Obama: ‘We Tortured Some Folks’  —  President Obama eschewed the opaque language of his predecessor on Friday and acknowledged that the United States engaged in “torture” after 9/11.  —  Obama made the comment while discussing CIA Director John Brennan, who was forced to apologize to members …

The Most Dangerous Moment in Gaza  —  It is too early to say anything definitive about the Hamas decision to apparently break the ceasefire and attack an Israeli position, except that if it is true, as reports indicate, that Hamas militants came through a tunnel and carried underground …

Krauthammer: GOP ‘ridiculous’  —  Charles Krauthammer is slamming the GOP for what he called a “ridiculous” contradiction after tabling legislation to tackle the border crisis within 24 hours after moving forward with a lawsuit against the president.  —  “It is ridiculous to sue the president …

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: July 2014  —  Liz Hamel and Jamie Firth and Mollyann Brodie … Unfavorable Views Of ACA Increase In July  —  After remaining steady for several months, the share of the public expressing an unfavorable view of the health care law rose to 53 percent in July …

BOOM: The Historic Proof Obamacare Foes Are Dead Wrong On Subsidies  —  The story of whether Congress ever intended to limit Obamacare subsidies to state-based exchanges begins and ends with the Congressional Budget Office.  And what it reveals about the latest legal threat …

Call about suspicious car led Westlake police to Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and an unidentified woman in 2012, records show  —  The Mayo Society of Greater Cleveland identifies the woman in this photo as Joanne Grehan, who was found by Westlake Police in a parked car …

On David Frum, The New York Times, and the Non-Faked ‘Fake’ Gaza Photos  —  What they reveal about the three words that are journalists' only source of self-respect  —  1. A colleague at The Atlantic made a major journalistic error this week.  As he has himself admitted, in the first half of a post on our site.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is a rising Republican power in House, as well as a whip  —  The beginning of the collapse of House Speaker John A. Boehner's border bill came Wednesday evening, when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz gathered more than a dozen House Republicans at his office in the Dirksen building on Capitol Hill.

Knowledge Isn't Power  —  One of the best insults I've ever read came from Ezra Klein, who now is editor in chief of Vox.com.  In 2007, he described Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, as “a stupid person's idea of what a thoughtful person sounds like.”

Ben Carson takes major step toward presidential campaign  —  Former neurosurgeon launches PAC, names national chairman  —  Ben Carson, the former neurosurgeon turned conservative sensation, is taking a major step toward a 2016 presidential bid by forming a political action committee …

GOP Leaders Pitch Revised Border Package, Hope to Vote Today (Updated)  —  House Republicans emerged from a closed-door meeting Friday morning with a revised plan to address the child migrant border crisis — one leaders hope to pass later today.  —  The latest plan will still require …

Vice President Biden loves to skinny dip, says tell-all book  —  Naked from head to Joe?  In ‘The First Family Detail,’ author Robert Kessler quotes unnamed Secret Service agents dishing about the private lives of Presidents and those they protect.  —  It's the Joe Biden you didn't know — and might not want to see.

U.S. Justice Ginsburg hits back at liberals who want her to retire  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a message for liberals who have been saying the 81-year-old should step down while Democratic President Barack Obama is in office so he can appoint her successor …

Free Gaza  —  Three.  That is the number of times Israel has fought Hamas since 2007, when the terror group seized control of the Gaza Strip.  There was Operation Cast Lead in 2008, Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, and now Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Fla. judge: Redraw congressional map now  —  A Florida judge has asked the state legislature to redraw the state's congressional map by Aug. 15, holding out the possibility that Florida could postpone some or all of its House elections until after the scheduled general election on Nov. 4.

Senate blocks aid to Israel  —  In the end, the Senate couldn't even agree to deliver emergency aid to one of the United States' closest allies.  —  A last-ditch effort to deliver aid to Israel during its war with Hamas died on the Senate floor, as Republicans blocked the proposal over concerns that it would increase the debt.

IDF soldier feared kidnapped  —  Second Lt. Hadar Goldin named as captured officer; terrorists emerged from a tunnel shaft, and a suicide bomber detonated near soldiers prior to the suspected kidnapping.  —  A Hamas attack on IDF soldiers in southern Gaza, which occurred an hour and a half …