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.

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.

Obama Will Fight ISIS With George W. Bush's Legal Theories  —  John Yoo: “Obama has adopted the same view of war powers as the Bush administration.”  —  Ints Kalnins / Reuters  —  Later today President Obama will unveil his plan to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria …

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

Mass. Mayor Brandishes Gun During Late-Night Meeting With Rival  —  A Massachusetts councilman accused his town mayor of “intimidation” after he pulled out a gun during an informal, late-night meeting in an SUV between the two officials.  But the mayor disputes the claim, the Boston Herald reported.

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

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Ted Cruz beefs up campaign arm  —  Ted Cruz is continuing to send signals that he's running for president.  —  The Texas senator's chief of staff, Chip Roy, a former top hand to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is leaving his role as chief of staff and will play a larger role in Cruz's political office …

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.

Roger Goodell: We asked for Ray Rice video on multiple occasions  —  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he never saw the elevator video of Ray Rice striking his then-fiancee until Monday morning, but when he did, he found it “sickening,” he told USA TODAY Sports in a telephone interview Tuesday evening.

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 …

Obama's Most Important Achievement in the Middle East  —  The president is a superior terrorist hunter.  He has also neutralized a profound existential threat to U.S. allies in the Middle East, and denied ISIS access to vast storehouses of deadly chemical weapons.  So why does he get no credit?