Caught on Tape: What Mitch McConnell Complained About to a Roomful of Billionaires (Exclusive)  —  At a secret meeting of elite donors convened by the Koch brothers, McConnell laid out his plan for shrinking the federal government and whined about having to vote on minimum wage bills.

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024  —  The federal budget deficit has fallen sharply during the past few years, and it is on a path to decline further this year and next year.  However, later in the coming decade, if current laws governing federal taxes …

Plea to Islamic State for Release of Steven Sotloff  —  The mother of an American hostage being held by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria released an emotional video appeal to his captors on Wednesday.  Shirley Sotloff, the mother of the 31-year-old freelance journalist Steven J. Sotloff …

Jon Stewart Goes After Fox in Powerful Ferguson Monologue  —  Jon Stewart returned from a long summer break to tackle the unrest in Ferguson over the past few weeks.  In fact, he started out by taking the Ferguson Challenge.  It's like the Ice Bucket Challenge, only with mace and tear gas.

Everyday Economics: Don't Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat?  You Can Pay Me  —  Don't Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat?  You Can Pay Me  —  I fly a lot.  When I fly, I recline.  I don't feel guilty about it.  And I'm going to keep doing it, unless you pay me to stop.

Burger King Says It's Not Trying to Dodge Taxes by Moving to Canada.  Is It Telling the Truth?  —  Burger King swears it's not moving to Canada for the taxes.  —  Jordan Weissmann is Slate's senior business and economics correspondent.  —  The fast food chain is officially set to purchase Tim Hortons …

Michael Brown's Mom Laid Flowers Where He Was Shot—and Police Crushed Them  —  New details emerge about callous tactics that fueled anger in Ferguson.  —  As darkness fell on Canfield Drive on August 9, a makeshift memorial sprang up in the middle of the street where Michael Brown's body …

New Marquette Law School Poll finds Walker, Burke remain inside margin of error in Wisconsin governor's race  —  MILWAUKEE - A new Marquette Law School Poll finds Republican Gov. Scott Walker receiving the support of 47.5 percent of registered voters and Democratic challenger Mary Burke receiving 44.1 percent support.

Media curiously silent on “Truthy”  —  It's been a couple of days since the Washington Free Beacon's Elizabeth Harrington first reported on the three-year-old federal grant from the National Science Foundation for the “Truthy” database, and ... not much else has happened.

Ukraine Says Russian Forces Lead Major New Offensive in East  —  NOVOAZOVSK, Ukraine — Tanks, artillery and infantry have crossed from Russia into an unbreached part of eastern Ukraine in recent days, attacking Ukrainian forces and causing panic and wholesale retreat not only in this small border town …

EXCLUSIVE: RUBIO SMASHES OBAMA'S PLANNED EXECUTIVE AMNESTY, SHIFTS FROM ‘COMPREHENSIVE’ IMMIGRATION REFORM  —  A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) partnered with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would grant citizenship to millions of illegal aliens.

Why America's Workers Need Faster Wage Growth—And What We Can Do About It  —  The last year has been a poor one for American workers' wages.  Comparing the first half of 2014 with the first half of 2013, real (inflation-adjusted) hourly wages fell for workers in nearly every decile—even for those with a bachelor's or advanced degree.

Former Iowa State Senator Pleads Guilty to Concealing Federal Campaign Expenditures  —  A former Iowa State Senator pleaded guilty today to concealing payments he received from a presidential campaign in exchange for switching his support and services from one candidate to another and to obstructing …

Attorney: East Point police fired Taser at man 13 times before death  —  EAST POINT, Ga. —  Only Channel 2 Action News has learned that police Tased a man in handcuffs up to 13 times before he died.  —  We're learning about the department policies the officers allegedly violated during this deadly encounter.

Between the World and Ferguson  —  When I was eighteen, I stumbled across Richard Wright's poem “Between the World and Me.”  The poem, a retelling of a lynching, shook me, because while the narrator relays the details in the first person, the actual victim of that brutish ritual is another man, unknown to him and unknown to us.

The Expanding World of Poverty Capitalism  —  In Orange County, Calif., the probation department's “supervised electronic confinement program,” which monitors the movements of low-risk offenders, has been outsourced to a private company, Sentinel Offender Services.