NRO's Rich Lowry Explains What Lessons He Thinks We Should Learn From Ferguson  —  Bloody Bill's finest does his best to attempt to absolve Darren Wilson from any responsibility for the death of Michael Brown.  —  From one of Bloody Bill Kristol's finest over at the National Review Online …

Heed the Warnings: Why We're on the Brink of Mass Extinction  —  Evolutionary biologist Sean B. Carroll, executive producer of the doc Mass Extinction: Life At the Brink, on why mankind's days are numbered.  —  “How strange it is that the past is so little understood and so quickly forgotten …

Obama calls Chuck Todd ‘sad’  —  The commander in chief doesn't think much of the man who labeled him “The Stranger.”  —  Shopping at a Washington, DC, bookstore Saturday, President Obama spotted a copy of “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd's new book about his presidency.  —  “Oh, Chuck Todd!”

A 2016 ballot without Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush?  You heard it here  —  Charlie Cook, one of the most respected political experts in the country, believes Hillary Clinton has only a 25-30 percent chance of running for president, and in any case he thinks she is either “rusty” or “she has lost her fastball.”

Pope says it is wrong to equate Islam with violence  —  Reuters 2 hrs ago  —  ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday that equating Islam with violence was wrong and called on Muslim leaders to issue a global condemnation of terrorism to help dispel the stereotype.

Tampa homeless program uses unpaid, destitute residents as steady labor force, revenue source  —  TAMPA — Before every Tampa Bay Buccaneers home game, dozens of men gather in the yard at New Beginnings of Tampa, one of the city's largest homeless programs.  —  The men — many of them …

Democrats assail Wall Street ties in Obama administration  —  President Obama's nomination of Antonio Weiss to serve as the Treasury Department's top domestic finance official is drawing fire from an unusual sector: his fellow Democrats.  —  Liberal lawmakers like Sens. Elizabeth Warren …

The Retreat to Identity  —  LAST summer, around the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech, I wrote a column making — gingerly — a case for optimism about race and politics in America.  —  My argument was basically this: As much as racial controversy has marked …

David Brooks: White People ‘Need to Acknowledge Legacy of Racism’ in Police Issues  —  New York Times columnist David Brooks told Meet the Press Sunday morning that the legacy of racism had to be confronted when discussing matters of white police forces and black communities …

Heartland Brewery receives backlash for ‘racist’ slogan  —  The beerhouse is drawing criticism for its Bavarian Black Lager, which promises customers will become ‘a slave to the flavor.’ Several people, including Kristen John Foy of the National Action Network, say the slogan is racist and inappropriate.