Obama's Speech on ISIS, in Plain English  —  Qua speech, Barack Obama's address Wednesday on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria was surprisingly terrible: a disorganized mess, insincere and unconvincing.  To appreciate just how bad and bizarre it was, compare the president's speech announcing …

Shedding Light on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC): Court Findings from Our 2007-2008 Case  —  Today we are pleased to announce the release of more than 1,500 pages of once-secret papers from Yahoo's 2007-2008 challenge to the expansion of U.S. surveillance laws.

Loose Lips: Hell hath no fury like a Palin family visit.  Campaigns gear up.  Mayor Dan grabs a Tiger by the tail.  —  About 65 people showed for the fundraiser for gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker and lt. gov. candidate Byron Mallott on Monday night.  It wasn't the usual Dem crowd.

Missouri Enacts 72-Hour Wait for Abortion  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Republican-controlled Missouri legislature has enacted one of the most stringent waiting periods for women seeking abortions, overriding a veto by the state's Democratic governor, Jay Nixon.

Ray Rice told Goodell he hit fiancee  —  Ray Rice told NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on June 16 that he punched his then-fiancee in a casino elevator, four sources have told “Outside the Lines,” an assertion that contradicts Goodell's statement this week that “when we met with Ray Rice …

U.S. seeks up to 16 months in prison for Dinesh D'Souza  —  (Reuters) - The U.S. government wants conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza to be sentenced to as much as 16 months in prison, following his guilty plea to a campaign finance law violation.

Question for the State Department: Isn't Obama waging preemptive war in Iraq now?  —  Via the Free Beacon.  I would have phrased the question differently, like, say, “When exactly did President Obama decide that the Bush doctrine is awesome?”  Because he has, you know.  But we needn't quibble over semantics.

Convicted high school shooter TJ Lane back in custody after prison escape  —  (CNN) — T.J. Lane, a remorseless killer who escaped from an Ohio prison where he was serving three life sentences for a school shooting, has been recaptured, a law enforcement official said.

Court won't release costs of Gitmo camp  —  A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Pentagon need not make public a document detailing the costs associated with a Guantanamo Bay prison camp used to house so-called high-value detainees.  —  In a ten-page opinion (posted here) …

North Carolina Senate: Hagan (D) 45%, Tillis (R) 39%  —  Is Kay Hagan's “war on women” strategy beginning to pay off?  The embattled incumbent Democrat has now moved ahead of Republican challenger Thom Tillis in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race.  —  The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey …

New Comic to Anchor ‘Update’ on ‘S.N.L.’  —  The new season of “Saturday Night Live” will have a significant change in its cast and its most prominent segment, “Weekend Update.”  —  Michael Che, a comic perhaps best known for his role as a correspondent on Comedy Central's “The Daily Show …

New Michael Brown shooting witnesses describe scene  —  (CNN) — Two men, shocked at what they saw, describe an unarmed teenager with his hands up in the air as he's gunned down by a police officer.  —  They were contractors doing construction work in Ferguson, Missouri, on the day Michael Brown was killed.

Don't Give the Masters of the Universe Their Amnesty  —  Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday evening about Senate Democrats' refusal to support legislation to block the president's proposed executive actions …

Judge strikes down Ohio law on election lies  —  A federal judge has struck down an Ohio state law that allows the government to regulate political falsehoods.  —  In a Thursday decision (posted here), U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black sided with the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List …

Kansas High Court Rejects Kobach's Request To Transfer Senate Case  —  The Kansas Supreme Court has decided to hear the lawsuit Democratic Senate nominee Chad Taylor has brought against Secretary of State Kris Kobach, after Kobach argued that the case should be transferred to a lower court.