Paul Ryan Responds To David Brooks: We Won't Cut Tax Loopholes To Reduce Deficit, Only To Finance More Tax Cuts  —  As the August debt ceiling deadline looms and Republicans continue refusing to consider revenue increases, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks excoriated the GOP for its intransigence.

White Supremacist Stampede  —  A startling number of white-power candidates are seeking public office.  Eve Conant reports on their under-the-radar strategy and David Duke's White House flirtation.  —  Add to the growing list of candidates considering a bid for the GOP presidential nomination …

Romney Holds Sizable Lead In Poll; Bachmann Jumps To 2nd  —  Romney Still Leads In Hypothetical Race With Obama  —  DURHAM, N.H. — Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney continues to lead a field of Republican presidential candidates, according to the latest WMUR Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

Casey Anthony Found Not Guilty of Killing 2-Year-Old Daughter  —  BREAKING: A Florida jury has acquitted Casey Anthony of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.  —  Anthony, 25, wept after the clerk read the verdict, which jurors reached after less than 11 hours of deliberation over two days.

No Deal Yet: President Rejects Short-Term Debt Fix  —  President Obama made an unscheduled appearance today before reporters to say that some progress has been made in the deeply divided negotiations over the nation's debt ceiling, and “greater progress is in sight.”

Newt Gingrich raises $2M, reveals significant debt  —  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will report raising approximately $2 million in the second fundraising quarter of the year and ending the month of June with $225,000 in the bank, POLITICO has learned.

For Film Graduates, an Altered Job Picture  —  LOS ANGELES — One after another, touring groups of prospective students and their parents stopped late last month to pose for pictures around a bronze Douglas Fairbanks, who wields his sword in a courtyard fountain here at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.

Why Gallup's Analysis of Jewish Voters is Dishonest  —  There it was in bold Gallup-type headlines. … The problem with the headline is that it is Dishonest.  —  Assuming the overall Jewish American approval numbers are correct, they gave President Barack Obama a 60% job approval rating in June …

Post-Traumatic Stress Cure: Writer Stages Her Own Rape  —  Mac McClelland, a civil rights reporter who has seen the impact of sexual violence around the globe, couldn't shake the image of Sybille, a woman who said she had been raped at gunpoint and mutilated in the aftermath of Haiti's catastrophic 2010 earthquake.

Madison 360: Baldwin likely to forgo safety for her dream of Senate seat  —  She really wants to do it.  —  That's the precise phrase I've heard for weeks from elected officials, political professionals and supporters who know her.  —  While the words are consistent …

Strauss-Kahn Accuser Files Libel Suit Against N.Y. Post  —  The hotel maid in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case filed a libel suit against The New York Post on Tuesday over a series of articles it published during the Fourth of July weekend claiming that she was a prostitute.

Paul Ryan is in total denial  —  If Paul Ryan really believes what he said about his Medicare plan in this interview with a local Wisconsin TV station, then he is in total denial about how unpopular his proposal really is — and how much of a jam it created for his fellow Republicans:

Inside the Disappointing Comeback  —  Two years ago, officials said, the worst recession since the Great Depression ended.  The stumbling recovery has also proven to be the worst since the economic disaster of the 1930s.  —  Across a wide range of measures—employment growth, unemployment levels …

Ohio GOP Weakens Election Law By Allowing Poll Workers To Refuse To Inform Voters Where They Can Vote  —  Last week, the GOP-led House passed an election law overhaul without the highly restrictive voter ID provision.  However, the House tweaked the bill to weaken a law mandating poll workers …

Drunk Puppy Buying Banned by West Village Pet Stores  —  Drunk puppy buying customers are a challenge for Greenwich Village pet stores surrounded by bars and clubs.  —  DNAinfo Reporter/Producer  —  WEST VILLAGE — You've heard of drunk dialing and drunk Facebooking, but drunk puppy buying?

Global warming lull down to China's coal growth  —  Solar power is coming to China - but coal-burning grew amazingly quickly a few years back  —  The lull in global warming from 1998 to 2008 was mainly caused by a sharp rise in China's coal use, a study suggests.

Families of 7/7 victims ‘were targets of phone hacking’  —  New revelation deepens crisis at News of the World after it emerges that officers will review child murder cases  —  The phone-hacking crisis enveloping the News of the World intensified on Tuesday night after it emerged …

Perry Breaks With a Fellow Texan: Bush  —  AUSTIN, Tex. — Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican contemplating a presidential run, shares many attributes with the last man who ran for president from here, his predecessor and onetime patron, George W. Bush.  He has the same straight-legged Texas swagger …

Invoke the 14th — and end the debt standoff  —  On its current course, the United States is four weeks away from defaulting on its debt for the first time in its history.  If that happens, businesses will fail.  Financial institutions will fail.  Home values will decline.  Mortgage rates will skyrocket.

Obama Campaign Rejects Claim Biden May Be Replaced by Cuomo on 2012 Ticket  —  Vice President Joe Biden is on the 2012 re-election ticket, President Obama's aides said Tuesday after a report that the campaign was looking to replace him with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Latinos Join the Electoral Land Grab  —  Hispanics Fight for More Representation Based on Booming Population  —  Texas state Sens. Jose Rodriguez, left, and Steve Ogden with a district map during a debate last month.  —  Emboldened by their booming population, Hispanics are pushing …

The Shame of the Cities and the Shade of LBJ  —  President Lyndon Johnson and the “best and the brightest” who staffed his administration led this country into three quagmires.  By far the most famous, but perhaps not the most expensive and dangerous resulted from LBJ's escalation of the Vietnam War.

The riddle of the missing US ambassador as London toasts Ronald Reagan centenary  —  It was one of the most glittering events of the year, attracting some of the greatest names in American and British politics.  —  But as the British roasted lamb and the sunny Californian chardonnay were cleared away …