Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security chief, to head UC  —  U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is being named the next president of the 10-campus UC system.  (Alex Wong / Getty Images / July 18, 2012)  —  Janet Napolitano, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona …

Pass the Bill!  —  It's beginning to look as though we're not going to get an immigration reform law this year.  House Republicans are moving in a direction that will probably be unacceptable to the Senate majority and the White House.  Conservative commentators like my friends Bill Kristol …

Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport  —  Edward Joseph Snowden delivered a statement to human rights organizations and individuals at Sheremetyevo airport at 5pm Moscow time today, Friday 12th July.  The meeting lasted 45 minutes.

Geraldo: Jurors would have ‘shot and killed Trayvon Martin a lot sooner than George Zimmerman did’  —  On this morning's “Fox & Friends,” criminal-justice expert Geraldo Rivera fielded a question about a ruling in the George Zimmerman trial, under which the jury will be allowed to consider a manslaughter conviction.

Iowa Supreme Court: It's OK To Fire A Woman For Being Too Attractive  —  Joseph Diebold is an intern with ThinkProgress.  —  Standing by a December decision, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that a male dentist who fired a female assistant because she was too attractive and threatened his marriage did not commit sex discrimination.

Concerning “Libertarian Populism”  —  Like any political tradition associated with the defense of privilege, American conservatism has been the object of many efforts to give it a popularizing makeover.  There was the “Modern Republicanism” of the Eisenhower era, which was a useful device …

Bob McDonnell's stunning fall from grace  —  In 2010, the political world pegged Bob McDonnell as a president in the making.  Last year, they put him on every VP list.  As recently as May, they called the popular Virginia governor a political model for his would-be successors in Richmond, Democrat and Republican alike.

Coming to Do Good, Staying to Do Well  —  For 20 years, since the weekend of Bill Clinton's first inauguration, I have rented against all financial prudence an apartment in Washington, D.C. even though I really live in Manhattan.  So, at least in a real-estate sense, I can rightfully claim …

New front opens in Syria as rebels say al Qaeda attack means war  —  (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Friday the assassination of one of their top commanders by al Qaeda-linked militants was tantamount to a declaration of war, opening a new front for the Western-backed fighters struggling against President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Another IRS Scandal Waiting to Happen  —  Federal Elections Commissioner Donald McGahn wants to rein in the bureaucracy of this sensitive agency.  The political left is furious.  —  The Obama administration claims it wants to ensure that the rank political abuse perpetrated by the Internal Revenue Service is never repeated.

Wendy Davis: Real Texans ready to fight  —  Editor's note: Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat, was elected to the Texas Senate in 2008 and lives in Fort Worth.  —  (CNN) — I stood up and began talking on the floor of the Texas State Senate not long ago because I hoped the Republicans …