A failure to communicate?  —  Washington (CNN) — It's the one tenet of President Barack Obama's ISIS strategy that's remained ironclad: No U.S. troops are headed back into Iraq for combat.  —  At least it was ironclad until Tuesday, when Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff …

Meet the One Numbers-Cruncher Who Foresees Democrats Holding the Senate  —  He's not as well-known as Nate Silver, but Princeton's Sam Wang has a method, too, and he sees Democrats holding (barely) the upper chamber.  —  The list of pundits, political analysts, and numbers-crunchers …

Is Obama tough enough in dealing with ISIS?  —  President Obama delivers a prime time address from the Cross Hall of the White House on September 10, 2014 in Washington, D.C. SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES  —  Shares -  —  Despite his speech announcing his strategy to “degrade and ultimately destroy” …

Judge: Hobby Lobby Decision Means Polygamous Sect Member Can Refuse To Testify In Child Labor Case  —  A law enforcement officer escorts polygamist religious leader Warren Jeffs (center) from the courthouse where he was convicted of two counts of child sexual assault

Official: Rogue state could weaponize Ebola  —  A rogue state could turn Ebola into a weapon of mass destruction, a federal health official acknowledged Tuesday.  —  Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it would take a “state-type” …

US to send 3,000 troops to Ebola danger zone as Obama administration shuffles military's mission in Africa  — The Obama administration said late Monday night that the U.S. military will set up a command post in Monrovia, Liberia, the Ebola outbreak's epicenter

Justices question why Democrat Chad Taylor can't withdraw from Senate race  —  ›  —  ‹  —  Kansas Supreme Court justices grilled Secretary of State Kris Kobach's attorney at a special court hearing Tuesday about whether Democrat Chad Taylor should remain on ballot as a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Obamacare: From game-changer to background noise  —  A year ago, it looked like Obamacare was going to have a huge role in this year's elections.  And not in a good way — as a symbol of government incompetence and the Republicans' main case against President Barack Obama's record.

From outside voice to inside player: Rise of Steve Scalise reflects changing House GOP  —  At the center of the swirling congressional debate over funding the government and arming rebels in Syria stands the new House majority whip, Rep. Steve Scalise, whose rise to power reflects …

Fareed Zakaria Never Stopped Plagiarizing: How Dozens Of Episodes Of His CNN Show Ripped Others Off  —  Earlier this year, a certain CNN employee specializing in international news was caught red-handed plagiarizing dozens of instances of reporting.  What did the network do?

EAGLE RIVER, AK  —  $3,630 of $7,500  —  Raised by 74 people in 15 hours  —  Eric Thompson was at a party for about 70 friends on September 6th, 2014.  At some point during the evening a massive, “Jerry Springer” type fight broke out involving the Palin family.

Dinesh D'Souza Is Planning His Prison Memoir  —  The conservative firebrand speaks as he awaits sentencing for campaign fraud  —  On September 23, Dinesh D'Souza will appear before a federal judge in Manhattan to learn whether he will do jail time for violating campaign-finance law.

In Kentucky, Health Law Helps Voters but Saps Votes  —  LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Affordable Care Act allowed Robin Evans, an eBay warehouse packer earning $9 an hour, to sign up for Medicaid this year.  She is being treated for high blood pressure and Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder …

Bobby Jindal Refuses To Say If He Believes In Evolution  —  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal dodged three questions on Tuesday about whether he personally believes the theory of evolution explains the presence of complex life on Earth.  —  “The reality is I'm not an evolutionary biologist,” …

Newly-Crowned Miss America Kira Kazantsev Worked at Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz  —  You probably know her best as the newly-crowned Miss America or the contestant who belted out the infectious pop tune “happy” as she gleefully tapped on a red solo cup.  But here's something you probably didn't know about the new Miss America.

The Disappearing “Undue Burden” Standard for Abortion Rights  —  Those words—"undue burden"—represent Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's most important triumph during her long and consequential tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court.  Almost single-handedly, O'Connor rewrote abortion law.