“Strike Another Match, Go Start Anew”  —  Cites the totality of this past ‘nightmarish’ month and a half's effect on his family  —  LIVONIA, MI - Today, U.S. Representative Thaddeus McCotter made the following statement:  —  “Today I have resigned from the office of United States Representative …

Akron restaurant owner dies hours after meeting Obama  —  The owner of an Akron restaurant where President Barack Obama stopped for breakfast this morning died, apparently of a heart attack, shortly after meeting him.  —  Josephine “Ann” Harris, 70, of Copley Township …

Federal Judge Richard Posner: The GOP Has Made Me Less Conservative  —  Judge Richard Posner, a conservative on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, has long been one of the nation's most respected and admired legal thinkers on the right.  But in an interview with NPR …

White House declares Afghanistan a ‘major non-NATO ally’  —  President Barack Obama officially designated Afghanistan a “major non-NATO ally” on Friday, putting the country on par with some of the United States' closest international partners.  —  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton …

Jordanian MP pulls a gun on his critic during live TV debate  —  After trading insults with activist, parliamentarian first throws a shoe and then points a gun at adversary.  Host tries to break up brawl.  No shots fired  —  A Jordanian member of parliament pulled a gun on a political activist during …

California Senate Narrowly Approves Rail Project  —  LOS ANGELES — Despite deepening doubts about the cost and feasibility of a $70 billion high-speed rail proposed to cross California, the State Senate on Friday narrowly approved legislation to spend $8 billion in federal and state money …

Mixed Message as Republicans Claim Health Law Cuts Medicare  —  WASHINGTON — For much of the past year, Republicans assailed President Obama for resisting the Medicare spending reductions they say are needed to both preserve health benefits for older Americans and avert a Greek-style debt crisis.

There's Battle Lines Being Drawn  —  This year's presidential election is shaping up as the starkest choice since 1980, a year with which 2012 has much in common.  (OK, 1984 was a stark contrast too, but with a foregone conclusion.)  The Obama administration tells voters that 8% unemployment and 15% underemployment is the new normal.

Some Health Care For All, but not Too Much  —  Tyler Cowen caught a lot of flak recently for saying something that is clearly correct.  A lot of the flak has come from people who have misunderstood the implications of what he wrote.  —  Here's the relevant passage: … Cowen is right.

Mollie Hemingway, Ed. : Just Imagine The Mess Obama Will Inherit If He's Reelected!  —  When the June jobs report came out, showing 80,000 net new jobs and the unemployment rate stuck at 8.2%, Washington Post wunderkind Ezra Klein sarcastically responded:

Simpler search  —  We're constantly working to make Twitter search the simplest way to discover what's happening in real time.  To that end, today we're introducing search autocomplete and ‘People you follow’ search results to twitter.com.  In addition to recent improvements like related query suggestions …

31% Give Obama Positive Marks on Handling Economic Issues  —  The economy has been the most important issue to voters for years, but ratings for the president's performance in that area are at their lowest level since last November.  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows …

LaHood: Golly, I envy the Chinese government  —  It's bad enough to have a columnist at one of America's most prominent newspapers regularly singing the praises of Chinese authoritarianism.  It's worse when high-ranking members of the American government do it.

Dutch lawmaker brings his crusade against Islam to conservative confab  —  Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders brought his crusade against the Islamic religion to Denver last weekend, warning an audience at the Western Conservative Summit that Europe and the United States are vulnerable …

So.  It Has Come To This.  —  The scene is a security screening station at Los Angeles International Airport, August 2012.  —  Screening Officer Jules: Greetings, prospective passengers!  Looking to travel through the public airways?  Now don't be distressed!  You know who we are?