NATIONAL

“The Supreme Court has turned down all seven pending petitions urging the court to decide whether there is a right to same-sex marriage under the U.S. Constitution.” – POLITICO

“U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said ’85 percent’ of African-Americans he speaks with raise the possibility the Secret Service may be intentionally slacking in its protection of this president because is black.” – BizPAC Review

“A large explosion at a suspected nuclear site in Iran has reportedly killed two people and prompted speculation of sabotage at a military site long suspected of housing Tehran’s clandestine nuclear activities, according Iran’s Defense Industries Organization (DIO), which operates under the country’s Ministry of Defense.” – Washington Free Beacon

“The current low-level panic over Ebola is due to just one thing. The United States government, via the actions of HHS and CDC, has totally abandoned their own policies for dealing with a potential epidemic. This is not the first time they have done so. So long as the public health community is more beholden to its own liberal orthodoxy than it is to science and medicine, the nation will never be very safe.” – RedState

“Naturally, there is a lawsuit — for breach of warranty, among other things. The couple say that they are suffering stress from raising their mixed-race daughter in an overwhelmingly white community. I can picture the scene: A mob of angry Ohioans, torches and pitchforks at the ready, menacingly reads a declaration: ‘We, the town fathers of Obscurity, Ohio, were perfectly ready to be accepting, supportive, and welcoming of this lesbian couple’s test-tube baby. But when that lesbian couple’s test-tube baby turns out to be half black — well, that’s a bridge too far for the decent people of Ohio.’ I suppose they might then burn half a cross — Ohio’s pretty weird.” – Kevin Williamson/National Review

“Manufactured shortages are the great project of modern governments. This manufacture is done by prohibitively increasing the cost of creating and distributing products and services, by controlling the means of production in the name of wealth redistribution and by prohibiting the production on the grounds that it is immoral or dangerous. Over the 20th century the transition was made from the first to the second and finally to the third.” – Sultan Knish

“For those of us who get the willies at the thought of hereditary political dynasties, recent polls look encouraging. At least among Democrats running for the Senate, political legatees are struggling almost universally as this year’s campaign enters its long final stretch. Voters thinking wisely will decide not that these children of the famous deserve to lose because of their well-known names, but that their names decidedly do not warrant their election or reelection if they haven’t otherwise earned it.” – Quin Hillyer/National Review

“A new poll shows that Americans have little confidence in President Obama’s administration to protect them from terrorist attacks or mass shootings, and even less faith that the federal government will improve the flagging economy.” – Truth Revolt

“We saw Republicans engage in this feces flinging in the weeks before the elections of 2008 and 2012. Now, it is apparently the turn of the Democrats.” – American Thinker

“Before delving into the twin embarrassments in the past week, let us recall how Joe Biden got to be Vice President in the first place. In August 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and wrested away South Ossetia and Abkhazia from its former Soviet republic. John McCain had warned of Russian intentions and seemed vindicated by invasion — although how impactful that would have been on the election after the economic collapse the next month is debatable. Barack Obama, needing to add some old-hand gravitas on foreign policy, chose Joe Biden and his supposed keen insights on global policy.” – Hot Air

LOUISIANA

“Bobby Jindal is doing all the right things, among national Republican and media constituencies, to get into the serious conversation for the 2016 presidential race. But his deep unpopularity at home in Louisiana significantly undercuts those national efforts.” – Quin Hillyer/Baton Rouge Advocate

“U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy is criticizing a teacher union for filing a lawsuit that could strip money for some charter schools from Louisiana’s public school financing formula.” – AP

“U.S. Sen. David Vitter says he ‘aggressively favors tolls’ to pay part of the $3 billion needed to complete Interstate 49 between Lafayette and New Orleans. He told a meeting of the I-49 South Coalition in Lafayette on Friday that people would accept tolls to build new roads if they have alternate routes to avoid the tolls if they want to.” – NOLA.com

“The Louisiana Legislature gave birth in 2008 to what was expected to become the nation’s first offshore megaport capable of unloading containers of cargo from some of the largest commercial ships ever constructed — vessels too large to enter rivers, even the Mighty Mississippi.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“From the big house to the U.S. House? At 87 years old and after serving nearly a decade in prison, former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards sees nothing unusual about mounting a return to public office.” – Fox News

“This is the last day Louisiana residents can register to vote or make changes to their existing registration before the Nov. 4 election.” – NOLA.com

“Despite scathing criticism of Louisiana roads and bridges, questions remain on whether a special state panel studying the issue will recommend sweeping or modest highway fixes. ‘People aren’t stupid; they know the roads suck,’ said state Treasurer John Kennedy, who appeared last week before the Transportation Funding Task Force.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Thousands of Louisiana government workers and retirees are attending meetings with the Office of Group Benefits on Monday to discuss changes to their health insurance.” – WAFB

“Four years ago, Southern University Lab School was in trouble, deep in the red and losing students. But a shift to online education has restored the school’s financial health and prospects, perhaps even helping attract local students to the physical campus next to the historically black university in Baton Rouge.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“LSU has fallen out of the weekly college football polls for the first time since 2008 following their 41-7 loss to Auburn.” – WRNO