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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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pop lead
Culture critic: 'Accidental Racist' song fails on every level
New song "Accidental Racist," by country singer Brad Paisley and hip hop artist LL Cool J, has been met with love and loathing. It set Twitter ablaze, a few people praised it, but most panned it in 140 characters or less.
"Part of the problem is one, it's bad musically ... the lyrics are also quite bad, and the themes are bad," said Christopher John Farley, senior editorial director of Wall Street Journal's "Speakeasy" culture blog. "So it's a total strikeout on almost every single aspect of a song that you would judge it by."
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world lead
House Intel. Chair: Thousands of al Qaeda now in Syria
House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers says Syria "is a disaster waiting to happen."
"The estimates now are thousands...[of] al Qaeda in a destabilized country," Rogers told CNN's Jake Tapper Tuesday.
Rogers said intelligence sources now believe the number of al Qaeda-affiliated soldiers, members of the al Nusra Front, fighting alongside Syrian rebel sources against Bashar al-Assad's government has swelled from hundreds to thousands. The congressman described a perfect storm of anti-American elements encircling the embattled capital of Damascus, adding he is "very" concerned al Nusra, Hezbollah, and even Hamas, could get their hands on chemical and conventional weapons stockpiles.
This news out of Syria comes amid ever-escalating tensions in North Korea.
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money lead
Government wants to tax Google's employee perks
The cushy life out in the expansive offices of Silicon Valley comes with lots of bonuses, not all of them cash.
"I love massages. I'm a spa queen," says one employee in a Google company video. "We have yoga. We have pilates," says another.
But there's no such thing as a free lunch. Big tech companies are in fierce competition to attract top talent, and publicize their perks all over the recruitment pages of their websites.
"The food here by the way is great," says yet another Google employee in that company promo. "There is any type of amazing cuisine, even better than some of the restaurants in New York."
As the April 15 tax deadline nears, the Wall Street Journal reports there is a debate loming about whether all those freebies should to be taxable.
The IRS has stringent guidelines on what employers can feed their employees. The test of whether those meals count as income is a matter of convenience. If you work on an oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, you cannot exactly run out for the burger. So the tax man says your company can feed you tax-free. But tech companies are often in places with plenty of restaurant options.
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national lead
Former Obama speechwriter: It took Sandy Hook to get people to act
Jon Favreau, former head speechwriter to President Obama, was a political wunderkind, a twenty-something wordsmith who wrote some of the most memorable speeches of arguably the most eloquent president since John F. Kennedy. Favreau left the White House in March.
Tuesday's mass knife stabbing at a Texas college has already become a Republican talking point - you don't need to have a gun to be a horrible person and wound a lot of people. Comments surfaced on Twitter and the Internet about knife control.
"The president's message from the very beginning is taking any steps we can to reduce violence anywhere it is, from any source. And that doesn't negate the need for commonsense gun safety measures that can stop someone who shouldn't have a weapon from purchasing one and causing real violence," said Favreau.
President Obama made an impassioned speech in Connecticut Monday, and then flew Newton families to Washington to lobby lawmakers.
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national lead
Rep. Mike Rogers weighs run for Senate
Democratic Sen. Carl Levin is retiring at the end of his term, freeing up a Senate seat in Rep. Mike Rogers's home state of Michigan. Rogers is contemplating a run.
"It's a tough decision," said Rogers. Rogers is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which he says comes with a huge responsibility, and important work that has an impact.
"I need to decide is it more impactful to stay and do that as chairman, or to kind of pull out of that and run for Senate," said Rogers.
Rogers added in the meantime, he is talking through the decision with his family. The Republican congressman said he will make a decision "in the near future."
Watch the show at 4pm for our interview with Rep. Mike Rogers on North Korea, and Syria.
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