Photos of Rand Paul at party in the Hamptons catch Iowans' attention  —  The Republican potential presidential candidate said he had to miss a Christian conservative event in Iowa because of a family commitment  —  An Iowa evangelical Christian leader stood on stage and told the 1,200 conservatives …

GOP Candidate: I Had An Affair Two Weeks Ago, Am Quitting My Campaign  —  New York state Senate candidate Gia Arnold, a 24-year-old Republican, halted her campaign on Wednesday because she said she had engaged in an extramarital affair within the past two weeks.

U.S. Airstrikes and Kurds Break Siege on Mount Sinjar  —  Defense officials said late Wednesday that the break allowed thousands of Yazidis trapped on the mountain by militants to escape.

PLATON  —  I am staying at the Hotel Metropol, a whimsical sand-colored monument to pre-revolutionary art nouveau.  Built during the time of Czar Nicholas II, it later became the Second House of the Soviets after the Bolsheviks took over in 1917.  In the restaurant, Lenin would harangue …

America Is Not For Black People  —  The United States of America is not for black people.  We know this, and then we put it out of our minds, and then something happens to remind us.  Saturday, in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo., something like that happened: An unarmed 18-year-old black man …

Rush Limbaugh Clarifies ‘Out-of-Context’ Remarks About Robin Williams' Death  —  Rush Limbaugh today clarified his comments yesterday about the death of Robin Williams, which he connected to general liberal unhappiness.  But Limbaugh said he in no way suggested Williams' suicide was due to his politics …

How Libertarians Snookered The New York Times Magazine  —  Anatomy of a journalistic train wreck.  —  Shares  —  The premise underpinning Robert Draper's New York Times Magazine cover story on the “Libertarian Moment” is that libertarians offer the cure for the Republican Party's political difficulties.

Cops Order ISIL Flag Removed from New Jersey Home  —  Police in Garwood, New Jersey, ordered that a militant flag associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) be removed from the front of a local home after hundreds of online activists expressed fear and revulsion.

Police Fatally Shoot Man in South L.A.; Family Members Say He Was Lying Down When Shot … Family members said Tuesday that a 25-year-old man was complying with police orders when he was fatally shot by LAPD officers in the Florence neighborhood South Los Angeles.

Fox doc steps up FLOTUS grilling  —  Fox News psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow does not think that First Lady Michelle Obama is a fit role model on fitness, calling the first lady “two-faced” on Wednesday.  —  “I do dislike hypocrisy and I really do believe that people speaking about diet …

RNC Condemns AP Exam's ‘Radically Revisionist View’ Of U.S. History  —  The Republican National Committee on Friday denounced the College Board's new framework for the AP U.S. History exam for its “consistently negative view of American history.”  —  The committee adopted a resolution during …

Obama Donors Altman, Effron Embrace Deals President Slams  —  President Barack Obama has been bashing companies that pursue offshore mergers to reduce taxes.  He hasn't talked about the people behind the deals — some of whom are his biggest donors.  —  Executives, advisers and directors involved …

Rare Spotlight on Rural Hawaii After Storm Leaves Election Cliffhanger  —  PUNA, Hawaii — Politics seldom intrudes on the easternmost district of the Big Island of Hawaii, a hard-to-reach paradise where the homes are nestled among lava-formed cliffs and the papaya and macadamia nut harvests loom larger …

Hillary Clinton Doesn't Have A Problem On Her Left  —  Hillary Clinton's recent hawkish comments about foreign policy, in which she expressed some disagreements with President Obama, have inspired reporting and speculation that liberal Democrats will grow disillusioned with her ahead of a possible presidential bid in 2016.

Florida man accused of killing his roommate asked Siri where to hide the body, court hears  —  US police say a Florida man accused of killing his roommate asked Apple's digital assistant Siri for advice on hiding the body the day the man went missing.  —  Pedro Bravo, 20, is accused …