“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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Gov. Chris Christie — Fightin' Words On the Jersey Shore [VIDEO]  —  GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE  —  FIGHTIN' WORDS  —  On the Jersey Shore  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  Things got downright HOSTILE on the Jersey Shore last night — with NJ Governor Chris Christie getting into a heated verbal altercation right …

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:

Turncoat Roberts  —  Chief justice's surprise ruling means limited government is dead  —  Yogi Berra said that when you come to a fork in the road, take it.  When supposed-conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. came to a judicial conservative-liberal fork in the road, he veered left.

The Escalating Campaign Against Anita Sarkeesian And The Long-Term Weakness of Sexist Trolls  —  I can't even bring myself to embed it here: some trogolodytes have created a game that lets players beat up Anita Sarkeesian, the feminist video blogger who's been subject to an unremitting campaign …

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?

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.

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 …

Natalie Wood Death Certificate Changed — Cause of Death Now “Undetermined”  —  Death Certificate Changed  —  “UNDETERMINED”  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  Natalie Wood's death certificate has been changed from “Accident” to “Undetermined” ... TMZ has learned.  —  Law enforcement sources tell TMZ …

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.

Workingman's Constitution  —  WORK and opportunity, poverty and dependency, material security and insecurity: for generations of reformers, the constitutional importance of these subjects was self-evident.  Laissez-faire government, unchecked corporate power and the deprivations and inequalities …

Life after Herman Cain  —  When I spoke out about our 13-year affair, my world crumbled.  Meanwhile his eccentric political career carries on  —  If I had one wish, how would I use it?  Would I wish I had never taken him up on his offers to fly me around the world?

The Worst Marriage in Georgetown  —  Dinners were served in the basement.  Ambassadors, generals with many stars, senior White House officials and closely read columnists — all would walk past the yellowing kitchen, which looked as if it hadn't been updated since the Ford administration …

IN OBAMA WE TRUST  —  For the first time in decades, The Advocate has a candidate it can endorse for president.  That candidate is Barack Obama.  —  Never has the substantial progress in equal rights and treatment of LGBT people been more at risk than in this presidential contest.

Texas: Ted Cruz Internal Poll Shows Lead Over David Dewhurst  —  Ted Cruz (above) led Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a recent internal poll.  (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)  —  Ted Cruz led Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst by 9 points in a recent internal poll conducted for the former Texas …