The report, from the liberal Institute for Policy Studies, finds that between 2009 and 2011, top executives at the 90 publicly held corporate members of the Fix the Debt coalition raked in at least $953 million -- and as much as $1.6 billion -- through the “performance pay” loophole, which counts some executive compensation as a tax-deductible business expense, instead of a salary. Fix the Debt, founded by Alan  Simpson and Erskine Bowles, is one of the many groups tied to Wall Streeter cum policy entrepreneur Pete Peterson, who has spent the last 20 years trying to reduce the debt, in large part through cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare. The group has attracted some of the largest corporations in the country as sponsors, as well as former lawmakers, giving it serious clout in Washington.

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“This is very serious," said Craig Holman, a government ethics lobbyist at liberal-leaning watchdog group Public Citizen. "It’s not Watergate, or at least not yet, but these are a series of allegations that are each serious on their own, and when you put them all together, this could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann."

Ken Boehm, chairman of the conservative-leaning National Legal and Policy Center, told Salon that we should wait to see what investigators find -- indeed, no wrongdoing has been reported so far -- though he acknowledged the escalating scrutiny could be a major headache for the congresswoman down the line.

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And make no mistake, it is a business. That’s not to say that Jones isn’t a believer -- there are easier ways to make money -- but Jones has built a multi-platform new media empire in his Austin, Texas, Free Speech Systems LLC that reaches millions of believers and promises advertisers that it will “direct lucrative buyers to you from our daily audience of active enthusiasts.” And all told, Jones is very likely raking in millions.

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The bilingual first-generation former Navy SEAL is a Harvard Business School graduate with a successful business career, some moderate political stances, and a penchant for running marathons. He crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon just a few minutes before the bombs went off last month. While stationed in South America in the early 1990s he met his furutre-wife, who was working in the Peace Corps at a school for students with special needs. “I’m exactly what the American dream is all about,” Gomez said in an April GOP debate against two other Republican challengers.

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Conan O'Brien made this mistake while emceeing the White House Correspondents Dinner. "You know, I was worried with the sequester that we would be forced to hold this event at less prestigious hotel than the D.C. Hilton -- then I was told that's not possible," O'Brien said in a riff mocking the aging mid-century modern hotel in Washington's Dupont Circle.

Allen was not pleased. The scribe whose odd obsession with "influence" and Washington power inspired a legendary Mark Leibovich profile cried in Playbook Monday, "Conan O’Brien hurt his buzz" by making "four baseless, elitist cracks about the Hilton, acting as if it were a Motel 5." Allen returned to the subject in today's Playbook, adding that on top of Conan's "bizarre, elitist attack on his hosts at the Washington Hilton," the comedian also eschewed the free room provided by the hotel to instead stay at the Four Seasons.

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So, is this week making you feel a bit nostalgic for the Bush era? Don't. It's been almost half a decade since the 43rd president left office, and he's looking as bad as ever. Of course, that won't stop a small circle of admirers (many of whom used to be on his payroll) from trying, so here's your guide to taking on the five biggest specious pro-Bush talking points put forward this week:

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You thought the conservative broadcaster had been banished to the Siberia that is the Internet since he left Fox News in June of 2011, but thanks to some signature conspiracy theorizing in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, Beck is back, baby. Just look at this Google Trends chart for searches of his name beginning the month after he left Fox:

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"I think most Americans would be surprised to find out that it is legal to discriminate against the GLBT community, and to do so in employment, which is fundamental to the opportunity for the pursuit of happiness and for equality under the law and general fairness," the Oregon Democrat said in an interview.

Indeed, though it's almost hard to believe, with no federal statute on the books, it's perfectly legal to fire someone for being gay in 29 states that don't have their own non-discrimination laws. In 34 states, you can fire transgender people.

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It's not particularly surprising that Tsarnaev would be drawn to a wide range of conspiracy theories, as research shows that people prone to believing one conspiracy theory will likely believe many -- even if they're completely contradictory. And he fits a profile of a type of person likely to be drawn to conspiratorial thinking, considering he was allegedly alienated from and disgruntled with society.

