Bob McDonnell's ‘family values’ fall short  —  “What shall it profit a man,” the Bible says (Mark 8:36), “if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”  In the end, former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a 1989 graduate of Pat Robertson's CBN (now Regent) University School of Law, never got to find out.

Our withdrawn review “Blood cotton”  —  Apology: In our review of “The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism” by Edward Baptist, we said: “Mr Baptist has not written an objective history of slavery.  Almost all the blacks in his book are victims, almost all the whites villains.”

How The ‘Core Coalition’ Against ISIS Stacks Up Against The 2003 Coalition  —  President Barack Obama, right, points as he stands alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron, centre, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen during a flypast at the NATO summit in Wales

The Trouble With Harvard  —  The Ivy League is broken and only standardized tests can fix it  —  The most-read article in the history of this magazine is not about war, politics, or great works of art.  It's about the admissions policies of a handful of elite universities …

The Obamacare train keeps not wrecking  —  President Barack Obama has not had a good couple of weeks.  His foreign policy is going badly, his legislative agenda is stalled, and his party looks likely to lose the Senate.  He's entering the traditional lame-duck years of a presidency …

Mom: Daughter made to swap short skirt for ‘shame suit’  —  ORANGE PARK, Fla. — A mother claims her daughter was forced by her school to swap her too-short skirt for what she calls a “shame suit.”  —  When 15-year-old Miranda Larkin went to Oakleaf High School in a black skirt about three …

More Senate Democrats urge Obama to delay immigration order  —  More top Democrats are pressuring President Barack Obama to slow down on immigration reform, further diminishing the chances that he'll take sweeping administrative action before Election Day.  —  Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) wants Obama to wait until after November.

Western military charter plane lands in Iran  —  An aircraft chartered by coalition forces in Afghanistan, en route from Bagram air base to Dubai, landed Friday in Bandar Abbas, Iran, after Iranian officials questioned its flight plan, U.S. officials said.  —  The plane had been contacted …

Armed Militia Member Shot At By Border Patrol Agent Is A Convicted Felon  —  The armed militia member who was shot at by a border patrol agent last week is a convicted felon.  —  Rio Grande Valley TV station KRGV reported Wednesday that records show the man, John Frederick Forester …

New Book Says C.I.A. Official in Benghazi Held Up Rescue  —  CAIRO — Five commandos guarding the C.I.A. base in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012 say that the C.I.A. station chief stopped them from interceding in time to save the lives of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and an American technician during …

Illinois Conservative Activist: Children Should Read Books About Their Same-Sex Parents Dying  —  The Illinois Family Institute (IFI) has a storied history of making extremely anti-LGBT comments, earning it a designation as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Texas daycare center accused of withholding water to keep diapers dry  —  A Texas child care center accused of duct-taping children to mats at nap time also withheld water from children to avoid frequent diaper changes, according to an investigation by the state's regulatory agency for child care licensing.

Congress Set to Bow to Obama on ISIS War  —  Congress says it wants to have a role in authorizing Obama's ongoing war against ISIS.  But the White House is using a series of maneuvers to make sure that never happens.  —  In recent days, leading lawmakers in both parties have been talking tough …

Officials: Estonian Counterintelligence Officer Abducted to Russia at Gunpoint From Estonian Soil (17)  —  According to the Internal Security Service (ISS), Estonia's national agency for counterintelligence and high-profile corruption investigations, one of their officials was abducted …

Democrats Just Put a GOP Senate Seat in Jeopardy—And Republicans Want to Suppress the Vote to Save It  —  Kansas Republican Senator Pat Robert's seat might be in jeopardy in November.  So too might Republican chances of winning back the Senate.  And it's all because of the huge shakeup …

I'm Islamaphobic, Are You?  —  I confess, I'm “Islamaphobic,” but for very good reasons.  —  My fear is not an irrational fear based on uniformed prejudice; rather it's an historic, clear eyed, informed, rational fear.  ISSA is doing to America journalists what every true follower …

Man jailed for phoning and texting ex-girlfriend 21,807 times  —  French man who harassed woman demanding compensation for work on appartment admits behaviour was ‘stupid’  —  Defendant accepted responsibility for a barrage of phone calls and text messages over a 10-month period Photograph: David Brabyn/ David Brabyn/Corbis

Woman beheaded ‘with machete’ in north London garden  —  Palmira Silva was decapitated at her home in Edmonton in an indiscriminate rampage before armed police subdued her ‘crazed’ attacker  —  An 82-year-old woman was beheaded in a north London suburban garden by a man with a machete.