Hobby Lobby Is Already Creating New Religious Demands on Obama  —  This week, in the Hobby Lobby case, the Supreme Court ruled that a religious employer could not be required to provide employees with certain types of contraception.  That decision is beginning to reverberate …

Thad Cochran Conference Call Descends Into Chaos  —  Thad Cochran, above, won the GOP runoff for Senate.  (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)  —  A conference call held by Sen. Thad Cochran's campaign quickly devolved into chaos and ended Wednesday after one of the participants repeatedly asked racially charged questions.

Lawmaker fuming after HHS immigrant facility denies him entry  —  Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) issued a scathing press release Wednesday after he was denied access to a facility in his state housing more than 1,000 children who crossed the border illegally.

Don't Put Much Stock in That Poll Calling Obama the Worst President  —  Bush was the “worst,” too  —  There's a new Quinnipiac poll shooting around the Internet this morning that has a shocking headline: Americans think Barack Obama is the worst modern-day president.

The Two Events That Turned Putin Against the U.S.  —  Former ambassador Michael McFaul on what really motivated Russia to invade Ukraine  —  ASPEN, Colo.—One major divide in international relations, as well as in other social sciences, is between those who believe in structure and those who believe in agency.

Obama: Middle-class issues drive my agenda  —  Marketplace host and senior editor Kai Ryssdal sat down for an Oval Office interview with President Barack Obama on July 2, 2014.  —  Kai Ryssdal: Mr. President, good to have you with us.  —  President Barack Obama: Great to be here.

WH: No change to immigrant surge strategy ‘at this point’  —  The White House is not planning to reassess its strategy for handling thousands of unaccompanied minors streaming across the border amid mass protests.  —  White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he had not spoken …

EXCLUSIVE—LEADER OF MURRIETA PROTESTS: ‘REPATRIATE THE ALIENS’  —  Busloads full of illegal aliens, many of them children, from overcrowded detention facilities in Texas were flown into San Diego Tuesday morning before being driven north to Murrieta for processing, but plans changed …

How Israel is punishing ordinary Palestinians for three murdered Israeli students  —  Twenty days after three Israeli high school students were kidnapped in the West Bank merely for being there, two days after they were found murdered in an apparent execution by Hamas members …

Point-blank shooting of Inkster toddler violated ‘the code of the streets’  —  In the hard-bitten city of Inkster, a little girl's killing appears to have crossed a line.  —  The triple shooting Tuesday night that ended the life of 2-year-old Kamiya French and left two of her relatives wounded violated the …

DEMOCRATS DECRY BEAUPREZ'S “47 PERCENT” COMMENTS RECORDED ON VIDEO  —  On Wednesday, as Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob Beauprez toured Colorado to “build unity,” a video surfaced that Democrats say shows his divisiveness.  —  The video shows Beauprez in a speech to the Denver Rotary Club …

US Teen Allegedly Falls in Love Online, Tries to Join ISIS Fighters in Syria … A suburban Denver teen fell in love with an ISIS fighter online, then was arrested at an airport after vowing to aid his cause in Syria, federal authorities said.  —  Shannon Maureen Conley, 19, of Arvada …

Issa To Obama: Deport Dreamers  —  House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is calling on President Barack Obama to deport more young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, known as Dreamers.  —  Issa and 32 House Republican colleagues sent a letter to the president …

Obama's annoyance with Congress boils over  —  President Obama's displeasure with gridlock in Washington — and with the Republicans he blames for it — has been rising for months.  This week it has boiled over.  —  From the Rose Garden to the Cabinet Room to near Key Bridge in Georgetown …

Kill export subsidies.  Kill the Ex-Im Bank.  —  Imagine the Chinese government decides to help the people of Kenya.  To do this the Chinese government buys 5,000 wheeled loaders and excavators from Liugong Machinery and gives them for free to the Kenyan government, Kenyan construction firms …

Pulse of the People: Why Polls Can Sometimes Get Things So Wrong  —  Why Polls Can Sometimes Get Things So Wrong  —  The science of polling is sound, but it's important to draw the right sample, and that can be a challenge.  —  MONETARY POLICY |  JULY 2, 1:29 PM