Why many Republicans won't support Obama on Syria attack  —  CONGRESS BARACK OBAMA REPUBLICAN PARTY SYRIA  —  Early signs say it will be hard for President Obama to win congressional authorization for military action in Syria.  That could change; lawmakers might re-write …

US general says Syria action could be ‘more substantial than thought’  —  A former US army chief has claimed that Barack Obama is eyeing intervention in Syria that would go beyond a mere deterrent against chemical weapons to damage the military capacity of the Assad regime.  —  Bashar al-Assad and Barack Obama

Jeffrey Bezos, Washington Post's next owner, aims for a new ‘golden era’ at the newspaper  —  Jeffrey P. Bezos, the next owner of The Washington Post, says he doesn't have all the answers for what's ailing the newspaper industry or for the financially challenged news organization he is preparing to buy.

Top-secret U.S. intelligence files show new levels of distrust of Pakistan  —  The $52.6 billion U.S. intelligence arsenal is aimed mainly at unambiguous adversaries, including al-Qaeda, North Korea and Iran.  But top-secret budget documents reveal an equally intense focus on one purported ally: Pakistan.

Dennis Rodman Returns to North Korea to Visit Kim  —  HONG KONG — The former basketball star Dennis Rodman returned Tuesday to North Korea, where he plans “to see my friend” Kim Jong-un, the dictator whose country until recently was threatening to annihilate the United States with nuclear weapons.

Miley Cyrus, Steubenville and teen culture run amok  —  Miley Cyrus twerked.  I had to look up the word since my indefatigable spell checker had no idea what I meant.  I discovered from Wikipedia that twerking “involves a person, usually a woman, shaking her hips in an up-and-down bouncing motion …

Sweet Cakes closing shop amid same-sex rift  —  GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN) — A bakery embroiled in controversy after an owner refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple is closing up its Gresham storefront.  —  According to the “Sweet Cakes by Melissa” Facebook page …

Microsoft to acquire Nokia's devices & services business, license Nokia's patents and mapping services  —  Microsoft Corporation and Nokia Corporation today announced that the Boards of Directors for both companies have decided to enter into a transaction whereby Microsoft will purchase substantially …

President ‘Present’  —  Washington is abuzz with talk about how much President Obama has damaged America's credibility with his indecisiveness on Syria.  It's become accepted fact that Obama's decision-making style resembles that of an academic convening an unruly seminar whose participants he largely disdains.

MC Anthony Weiner Parades West Indian Style, Sorta: “Anybody Here From Jamaica?”  —  Anthony Weiner may be lagging in the polls, but his West Indian Day Parade float — complete with dancehall-style DJ and Weiner (MC Carlos Danger?) himself on the mic — put his mayoral rivals' productions to shame Monday.

Your Labor Day Syria Reader, Part 2: William Polk  —  Many times I've mentioned the foreign-policy assessments of William R. Polk, at right, who first wrote for the Atlantic (about Iraq) during Dwight Eisenhower's administration, back in 1958, and served on the State Department's Policy Planning staff during the Kennedy years.