pressure cookers, backpacks and quinoa, oh my!  —  It was a confluence of magnificent proportions that led six agents from the joint terrorism task force to knock on my door Wednesday morning.  Little did we know our seemingly innocent, if curious to a fault, Googling of certain things …

Exclusive: Dozens of CIA operatives on the ground during Benghazi attack  —  CNN has uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA, in the wake of the deadly  —  Benghazi terror attack.  —  Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens …

Statement on Snowden's Successful Russian Asylum Bid  —  Today, Thursday 1st August at 15:50 MSK, Edward Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia.  He left Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow with WikiLeaks staffer and legal advisor Sarah Harrison who has accompanied him during his 39 …

Poll: Kentucky Voters Want McConnell Out  —  New poll numbers released Thursday suggested that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is entering his reelection campaign next year facing two perilous obstacles: an electorate that wants him out of office and a viable Democratic challenger.

Free Press editor Drew Johnson has been terminated after placing a headline on an editorial outside of normal editing procedures.  —  Johnson's headline, “Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough,” appeared on the Free Press page Tuesday …

GOP's Long-Predicted Comeuppance Has Arrived  —  Republicans have dealt with some embarrassing moments on the House floor over the past year, but none so revealing or damning as today's snafu, when they yanked a bill to fund the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

Ohio: Health premiums to soar  —  The fight over Obamacare premiums has a new home base: Ohio.  —  Customers in the key swing state can expect to pay 41 percent more on average for individual health insurance coverage next year because of Obamacare, according to projections released …

Hacker Forces Colin Powell To Deny Affair  —  Ex-Secretary of State told foreign diplomat to delete her e-mails  —  As a notorious hacker seeks to distribute “very personal” e-mails sent to Colin Powell by a female Romanian diplomat, the retired general is denying that he engaged …

Russian Sports Minister Says Anti-LGBT Law Will Be Enforced During Olympics  —  “The opinion of the Russian government is now perfectly clear: if you're gay and you come to Russia for the Olympics, you will be in harm's way,” an advocate says.  The sports minister's comments contradict …

Why Rand Paul and Chris Christie went to war  —  Well, that was a splendid little war.  —  Over the last week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul took the GOP's intra-party bickering to a new level, openly savaging each other on issues of national security, privacy and government spending.

Armed agents raid animal shelter for baby deer  —  WISN 12 News investigates an operation raising questions about the use of government resources and the state policy that meant a death sentence for a fawn.  —  “It was like a SWAT team,” shelter employee Ray Schulze said.

Why Americans All Believe They Are ‘Middle Class’  —  A taxonomy of how we talk about class and wealth in the United States today  —  Last week, President Obama went on the road promoting an economic agenda for the middle class.  As expected, John Boehner and other Republicans fired …

Teamsters Ordered to Stop Picketing Funeral Homes  —  A judge ordered one of Chicago's most politically powerful labor unions to suspend picketing against 16 funeral homes last week after receiving reports that striking Teamsters had, among other things, disturbed a child's funeral.

The Presidency's Political Price  —  Is politics a zero-sum game?  —  Imagine, for a moment, if Sen. John McCain (R) had somehow won the presidency in 2008.  How might the country be different?  —  We would not have the Affordable Care Act.  Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan would not be on the Supreme Court.

Informal ‘White Student Union’ started at Georgia State  —  Fall semester won't start for several weeks, but Georgia State University has already received a handful of complaints about a new student club — the White Student Union.  —  Freshman Patrick Sharp said he started the club …

A Rising Share of Young Adults Live in Their Parents' Home  —  A Record 21.6 Million In 2012  —  OVERVIEW  —  In 2012, 36% of the nation's young adults ages 18 to 31—the so-called Millennial generation—were living in their parents' home, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

Jobless Claims in U.S. Fall to Lowest Level in Five Years  —  U.S. Jobless Claims Fall to Lowest Level in 5 Years  —  Claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly dropped to the lowest level in more than five years, extending swings typical for the month of July.

2016 presidential race: Cory Booker rules out run  —  No, there will not be a 2016 campaign for Cory Booker.  —  The Newark mayor and runaway frontrunner in the special election for the seat of late Sen. Frank Lautenberg's ruled out a presidential run or serving on the ticket of another candidate in the next national campaign.

Exclusive: NSA pays £100m in secret funding for GCHQ  —  • Secret payments revealed in leaks by Edward Snowden  —  • GCHQ expected to ‘pull its weight’ for Americans  —  • Weaker regulation of British spies ‘a selling point’ for NSA

Keith Ellison song lauds gay marriage law  —  Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) is celebrating his state's recent legalization of same-sex marriage in a very special way: through song, while strumming on a guitar.  —  “I mean a year ago it looked like [there might be] a constitutional amendment …