Top intelligence office informs congressional committees it'll no longer brief on election security  —  (CNN)The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has informed the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence that it'll no longer be briefing on election security issues, a senior administration official told CNN.

Trump Pulls Closer to Biden After RNC  —  Post-convention poll shows Trump almost halved national deficit against the Democratic nominee  — Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Trump 50% to 44% among likely voters following the Republican National Convention vs. a lead of 52% to 42% before it began.

Biden, Speaking to National Guard Group, Takes Aim at Republican Criticism on Crime  —  The Democratic presidential nominee hit back at attacks delivered at the Republican National Convention.  —  After a Republican National Convention week in which President Trump and his allies sought …

8 juicy details from the new Melania Trump tell-all book  —  First Lady Melania Trump's former senior adviser and close friend has written a tell-all book that describes the first lady as someone who can't be trusted and who often competed for influence in the White House with Ivanka Trump.

Arkansas sheriff resigns over racist rant in leaked recording  —  An Arkansas sheriff resigned Friday after coming under fire over a leaked racist recording.  —  Sheriff Todd Wright of Arkansas County, about 85 miles southeast of Little Rock, resigned effective immediately on Friday during …

Compare Pages From an Uncensored Book on Investigating Terrorism  —  Under legal pressure, the C.I.A. has permitted the former F.B.I. agent Ali Soufan to republish his 2011 memoir about investigating members of Al Qaeda, “The Black Banners,” without redacted passages about his interrogation …

Sorry to have to provide the reality check again, but when CNN polled registered voters in August in just the swing states, Biden and Trump were in a virtual tie.  In Minnesota, it's 47-47.  In Michigan, where Biden had a big lead, Trump has closed the gap to 4 points.  Are you ready for a Trump victory?

Christian Dandy Throws A Punch  —  Well, this clip of a street scene in Washington DC, after Trump's speech, is making the social media rounds.  Warning: there's a guy rolling on his bike down the street, screaming “F-K YOU!  F-K TRUMP!”  So be warned about the sound:

An American Disaster Foretold  —  Europeans look at “containment” as the means to deal with Trump.  —  PARIS — Henry Kissinger this month called François Delattre, the former French ambassador to the United States who is now the secretary general of the Foreign Ministry.

Fact-checking Trump's lies is essential.  It's also increasingly fruitless.  —  Daniel Dale met President Trump's convention speech with a tirade of truth Thursday night — a tour de force of fact-checking that left CNN anchor Anderson Cooper looking slightly stunned.

Did you see photos of officers supposedly injured last weekend in NW cities?  The facts don't check out  —  The Associated Press checks out some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week.  This one is bogus, even though it was shared widely on social media.

‘That Same Feeling’: Painful Memories in Kenosha Come Rushing Back  —  The auto plant closed in 1988, turning the Wisconsin city upside down.  Now it's facing an even deeper existential crisis.  —  KENOSHA, Wis. — Anguished residents wondered if their city would ever recover.

The Census Scales Back A Critical Step: Checking Its Own Work  —  With scores of people displaced because of the coronavirus pandemic and other disasters, the U.S. Census Bureau is facing an especially daunting challenge of meeting its once-a-decade goal of tallying every person living in the country …

The ponderous, low-energy guy is Trump  —  As President Trump droned through his 70-minute acceptance speech — while desecrating the White House as a television backdrop, which was probably illegal — the words that kept coming to mind were two he has applied with relish to his opponents: “low-energy” and “sleepy.”

State Police traffic stop of Black law student draws complaint that opens door to review of police enforcement practices  —  A state trooper's stop of a Black motorist on Interstate 40 has led to a complaint to state officials and a related request for racial information about State Police enforcement practices.

Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive.  Maybe It Shouldn't Be.  —  The usual diagnostic tests may simply be too sensitive and too slow to contain the spread of the virus.  —  Some of the nation's leading public health experts are raising a new concern in the endless debate over coronavirus testing …

Confessions of a voter fraud: I was a master at fixing mail-in ballots  —  A top Democratic operative says voter fraud, especially with mail-in ballots, is no myth.  And he knows this because he's been doing it, on a grand scale, for decades.  —  Mail-in ballots have become the latest flashpoint in the 2020 elections.

Mitch McConnell's campaign hires Covington teen Nick Sandmann  —  LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's campaign has hired a Kentucky teenager known for his viral encounter with a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial last year.  —  Nick Sandmann landed a paid position …

Leonard Cohen's Estate Wants You to Know They ‘Specifically Declined’ the RNC's Use of ‘Hallelujah’  —  Leonard Cohen's famous ballad “Hallelujah” was everywhere this week, and while the late singer might not have minded its inclusion in the new trailer for the Snyder Cut of Justice League …

Holocaust reparations, prescriptions and rent checks: USPS delays put Americans in jeopardy  —  Around the 3rd of every month, Walter Lachman receives a check in the mail from the German government.  The money means both survival and justice for the 92-year-old Holocaust survivor, who was sent to a concentration camp at age 14.

As wildfires rage, California needs more firefighters.  Why won't it let former inmates join the ranks?  —  In February, Jeffrey Choate, an inmate in the California prison system, wrote me a letter about finding peace and purpose at a prison fire camp in Fort Bragg.