The Senate's Syria hearing: Live updates  —  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is hearing testimony Tuesday about the potential use of military force in Syria.  Testifying are Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.

Hillary Clinton backs Obama on Syria  —  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backs President Barack Obama's move to urge Congress to back a targeted effort in Syria, in the first comments from her camp since the president unveiled his plan, POLITICO has learned.

Ariel Castro: Convicted Cleveland kidnapper/rapist found dead in cell  —  52-year-old convicted kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro was found hanging in his cell Tuesday.  —  Castro was being held at the Correction Reception Center in Orient, OH in Pickaway County.

Rubio: We Wouldn't Be At This Stage With Syria ‘If I Had Been In Charge’ (VIDEO)  —  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Tuesday that he's “very skeptical” that the proposed airstrike on Syria will deter the Assad regime from using chemical weapons in the future, while arguing that he'd have handled …

President seeks allies in Europe  —  President Obama will seek international support for proposed military strikes against Syria during his three-day trip to Sweden and Russia this week.  —  Prospects for direct military intervention by U.S. allies look dim at this point …

Cheney knocks Obama, papers  —  150 in Tea Party crowd hear candidate call for a ‘rebirth of freedom.’  —  Liz Cheney would not vote to attack Syria if she were in the U.S. Senate.  —  Speaking to an enthralled crowd of 150 Jackson Hole Tea Party members Tuesday night in her first public appearance …

Bloomberg sues City Council to overturn law targeting stop-and-frisk profiling  —  Mayor Bloomberg kept his promise: He filed a lawsuit against City Council to overturn one of the two laws passed last month to curtail the NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk program.

FULL TRANSCRIPT: Kerry, Hagel and Dempsey testify at Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Syria  —  So I know today's focus is going to be largely on the issue of chemical warfare.  And I know that the case has to be made.  And I know that each of us have had the opportunity to hear that case …

65 Years Later, a Memorial Gives Names to Crash Victims  —  FRESNO, Calif. — A fiery plane crash here decades ago that killed 32 people, most of them unidentified Mexican farmworkers, inspired a protest song by Woody Guthrie that has been performed by Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, among others.

Another Set of Questions About Syria  —  A few minutes ago I posted the six-step pattern of pro-escalation rhetoric that Eric Martin laid out two years ago.  That followed William Polk's lengthy and important 13-question examination of a strike on Syria.  —  Now on the Foreign Policy site …

Arm and Shame  —  The Obama team has clearly struggled with its Syria policy, but, in fairness, this is a wickedly complex problem.  We need a policy response that simultaneously deters another Syrian poison gas attack, doesn't embroil America in the Syrian civil war and also doesn't lead …

How Fragile Is the New Democratic Coalition?  —  Last December, Jennifer Duffy, an election analyst at the Cook Political Report, came up with a particularly tantalizing set of data points, the kind that demand further exploration.  —  In 1988, the Democratic presidential nominee …

The ‘Mysterious’ Disappearance of a Quotation Has a Mundane Explanation  —  Was a quote about a pro-Israel group mysteriously scrubbed from a New York Times story?  A number of online commenters, in blog posts and on Twitter, wrote Tuesday that a quote calling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee …

Release Detail  —  September 3, 2013 - De Blasio Surges Past 40% In New York City Mayoral Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Quinn, Thompson Battle For Runoff Spot - If There Is One  —  With 47 percent of black voters and 44 percent of women voters, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio surges …