Exclusive: Intercepted Calls Prove Syrian Army Used Nerve Gas, U.S. Spies Say  —  Last Wednesday, in the hours after a horrific chemical attack east of Damascus, an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of a chemical weapons unit …

Ben Bradlee's daughter-in-law reveals (almost) all on Facebook  —  Ben Bradlee, one of the great men of American journalism, celebrated his 92nd birthday yesterday, and his daughter-in-law paid tribute by posting a photo of them and saying “it is a dream to be part of his family.”

Robertson: Gay People Deliberately Spread HIV/AIDS By Cutting People With Special Rings  —  Today on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson told co-host Terry Meeuwsen that gay men in cities like San Francisco attempt to spread HIV/AIDS to others by cutting them with a special ring when shaking hands.

Why are Feminists Judging Miley Cyrus?  —  RUSH: This Miley Cyrus incident from Sunday night, “twerking” on the MTV Music Awards, continues to be discussed.  I ran across something today I really want to share with you about the curriculum at many (one particularly, but I'm sure at many other) universities and colleges in this country.

Norwegian FM to ‘Post’: World will not bankroll Palestinian state-building forever  —  Eide praises Israel for ‘difficult’ prisoner release.  —  Both the Palestinians and Israel should know that the world will not bankroll Palestinian Authority state-building forever, and that if progress …

August 2013 Ratings: MSNBC Down Double Digits  —  MSNBC continued its rough 2013 in the ratings, continuing to lose significant audience from 2012.  The problems were particularly prevalent in primetime, with some shows losing close to -50% of viewers.  —  The ratings for August 2013 (Nielsen Live + Same Day data):

Teens face ethnic intimidation charges after brutally beating woman in North Side  —  PITTSBURGH —  Three teenage girls are facing several charges, including ethnic intimidation, after police said they brutally beat a 32-year-old woman Sunday in Pittsburgh's North Side.

Behind the Scenes of The Hunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev  —  All photographs by Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Sean Murphy  —  It was likely the most terrifying manhunt in Boston history.  With the city under lockdown and armored vehicles rolling through Watertown, the alleged Boston …

People Don't Fear Climate Change Enough  —  With respect to the science of climate change, many experts regard the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as the world's authoritative institution.  A draft summary of its forthcoming report was leaked last week.

If Obama Bypasses Congress on Syria, Will He Face Consequences?  —  Dozens of House Republicans and a smattering of Democrats are demanding President Barack Obama get congressional authorization before ordering attacks on Syria, but no lawmaker seems to have an answer for what they will do if Obama goes ahead anyway.

Rape victim, 93, bravely speaks out after she was ‘attacked by 17-year-old boy who kicked in back door of her home as she slept’  —  A 17-year-old boy has been charged with rape following a sickening assault on a 93-year-old woman.  —  Iquise Taylor of Anderson, Indiana …

Michaud leads in Maine Gubernatorial race  —  Mike Michaud is the new leader in the Maine Governor's race, benefiting from the continued unpopularity of incumbent Paul LePage and declining support for independent Eliot Cutler over the last seven months.  Michaud is at 39% to 35% for LePage and 18% for Cutler.

New Jersey's Cory Booker: A perfect senator for ‘This Town’?  —  “That's really a phenomenon of the last two years,” Booker acknowledges, “when people started projecting me, not as this guy working in the inner city, but maybe as somebody who was going somewhere.”

Michigan Medicaid Expansion In Legislative Limbo  —  A Michigan bill to expand Medicaid under Obamacare is currently in legislative purgatory after a state senator refused to cast a vote, therefore stymying its passage.  —  The bill needs 20 votes out of the 38-member Senate to pass.

A Better Way to Honor Dr. King's Dream  —  The goal of the civil-rights movement was opportunity—not a ‘post-racial’ society.  —  On the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, we will hear a good deal about how life in this country for black Americans has not changed as much as Martin Luther King Jr. might have wished.

Obama Taps Former Aides for Intel Review Panel  —  President Barack Obama on Tuesday named the members of a new intelligence review panel aimed at boosting public confidence in U.S. surveillance programs, tapping a group of former White House officials and academics with close current and past ties to his administration.

Suspect in WWII vet slay: We were buying crack from victim  —  One of the teens charged with beating to death a World War II veteran allegedly claimed he was buying crack cocaine from the 88-year-old and the transaction turned violent — but cops said there is no evidence to support that.