Jay Carney joins CNN  —  Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney will join CNN as a political commentator, the network announced Wednesday.  —  He will start Wednesday night as President Barack Obama makes a primetime statement about the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant , Sam Feist …

'Real Time"s Maher ‘could’ vote for Paul  —  Longtime viewers of Bill Maher on HBO's “Real Time” may be surprised to learn the liberal-leaning host, who makes a habit of skewering Republicans on a weekly basis, is “considering” casting a vote for one come 2016.  —  “Rand Paul is an interesting candidate to me.

Ted Cruz: Amendment threatens SNL  —  Sen. Ted Cruz says the comedy of NBC's “Saturday Night Live” is at risk and creator Lorne Michaels could be thrown in jail if a proposed Constitutional amendment on campaign finance is passed.  —  “Congress would have the power to make it a criminal offense …

People hate the Republican Party.  But they really don't.  —  The reclamation project that is the Republican Party has long been stunted by one pesky fact: People freaking hate the Republican Party.  —  Well, kind of.  —  Poll after poll shows President Obama is unpopular …

The teacher (and English graduate) who admits: I'm illiterate - SARAH SMITH blames liberal education dogmas for creating a generation of hopelessly ill-equipped teachers  —  My hands were feeling clammy and beads of sweat broke out under my collar as I shifted nervously in my seat.  It was parents' evening.

LETTER: HOLDER AIDE ACCIDENTALLY CALLS ISSA STAFF FOR HELP SPINNING IRS SCANDAL  —  A senior communications aide to Attorney General Eric Holder seemingly called House oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa's staff by accident and asked for their help spinning new revelations about the IRS scandal …

Dick Cheney Is Still Right  —  Obama's return to Iraq reveals how wrong he has been about the world.

Terror Talk: Can Obama Turn Bad Polls Around With Speech?  —  A White House official tells NBC's Kristen Welker that President Obama will tell the American public “how the United States will pursue a comprehensive strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS.

State launches fraud investigation into voter registration group  —  ATLANTA —  Channel 2 Action News has learned Georgia's secretary of state is investigating allegations of forged voter registration applications and demanding records from a voter registration group with ties to one of the state's highest ranking Democrats.

National Review On Wendy Davis: 'Maybe She Didn't' Have An Abortion  —  A piece at National Review is questioning whether Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis's story about having an abortion in 1997 and fell into “deep, dark despair” afterward is real.

How Scalia's Beliefs Completely Changed the Supreme Court  —  And therefore, the country  —  Scalia: A Court of One by Bruce Allen Murphy (Simon & Schuster).  —  On October 15, 1987, as Justice Antonin Scalia settled into his second term at the Supreme Court, he emerged from conference …

How Stephen King Teaches Writing  —  Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft has been a fixture in my English classroom for years, but it wasn't until this summer, when I began teaching in a residential drug and alcohol rehab, that I discovered the full measure of its worth.

No atheist should be permitted to serve in the U.S. military  —  Military service should rightly be reserved for those who believe in and are willing to die for what America stands for - and what America stands for is a belief in God as the source of our rights.  —  Tweet to @BryanJFischer

Candidates to draw straws unless lone voter brings ID  —  Unless a lone affidavit voter shows up with a valid photo ID before next Tuesday, Glenn Bolin and Stephanie Bounds will draw straws to see who becomes Poplarville alderman.  —  In a special election runoff Tuesday, Bolin and Bounds each received 177 votes.

GOP's Benghazi meter does not read victory  —  Just a tiny bit over a year ago I wrote a column for this publication indicating that the Republicans had not been right about a single thing so far this century.  Sports gamblers have a name for when you don't win a single bet over a weekend …