June Job Creation at 80,000; Rate Holds Steady at 8.2%  —  The U.S. economy created just 80,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate held steady at 8.2 percent, reflecting continued slow growth in the economy with the presidential election just four months away.

Obama hits Romney: ‘Principles matter’  —  President Obama sharply attacked Mitt Romney over the individual mandate on Friday, hitting him for “abandoning a principle” he fought for in the past due to political considerations.  —  “One of the things that you learn as president …

New Leak Explains What Chief Justice Roberts Was Really Thinking in Health Care Cases (Although the Leak is Poorly Sourced)  —  A fascinating new leak from deep inside the Supreme Court has just surfaced on what Roberts was thinking when he switched his vote in the health care cases.

Crime of the Century  —  Forget Bernie Madoff and Enron's Ken Lay — they were mere amateurs in financial crime.  The current Libor interest rate scandal, involving hundreds of trillions in international derivatives trade, shows how the really big boys play.

Ohioan to Obama: Let's arm-wrestle for vote  —  A voter in Amherst, Ohio, offered to arm-wrestle President Obama in exchange for his vote.  —  The president responded he'd prefer a basketball game, according to a White House pool report.  —  Obama was in Ohio wrapping up day one of a two-day bus tour …

Romney-Rice?  —  Erin McPike's “close examination of the [Romney] campaign's activity” at RealClearPolitics suggests four leading contenders for Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick—former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Ohio senator Rob Portman, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal.

Jolting the Democratic Party from Its Stupor  —  If the Democrats in Congress were all drinking water from the same faucet, there might be a clue to their chronic fear of the craven and cruel corporatist Republicans who dominate them.  —  But they don't, so we have to ask why their fear …

Gov. Chris Christie — Fightin' Words On the Jersey Shore [VIDEO]  —  GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE  —  FIGHTIN' WORDS  —  On the Jersey Shore  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  Things got downright HOSTILE on the Jersey Shore last night — with NJ Governor Chris Christie getting into a heated verbal altercation right …

David Axelrod stands by Nixon hit on Mitt  —  Senior Obama strategist David Axelrod stood by his comments likening Mitt Romney to Richard Nixon, charging on Friday that the former Massachusetts governor was “trying to turn the clock back 50 years on transparency and disclosure” and that the media should call him out for it.

Texas: Ted Cruz Internal Poll Shows Lead Over David Dewhurst  —  Ted Cruz (above) led Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a recent internal poll.  (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)  —  Ted Cruz led Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst by 9 points in a recent internal poll conducted for the former Texas …

IN OBAMA WE TRUST  —  For the first time in decades, The Advocate has a candidate it can endorse for president.  That candidate is Barack Obama.  —  Never has the substantial progress in equal rights and treatment of LGBT people been more at risk than in this presidential contest.

Rand Paul on Civil Rights: Private Restaurants Wouldn't Have To Serve Martin Luther King  —  What's Your Reaction: … Wednesday on “Hardball,” Jack Conway charged that Rand Paul wanted to do away with the Civil Rights Act.  In fact, Rand Paul's words to the Courier-Journal …

Honor Code  —  Henry V is one of Shakespeare's most appealing characters.  He was rambunctious when young and courageous when older.  But suppose Henry went to an American school.  —  By about the third week of nursery school, Henry's teacher would be sending notes home saying that Henry “had another hard day today.”

Exclusive: Yahoo and Facebook Strike Patent Peace Deal, Significantly Expanding Ad and Content Partnership  —  Executives at Yahoo and Facebook have completed an extensive strategic deal, as part of a final settlement of their contentious patent infringement lawsuit and countersuit.

Sobbing woman thanks Obama for health care law  —  SANDUSKY, Ohio — An emotional Ohio voter personally thanked President Obama for passing a health care overhaul, relating the story of her late sister's battle with cancer.  —  After Obama's speech in Sandusky, he encountered a sobbing Stephanie Miller …

96 Year-Old Latino Former Arizona Governor Detained By Border Patrol In 100 Degree Heat  —  This man is Raúl Héctor Castro.  He is 96 years old, a former Arizona governor, and a former United States Ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia and Argentina.  He was born in Mexico, and is a United States citizen.

The Incredible Shrinking American Government: 169K Jobs Gone in a Year  —  Another jobs report has come and gone, and yet again, we're left to wonder whether the economy might not be a tad healthier if we weren't firing government workers left and right.  Over the past year, the United States has shed 169,000 public sector workers.

Jacob Zuma penis cartoon by Zapiro ‘disgusts’ ANC  —  President Jacob Zuma has several lawsuits against local newspapers in the courts  —  South Africa's governing ANC has expressed its “disgust” at a cartoon of President Jacob Zuma as a penis.  —  The cartoon, by prominent artist Jonathan Shapiro …