- GOP frets looming fiscal battles.
- White House hardens stance on budget cuts.
- The oil services giant Halliburton agreed Thursday to plead guilty to destroying evidence during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in 2010, admitting to one count of criminal conduct and agreeing to pay the $200,000 maximum statutory fine.
- Egyptian prosecutors have charged deposed President Mohamed Morsi with espionage and colluding with the militant group Hamas.
- Invoking the families of 9/11 victims, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Thursday heatedly denounced the growing libertarian drift on national security in the Republican Party that is favored by Senator Rand Paul and others.
- The Washington Post‘s guide to where abortion laws are being rewritten, state-by-state.
- FORBES obtains the blueprints of NSA’s new Utah facility.
- Silda Spitzer reportedly plans to divorce Eliot Spitzer, NYC candidate for comptroller, after his campaign is over.
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg‘s wealth grew by $3.8 billion yesterday.
- Caroline Kennedy and the politics of ambassadorships
- How gay marriage became legitimate
- Pope Francis becomes “apostle of the slums.”
- Swampland this morning
- 100,000 are dead in Syria, and “helping” will probably kill more.
- The Republicans have a Steve King problem.
- Attorney General Eric Holder takes on Texas’ voting plans.
- Norm Ornstein: “The Unprecedented—and Contemptible—Attempts to Sabotage Obamacare“
- Charles Krauthammer on the cause of Detroit’s bankruptcy: “Corruption, both legal and illegal, plus a classic case of reactionary liberalism.”
- Fox takes on ESPN
- Just another night in This Town
Morning Must Reads: July 26
In the news: Halliburton, Morsi, Christie v. Paul, abortion law, the blueprints of a NSA facility, Silda Spitzer, Caroline Kennedy, the Steve King problem, Obamacare, Detroit, and This Town.