Neil Tyson's Final Words On His Quote Fabrications: “My bad”  —  After publishing an embarrassing non-apology on Facebook last week for repeated quote fabrications, planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson took to Facebook again earlier this week to revise and extend his remarks.  His full post can be found here.

Republican Chances of Senate Takeover Are Improving  —  But Kansas race complicates matters  —  The race for the Senate is perceptively moving in the Republicans' direction, but not so dramatically that we're ready to call the race definitively for them.  —  While we've long said the 2014 map …

Secret Service Director Julia Pierson Was a Victim of the “Glass Cliff”  —  On Wednesday, Julia Pierson, the first woman to ever lead the Secret Service in its nearly 150-year history, resigned her post amid heavy criticism over an intruder who was able to get as far as the East Room of the White House.

Were YOU on the same flight as America's first Ebola victim?:  United Airlines releases flight numbers for the planes Thomas Duncan caught from Liberia to Dallas  — United Airlines revealed flight numbers for two out of three planes Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan reportedly traveled on during his trip to the US

Rand Paul: What If The 3K Troops Obama Sent To Africa All Catch Ebola?  —  Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Wednesday questioned President Obama's decision to dispatch 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to help combat the Ebola virus.  —  “Where is disease most transmittable?

Bill Clinton can save Dems  —  On Oct. 6 and 7, Bill Clinton will spend two days barnstorming across Arkansas to support Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and other Democrats.  This all-out campaign tour will give a strong boost to Pryor's chances for reelection.  As the former president continues …

The Supreme Court Just Took A Case That Could Make Partisan Gerrymandering Even Worse  —  The American people voted to make this woman Speaker of the House in 2012  —  The Supreme Court of the United States may be poised to give the Republican Party a big gift — more seats in Arizona's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives.

What's Eating Nate Silver?  —  Nate Silver acknowledged that he was doing something a little unusual in a Sept. 17 blog post when he called out fellow forecaster Sam Wang of Princeton University.  But it also appears to have been the culmination of a long-simmering — if largely under-the-radar — feud.

Study: Good access to birth control prevents teen pregnancy, abortion  —  Birth control prevents teenage pregnancies and abortions — when teens know about it and are able to use it.  —  Of 560 young women deemed at high risk for pregnancy who were given free access to hormonal implants …

Special Report: The Obama Paradox  —  BEYOND THE WHITE HOUSE BUBBLE  —  Obama's plans for a late night in Rome were shrouded in secrecy.  —  While American and Italian reporters chronicled his audience with Pope Francis and his tour of the Colosseum that day in late March …

Two Speeches and a Tragedy  —  In his first year in office, President Obama gave two speeches—one in Cairo, the other in Oslo—that bear directly on the crisis in the Middle East today.  The Cairo speech, in June, 2009, offered a message of peace and coöperation between America, the West, and the Muslim world.

The Cult of Neil deGrasse Tyson  —  Tyson could have said of the Bush quote, “You know, I might have messed that one up, and will check it out.  Thanks for raising it.”  Instead, he said he had an “explicit memory” of Bush saying it, and of “making a note for possible later reference in my public discourse.”