Propping Up Obama  —  The left-liberal establishment is in crisis at the moment.  They can't make up their mind between desperately trying to prop up Obama, and giving up on him and increasing their distance.  Maureen Dowd has given up, judging from her brutal column today, “The Golf Address.”

Experts' eyes turn to Colo.  —  “Wow!  You'd have to be high to re-elect a guy like that.”  —  That is comedian Bill Maher's take on Republican Rep. Mike Coffman's campaign to win a fourth term in a suburban Denver district.  Smoking marijuana is legal in Colorado but even stone-cold sober …

Wrong Way Nation  —  Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is running for president again.  What are his chances?  Will he once again become a punch line?  I have absolutely no idea.  This isn't a horse-race column.  —  What I'd like to do, instead, is take advantage of Mr. Perry's ambitions to talk …

EXCLUSIVE: How anger over 2010 race shaped Gov. Nikki Haley's first term  —  Nikki Haley was angry during her first year in office.  —  The Lexington Republican was angry at the GOP establishment for failing to embrace her bid for governor.  She was angry at legislators …

On Ferguson, no words from Hillary Clinton  —  Hillary Clinton ignored reporters' questions about the racial conflict in Ferguson, Missouri, on Sunday at the end of a book-signing event in Westhampton Beach, a vacation enclave near her rented summer house.  —  Clinton, the potential 2016 …

Local, state Democrats go rogue  —  In scattered state capitals and city halls around the country, a new group of elected officials is telling the federal government to take a hike: Up-and-coming Democrats.  —  Challenging federal power in sometimes-theatrical ways has been a hallmark …

Australian woman records ‘sex assault’ on Malaysia Airlines flight  —  An Australian woman has revealed recordings of her alleged sexual assault at the hands of the chief steward on a Malaysia Airlines flight.  —  View Comments  — Mail  —  Three hours into the half-full flight to Paris …

As Obama returns, advocates look for executive action  —  Expectations are high that President Obama can move ahead with controversial executive actions now that he has returned from his vacation.  —  Obama's two weeks on Martha's Vineyard were plagued by dual crises, in Iraq and in Ferguson …

VERMONT RESTAURANT REMOVES BACON SIGN DUE TO MUSLIM OPPOSITION AND SAFETY CONCERNS  —  Local Winooski, Vermont restaurant Sneakers Bistro has removed a sign that read, “Yield Sneakers Bacon” citing opposition from a Muslim community member and safety concerns.

A Funeral in Ferguson  —  Two weeks after the killing of Michael Brown, we have become painfully familiar with his parents through their public appearances and television interviews, their faces drawn, their sorrow apparent.  —  Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, constantly dabbing tears from her face …

SAS and US special forces forming hunter killer unit to ‘smash Islamic State’  —  Task Force Black will aim to “cut the head off the snake” by hitting the command structure of the Islamist terror group responsible for a trail of destruction  —  Elite British and US special forces troops …

Kidnapped US journalist freed in Syria  —  Peter Theo Curtis is handed over to UN peacekeepers in Golan Heights nearly two years after he was captured.  —  An American journalist kidnapped nearly two years ago has been freed in Syria and handed over to UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights …