GOP internal debate: Is party repeating mistakes of 1998?  —  BARACK OBAMA BILL CLINTON JOHN BOEHNER 2014 ELECTIONS  —  For anyone who was around, it's hard to compare 1998 — the year of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Starr Report, and Bill Clinton's impeachment — with any other year.

Inside the Kerry-Israel Meltdown  —  The secretary of state has been furiously working on a Mideast ceasefire, but his ad hoc efforts were dealt another blow Monday when Israel rejected his latest peacemaking plan.  —  On Monday, Secretary of State Kerry took to the podium at the State Department …

LAWMAKERS TRY TO SEAL $225M AID PACKAGE FOR ISRAEL  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic and Republican members of Congress scrambled Tuesday to seal a $225 million boost to Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system before they break this week for a month-long recess.

A NYT Lede That Duplicates Wikipedia  —  Exhibit A is the fourth paragraph from the biography section of Wikipedia's entry for Italian Renaissance painter Piero di Cosimo (all underlining is ours):  —  During his lifetime, Cosimo acquired a reputation for eccentricity …

Downscale  —  I recently had a conversation with an intensely conservative businessman whose first foray into politics was fighting for a tax hike on his business and others like it.  The little town where he lived as a young man had no paved roads, waterworks, or sewage facilities …

“You damned Polack, you step one foot out of that door and I'll kill you,” Dowlut said the cop growled as he patted his gun. … The Webley Mark VI revolver that police said Dowlut dug up in the South Bend City Cemetery Indiana Supreme Court … Dowlut was already known to police …

Break up the states!  The case for the United Statelets of America  —  Here's how Wyoming, Vermont and North Dakota are exercising tyranny over the rest of us — and how to stop them  —  A ballot initiative that would support breaking California into six smaller and more coherent states …

No Labels, no respect: The bipartisan “solutions” group embodies the worst of D.C.  —  No Labels is raising money largely for itself, and its attempts to break gridlock are silly and self-defeating  —  No Labels was once the embodiment of a dream.  It was the dream of a bunch of wealthy …

Why I Have Become Less Pro-Israel  —  A bad run for liberal Zionism.  —  A half-dozen years ago, I attended the first conference of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel organization, to debate the meaning of the term pro-Israel itself.  Pitted against Matthew Yglesias, I maintained that …

George Zimmerman ‘patrolling’ Central Florida shop after gun theft  —  Owner of Pompano Pat's in DeLand says Zimmerman not working for him  —  DeLAND, Fla. -  —  Although he's not a hired security officer, George Zimmerman has been “patrolling” outside a Volusia County gun shop …

End the Gaza blockade to achieve peace  —  Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City, Tuesday, July 29, 2014.  Israel escalated its military campaign against Hamas on Tuesday, striking symbols of the group's control in Gaza and firing tank shells that shut …

Club for Growth Attacks Todd Tiahrt After Giving Him 100% Score in 2010  —  In his last two years in Congress, Kansas Republican Todd Tiahrt voted with the Club for Growth position on legislation 90% of the time in 2009 and 100% of the time in 2010, but that's not enough to spare him the Club's wrath …

Appeals Court Strikes Down Law, Saves Mississippi's Only Abortion Clinic  —  JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has ruled that a Mississippi law that would close the state's only abortion clinic is unconstitutional.  —  The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court …

Rand Paul planning 2015 book.  Mean anything?  —  WASHINGTON - Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is working on a new book that will come out early next year - about the same time he will decide whether to run for president.  —  “Just coincidence, probably just coincidence, yeah,” the Republican said …