Lance Armstrong gives in – Lance Armstrong is finally ending his battle with the USADA. The cost of quitting could be steep. The USADA will now petition the international body that rules cycling to strip Lance’s 7 Tour de France titles. Armstrong chose not to pursue arbitration in the drug case brought against him by the USADA. He will likely get his titles stripped and his name wiped from the record books. Read Lance’s statement here and the letter from his lawyers here.

BREAKING Empire State Building Shooting LIVE: 10 People Shot, Gunman Killed by Police (Elena Sheppard) – Breaking reports of a shooter who opened fire just outside the Empire State Building Friday morning.

Top PolicyMic stories – Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Hurricanes(Conor Cook) – The 2012 hurricane season is heating up fast. This quick guide will tell you everything you need to know about how hurricanes work and what to expect this season.

Syria Civil War: What the U.S. Invasion of Syria Would Look Like (Chris Miller) – There are several options on the table for the U.S. to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons. However, a U.S. military invasion should not be one of them at this point.

How the Obama 2012 Team is Its Own Worst Enemy (Jesse Merkel) – President Obama may end up being done-in by his own conflicted campaign before we even get a chance to vote in November.

Prince Harry Vegas Photos: A Free Speech Issue, But One Not Relevant to Public Interest (Vicky Wong) – Pictures of Prince Harry's antics in Las Vegas are not of public interest, just interest of interest to the public.

An Open Letter to America and Israel, From Iran Leader Ayatollah Khamenei (Joseph Sarkisian) What's on the mind of the ole' Ayatollah. Oh, you know, the usual.

Top U.S. Political Debate Moments: The Good, The Funny and the Cringeworthy(Jesse Merkel) – While primary and presidential debates can sometimes get contentious, they can also be quite amusing. Here are some of the best all time moments!

3 highlights from PolicyMic this week:

1)   Our Republican National Convention coverage starts today. We’ll be covering everything live, with a team in Tampa and all over the country keeping you up to date with the latest news, analysis, and debate.
2)   The State Department sent a delegation of Romanian journalists to our HQ yesterday to learn about our strategy for re-inventing online news – see the picture of them accepting our “challenge.”
3)   Awesome articles: Amy Sterling Casil’s powerful response to the Akin controversy got 36 mics. Jonathan Booth’s article on shark finning went viral, getting over 250 shares. Joseph Beck’s story on the loss of American liberty went totally viral, getting read by over 9,000 people.

Cory Booker will speak at the Democratic Convention along with retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy (the Army's first woman three-star). Politcker NJ is also reporting that Booker may challenge Christie for the governorship in 2013.

Stat of the day – Paul Ryan’s name appeared 190 times in the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal since 2008. Ryan drew 72 mentions in the Weekly Standard magazine and National Review. His name was mentioned 1,050 times on Fox News. This did not just happen by accident. His mentions are the result of a years-long effort to cultivate relationships with a small but influential corps of commentators, policy intellectuals, and impresarios of the conservative movement (via Politico).

What we’re reading – Fear of a black president (The Atlantic); The economy under a McCain presidency (HBR); How young German men are lured into Jihad (Spiegel); Welcome to hell: Philadelphia’s case of PTSD (Philly Mag); Why Mitt Romney can't free America from Middle East oil (Foreign Policy).