GOP leaders fear damage to party's image as Donald Trump doubles down  —  Since Donald Trump announced his presidential bid, he's drawn plenty of controversy and outrage for his comments on the campaign trail.  Here are some of the key moments.  (The Washington Post)

Trump leads GOP field in North Carolina  —  PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds that Donald Trump's momentum just keeps on building.  He's the top choice of Republican primary voters in the state, getting 16% to 12% for Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, 11% for Mike Huckabee …

‘New day in South Carolina’: House votes to take down Confederate flag  —  Rep. Wendell Gilliard and other representatives of the Lowcountry gather to remember the victims of the Emanuel AME Church shootings before the House voted early Thursday morning to bring down the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds.

Jeb Bush: People Need to Work Longer Hours  —  Today, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who as of-late has gone relatively gaffe-free, uttered a phrase that may not go over too well with the constituency he seeks to reach.  During an interview that was live-streamed on the app Periscope …

GOP long-shots plan early-state ad blitz  —  The 2016 ad wars have begun.  —  Allies of at least four long-shot Republican presidential hopefuls are planning to blitz Iowa and New Hampshire with paid advertisements in the coming week with the hope of cutting through the clutter of a 17-candidate field.

How A Teenage Girl Who Gave An ‘Intimidating Look’ Was Sentenced To Up To 5 Years In Prison  —  WASHINGTON — In suburban neighborhoods around the country, teenagers sass their parents and yell at their peers.  Usually, they grow out of it.  In Detroit, a 17-year-old girl who misbehaved …

Day of ‘technical’ glitches puts lawmakers on edge  —  Lawmakers are having a hard time swallowing the idea that a major stock exchange, a global airline and a prominent media outlet coincidentally suffered major outages on the same day.  —  The New York Stock Exchange halted trading …

Brent Budowsky: A Bernie Sanders summer  —  The surge in support for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2016 is the latest evidence of a progressive populist wave growing across America that has the potential to create a new political majority in the tradition of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy.

Keith Olbermann, ESPN to Part Ways Once Again  —  The departure follows a point of contention over delivering “commentary” on his ESPN2 program.  —  Keith Olbermann is exiting ESPN once again.  —  The television personality, who rejoined the sports network in August 2013, won't be renewing his deal to anchor his ESPN2 program.

Why We Shut Down Reddit's ‘Ask Me Anything’ Forum  —  We are moderators for the website reddit.com, a place where, on a typical day, millions of users read and share content in self-contained communities called “subreddits.”  We volunteer our time to help manage the subsection called IamA …

Dems lunge into confirmation fight  —  Democrats and the White House are hammering Senate Republicans for failing to act on a nominee who is charged with snipping the purse strings of Islamic extremists.  —  Adam Szubin was nominated to be the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism …

Exclusive: Facebook in early talks to launch audio music-streaming service  —  Facebook's digital music ambitions have been making headlines this month, with reports of early talks with labels linked to its trial of ad-supported native videos.  —  But Music Ally can reveal that while Facebook …

Cos And Effect: Dropped Months Ago By CAA, Bill Cosby Is Un-Repped In Hollywood  —  Bill Cosby was quietly dumped by CAA, which represented him since 2012, and he is now without talent representation in Hollywood.  Cosby, accused of drugging and raping more than two dozen women …

Barack Obama puts odds of Iran deal at ‘less than 50-50’  —  The president told senators at a gathering Tuesday that he won't accept a bad nuclear deal with Iran.  —  President Barack Obama pegged the chances of a nuclear agreement with Iran at “less than 50-50,” even as he worked …

The new Willie Horton?  —  Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez pleaded not guilty July 6 to first degree murder in the case of a woman who was fatally shot on a San Francisco pier.  The case has spurred debate about San Francisco's immigration policies.  (Reuters)  —  Is Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez the new Willie Horton?

To Help US Veterans Charity, George W. Bush Charged $100,000  —  Former President George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at a charity fundraiser for U.S. military veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former First Lady Laura Bush collected $50,000 to appear a year earlier …