FBI: Breakdown in background check system allowed Dylann Roof to buy gun  —  Dylann Roof, who is accused of killing nine people at a church in South Carolina, should not have been able to purchase the gun used in the attack and was allowed to buy the weapon only because of breakdowns …

Katherine Archuleta, Director of Office of Personnel Management, Resigns  —  WASHINGTON — Katherine Archuleta, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, will resign effective Friday, according to a White House official, one day after it was revealed that sweeping cyberintrusions …

The Promise and Peril of “Hidden Majority” Theories  —  If you are a political party or party faction, and you find yourself in what appears to be a durable minority position with the electorate as it currently exist, you have four basic options to boost your standing: (1) …

HarperCollins Refutes New York Times Claim That Ted Cruz Tried To Game Bestseller List  —  “No evidence of bulk orders or sales through any retailer or organization,” says the publisher, in a rare rebuttal to the all-powerful Times.  —  Richard Ellis / Getty Images

Go Set A Watchman: read the first chapter - interactive  —  An exclusive extract from the new novel by Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird, published on 14 July  —  Since Atlanta, she had looked out the dining-car window with a delight almost physical.

U.S. Uninsured Rate at 11.4% in Second Quarter  —  Story Highlights  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The uninsured rate among U.S. adults aged 18 and older was 11.4% in the second quarter of 2015, down from 11.9% in the first quarter.  The uninsured rate has dropped nearly six percentage points since …

Wisconsin's Friend at the IRS  —  Emails show a common cause in restricting political speech.  —  Wisconsin's campaign to investigate conservative tax-exempt groups has always seemed like an echo of the IRS's scrutiny of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

Greece's Economy Is a Lesson for Republicans in the U.S.  —  Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster.  To the extent that Greece matters to us, it's mainly about geopolitics …

The Daily Cruz  —  How Breitbart.com, partly funded by a top Ted Cruz donor, became the Texas senator's media lifeline.  —  Ted Cruz has a media strategy.  It's called Breitbart.com.  —  The Texas senator is firmly ensconced in the middle of the Republican presidential primary pack.

Florida Supreme Court orders redrawing of some U.S. congressional districts  —  The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the redrawing of some of the state's U.S. congressional districts before the 2016 elections.  —  In a 5-2 ruling, the state's high court found the legislature's redistricting plan …

Confederate Flag Debates Move To High School Sports  —  Students at Kentucky's Allen Central High School display a Confederate flag featuring the school's logo in 2006.  (AP)  —  In the three weeks since nine black churchgoers were massacred in Charleston, South Carolina …

Psychologists Shielded U.S. Torture Program, Report Finds  —  WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency's health professionals repeatedly criticized the agency's post-Sept. 11 interrogation program, but their protests were rebuffed by prominent outside psychologists who lent credibility to the program …

President Obama to make historic visit to federal prison  —  President Barack Obama will become the first sitting chief executive to visit a federal prison when he goes to El Reno, Oklahoma, next week to meet with law enforcement officials and inmates as part of the administration's push for criminal-justice reform.

Spotify search warrant helps nab alleged child abductors  —  There was food left on the table.  —  Dishes filled the kitchen sink.  —  It looked like 25-year-old Wellington resident Brittany Nunn, her husband Peter Barr, and her two young girls had gone out for ice cream, said Drew Weber …

Film star Omar Sharif dies aged 83  —  Omar Sharif earned an Oscar nomination for Lawrence of Arabia  —  Actor Omar Sharif, best known for his roles in classic films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, has died aged 83.  —  Egypt-born Sharif won two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination …

Jan Brewer: Donald Trump ‘Telling It Like It Really, Truly Is’  —  (CNSNews.com) - Although he's been villified by amnesty advocates, business tycoon Donald Trump is right about the problems, including crime, caused by people crossing into the United States illegally, says the former governor of Arizona.

Women Haven't Had Their Own Ticker-Tape Parade Since 1960  —  Friday's ticker-tape parade in honor of the U.S. women's national soccer team, which won the World Cup on Sunday, is the first such parade in New York to honor exclusively women since 1960.  That's when Carol Heiss received …

Bill Cosby's Famous “Pound Cake” Speech, Annotated  —  A decade ago Cosby gave a speech excoriating poor blacks for not living up to the promise of the civil rights movement.  Here's a look back based on what we know now.  —  Bill Cosby speaking to the Television Critics Association on July 22, 1996.