Rebranding: Who Needs It?  —  The Mike Huckabee brouhaha yesterday offered about the 155th recent opportunity for non-conservatives to observe that the “rebranding” exercise of the Republican Party isn't going that well.  But as The Atlantic's Molly Ball observes today, Republicans really just don't care:

Court gives nuns a compromise on health care issue  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday offered a short-term compromise that would continue to exempt a group of Denver nuns that operates charity nursing homes from the birth control mandate of the nation's health care law if they declare their objections in writing.

What's The Matter With Texas?  Anti-Choice Law At Its Worst  —  “Macabre” seems somehow inadequate to describe what's been going on in Texas.  “Horrifying,” “insulting,” and “beyond Kafkaesque” also fall short.  —  For the past seven weeks, a hospital in Fort Worth has refused …

Simas heads up new office at White House  —  The White House on Friday announced David Simas, a senior adviser to President Obama who managed the healthcare rollout, will head up a new post at the White House: Office of Political Strategy and Outreach.  —  The White House created the role …

Attorney: George Zimmerman stole photographer's work to make painting  —  Lawyer for photographer who took picture of Angela Corey: “You just can't do that.”  —  The special prosecutor who charged George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin …

EXCLUSIVE: POLITICO TRIES TO MANIPULATE HANNITY COMMENT ON MICHAEL SAVAGE  —  On Friday, Politico was set to release a puff piece on Michael Savage, the polarizing host tapped by Cumulus to replace iconic talker Sean Hannity on its affiliates.  In the process of putting together that puff piece, Politico contacted Hannity for comment.

GWB scandal: Port Authority won't pay legal bills for David Wildstein  —  The Port Authority will not pick up the legal bills of a former executive at the center of an investigation into the George Washington Bridge access lane closures.  —  On Friday morning the agency notified David Wildstein …

The Keeping-Up-With-the-Joneses Myth  —  Behind the Great Recession, there was a credit crunch.  Behind the credit crunch, there was a housing bust.  And behind the housing bust, there was an explosion in debt in mid-2000s among low-income households.  —  So what was behind that?

Old Democratic Name (Nunn) Stakes Bid on Shifting Georgia  —  PERRY, Ga. — As a little girl, Michelle Nunn clutched her father's hand as they strolled the pecan groves of the family's 2,400-acre farm, a moment captured in a black-and-white photograph that Sam Nunn used to help win election to the Senate.

Pope Francis Is Drafting An Encyclical On The Environment  —  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has begun drafting an encyclical on ecology.  —  The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the document was still very much in its early stages and that no publication date has been set.

Glitch Is Causing Thousands Of Emails To Be Sent To One Man's Hotmail Account  —  David S. Peck is getting a lot of emails.  In a glitch possibly related to the massive Gmail outage underway right now, there's an odd bug in Google search which is pointing users directly to his personal email address.

Growing Dem opposition could doom ObamaCare  —  Buzz Cut:  —  ObamaCare skidded to an all-time low in the latest Fox News poll, but in a switch, it's Democrats who are driving down the already unpopular law.  In June, 22 percent of Democrats were opposed to ObamaCare …

Why Republicans Keep Calling Women Sluts  —  As you've heard, yesterday Mike Huckabee stepped up to the plate and smacked a stand-up double in the GOP's ongoing effort to alienate every woman in America, when he said, “If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe …

Milestone: 3 Million in Marketplaces  —  Since the beginning of open enrollment, millions of Americans are gaining access to health coverage-many for the very first time—thanks to the Affordable Care Act.  The most recent data indicates that approximately 3. million people have now enrolled …