Qaeda Messages Prompt U.S. Terror Warning  —  WASHINGTON — The United States intercepted electronic communications this week among senior operatives of Al Qaeda, in which the terrorists discussed attacks against American interests in the Middle East and North Africa, American officials said Friday.

House votes 232-185 to block the IRS from enforcing ObamaCare  —  The House voted Friday to prevent the IRS from enforcing any aspect of ObamaCare, a bill meant to exact revenge against an agency that Republicans say is incapable of neutral enforcement of the law.

Clouds Spread to Democratic Side of Virginia Governor's Race  —  For months, the governor's race in Virginia has unfolded beneath a cloud of scandal over the Republican incumbent that spread to his would-be Republican successor, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II.  —  But now a potential scandal …

U.S. Cuts Take Increasing Toll on Job Growth  —  WASHINGTON — The number of federal workers forced to work shorter hours soared this summer — to 199,000 in July, from 55,000 a year earlier — in a sign of the problems that federal budget policy is causing for the economy.

Anthony Weiner: I'm “100 Percent Not” Sexting Right Now, Deleted Everything from Past Affairs  —  “I don't have any of the records,” Weiner said in an interview with NBC 4 New York Friday  —  For a man who just wants the press to move forward from the revelations of his controversial sexual trysts online …

Alaskans don't back Palin for prez  —  There would be no home field advantage in Alaska for Sarah Palin if the former governor made a run for the White House in 2016, according to a new poll released Friday.  —  Hillary Clinton, the front runner for the Democrats in 2016 …

Five myths about libertarians  —  Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.com and a columnist for the Daily Beast, is a co-author of “The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America.”  —  The specter of libertarianism is haunting America.

Tories hire key Obama strategist  —  The Conservative Party has hired Barack Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina for its general election campaign team, BBC Newsnight has learned.  —  Sources confirmed that he would act as a campaign strategy adviser to the Conservative party.

VIDEO: House GOPer Won't Push Back on Birther Calling Obama “Communist Despot”  —  Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) is no John McCain.  —  At a town hall forum in her district on Monday that was sponsored by a local tea party group, Roby was asked by an attendee what she would do to counter …

Illinois Medical Marijuana Bill Signed Into Law By Governor Pat Quinn  —  Illinois on Thursday officially became the 20th U.S. state to legalize medical marijuana.  —  At a ceremony at the University of Chicago, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed the bill while joined by Jim Champion …

NO DEAL!  CBS And Showtime Go Dark On Time Warner Cable  —  CBS and Time Warner Cable negotiators failed to reach an agreement in their retransmission deal negotiations.  Shortly after 5:00 PM ET some 3.5M TWC customers in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas lost programming …

George Clooney To Hedge Fund Honcho Daniel Loeb: Stop Spreading Fear At Sony  —  EXCLUSIVE: George Clooney, who yesterday sent his Smokehouse Pictures partner Grant Heslov to Hollywood to show Sony and Fox a first cut of their Oscar-season period film The Monuments Men, has spent …

13 Wisconsin officials raid animal shelter to kill baby deer named Giggles  —  Two weeks ago, Ray Schulze was working in a barn at the Society of St. Francis no-kill animal shelter in Kenosha, Wis., when officials swarmed the shelter with a search warrant.  —  “[There were] nine …

It's Always Selma Again  —  On the cheapening of civil-rights history.  —  Florida is the New Selma, and not for the first time.  On a visit to Tallahassee Tuesday, Jesse Jackson “used the phrase ‘Selma of our time’—a reference to civil rights marches in Alabama that helped prompt change in the 1960s,” the Miami Herald reports.

New Nixon audio: “Aristotle was a homo... Roman emperors, fags”  —  This is brilliant.  They've found new audio of then-President Richard Nixon complaining about a TV show he stumbled upon that was glorifying homosexuality: “All in the Family.”  —  It's hard to imagine Nixon wasn't familiar with All in the Family.