I Am an Independent, Impartial Judge  —  Yes, I was emotional last Thursday.  I hope everyone can understand I was there as a son, husband and dad.  —  I was deeply honored to stand at the White House July 9 with my wife, Ashley, and my daughters, Margaret and Liza, to accept President Trump's nomination …

Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing  —  SAN FRANCISCO — “I want to apologize,” the Facebook executive wrote last Friday in a note to staff.  “I recognize this moment is a deeply painful one — internally and externally.”  —  The apology came from Joel Kaplan, Facebook's vice president for global public policy.

Trump mocks Al Franken over resignation: He folded ‘like a wet rag’  —  President Trump mocked former Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) at a campaign rally in Minnesota Thursday for resigning following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.  —  “That guy was wacky.  Boy did he fold up like a wet rag, huh?”

Girl, 8, pulls a 1,500-year-old sword from a lake in Sweden  —  An eight-year-old found a pre-Viking-era sword while swimming in a lake in Sweden during the summer.  —  Saga Vanecek found the relic in the Vidöstern lake while at her family's holiday home in Jönköping County.

Accused doxxer of GOP senators allegedly threatened to publish their children's health information  —  A Democratic congressional intern accused of publishing the private information of at least three Republican lawmakers allegedly threatened to leak senators' children's health information if a witness told anyone about his activities.

This should be a column by Jamal Khashoggi  —  Editor's note: Jamal Khashoggi is a Saudi journalist and author, and a columnist for Washington Post Global Opinions.  Khashoggi's words should appear in the space above, but he has not been heard from since he entered a Saudi consulate in Istanbul …

Trump Considers Ousting Air Force Head Over Space Force Pushback  —  The president appears to be tired of Pentagon officials slow rolling his orders.  —  U.S. President Donald Trump is peeved with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson over her handling of his directive to stand up a separate Space Force …

New York Regulators Examine the Trump Family's Tax Schemes  —  New York City officials said on Thursday that they had joined state regulators in examining whether President Trump and his family underpaid taxes on his father's real estate empire over several decades.

Democrats Fear the Party's Kavanaugh Obsession Could Backfire  —  Sensing a bump for Republicans, some strategists want to pivot if he's confirmed.  Problem is the base may not be so ready to let it go.  —  With Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court looking more likely …

Executive Summary  —  “As currently postured, the U.S. military is only marginally able to meet the demands of defending America's vital national interests.”  —  The United States maintains a military force primarily to protect the homeland from attack and to protect its interests abroad.

Smartphone with a finger crawls across the table to stroke your wrist  —  What if smartphones had a robotic limb?  Many inventions start with a question that nobody else had ever thought to ask.  Few of them end up being quite as creepy as MobiLimb.  —  Created by Marc Teyssier at the University …