Exclusive: Intercepted Calls Prove Syrian Army Used Nerve Gas, U.S. Spies Say  —  Last Wednesday, in the hours after a horrific chemical attack east of Damascus, an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of a chemical weapons unit …

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: August 2013  —  As outreach efforts for enrollment in the health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) increase over the summer, the August Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that the public's most trusted sources of information on the law …

Immigration reform's No. 1 enemy: Time  —  Immigration reform advocates have a new enemy: the congressional calendar.  —  Fall's fiscal fights have lined up in a way that could delay immigration reform until 2014, multiple senior House Republican leadership aides tell POLITICO …

Taxpayer Dollars Paid A Third Of Richest Corporate CEOs: Report  —  WASHINGTON — More than one-third of the nation's highest-paid CEOs from the past two decades led companies that were subsidized by American taxpayers, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank.

Exclusive: U.S. delays deadline for finalizing Obamacare health plans  —  (Reuters) - The Obama administration has delayed a step crucial to the launch of the new healthcare law, the signing of final agreements with insurance plans to be sold on federal health insurance exchanges starting October 1.

Weiner paid for phony supporters at campaign events, source says  —  Anthony Weiner is having such a hard time generating support for his limp campaign that he has resorted to paying a rent-a-crowd firm to provide “supporters” for his events, The Post has learned.

Why you won't see or hear the ‘I have a dream’ speech  —  Josh Schiller is an associate in the New York offices of Boies Schiller & Flexner who has represented plaintiffs and defendants in copyright infringement lawsuits.  —  Fifty years ago this week, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech.

Solidarity is For Miley Cyrus: The Racial Implications of her VMA Performance  —  As a black woman, I feel like I owe a debt of gratitude to Mikki Kendall, of Solidarity Is For White Women fame for managing to so perfectly encapsulate years of subjugation of black women by white women.

A Better Way to Honor Dr. King's Dream  —  The goal of the civil-rights movement was opportunity—not a ‘post-racial’ society.  —  On the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, we will hear a good deal about how life in this country for black Americans has not changed as much as Martin Luther King Jr. might have wished.

August 2013 Ratings: MSNBC Down Double Digits  —  MSNBC continued its rough 2013 in the ratings, continuing to lose significant audience from 2012.  The problems were particularly prevalent in primetime, with some shows losing close to -50% of viewers.  —  The ratings for August 2013 (Nielsen Live + Same Day data):

MLK would be alarmed by black-on-black violence, lack of family values  —  It is hard to believe that 50 years have elapsed since the famous “I have a dream speech” of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Mall in Washington.  I was an 11-year-old child in Detroit languishing in the midst of poverty …

Rep. Steve King calls on unemployed Americans to get off their butts and start working  —  Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is making no excuses for unemployed Americans, urging them to get off their butts and start working, and criticizing the unemployed for failing to contribute to the standard of living.

Suspect in WWII vet slay: We were buying crack from victim  —  One of the teens charged with beating to death a World War II veteran allegedly claimed he was buying crack cocaine from the 88-year-old and the transaction turned violent — but cops said there is no evidence to support that.

People Who Need to Retire: Pat Robertson Edition  —  The 700 Club host falsely asserted that gay men in San Francisco use special rings to give AIDS to unsuspecting people who shake their hands.  What year is it?  —  Dear people in public life: When you love your job …

In Dramatic Reversal, Michigan Senate Passes Obamacare's Medicaid Expansion  —  The Michigan Senate voted Tuesday to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, extending health coverage to more than 400,000 low-income residents, but not without a little legislative drama first.

Behind the Scenes of The Hunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev  —  All photographs by Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Sean Murphy  —  It was likely the most terrifying manhunt in Boston history.  With the city under lockdown and armored vehicles rolling through Watertown, the alleged Boston …

Leaker's Security Check Faulted  —  Review of Former NSA Contractor Snowden Found to be Inadequate  —  WASHINGTON—The most recent background check of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden was so inadequate that too few people were interviewed and potential concerns weren't pursued …

Does Obama know he's fighting on al-Qa'ida's side?  —  ‘All for one and one for all’ should be the battle cry if the West goes to war against Assad's Syrian regime  —  If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured - for the very first time in history - that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qa'ida.

Fed-Up Saudis Look to Russia  —  Talk about a cry for help.  The Saudis have apparently judged President Obama to be rudderless in his Middle East policies, judging by their recent diplomatic moves toward Russia: They appear to have plied Putin with a deal to collude in the global oil market …

Mildest US Summer In A Century  —  This summer, the US has experienced the fewest number of 100 degree readings in a century.  The five hottest summers (1936, 1934, 1954, 1980 and 1930) all occurred with CO2 below 350 PPM.  —  CO2 went over 400 PPM this year, indicating that heatwaves and CO2 have nothing to do with each other.

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck to Co-Host Cory Booker Fundraiser (Exclusive)  —  JJ Abrams, Michael Eisner and Ted Sarandos will also co-host the event at Ron Burkle's house, marking the second major Hollywood fundraiser in the New Jersey Democrat's run for the U.S. Senate.

Obama proceeds in Syria without popular support  —  What happens when American military action has neither public support nor congressional approval?  Looks like we're getting ready to find out.  —  Americans did not much like President Obama's 2011 decision to intervene in the Libyan civil war …

Bank Chairman Pleads Guilty To Using Public Funds To Purchase Luxury Vacation Condo  —  JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Columbia, Mo., bank chairman pleaded guilty in federal court today to misleading federal investigators …