Credibility of local NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal questioned  —  Controversy is swirling around one of the Inland Northwest's most prominent civil rights activists, with family members of Rachel Dolezal saying the local leader of the NCAAP has been falsely portraying herself as black for years.

Walker open to teaming up with Rubio on 2016 ticket  —  Gov. Scott Walker (Wis.) is open to the idea of teaming up with Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) on a GOP presidential ticket, he told Bloomberg on Thursday.  —  “I do like Marco Rubio, I think he and I have similar thoughts on national defense …

Why Does Obama Want This Trade Deal So Badly?  —  The political battle over the enormous, twelve-nation trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership keeps getting stranger.  President Obama has made the completion of the deal the number-one legislative priority of his second term.

Wonk warrior  —  Inside the relaunch of Hillary Clinton.  —  Lead image by Getty.  —  Hillary Clinton hasn't always been a profile in political courage, but she's had her moments.  One of them came in late December 2006, a month before Clinton announced her first run for the presidency …

Congressman On Sex Abuse Scandal: ‘The Only Victim Here Is Denny Hastert’  —  The indictment last month of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) on charges of illegally concealing millions in banks withdrawals and lying to the FBI also revealed another serious breach …

Roger Simon  —  Roger Simon is a Columnist for Politico.  He grew up on the South Side of Chicago where politics was a contact sport.  —  At the Chicago Sun-Times, where he wrote a column four times per week, Simon was taught that the only way for a journalist to look upon a politician was down.

Former IMF chief Strauss-Kahn acquitted in pimping trial  —  2 photos  —  LILLE, France (AP) — Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was cleared of pimping charges on Friday in France, putting an end to four years of legal drama that began with a sexual assault charge in a New York hotel room.

Bennett Elementary teacher ‘relieved of her duties’ after posting about McKinney incident  —  A fourth grade teacher at Bennett Elementary has been ‘relieved of her duties’ by the Frenship Independent School District after she posted her opinions about the McKinney pool party incident on her Facebook page.

Lindsey Graham Is A ‘Bro With No Ho,’ According To Mark Kirk  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is a “bro with no ho,” according to his colleague, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)  —  The assessment of Graham's love life was made during a Senate Appropriations Committee markup on Thursday and caught on a live microphone.

Judge finds probable cause for murder charge against officer who killed Tamir Rice  —  Brandon Blackwell, Northeast Ohio Media Group By Brandon Blackwell, Northeast Ohio Media Group  —  CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Cleveland Municipal Court judge has found probable cause that police officer Timothy Loehmann …

Why I'm finally convinced it's time to stop saying “you guys”  —  The tech startup npm recently blogged about the unusual challenge some of its employees have agreed to participate in: they put a dollar in a glass jar every time they say “you guys.”  —  “We didn't invent the idea …

11-Year-Old Boy Played in His Yard.  CPS Took Him, Felony Charge for Parents.  —  One afternoon this past April, a Florida mom and dad I'll call Cindy and Fred could not get home in time to let their 11-year-old son into the house.  The boy didn't have a key, so he played basketball in the yard.

Niall Ferguson Fights Back Against Smear Campaign by Fact-checkers, Facts  —  A prestigious conservative scholar demands the world stop correcting him.  —  Shares … Committing the odd factual error is an occupational hazard in journalism.  For Niall Ferguson, the commission of error is more than a hazard.

OPM Hack Far Deeper Than Publicly Acknowledged, Went Undetected For More Than A Year, Sources Say … The massive hack into federal systems announced last week was far deeper and potentially more problematic than publicly acknowledged, with hackers believed to be from China moving through …

How Rand Paul Has Already Changed the 2016 Race  —  The candidate has proven chatty and thoughtful  —  Rand Paul has been a bad, bad boy.  Just ask him.  “I'm not very popular in Washington right now” was his opening line at a series of town-hall meetings in New Hampshire …