Wayne County Clerk: John Conyers not qualified for Aug. 5 ballot  —  Congressman may have filed insufficient number of valid signatures to qualify for ballot … DETROIT -  —  Veteran U.S. Congressman John Conyers does not have enough signatures to get on the Aug. 5 primary ballot, according to Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett.

Boehner to appoint select committee on Benghazi attack  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday he would appoint a select House committee to expand the Republican investigation into the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.  —  Boehner had resisted a push …

Wisconsin's GOP Secession Panic  —  Wisconsin Republicans are set to vote on a measure this weekend that would affirm the state's right to secede from the union.  Goodbye, U.S. of A., Hello U.S. of Cheese.  —  Fear not, America.  There will be no import taxes on Leinenkugel.

Democratic Group to Return Donations  —  MIAMI — The Democratic National Committee, faced with the possibility that it had accepted illegal campaign contributions from straw donors, decided Thursday to return sizable donations made last fall in the names of the children of a Florida cardiologist …

Man Who Set A Trap To Kill 17-Year-Old Intruder Invokes Stand Your Ground-Like Defense  —  Seventeen-year-old Diren Dede lost his life Sunday, while in Missoula, Montana on a high school exchange program from Germany.  He was shot dead at the home of Markus Kaarma, after Kaarma set a trap …

Judge says sexually assaulted 14-year-old 'wasn't the victim she claimed to be'  —  A man sentenced to five years probation by a Dallas County judge after admitting he raped a 14-year-old girl won't have to follow many of the restrictions typically given to sex offenders.

V. Stiviano: Donald Sterling Is Not a Racist, Should Apologize for Remarks … Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's confidante V. Stiviano today told ABC's Barbara Walters that she thinks the embattled NBA basketball owner should apologize for his racist remarks.  —  “Yes.

A journalist writes an advice column for Mrs. Clinton.  —  Tina Brown doesn't think Hillary Clinton should run for president.  In a column for the Daily Beast, the website's founder and former editor lays out her rationale.  —  Does Brown disagree with Mrs. Clinton on matters of policy or doubt she would be a good president?

Comfy Old Sweater  —  In a nice contrast to the New York Times piece about Republican donors wanting to get the band back together for Jeb Bush, the Cook Political Report's Amy Walter (speaking of “getting the band back together,” I didn't realize she had returned to the Cook shop) …

Newt Gingrich Calls For Public Ownership Of Professional Sports Teams  —  Newt Gingrich thinks the Clippers should be sold to fans.  That's a great idea!  —  CREDIT: AP  —  The wake of the NBA's decision to ban Donald Sterling for life and force him to sell the Los Angeles Clippers …

A Bad Death in Oklahoma  —  The most telling moment in Oklahoma's botched execution of Clayton Lockett came six minutes after the purportedly lethal drugs had begun to enter the condemned man's body through an intravenous tube.  It was a moment that pointed up the contradictions, incoherence …