From AOL / AP: WASHINGTON – The United States has never defaulted on its debt and Democrats and Republicans say they don’t want it to happen now. But with partisan acrimony running at fever pitch, and Democrats and Republicans so far apart on how to tame the deficit, the unthinkable is suddenly being pondered.

From the SUNDAY NEWS: LancasterOnline, the website of Lancaster Newspapers Inc., soon will ask its most frequent readers to pay a modest fee for continued, unlimited access to its news coverage.

From AOL HEALTH: Let’s face it: No matter how proficient you think you are, every now and then, you could use a little boost to improve your sex life and satisfy your partner. Try these simple, achievable sex tips with your lover tonight.

From the NEW YORK TIMES: Americans are more pessimistic about the nation’s economic outlook and overall direction than they have been at any time since President Obama’s first two months in office, when the country was still officially ensnared in the Great Recession, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

As a first in a series of interviews of former secretaries of state, Charlie Rose interviewed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger concerning the challenges and demands upon the State Department and its Secretary.

Nothing could make progressives more ecstatic than Trump as the Republican candidate or as a third party candidate. Either would assure the re-election of President Barack Obama by a landslide, likely sweeping in a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives as well as maintaining the majority in the Senate.

NEW ERA: “Expanding the ‘castle doctrine’ opines: “… the new bill… requires that defendants legally own the guns and that they need to visually spot a weapon on the attacker before shooting.” … “in most instances, retreating is the better option when a person sees a gunman or knife-wielding assailant approaching…

From USA TODAY: Article “Ending painkiller abuse requires doctor training, drug czar says” reports: “To halt prescription drug abuse, the nation’s fast-growing drug problem, Congress must require special training for doctors and other health care workers before they are allowed to prescribe powerful drugs such as OxyContin, White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske said Tuesday.

From THE BUDAPEST TIMES: Each nation must come to terms with the darker chapters of its own history. For the United States such chapters include the genocidal destruction of Native American peoples, the deaths of millions of Indochinese, and more recently the death of over one hundred thousand Iraqi civilians.

From AOL / AP: HAVANA — Communist Party delegates gave their blessing to a sweeping slate of economic changes designed to breathe life and a bit of free-market spirit into Cuba’s moribund economy, and also voted in a new party leadership at a historic summit Monday.

The subject matter was often depressing, but over the eighteen months the Watchdog studied nine books, listed below, to try to understand the widespread dysfunction of our civil society, government and economy. To them we add another concerning the War on Drugs.

From the PATRIOT-NEWS: It appears all but certain that Pennsylvanians will soon have expanded self-defense rights to stand their ground anywhere they feel threatened. That means that if you’re confronted by an armed attacker headed toward your house…