Economy lost 125,000 jobs and 652,000 workers in June  —  A brutal unemployment report this month.  Payrolls dropped by 125,000.  In another one of those unwanted lessons in how we calculate unemployment data, the unemployment rate dropped from 9.7 percent to 9.5 percent — but not because people got hired.

What is the Tea Party?  A growing state of mind  —  WASHINGTON — The “Tea Party” is less a classic political movement than a frustrated state of mind.  —  A year and a half after the idea of a Tea Party burst into view, three of 10 Americans describe themselves in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll …

Myths of Austerity  —  When I was young and naïve, I believed that important people took positions based on careful consideration of the options.  Now I know better.  Much of what Serious People believe rests on prejudices, not analysis.  And these prejudices are subject to fads and fashions.

Barack Obama is among best presidents ever - George W. Bush not so much, say scholars in Siena poll  —  George W. Bush was no FDR, but Barack Obama could be.  —  That's the verdict of 238 of the nation's leading presidential scholars, who - for a fifth time - rated Franklin Delano Roosevelt …

Factory Jobs Return, but Employers Find Skills Shortage  —  BEDFORD, Ohio — Factory owners have been adding jobs slowly but steadily since the beginning of the year, giving a lift to the fragile economic recovery.  And because they laid off so many workers — more than two million since the end of 2007 …

Top House Republicans quick to criticize Obama over jobs report  —  House Minority Leader John Boehner issued a statement following the release of Friday's job report.  —  Washington (CNN) - The top two Republicans in the House were quick to respond Friday to the June jobs report.

Weak private hiring shows tepid recovery  —  (Reuters) - Private payrolls rose only modestly in June and overall employment fell for the first time this year as thousands of temporary census jobs ended, showing the economic recovery failing to gain traction.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Mel Gibson's Racist Rant Caught On Tape - Tells Oksana She Would Get ‘Raped By N***ers’  —  In one of the most explosive, racist and vile outbursts by a celebrity ever caught on tape, Mel Gibson told the mother of his love child that the way she was dressed would get her …

The Polarization of the Supreme Court  —  The Supreme Court has gradually come to act more like a political institution.  The share of one-vote majority rulings has risen more than four-fold in the past six decades, compared to the half-century prior, based on a RealClearPolitics analysis of rulings from 1801 to the present.

Hurricane GOP On The Way  —  MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT: THERE IS A WAVE OUT THERE, AND FOR DEMOCRATS, THE HOUSE IS, AT BEST, TEETERING ON THE EDGE.  —  Imagine sitting in Washington's Verizon Center, listening blissfully to Carole King and James Taylor, thanks to a fast-thinking friend who managed to score four floor seats.

Democrats shaping battle plan against Republicans for November  —  Architects of President Obama's 2008 victory are braced for potentially sizable Democratic losses in November's midterm elections.  But they say voters' unease about a GOP takeover will help their party maintain congressional majorities.

Death by stoning imminent for Iranian woman, attorney says  —  (CNN) — Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, a mother of two, is waiting to die in Iran by a method of execution described by her lawyer as “barbaric” — stoning.  —  She will be buried up to her chest, deeper than a man would be …

Obama to announce broadband grants to spur jobs  —  (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is slated to announce on Friday nearly $800 million in loans and grants for the build-out of broadband networks to reach homes, schools and hospitals.  —  The grants and loans, which will be matched …

Schwarzenegger orders minimum wage for state workers  —  The Schwarzenegger administration today ordered State Controller John Chiang to reduce state worker pay for July to the federal minimum allowed by law — $7.25 an hour for most state workers.  —  The instructions from the Department …

Steele Says We Shouldn't Be In Afghanistan; Calls It Obama's War Of Choice  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele may be misremembering exactly how and when the Afghanistan war began.  —  At a Republican Party fundraiser in Connecticut on Thursday, Steele declared …

Economic rebound may be losing ground, data show  —  Home and car sales fall.  Manufacturing may be losing steam.  But most experts don't see a double dip looming.  —  The construction sector remains weak.  Spending on building fell 0.2% in May from April.

21 killed in shootout between drug, migrant trafficking gangs near Arizona border  —  HERMOSILLO, Mexico (AP) — A massive gun battle between rival drug and migrant trafficking gangs near the U.S. border Thursday left 21 people dead and at least six others wounded, prosecutors said.

Health law risks turning away sick  —  The Obama administration has not ruled out turning sick people away from an insurance program created by the new healthcare law to provide coverage for the uninsured.  —  Critics of the $5 billion high-risk pool program insist it will run out of money before Jan. 1, 2014.

Va. begins courtroom assault on federal health-care overhaul  —  RICHMOND — The legal challenge to the nation's new health-care law was launched Thursday in a courtroom in Richmond, where the office of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II argued that the measure is an unprecedented overreach …