• Sexy Liberal John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for an hour of Fridays With Fugelsang

DupuyTina Dupuy, Editor in Chief of TheContributor.com, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the GOP’s new practice of “poor shaming”

Kidnapper Ariel Castro shocked a Cleveland court yesterday by saying he is “not a monster,” “lived a normal life” and that the sex he had with the three women he held captive for more than a decade was “consensual.” Castro’s statement came after one of his victims, Michelle Knight, confronted him for the “hell” she endured in his house for 11 years.

The White House says it is “evaluating the utility” of an anticipated meeting between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G-20 meeting in Moscow in September after Russia granted temporary asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s office canceled a scheduled new employee and management sex harassment training session in the first months in office, according to a published report.

U.S. embassies in a slew of Muslim countries will close on Sunday in response to “a specific threat against a U.S. embassy or consulate,” according to a senior U.S. official, who called it a “concerted effort” to target an embassy or consulate in a Muslim country.