Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security chief, to head UC  —  U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is being named the next president of the 10-campus UC system.  (Alex Wong / Getty Images / July 18, 2012)  —  Janet Napolitano, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona …

Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport  —  Edward Joseph Snowden delivered a statement to human rights organizations and individuals at Sheremetyevo airport at 5pm Moscow time today, Friday 12th July.  The meeting lasted 45 minutes.

Oh, snap!  The GOP misfires on food stamps.  —  There was a rare moment of candor on the House floor this week.  —  Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), a committee chairman and the man who led House Republicans to their majority in 2010, was explaining why he and his colleagues decided to drop the food stamp program from the farm bill.

Obama's Alinskyite Administration  —  Judicial Watch, a conservative legal foundation, has used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover documents that show Eric Holder's Justice Department used a “community relations” unit to support and stage-manage public protests in Florida …

Pass the Bill!  —  It's beginning to look as though we're not going to get an immigration reform law this year.  House Republicans are moving in a direction that will probably be unacceptable to the Senate majority and the White House.  Conservative commentators like my friends Bill Kristol …

Bob McDonnell's stunning fall from grace  —  In 2010, the political world pegged Bob McDonnell as a president in the making.  Last year, they put him on every VP list.  As recently as May, they called the popular Virginia governor a political model for his would-be successors in Richmond, Democrat and Republican alike.

Another IRS Scandal Waiting to Happen  —  Federal Elections Commissioner Donald McGahn wants to rein in the bureaucracy of this sensitive agency.  The political left is furious.  —  The Obama administration claims it wants to ensure that the rank political abuse perpetrated by the Internal Revenue Service is never repeated.

Coming to Do Good, Staying to Do Well  —  For 20 years, since the weekend of Bill Clinton's first inauguration, I have rented against all financial prudence an apartment in Washington, D.C. even though I really live in Manhattan.  So, at least in a real-estate sense, I can rightfully claim …

New front opens in Syria as rebels say al Qaeda attack means war  —  (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Friday the assassination of one of their top commanders by al Qaeda-linked militants was tantamount to a declaration of war, opening a new front for the Western-backed fighters struggling against President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Delusions of Populism  —  Have you heard about “libertarian populism” yet?  If not, you will.  It will surely be touted all over the airwaves and the opinion pages by the same kind of people who assured you, a few years ago, that Representative Paul Ryan was the very model of a Serious, Honest Conservative.

Who wins in a Clinton-Christie 2016 showdown?  —  Washington (CNN) - Call it a very early look at what could possibly happen in November 2016.  —  According to a new national poll, Hillary Clinton would top New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky in hypothetical presidential election showdowns.

Could “North Colorado” be America's 51st state?  —  PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO  —  There's a growing effort to create a 51st state out of parts of northeast Colorado and southwestern Nebraska.  —  Ten counties started talking about seceding last month.  Now some people in Lincoln and Cheyenne counties …

Modest Debut of Atlas May Foreshadow Age of ‘Robo Sapiens’  —  WALTHAM, Mass. — Moving its hands as if it were dealing cards and walking with a bit of a swagger, a Pentagon-financed humanoid robot named Atlas made its first public appearance on Thursday.  —  C3PO it's not.