Experts to Obama: Here Is What to Do in Syria  —  A big group of foreign policy experts, from across the ideological spectrum, is calling on President Obama to impose “meaningful consequences on the Assad regime” for their use of chemical weapons.  —  “At a minimum, the United States …

Strike against Syria ‘catastrophic’  —  Russia and China have stepped up their warnings against military intervention in Syria, with Moscow saying any such action would have “catastrophic consequences” for the region.  —  The US and its allies are considering launching strikes on Syria in response to deadly attacks last week.

Ben Bradlee's daughter-in-law reveals (almost) all on Facebook  —  Ben Bradlee, one of the great men of American journalism, celebrated his 92nd birthday yesterday, and his daughter-in-law paid tribute by posting a photo of them and saying “it is a dream to be part of his family.”

Robertson: Gay People Deliberately Spread HIV/AIDS By Cutting People With Special Rings  —  Today on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson told co-host Terry Meeuwsen that gay men in cities like San Francisco attempt to spread HIV/AIDS to others by cutting them with a special ring when shaking hands.

New Jersey's Cory Booker: A perfect senator for ‘This Town’?  —  “That's really a phenomenon of the last two years,” Booker acknowledges, “when people started projecting me, not as this guy working in the inner city, but maybe as somebody who was going somewhere.”

Boehner visits Boise; vows to succeed with entitlement reform this fall  —  The House speaker predicts ‘a whale of a fight’ but he says the timing is right.  —  House Speaker John Boehner said Monday that getting the GOP-controlled House to agree to raising the U.S. debt ceiling will only come …

Brian Lewis Speaks Out: Roger Ailes and Fox News Should Fear Him  —  Brian Lewis's attorney Judd Burstein just provided this statement to Gawker: … Fox News President Roger Ailes fired Lewis in late July following accusations of “financial irregularities” and “multiple, material and significant breaches of his employment contract.”

Why are Feminists Judging Miley Cyrus?  —  RUSH: This Miley Cyrus incident from Sunday night, “twerking” on the MTV Music Awards, continues to be discussed.  I ran across something today I really want to share with you about the curriculum at many (one particularly, but I'm sure at many other) universities and colleges in this country.

Holder pressed on U.S. drug agency use of hidden data evidence  —  (Reuters) - Eight Democratic senators and congressmen have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to answer questions about a Reuters report that the National Security Agency supplies the Drug Enforcement Administration …

Al Jazeera America Launch Ratings  —  Al Jazeera America launched last week, and we have the ratings from Nielsen for its first few days.  —  Not surprisingly given the low-rated channel it replaced (Current TV), and the fact that it lost a few million homes from AT&T before launch …

MSNBC's Karen Finney bails on Hugh Hewitt  —  MSNBC's Karen Finney on Monday hung up on conservative talker Hugh Hewitt after he repeatedly asked her during an interview on his radio show to say whether Alger Hiss was a communist.  —  Hewitt had Finney on his program to discuss her statement …

‘Revenge Porn’ Could Be Criminal Offense in California  —  On a recent episode of “The Newsroom,” on HBO, the character Sloan Sabbith, a financial reporter, was mortified when an ex-boyfriend posted compromising pictures of her online, which then went viral.

Officer Is Indicted on Charges of Lying About Photographer's Arrest  —  A New York City police officer who had arrested a photographer working for The New York Times has been indicted on three felony counts and five misdemeanors accusing him of fabricating the reasons for the arrest, the Bronx district attorney announced on Monday.

Updated: Congressman says he understands DREAMers' plight because he's from Arkansas  —  California Republican Rep. Gary Miller has earned a reputation as an immigration hardliner, but when confronted by a group of young immigrants Friday at a public event in Rancho Cucamonga (which had a $12 entry fee) …

Obama, race and class  —  Martin Luther King and Barack Obama, the two most important black leaders in American history, operated in vastly different eras and political arenas — under a strikingly similar set of ground rules.  —  King and Obama — born 32 years apart …

Bubonic plague outbreak feared in central Asia  —  Health officials on alert after teenager who ate infected barbecued marmot dies and three others are admitted to hospital  —  Health officials fear an outbreak of bubonic plague in central Asia after a teenage boy died from the disease …

Teens face ethnic intimidation charges after brutally beating woman in North Side  —  PITTSBURGH —  Three teenage girls are facing several charges, including ethnic intimidation, after police said they brutally beat a 32-year-old woman Sunday in Pittsburgh's North Side.

Dem bill would trigger huge new taxes on guns, ammo  —  Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), seen here with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano during a press conference in Aug. 2011, has recently sponsored a bill that would quadruple the tax on ammunition if it is passed.

Ickes Returns to Democratic Committee's Rules and Bylaws Panel  —  SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Democratic National Committee's summer meeting here late last week was starkly different from the gathering of its Republican counterparts earlier in the month.  There were no surefire news-making speakers …