How U.S. Interventionists Abetted the Rise of ISIS  —  Our Middle Eastern policy is unhinged, flailing about to see who to act against next, with little regard to consequences.

Joan Rivers — Stops Breathing During Surgery ...  (Update: Critical Condition)  —  STOPS BREATHING DURING SURGERY  —  (Update: Critical Condition)  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  8:49 AM PT — The NYPD tells us ... Joan is currently in critical condition.  —  We're told ... at one point, Joan's heart stopped beating.

Does Gillibrand Have A ‘Responsibility’ To Name Her Harassers?  —  A debate broke out on Twitter among three male journalists — New York Times' Nick Confessore, Politico's Alex Burns, and MSNBC's Benjy Sarlin — on Thursday afternoon: Does Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) …

Let's be clear about this: Russia is invading Ukraine right now  —  TWEET SHARE +1 LINKEDIN EMAIL PRINT  —  There are two things happening between Ukraine and Russia right now.  First, Russian and Ukrainian leaders are meeting in Belarus to negotiate a peace deal in the Ukrainian conflict …

Chuck Todd Pushes RNC Chair: ‘Too Many Crazy White Guys’?  —  On MSNBC's “The Daily Rundown,” host Chuck Todd asked Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, on Thursday about report commissioned by two conservative groups that found that the Republican party …

NRA: ‘Children Can Have Fun At The Shooting Range’  —  WASHINGTON — Less than two days after a 9-year-old girl in Arizona accidentally shot and killed a gun range instructor who was showing her how to fire an Uzi, the National Rifle Association on Wednesday touted new ways for children to “have fun” at shooting ranges.

Holder Cut Left-Wing Groups In On $17 Bil BofA Deal  —  Extortion: Radical Democrat activist groups stand to collect millions from Attorney General Eric Holder's record $17 billion deal to settle alleged mortgage abuse charges against Bank of America.  —  Buried in the fine print of the deal …

False Hope: Why Libertarians Won't Help Republicans Win the Youth Vote  —  The Republican Party has a major problem with young voters.  According to national exit polls, the GOP has lost the under-30 vote by a wide margin in every election since 2004.  In 2012, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney …

Why Hagan wins North Carolina  —  Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) is the target of what could be the most aggressive, dishonest, vindictive and lavishly financed negative campaign against any statewide candidate I've ever seen, yet according to the summary of polling from Real Clear Politics …

Bill O'Reilly and White Privilege  —  Is white privilege real?  Not according to Fox News's Bill O'Reilly.  —  This week O'Reilly debated the issue of white privilege with a fellow host and then returned to the topic the next day with this doozy of a statement:

VA ‘Oscar the Grouch’ training angers vets  —  The beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs depicted dissatisfied veterans as Oscar the Grouch in a recent internal training guide, and some vets and VA staffers said Tuesday that they feel trashed.  —  The cranky Sesame Street character …

MUSLIM GANG RAPISTS ARE SPRINGING UP EVERYWHERE.  WHY CAN'T WE BE HONEST ABOUT IT?  —  The notorious Sydney gang rapes in 2000 were committed by Lebanese Australians.  Muslim men raped women and girls as young as 14.  Australia, being a sensible sort of place, identified that the rapists …

The Extreme Partisanship of John Roberts's Supreme Court  —  Like Barack Obama, the chief justice came into office promising an age of apolitical comity.  And like the president, he has seen his dream die.  —  “Politics are closely divided,” John Roberts told scholar Jeffrey Rosen after his first term as chief justice.

F&M College Poll: Corbett failing to gain ground in race with Wolf  —  Doris Berko and Cindy Butzer might live in the same town, but they find themselves on opposite sides of the political landscape.  —  Both women, who reside in Leola, were participants in the latest Franklin & Marshall College poll released Thursday morning.

Schauer edges ahead of Snyder, 45% to 43%, in new governor race poll  —  LANSING — Democratic challenger Mark Schauer has edged ahead of Gov. Rick Snyder by two percentage points, according to a new poll of likely voters in the Nov. 4 election.  —  The results from EPIC-MRA of Lansing come …

Editorial Don't let Arizona and Kansas get away with potentially discriminatory voter registration rules  —  Arizona, which has become infamous for its hostility toward immigrants who are in the country illegally, lost an important case in the U.S. Supreme Court last year when the justices ruled …

Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist?  —  Let's start with what we don't know: the precise circumstances under which a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., shot dead an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown.  —  But here's what evidence does strongly suggest: Young black men in America suffer …

Finding Al Franken  —  The comedian-turned-senator is running an unusually low-key reelection campaign, trying to avoid scrutiny.  Will Republicans get the last laugh?  —  ST. PAUL, Minn.—I flew to Minnesota with high hopes of talking with Sen. Al Franken, and his staff said I'd get my chance during a …

Portman Fills the Gap in the GOP Presidential Field  —  Jeb Bush is probably not running.  Neither is Mitt Romney.  Chris Christie is trying to hard to recover from Bridge-gate but that doesn't seem likely.  —  That means there is a huge gap in the Republican field: The responsible one.

Senate Democrats are outperforming expectations  —  [Note: this is a work in progress.  I'm basically seeking comment as I develop a November predictive model.  Please give your feedback... -Sam]  —  I've been asked why the PEC Senate poll snapshot is more favorable to Democrats …