Reid doubles down on Romney tax charge … WASHINGTON - Sen. Harry Reid caused a stir this week when he told an interviewer that Mitt Romney hasn't released more of his tax returns because “he didn't pay taxes for 10 years.”  On Wednesday, Reid doubled down on the charge.

Rick Warren: Chick-fil-A's owner told me they set a new world record in sales today  —  And the day's not over yet.  —  Somewhere, a Burger King ad man's toying with the idea of having “The King” declare himself “100% pro-life.” … Not a word about today's activities has been whispered …

Political Memo: Tea Party Influence Could Reshape Senate Republicans  —  WASHINGTON — The Tea Party is very much alive in the drive for Republican control of the Senate, portending a potential shake-up in the mind-set of the chamber.  The easy Republican primary victory in Texas on Tuesday of Ted Cruz …

Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels  —  (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.

TRENDING: Horserace turns (almost) literal in London  —  (CNN) - The political horserace turned into an actual horserace Thursday in London.  Or at least a horse ballet.  —  Rafalca, the mare co-owned by Ann Romney, made her Olympics debut at Greenwich Park, competing in the individual …

Goldman to Invest in City Jail Program, Profiting if Recidivism Falls Sharply  —  New York City, embracing an experimental mechanism for financing social services that has excited and worried government reformers around the world, will allow Goldman Sachs to invest nearly $10 million in a jail program …

Missile Defense Staff Warned To Stop Surfing Porn Sites  —  The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency warned its employees and contractors last week to stop using their government computers to surf the Internet for pornographic sites, according to the agency's executive director.

GOP Hits Obama on Lobbyist Meetings at ‘Caribou’  —  In an election-year effort to cast President Obama as a “typical politician,” Republicans are highlighting the administration's alleged hypocrisy on transparency in holding meetings with lobbyists off White House grounds in order to keep them secret.

The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time  —  846 critics, programmers, academics and distributors have voted - and the 50-year reign of Kane is over.  Our critics' poll has a new number one.  —  Image courtesy Kobal Collection  —  Introduction  —  Ian Christie rings in the changes in our biggest-ever poll.

Nine takeaways on Romney's tax plan  —  1) The Tax Policy Center bent over backwards to make Romney's promises add up.  They assumed a Romney administration wouldn't cut a dollar of tax preferences for anyone making less than $200,000 until they had cut every dollar of tax preferences for everyone making over $200,000.

Jobless Claims Increase  —  The number of U.S. workers filing applications for jobless benefits rose last week, continuing an uneven pattern that suggests job creation was likely modest in July.  —  Initial jobless claims, an indication of layoffs, increased by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 365,000 …

Op-Ed Contributor: Mitt Romney's Search for Simple Answers  —  MITT ROMNEY'S latest controversial remark, about the role of culture in explaining why some countries are rich and powerful while others are poor and weak, has attracted much comment.  I was especially interested in his remark …

CBS MarketWatch Writer: It's a Depression, Not a Recession  —  And therefore — he doesn't say this; this is the implication of it, as I read it — Barack Obama didn't “save” us from any damn thing. … And then he lists the grim tidings that are easily seen by anyone with the eyes brave enough to look.

Adviser Draws Attention to Romney Mideast Policy  —  WASHINGTON — Moments after making remarks in Jerusalem about Middle East culture that enraged Palestinians and undermined the public relations value of his trip to Israel, Mitt Romney looked around the room for Dan Senor, one of his campaign's top foreign policy advisers.

Romney, in his own words  —  The art of spin, I suppose, involves making the best of what you've got and managing to deliver it with a straight face, no matter how preposterous.  But the argument that Mitt Romney's flubs on his overseas trip reflected the candidate's compulsive penchant …

The Islamophobe Primary  —  Tennessee holds its primary elections today, and the marquee race involves a challenge to a very conservative member of the very conservative 2010 GOP Freshman Class in the House on grounds that she's insufficiently focused on the dire threat of Shariah Law.  No kidding.