Donald the Whiner  —  Donald Trump is given to superlatives, so let's do him the honor of pronouncing him the most fabulous whiner in all of American politics.  —  By Trump's own account, he's the baddest, smartest thing going, except if you ask him a challenging question …

Has ‘The Donald’ Peaked?  —  Donald Trump remains the leader in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but his support has fallen by a third over the past week-and-a-half.  Carly Fiorina is now near the front of the pack.  —  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Trump …

Armed ‘Patriot’ Group Roams Ferguson With Assault Rifles  —  Heavily-armed members of a controversial right-wing “patriot” group added an extra dose of unease to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, early Tuesday.  —  The Oath Keepers organization says its members — all former military …

Rick Perry stops paying all of his staff as fundraising dries up  —  This post has been updated.  —  Rick Perry's presidential campaign has stopped paying all of its staff as the Republican former Texas governor's fundraising has dried up, campaign officials and other Republicans familiar with the operation said late Monday.

Lawrence Lessig to Explore a Run for President as a Democrat  —  Lawrence Lessig, the Harvard professor and democratic theorist, in 2014.  —  Some people land gyrocopters on the lawn at the Capitol to protest big money in politics.  Lawrence Lessig, the Harvard professor and democratic theorist, is thinking of running for president.

Sanders pulls crowd of 27,500 in LA  —  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) attracted another huge crowd at a rally for his presidential campaign in Los Angeles on Monday night.  —  The Sanders campaign, citing Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena officials, said 27,500 people were inside the venue …

The Nihilistic Populism of Donald Trump  —  Is The Donald a populist candidate?  Our friend Glenn Reynolds argued in Sunday's USA Today that the rise of Donald Trump is best understood as a populist event—"an indictment of the GOP establishment and, for that matter, of the American political establishment …

The Coddling of the American Mind  —  Something strange is happening at America's colleges and universities.  A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense.

Anger Outruns the Facts in Ferguson  —  A year after Michael Brown's death, protesters remain as furious as ever at police and refuse to say if a cop can ever be justified in using force.  —  FERGUSON, Missouri—If there is any growing national sense of weariness over the unrest and protests in Ferguson …

Watts' elders reflect on riots' legacy: Too much change or not enough?  —  Progress can be a touchy subject for black people who came of age in South Los Angeles during the era of the Watts riots.  —  The uprising that started 50 years ago Tuesday exposed rampant disadvantage and raging anger …

Gov. Brown doesn't want California to use this word for immigrants  —  SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown signed a trio of immigration-related measures Monday, including one removing the word “alien” from California's labor code because it is seen as a disparaging term for those not born in the United States.

State by State, Democratic Party Is Erasing Ties to Jefferson and Jackson  —  WASHINGTON — For nearly a century, Democrats have honored two men as the founders of their party: Thomas Jefferson, for his visionary expression of the concept of equality, and Andrew Jackson, for his populist spirit and elevation of the common man.