memeorandum: A Couple Who See Race Clearly (Erika Allen/New York Times)

11:50 PM ET, August 24, 2013

Top Items:

US FORCES MOVE CLOSER TO SYRIA AS OPTIONS WEIGHED — WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. naval forces are moving closer to Syria as President Barack Obama considers military options for responding to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad government. The president emphasized that a quick intervention …

Discussion: Associated Press, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, National Review and Fox News

Doctors Without Borders:

[Press Release] Syria: Thousands Suffering Neurotoxic Symptoms Treated in Hospitals Supported by MSF — Brussels/New York, August 24, 2013 — Three hospitals in Syria's Damascus governorate that are supported by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders …

Discussion: NPR, New York Times, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit and BizPac Review

RT:
Materials implicating Syrian govt in chemical attack prepared before incident - Russia

Discussion: NO QUARTER USA NET and Sic Semper Tyrannis

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

John Lewis At March On Washington: 'I'm Not Going To Stand By And Let The Supreme Court Take The Right To Vote Away' — Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) — who was the youngest speaker during the March on Washington in 1963 — delivered a passionate address about the importance of protecting voting rights …

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, Hot Air, The Hinterland Gazette, The Moderate Voice, The PJ Tatler and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Robert G. Kaiser / Washington Post:

An overlooked dream, now remembered — Robert G. Kaiser is an associate editor of The Post and was the paper's managing editor from 1991 to 1998. — The city of Washington had been on edge for days. Fearing a riot, mayhem or lord knows what, many left town to avoid the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Ignoring Qualms, Some Republicans Nurture Dreams of Impeaching Obama — WASHINGTON — Representative Kerry Bentivolio, a freshman Republican from Michigan, has a legislative dream. It is not to balance the federal budget, or find a way to help his ailing state or even take away money …

Erica Goode / New York Times:

In Paper War, Flood of Liens Is the Weapon — MINNEAPOLIS — One of the first inklings Sheriff Richard Stanek had that something was wrong came with a call from the mortgage company handling his refinancing. — “It must be a mistake,” he said, when the loan officer told him that someone …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Vox Popoli

Politico:

Plagiarism or coincidence? Writer, Wall Street Journal square off — Boot submitted a preliminary draft to Rosen on Aug. 9 and a draft “ready to be edited” on Aug. 12. In an interview with POLITICO, Rosen said the piece underwent only minor revisions before it was posted to the Journal's website at 5:20 p.m. on Aug. 17.

Discussion: Brad DeLong and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

New Jersey Senate Candidate To Single Mothers: Stop Relying On Food Stamps And Go To Work! — New Jersey Senate candidate Steve Lonegan (R) told MSNBC's Steve Kornacki on Saturday that single mothers don't need to rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Siobhan Gorman / Washington Wire:

NSA Officers Spy on Love Interests — WASHINGTON—National Security Agency officers on several occasions have channeled their agency's enormous eavesdropping power to spy on love interests, U.S. officials said. — The practice isn't frequent — one official estimated a handful of cases …

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNET, The PJ Tatler, his vorpal sword, The Switch, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Associated Press, Crooked Timber, Crooks and Liars, Business Insider, Boing Boing, msnbc.com, Techdirt and Bloomberg

Juan Cole / Informed Comment:
NSA abuses include Stalking ex-Girlfriends

Discussion: Firedoglake, Techdirt, Hullabaloo and Discourse.net

Allan Fallow / blog.aarp.org:

Linda Ronstadt Discloses Her Battle With Parkinson's Disease — Legendary singer Linda Ronstadt, 67, told AARP today that she “can't sing a note” because she suffers from Parkinson's disease. Diagnosed eight months ago, Ronstadt began to show symptoms as long as eight years ago.

Discussion: Telegraph, Power Line, Scared Monkeys, KTLA 5 and EW.com

Erika Allen / New York Times:

A Couple Who See Race Clearly — Booming's “Making It Last” column profiles baby boomer couples who have been together 25 years or more. Send us your story and photos through our submission form. — Christopher and Laura Castoro celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on June 8.

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

Why Steve Ballmer Failed — The resignation of Microsoft's CEO is also an acknowledgement: The computer world changed, and Microsoft hasn't. — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a thunderous leader who presided over a deadly quiet decade for the tech giant, announced he will retire within the next year.

Discussion: VodkaPundit, NBCNews and Mashable