The Mother of All No-Brainers  —  The Republicans have changed American politics since they took control of the House of Representatives.  They have put spending restraint and debt reduction at the top of the national agenda.  They have sparked a discussion on entitlement reform.

DA set to drop charges vs. DSK  —  Pop the champagne, DSK.  —  Prosecutors will agree to drop the charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn — either on his next court date in two weeks or even sooner, according to a top investigator in the case who called the eventual dismissal “a certainty.”

Boat People  —  Some questions for the “activists” aboard the Gaza flotilla.  —  The tale of the Gaza “flotilla” seems set to become a regular summer feature, bobbing along happily on the inside pages with an occasional update.  A nice sidebar for reporters covering the Greek debt crisis …

Op-Ed: Jews becoming commonplace in conservative ‘new media’  —  PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — Many reviews already have appeared of “The Undefeated,” the soon-to-be-released documentary about Sarah Palin's tenure in Alaska.Yet none of them — even in The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post or The Washington Post …

Administration Offers Health Care Cuts as Part of Budget Negotiations  —  WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials are offering to cut tens of billions of dollars from Medicare and Medicaid in negotiations to reduce the federal budget deficit, but the depth of the cuts depends …

BMW layoffs exemplify the evisceration of the middle class  —  Every working American should be dismayed by — and afraid of — what BMW is doing.  —  By all accounts, BMW's parts distribution warehouse in Ontario was one of the jewels of the company's system.

Solid Majority of Jewish Americans Still Approve of Obama  —  Changes in approval among Jews continues to reflect broader U.S. patterns  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Jewish Americans gave President Barack Obama a 60% job approval rating in June, down from 68% in May, but statistically unchanged from 64% in April.

Pakistan's Spies Tied to Slaying of a Journalist  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Obama administration officials believe that Pakistan's powerful spy agency ordered the killing of a Pakistani journalist who had written scathing reports about the infiltration of militants in the country's military, according to American officials.

White House's New Anti-Terror Strategy: Kill the Suspects?  —  Usama bin Laden has been killed.  The U.S. is poised to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.  And the Obama administration's shift in counterterrorism strategy from land wars to precision strikes and raids is raising concerns …

New breed of ‘super PACs,’ other independent groups could define 2012 campaign  —  View Photo Gallery — Who's in and who's out?:   Republicans are beginning to announce who will pursue a bid for the presidency.  —  One commercial accuses President Obama of worsening the deficit and says …

Cisco Poised to Help China Keep an Eye on Its Citizens  —  By LORETTA CHAO in Beijing and DON CLARK in San Francisco  —  Cameras in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.  U.S. firms can sell surveillance gear in China, but not equipment that is used only for crime control.

Obama's Original Sin  —  The president's failure to demand a reckoning from the moneyed interests who brought the economy down has cursed his first term, and could prevent a second.  —  After 9/11, Rudy Giuliani went on Saturday Night Live to give New Yorkers permission to laugh again.

Time in House Could Be Short for Republican Newcomers  —  WASHINGTON — Just when freshman House Republicans have finally learned their way to the Cannon Caucus Room, how to vote on a motion to proceed and which commissary serves the best tuna sandwiches, someone back home — worse …

Pawlenty's new Iowa ad highlights conservative credentials  —  Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) launched a second television ad on Tuesday highlighting his conservative accomplishments as governor.  —  A new 30-second TV ad boasts that Pawlenty “refused to cave in to government unions” …

Would We Ever Ground Air Force One?  —  by Richard A. Epstein (Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow and member of the Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force)  —  Of course not.  So why the jihad against corporate jets?  —  During his last press conference …

Traffic cases settled, but deportations loom  —  Minor offenders snared in immigration program aimed at serious crimes  —  One early evening in May, a Boston police officer arrested Lizandra DeMoura for traffic violations and driving without a license.  In another city, she might have been booked and released for a court hearing.

How the Complete Meaning of July Fourth Is Slipping Away  —  At least one of the Founders thought that Independence Day would become important.  When the Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776, John Adams, who more than any other single Founder was responsible for that vote, was ecstatic.

A grand old cult  —  Someone ought to study the Republican Party.  I am not referring to yet another political scientist but to a mental health professional, preferably a specialist in the power of fixations, obsessions and the like.  The GOP needs an intervention.  It has become a cult.

Global race on to match U.S. drone capabilities  —  At the most recent Zhuhai Air Show, the premier event for China's aviation industry, crowds swarmed around a model of an armed, jet-propelled drone and marveled at the accompanying display of its purported martial prowess.

Marcus Bachmann, campaign spouse  —  While Michele Bachmann tries to distinguish herself on the campaign trail, Marcus Bachmann, her husband of 32 years, already has.  —  He's yet to do any surrogate campaigning or deliver a speech.  Still, unlike several other candidates' spouses …