoring up his position as the Republican presidential front-runner, and the news today that he raised $18.25 million helps confirm that he’s still the man to beat. In the time since Romney formed a presidential exploratory committee, however, there have also been a number of signs [...]

AJC.com: WASHINGTON — A top House Republican Wednesday signaled new flexibility on White House demands to close wasteful or ineffective tax loopholes as a way to bridge differences with President Barack Obama and Capitol Hill Democrats in talks on a plan to reduce the deficit and pave the way to increase the government’s borrowing authority. [...]

Chicago Tribune: The Chicago City Council today voted to legalize firing ranges inside city limits as Mayor Rahm Emanuel tries to head off a federal court decision that could force the city to welcome them. The vote came without discussion or dissent today. The practice shooting venues could be built only in areas of Chicago [...]

The Hindu: Families of the victims of the July 2005 London bombings may have had their phones hacked in search of stories by an investigator working for News of the World (NoW), it was reported on Wednesday as the phone-hacking scandal surrounding the newspaper deepened with Prime Minister David Cameron promising an independent inquiry. One [...]