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Now, almost a week after the Tsarnaev brothers fought a rolling street battle with dozens of heavily armed police officers, we learned Wednesday night that they had only a single handgun, according to sources who spoke with ABC News and the AP, something that directly contradicts what officials had previously said.

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Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, a cognitive scientist at the University of Western Australia, published a paper late last month in the journal Psychological Science that has received widespread praise for looking at the thinking behind conspiracy theories about science and climate change. We asked him to explain the psychology of conspiracy theories. This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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“There's just too many things going on that, to me, doesn't make any sense,” Tremblay told the local Fosters' Daily Democrat, explaining other parts of a theory that is all too familiar a little over a week after the bombings.

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Tamerlan "took an interest in Infowars," according to Elmirza Khozhugov, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister. He was also apparently interested in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and was trying to find a copy of "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," one of the most notorious conspiracy tomes of history.

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“I think we really have to consider, given the fact so many people hate us, that we're going to have to cut off Muslim students coming to this country for some period of time so that we can absorb what we've got and look at what we've got and decide whether some of the people here should be going, be sent home or sent to prison."

Later, Beckel took a moment to clarify and backpedal a bit "before I get complaints." Instead, he added Chinese students to the list of personas non grata, because, he said, they will just end up hacking us:

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Walden's move was understandable, though. He's in a bit of a predicament: On one hand, Republicans want to reform (i.e., cut) entitlement programs, but on the other, Walden needs to get Republicans elected to Congress and the public hates the idea of cutting Social Security. What's an NRCC chairman to do? Go with the poll numbers, and forget your party, apparently.

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Here's Taranto parsing the forensics of her column-writing abilities on an NRA radio show Friday, caught by Media Matters' Timothy Johnson yesterday:

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The senator, a lawyer and reserve Air Force JAG officer himself, called for stripping Tsarnaev of his constitutional rights to due process even before the 19-year-old was captured Friday evening. "The accused perpetrators of these acts were not common criminals attempting to profit from a criminal enterprise," Graham said on Twitter on Friday. "Under the Law of War we can hold #Boston suspect as a potential enemy combatant not entitled to Miranda warnings or appointment of counsel."

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“Congresswoman Bachmann knew of and approved this arrangement,” Parrish said in his affidavit. “She, like the rest of us, understood from Senator Sorenson that it did not run afoul of any Iowa Senate ethics rules. We relied on his representations in this regard.”

Ironically, when Sorenson switched his allegiance to Rep. Ron Paul, Bachmann accused Paul of improperly paying the senator. As it turns out, Paul did not pay him, but Bachmann did. Sorenson has strongly denied any wrongdoing, as has Bachmann, through her lawyer.

Bachmann has faced mounting ethics issues in the past week, though none appear fatal at the moment.

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But police in the state tell Reuters and the AP that neither brother had the permits required to carry a firearm in Massachusetts, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.

This isn't particularly surprising, since both brothers may have had trouble buying a gun from a federally licensed firearms dealer. Younger brother Dzhokhar is 19, but federal law prohibits dealers from selling handguns to someone under the age of 21. Older brother Tamerlan was arrested for domestic violence in 2009 and if he was convicted (reports conflict at the moment), he would be prohibited from purchasing any kind of firearm from a dealer.

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And while they may have been happy to do come in despite the potential danger, eager to play whatever small part they could in the manhunt for someone who terrorized Boston, labor leaders say the case highlights how the bombing and its aftermath has affected workers in the Boston area this week.

"Most low wage workers can't afford to lose a day's pay, and there's no doubt this lockdown will adversely impact the city's working poor," said Jessica Kutch, a labor activist who co-founded the organizing site coworker.org, in an email to Salon. "I'd really like to see employers state on the record that their hourly workers will be paid for the time they were scheduled to work today -- but I suspect that most employers will place the burden of this shutdown squarely on the backs of people who can least afford it."

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