Secret Service Chief Pierson Resigns Amid Security Gaps  —  Embattled U.S. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson, the first woman to lead the agency in charge of protecting the president, resigned amid mounting criticism over a series of security lapses.  —  Pierson stepped down only 18 months …

Airlines face Ebola fallout  —  Health experts say travelers face little risk of contracting Ebola on airplanes, but the disease's arrival in the United States is bringing new worries about its ability to hop between countries and continents.  —  Those concerns escalated with Wednesday's statement …

EARLIER:  —  A political cartoon in Wednesday's Boston Herald is raising eyebrows and has people calling the newspaper “racist.”  —  The cartoon depicts President Barack Obama brushing his teeth in the bathroom of the White House, as the man recently accused of storming the building …

The Obama administration warned Israel on Wednesday that plans for a controversial new housing project in east Jerusalem would distance Israel from “even its closest allies” and raise questions about its commitment to seeking peace with Palestinians.  —  The strikingly sharp criticism …

Kansas Poll Shows Independent Greg Orman Leading Incumbent Pat Roberts in U.S. Senate Race  —  Independent businessman and political enigma Greg Orman (46 percent) is leading three-term Republican incumbent Pat Roberts (41 percent) in the race for U.S. Senate in Kansas, with 11 percent undecided …

College GOP: Democrats Are Like a Bad Wedding Dress  —  The College Republican National Committee launched on Wednesday a nearly $1 million digital ad campaign across 16 states, aiming to draw young voters to the GOP with what the group's chief calls “culturally relevant” ad campaigns.

Grand jury considering the Ferguson shooting is being investigated for misconduct  —  The St. Louis County prosecutor's office is investigating an accusation of misconduct on the grand jury that is hearing the case against the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.

NYT: Say, Why Don't Republicans Want President Obama to be Killed?  —  An extraordinary item from Peter Baker in the New York Times: … “Even”?  Can it really be too difficult to recognize that citizens who strongly disagree with the president of the republic don't want him to be murdered?

Tom and Jerry cartoons carry racism warning  —  Tom and Jerry cartoons on television are being accompanied by a warning that they may depict scenes of “racial prejudice”.  —  The classic cat and mouse cartoons, some made more than 70 years ago, carry a warning for subscribers to Amazon Prime Instant Video.

I want to apologize to the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks.

Ben Carson's Lunacy: AP History Courses Will Make Kids Join ISIS  —  Dr. Ben Carson claims that teaching our children normal AP history courses will turn them against America and into the arms of ISIS.  —  Dr. Ben Carson is being heavily hyped as a 2016 presidential candidate by the conservarazzi …

New Marquette Law School Poll finds Walker leading in race for Wisconsin governor; attorney general race remains tied  —  Clarification on margin of error in the Marquette Law School Poll … MILWAUKEE - A new Marquette Law School Poll in the Wisconsin governor's race finds Republican …

Michael Dunn found guilty of 1st-degree murder in loud-music trial  —  Jacksonville, Florida (CNN) — Jurors found Michael Dunn guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the 2012 shooting death 17-year-old Jordan Davis.  —  Dunn's parents were in the courtroom for the verdict.

Facebook Lunatic Returns With Escalated Threats Toward President Obama  —  Everest Wilhelmsen is back, and he's just as determined as ever to “oust” President Obama from office.  —  On the day that the head of the Secret Service resigned for amazing lapses in security around the President …

Fox News Nabs Historic Cable Ratings Victory  —  FNC celebrates a quarter with the most-watched primetime across the cable dial, while MSNBC slides below CNN in the demo  —  No one would say the summer of 2014 suffered any shortage of breaking news.  —  From the crisis in Ferguson, Mo. …

Gun nuts' tragic confusion: Why “open carry” groups don't get police brutality  —  To their credit, some gun groups were upset when John Crawford was shot by cops.  The problem is their odd reasoning  —  After finally being allowed to view the video of the police shooting of a man in an Ohio Wal-Mart …