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1:40 PM ET, September 2, 2013

Top Items:

Anthony Bond / Daily Mail:

The image John Kerry WON'T want you to see: U.S. Secretary of State pictured dining with Assad and his wife at Damascus restaurant before war broke out in Syria — This astonishing photograph shows U.S Secretary of State John Kerry having a cosy and intimate dinner with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Reaction, TheBlaze.com and NewsBusters

Chicago Tribune:

Obama blinks — What if Congress says no to a Syria attack? … President Barack Obama bought himself some time Saturday to drum up support, at home and internationally, for a strike against Syria. He did what he needed to do, at considerable risk to his credibility.

Discussion: JustOneMinute and americanthinker.com

Elliott Abrams / Politico:

How not to run a foreign policy — In March 2011, President Obama committed the United States to action in Libya that involved roughly 100 cruise missile firings, 12 U.S. Navy ships in the Mediterranean, and 75 U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft including B-2 bombers.

Jonathan Allen / Politico:

Obama and Congress: ‘Rolling the dice’ — The stakes of Syria vote couldn't be higher for President Barack Obama: If Congress doesn't back him up, his already troubled second term would be dealt another blow in the twin arenas of domestic and foreign politics.

Discussion: JustOneMinute and No More Mister Nice Blog

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Russia Rejects U.S. Evidence on Syrian Chemical Attack — MOSCOW — Russia's foreign minister dismissed as unconvincing the evidence presented by Secretary of State John Kerry of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government, saying on Monday that the United States had fallen far short …

Discussion: NBCNews

Yahoo! News:

Climate science alarming, irrefutable: Kerry — US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday the evidence for climate change was beyond dispute but it was not too late for international action to prevent its worst impacts. — “The science is clear. It is irrefutable and it is alarming …

Discussion: E2-Wire and Weasel Zippers

Associated Press:
Assad is like Hitler: Kerry

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs and Spectator

Timothy Heritage / Reuters:
Analysis: Putin sees chance to turn tables on Obama at G20

Discussion: Washington Post and Crooks and Liars

CBS News:
Face the Nation transcripts September 1, 2013: Kerry, McCain, Kaine, and Chambliss

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, Taylor Marsh, Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch

Warner Todd Huston / BREITBART.COM:

CITING OBAMACARE, 40,000 LONGSHOREMEN QUIT THE AFL-CIO — In what is being reported as a surprise move, the 40,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced that they have formally ended their association with the AFL-CIO, one of the nation's largest private sector unions.

Discussion: VodkaPundit and Scared Monkeys

Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:

Labor union frustration boils over with president on ObamaCare — Unions are frustrated the Obama administration hasn't responded to their calls for changes to ObamaCare. — Labor has watched with growing annoyance as the White House has backed ObamaCare changes in response to concerns …

Discussion: Hot Air and Weekly Standard

New York Times:

Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing N.S.A.'s — For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans' phone calls …

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Liberal Values, Guardian, Hit & Run, The Verge, Outside the Beltway, Mashable, emptywheel, Gawker, americanthinker.com, Prairie Weather, GigaOM and Balloon Juice

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Love for Labor Lost — It wasn't always about the hot dogs. Originally, believe it or not, Labor Day actually had something to do with showing respect for labor. — Here's how it happened: In 1894 Pullman workers, facing wage cuts in the wake of a financial crisis, went on strike …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh and Paul Krugman

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

Rangel: 'Of course it's embarrassing' — Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) on Monday said “of course it's embarrassing” that President Obama warned Syria of a red line for using chemical weapons but then didn't move forward immediately with a military strike. — Rangel, who opposes a military strike …

Discussion: Politico

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

Texas Republican: Evidence that Assad used chemical weapons is ‘thin’ — A Texas Republican lawmaker said the evidence he saw Sunday at a classified briefing showing the use of chemical weapons by Syria's government was thin. — “Yes, I saw the classified documents yesterday.

Discussion: Politico

Politico:

Hill briefing: Uphill battle for Obama on Syria — President Barack Obama faces a clear uphill battle in swaying skeptical lawmakers of the merits of military action in Syria, as top officials were dispatched to Capitol Hill Sunday to make the administration's case.