National G.O.P. Moves to Take Over Campaign of a Kansas Senator  —  WASHINGTON — National Republicans on Thursday moved to take control of the campaign of Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas by sending a longtime party strategist to the state to advise him, a day after his hopes for re-election …

Robert McDonnell guilty of 11 corruption counts  —  RICHMOND — A federal jury Thursday found former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, guilty of public corruption — sending a message that they believed the couple sold the office once occupied by Patrick Henry …

BREAKING: Federal Appeals Court Withdraws Decision Defunding Obamacare  —  In July, two Republican judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed down a decision defunding much of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  This effort to implement Sen. Ted Cruz's …

Joan Rivers, a Comedic Stiletto, Dies at 81  —  Joan Rivers, the raspy loudmouth who pounced on America's obsessions with flab, face-lifts, body hair and other blemishes of neurotic life, including her own, in five decades of caustic comedy that propelled her from nightclubs to television …

Healthcare.gov hacked, consumer information not breached  —  A hacker broke into part of the HealthCare.gov insurance portal this summer but federal authorities said the intruder did not seem to have taken consumer data.  Millions of Americas registered on the site to purchase insurance.

Blood cotton  —  The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism.  By Edward Baptist.  Basic Books; 498 pages; $35.  Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.com  —  “FOR sale: a coloured girl, of very superior qualifications...a bright mulatto, fine figure, straight …

Breaking News and Analysis: Federal Court Grants Injunction Restoring Early Voting in Ohio  —  I have now had a chance to give an initial read the 71-page federal district court opinion in Ohio State Conference of the NAACP v. Husted.  This is a significant case, which could potentially make it to the Supreme Court.

DNC chief walks back Scott Walker ‘words’  —  Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz says she used words she “shouldn't have” in her attack against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in which she said he “has given women the back of his hand.”

Rand Paul: ‘I Am Not an Isolationist’  —  If I had been in President Obama's shoes, I would have acted more decisively and strongly against ISIS  —  Some pundits are surprised that I support destroying the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) militarily.  They shouldn't be.

Delaware Guv ‘Inadvertently’ Tweeted Photo Of Woman In Bondage Gear  —  Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) tweeted Thursday that his staff was “looking into” how an “inappropriate” photo of a woman in bondage gear was sent out from his Twitter account.  —  The tweet, which promoted …

Huffington Post hires 9/11 truther to cover national security  —  The Huffington Post's Washington bureau has hired professional football player and 9/11 truther Donte Stallworth as a fellow, covering national security.  —  Stallworth, a wide receiver in the NFL since 2002 …

Pursuing ISIS to the Gates of Hell  —  Over the past two weeks, the American foreign-policy debate has dramatically changed.  The key to understanding why lies in a book.  —  The book is called Special Providence.  Published 13 years ago by Walter Russell Mead, it remains, for my money …

Reports of missing Libyan planes raise 9/11 terror fears  —  Reports that 11 commercial jetliners are missing from the main airport in Libya's capital of Tripoli are raising fears that militants could use them in terrorist attacks to mark the 13th anniversary of 9/11 next week.

Has Greenwald, Inc. Peaked?  —  Thanks to Ed Snowden, Glenn Greenwald went from blogging to the big time.  But his stock may be dropping fast.  —  For about a year, the global enterprise you might call Glenn Greenwald, Inc. has been taking off like a red-hot app.

Harry Reid: Kochs are ‘enemies of progress’  —  LAS VEGAS — Industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch and “their cronies” are “enemies of progress” in developing green energy, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday at the start of his annual energy conference.

Warren: Destroying ISIS should be ‘No. 1 priority’  —  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday said that the Obama administration should make defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) its top priority.  —  “ISIS is growing in strength.  It has money, it has organization, it has the capacity to inflict real damage.