“American warplanes struck Sunni militant positions in northern Iraq on Friday, the Pentagon and Kurdish officials said, confirming the first significant American military operation in the country since United States forces withdrew in 2011.” – NY Times

“It’s fair to say now that he got that assessment wrong. Iraq hasn’t become a ‘magnet’ for terrorist activity, it is becoming a failed state in the south and a cruel and menacing Islamic caliphate in the north.” – Bryan Preston/PJ Media

““We don’t understand real evil, organized evil very well,” said America’s former ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, in an interview with The New York Times. “This is evil incarnate.” – Hot Air

“Where Obama is going with this isn’t clear yet. Will we just attack ISIS positions when they conduct offensive operations against areas with Americans or refugees? Or will we eventually wind up serving as the air force for the Kurds and/or what’s left of the Iraqi Army? Either way, that’s not going to be quick.” – Ace Of Spades

“If this is just a trial balloon, the time to shoot it down is now. The administration claims such an executive order would simply be a corrective to GOP inaction on the current immigration crisis — 57,000 unaccompanied minors, plus tens of thousands of families, crashing through and overwhelming the southern border. This rationale is a fraud.” – Charles Krauthammer/National Review

“Should have done it a week ago, frankly. Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., announced Thursday that he is dropping out of the Senate race after it became clear that he could not overcome the fallout from a plagiarism scandal.” – RedState

“In the face of a challenging midterm environment, Democrats are relying on money and an expanding get-out-the-vote effort to avoid losing any more ground in the House. But what does that souped-up ground game look like?” – Roll Call

“Sean Eldridge likes to think of himself as a man of the people, fighting the ‘special interests,’ and looking out for the little guy. In reality, he’s a carpetbagger trying to buy his way to a Congressional seat by establishing a modern-day fiefdom in ‘his’ district (NY-19).” – Washington Free Beacon

“Glenn Beck no longer looms so large in the liberal mind as he did when he was on Fox News. But Rand Paul does. Senator Paul gets the full Jane-Goodall-among-the-chimpanzees treatment, with Mr. Draper puzzled by his beliefs and affect both: “Last month,” he writes, ‘I dropped by the Russell Senate Office Building to talk to Paul about his libertarian-Republican tightrope walk. Paul, 51 and a native Texan, possesses a supple mind and is a preternaturally confident speaker for someone who has held office for only four years. At the same time, Paul is not particularly enthusiastic about the glad-handing niceties that come with the job. ‘Good to see you,’ he mumbled, then flopped down into a chair in his office’s conference room and fixed me with an impatient stare.’ Perhaps Senator Paul was pondering a question that often has puzzled me: What possible good can come from a Republican sitting down with the New York Times?” – Kevin Williamson/National Review

“In short, your mission as bride is to plan a snazzy party to the satisfaction of every important person in your life, while spending as little as possible and ideally never talking about it. Also, can you get that ego under control, please?” – The Federalist