Pentagon Is Ordered to Expand Potential Targets in Syria With a Focus on Forces  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama has directed the Pentagon to develop an expanded list of potential targets in Syria in response to intelligence suggesting that the government of President Bashar al-Assad …

Why America Is Saying ‘No’  —  Syria and Obama: Wrong time, wrong place, wrong plan, wrong man.  —  It is hard, if you've got a head and a heart, to come down against a strong U.S. response to Syria's use of chemical weapons against its civilian population.

Let's face it: The US job market is dead in the water and not getting better  —  How do you know the August jobs report was pretty bad?  When the best thing you can say is that it might have met Wall Street expectations if not for a temporary shutdown in the port industry last month.

Ignore the headlines.  This was a very bad jobs report.  —  View Photo Gallery —If you're on the job hunt, employment opportunities are no longer limited to the East or West Coast.  Job aggregation Web site Bright.com recently ranked metro areas with the highest number of job openings.

House Might Not Vote on Obama's Syria Resolution  —  Congressional aides in both parties tell me that the chances of President Obama winning House approval for military action in Syria are so bad they actually doubt the House would ultimately vote on it if failure seemed certain.

Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Draws Scrutiny Over Writer's Ties To Syrian Rebel Advocacy Group  —  NEW YORK — A Wall Street Journal op-ed cited this week by both Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has drawn scrutiny for not disclosing writer Elizabeth O'Bagy's ties to a Syrian rebel advocacy group.

Obama Has No ‘Intention’ To Strike Syria If Congress Says No … “The president of course has the authority to act” even if Congress does not support his plan for a military strike on Syria, White House deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep earlier today.

EXCUSE MICHAEL GERSON WHILE HE WHIPS THIS OUT  —  Michael Gerson made his bones by strategically placing verbs and things in the sentences for the least literate president in the history of the Republic.  Famously, Gerson was the Christian conscience of the administration that brought …

Libertarians Are the New Communists  —  Most people would consider radical libertarianism and communism polar opposites: The first glorifies personal freedom.  The second would obliterate it.  Yet the ideologies are simply mirror images.  Both attempt to answer the same questions, and fail to do so in similar ways.

THE LIBERTARIAN RACKET IN A NUTSHELL.  —  Ole Perfesser Glenn Reynolds likes to call himself a libertarian.  Now, his libertarianism is effectively anti-abortion, but that's no contradiction because, as libertarians constantly tell us, libertarians don't have to support a woman's right to choose …

Pictures Of Children Fighting In Syria That You Have To See  —  The war of the young.  —  Children have been involved from the start of the Syrian revolution.  —  STRINGER / Reuters  —  A member of the Free Syrian Army holds up a child as he protests against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad

Biden wants Napolitano on Supreme Court  —  (CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden made it clear Friday how he feels about departing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.  —  “I think Janet Napolitano should be on the Supreme Court of the United States,” he said Friday morning at her going away ceremony.

The last person to see Hitler alive dies at 96  —  Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard, who was the last surviving witness of the Nazi dictator's final days in the bunker towards the end of World War II, has died, his agent said Friday.  —  Rochus Misch died aged 96 in Berlin on Thursday …

Years of Tragic Waste  —  In a few days, we'll reach the fifth anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers — the moment when a recession, which was bad enough, turned into something much scarier.  Suddenly, we were looking at the real possibility of economic catastrophe.  —  And the catastrophe came.

Middle-Aged White Males: No Longer the Ones Who Knock  —  As AMC's superlative-burdened Breaking Bad inches toward its September 29 finale—and honestly, would it kill series creator Vince Gilligan to include even one fast-paced scene to vary the endgame?—viewers are bidding adieu to more than just one show.

IRS admits to pricey Donald Trump parody  —  The video, which spoofs the Donald Trump reality show “The Apprentice,” shows IRS officials discussing ways to cut training costs for its Small Business/Self-Employed division, which was hosting the conference.  The House Ways and Means Committee released the video Friday.

New Inquiry for Bachmann on Her Presidential Race  —  Representative Michele Bachmann's presidential hopes ended 20 months ago, but her brief and chaotic campaign continues to be the focus of ethics investigations.  —  The latest is a federal inquiry into whether an outside “super PAC” …