Amash after win: Ellis is 'what's wrong with politics'  —  GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD/AP) — After Republican U.S. Rep. Justin Amash beat challenger Brian Ellis in the Third Congressional District primary, he said Ellis's campaign was “disgusting” and “despicable.”

Hillary Clinton Launching Presidential Campaign In New York City?  —  It appears Hillary Clinton has launched her 2016 presidential campaign.  HollywoodLife.com can exclusively report that Hillary has leased office space on a high-level floor of a corporate New York City office building …

Democrats throw kitchen sink at Republicans ahead of midterms  —  Democrats are throwing the kitchen sink at Republicans in a bid to keep the Senate and erode the GOP's House majority in November's elections.  —  While the Democrats' official campaign strategy focuses wholly on the economy …

Former Va. governor's trial: McDonnell staffers called Williams the ‘tic tac man’  —  Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, are battling a 14-count public-corruption indictment that alleges they lent the prestige of the governor's office to a Richmond-area businessman in exchange for gifts and loans.

Russian Gang Amasses Over a Billion Internet Passwords  —  A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials, including 1.2 billion username and password combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security researchers say.

U.S. policymakers gird for rash of corporate expatriations  —  Washington policymakers are bracing for a wave of corporations to renounce their U.S. citizenship over the next few months, depriving the federal government of billions of dollars in tax revenue and stoking public outrage ahead of the Nov. 4 congressional elections.

Iraqi Yazidis stranded on isolated mountaintop begin to die of thirst  —  BAGHDAD — Stranded on a barren mountaintop, thousands of minority Iraqis are faced with a bleak choice: descend and risk slaughter at the hands of the encircled Sunni extremists or sit tight and risk dying of thirst.

McDaniel staffer drawn into Fielder controversy (UPDATE)  —  Stephen Fielder, the self-proclaimed pastor from Meridian, says a member of Chris McDaniel's campaign paid him $2,000 to give an interview in which he accused a Thad Cochran campaign staffer of asking him to pay people to vote for the GOP incumbent.

How Pat Roberts beat Milton Wolf  —  The Republican establishment's latest triumph over tea party activists in a Senate primary this year — Pat Roberts' narrower-than-expected win over challenger Milton Wolf on Tuesday night — came with a big lift from party headquarters in Washington.

Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows  —  Since Colorado voters legalized pot in 2012, prohibition supporters have warned that recreational marijuana will lead to a scourge of “drugged divers” on the state's roads.

Are we facing a GOP takeover in 2014?  —  Democrats, myself included, tend to respect and value expertise, and find that people who have established a record of accuracy and developed a model that's proven to be beneficial over time should be people accorded great deference when they opine …

America's Fed Up: Obama Approval Rating Hits New Low  —  Yet because this discontent differs - among Democrats, Republicans, and independents - Hart cautions that Americans still aren't likely to be storming the polls on Election Day in November.  —  “We're unhappy, but we aren't coalescing around an issue,” he said.

Paul dismisses ‘Kamikaze interview’  —  Sen. Rand Paul is pushing back against allegations that he ducked a discussion with DREAMers, saying he left a table in Iowa to do a media interview and that he had no time for a “Kamikaze interview” that was documented in a widely distributed video.

Analysis: The diplomatic war begins  —  As Israel's military campaign in Gaza is seemingly over, the ensuing diplomatic process will be grueling, extend for a longer period than four weeks, and be fought on various fronts.  —  The latest round in Israel's ongoing military battle is seemingly over.

$619 billion missed from federal transparency site  —  WASHINGTON — A government website intended to make federal spending more transparent was missing at least $619 billion from 302 federal programs, a government audit has found.  —  And the data that does exist is wildly inaccurate …

Is New York the Next Detroit?  —  The New York Times has a lengthy and dismaying article on the problems with New York City's pensions: … The core problem is that returns have not tracked with the city's optimistic projections.  In 2012, the city finally lowered its projected return …

The Insiders: Ted Cruz is burning bridges in Washington.  Does it matter?  —  Lately, I had been thinking about writing a piece asking the question of whether Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is more like the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) or if he is more like President Ronald Reagan.

Anatomy of a Power Grab  —  Since my Sunday column was a little on the shrill side, accusing President Obama of contemplating domestic policy “caesarism” on immigration policy, I thought I'd do a follow-up addressing the various, “maybe you should calm down” objections.

A Tale of Two Scandals  —  Andrew Cuomo's Moreland Commission episode may prove worse than Chris Christie's Bridgegate—but you wouldn't know it from the news coverage.  —  The Bridgegate affair in New Jersey was a seedy political scandal, in which some staffers and allies of Gov. Chris Christie used …