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While Barack Obama’s win signals a new era of politics, it is one fraught with peril because so much is expected of the new president. He faces two wars, an economic system in crisis and an American public that has invested a great deal of faith in this one man to solve their problems.

A report released Tuesday shows that hate violence against the LGBT and HIV-affected communities rose 13 percent in the U.S. in 2010. # The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs report (.pdf), “Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Communities in the United States in 2010,” shows that: # 27 murders of LGBT and HIV-affected people were documented; the second-highest yearly total ever recorded; Among those reporting, transgender people and people of color faced the most severe hate violence; and Reports of violent crime increased 13 percent for all LGBT and HIV-affected people.

Here is David Axelrod (PDF), speaking with CBS’s Bob Shieffer this weekend: BOB SHIEFFER: Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse now we find that

The 12-member congressional super committee has been tasked with removing $1.5 trillion from the national budget, and the Center for Responsive Politics has taken notice of Washington’s revolving door and is crunching numbers in order to provide a more accurate picture of who might be influencing the committee members. As the New York Times reported , based on the Center’s data , more than 100 former staffers of the members have moved on to lobbying entities. In addition, currently about a dozen former lobbyists are now employed in key congressional positions that may be called upon to help with research and positions.

Several Romulus police officers, including the former police chief and his wife, were charged with using funds seized under the state’s drug asset forfeiture laws to for a wide range of illegal and illicit activities. The Detroit News reports : The former Romulus police chief, his wife and five Romulus officers were charged today with running a scheme in which drug forfeiture money was used to pay for prostitutes, marijuana and alcohol. The charges are the culmination of a nearly three-year investigation by Michigan State Police into what Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy called “a culture of corruption and greed at its core.” … Worthy said the former chief directed a team of detectives from the Romulus Police Department’s Special Investigation Unit that investigated alleged liquor violations, narcotics trafficking and prostitution at the Landing Strip bar in Romulus and Subi’s Place in Southgate from January 2010 until January 2011.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials will issue new documents for naturalized citizens beginning today to help prevent fraud. The agency has

Tea Party Nation, the group that sponsored the National Tea Party Convention and announced a clear stance against third parties, is helping the effort to

The Interior Department responded swiftly this morning to a report by its inspector general that said last-minute editing by the White House of a report on the

This ad, sponsored by Gov. Joe Manchin (D) in his suddenly tight Senate race in West Virginia, should most likely put to rest questions raised by his opponent,

Rahm Emanuel could face a serious challenge from Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), one of the most vocal supporters of comprehensive immigration reform in Congress,

Based on Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels’ call last summer for a truce on social issues, for some, it came as a surprise that he wasted no time

The Minnesota Family Council, the lead proponent of a ballot initiative that would add a ban on same-sex marriage to the Minnesota Constitution, removed information from its website on Tuesday that said gays and lesbians engage in pedophilia and bestiality . The Family Council’s president Tom Prichard recently said that he hoped for a “respectful debate.” Opponents of the anti-gay marriage amendment seized on Prichard’s statements and the information on the website on Tuesday called on the Family Council to remove it. “We are sorry to hear that the Minnesota Family Council is talking about pedophilia and bestiality when referring to our neighbors, friends, coworkers and family members.

A poll released this week by Bloomberg shows Texas Governor Rick Perry with a small lead (26-22) over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, with no other candidate preferred by even 10 percent of Republicans. Perry, though, is viewed favorably by only three in ten Americans while being viewed unfavorably by four in ten. Perry, at this point, trails Obama 49-40 among all voters, according to the poll.

WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- I don’t blog everything that Sarah Palin writes on Facebook, but her response to Vice President Joe Biden’s jab at her energy policy -- made

NASHVILLE -- Justin Elliot picked up on my observation that Joseph Basel was here at the National Tea Party Convention and wondered how Basel was allowed to

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) is now expected to name a replacement for late Sen. Robert Byrd (D) by 5 p.m. Friday. NBC News’ Kelly O’Donnell

President Barack Obama (Pic by The White House, via Flickr) A Twitter campaign launched by the ADAP Advocacy Association is calling on President Obama to end the AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting lists. Brandon Macsata, CEO of the ADAP Advocacy Association, tells The Florida Independent that his organization “asked people to start at 7 a.m. today and continue through 7 p.m. tonight and to target the campaign toward President Obama and ask him to step up and begin to lead on this crisis.” “We feel that to this point he’s been pretty quiet,” Macsata says, “and when we’re approaching 10,000 people on the waiting list for the medication we know will keep them healthy productive members of their communities, it’s just unacceptable.” The AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (known as ADAP) provide medications for the treatment of HIV and AIDS for people who cannot afford to pay because they are unemployed, uninsured or underinsured.

More evidence that it pays to be a boring, hard-right candidate in an election season that contains Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell and Ken Buck, courtesy of

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle this morning denied the government’s attempt to further delay the hearing of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mohammed Jawad and, as