Whisper Campaigns And “Zipper Problems”: How Jeb Bush's Allies Tried — And Failed — To Stop Marco Rubio  —  On the night of the 2010 midterm elections, a portly, silver-haired Jeb Bush stood on a stage in the courtyard of Miami's luxe Biltmore Hotel, appearing to choke back tears.

Ex-US Intelligence Chief on Islamic State's Rise:  —  ‘We Were Too Dumb’  —  Interview Conducted By Matthias Gebauer and Holger Stark  —  Without the Iraq war, Islamic State wouldn't exist today, former US special forces chief Mike Flynn openly admits.  In an interview …

Clinton opened State Department office to dozens of corporate donors, Dem fundraisers  —  WASHINGTON - As secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton opened her office to dozens of influential Democratic party fundraisers, former Clinton administration and campaign loyalists …

Cruz Condemns Colorado Shooting, Rejects Anti-Abortion Link … Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.  —  NEWTON, Iowa — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is condemning the fatal shooting of three people at a Planned Parenthood location in Colorado but also aggressively pushing …

Donald Trump's Big Endorsement Event Quietly Becomes a Private Meeting  —  Donald J. Trump will meet on Monday with more than 100 black pastors and religious figures at Trump Tower in Manhattan.  But just how many will actually endorse him afterward is unclear.

Obama, at Conference, Says U.S. Is Partly to Blame for Climate Change  —  PARIS — President Obama told world leaders who gathered northeast of Paris on Monday for a climate conference that the United States is at least partly to blame for the life-threatening damage that environmental change has wrought …

University of Chicago Closes Campus After Online Threat  —  The University of Chicago has canceled all classes and activities at its Hyde Park campus after being warned by the FBI of an online threat of gun violence there.  —  In an alert sent out to the campus community …

State sues prisoners to pay for their room, board  —  Melvin Moore is a paroled inmate being sued by the Illinois Department of Corrections to recoup the costs of incarceration. … The $31,690 Johnny Melton received to settle a lawsuit over his mother's death was going to help him start life anew after prison.

Dear Basketball  —  PHOTOGRAPH BY WALTER IOOSS JR./THE PLAYERS' TRIBUNE … I knew one thing was real:  —  I fell in love with you.  —  A love so deep I gave you my all —  From my mind & body  —  To my spirit & soul.  —  As a six-year-old boy  —  Deeply in love with you

We can save atheism from the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris  —  There must be another way for nonbelievers than to transform, as Dawkins and Harris have done, into toxic know-it-alls  —  hy are the New Atheists such jerks?  Case in point: Richard Dawkins' continuing pursuit …

Clinton Appoints Ex-Congressman Who Blamed Defeat on Jewsto ‘Leadership Team’  —  Hillary Clinton has appointed to her leadership team a former congressman who blamed his defeat on “Jewish interests” and the “Jewish media,” her campaign announced earlier this month.

Addicted to Distraction  —  ONE evening early this summer, I opened a book and found myself reading the same paragraph over and over, a half dozen times before concluding that it was hopeless to continue.  I simply couldn't marshal the necessary focus.  —  I was horrified.

Hispanic Republican leaders shun Donald Trump  —  Prominent Hispanic Republicans are holding out hope that business mogul Donald Trump won't win the party's presidential nomination.  —  They are worried that his incendiary rhetoric on immigration will sour Latinos on the GOP and sink the party's chances of taking back the White House.

Trump gets OK to use Twisted Sister song  —  Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider says he gave Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump permission to use the band's hit “We're Not Gonna Take It” on the campaign trail.  —  “He called and he asked, which I appreciated,” Snider told Canadian Business in a recent interview.

Muslim taxi driver shot on Thanksgiving in Hazelwood calls attack a hate crime  —  Pittsburgh police are investigating the Thanksgiving Day shooting of a Muslim cab driver in Hazelwood that the victim and leaders of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh are describing as a hate crime.