The president welcomed the debate spawned by an alleged traitor and vowed to reform the NSA and FISA courts to be more compatible with the traitor’s goals. Irony here. Reax here.

We got a real inkling of the substance of Pope Francis revolution from one of his confidantes – and it isn’t likely to please the theocons.

There were glimmers of an end to the drug war, which really would be change we can believe in, and more evidence of the decline in mass violence on planet earth.

The beauty of Detroit is captured here; the novelistic skill of Caleb Crain here.

The most popular post of the day was this takedown of the latest column by Maureen Dowd; the second most popular was this description of a feminist Mormon revolt.

See you in the morning.

(Photo: Competitors run through the yellow color throw area during the Color Run at the Beijing International Garden Expo park on August 10, 2013 in Beijing, China. It’s the first time China hosted this event. By Feng Li/Getty Images.)