Losing the Room  —  WASHINGTON — On the most deadly day here since Sept. 11, 2001, with the capital reeling over the sadly familiar scene of a mass shooting by a madman, the chief executive stepped to the microphones and captured the heartbreak.  —  It wasn't the chief executive of the nation.

Navy Yard: Swat team ‘stood down’ at mass shooting scene  —  On Wednesday, investigators continued to process the scene  —  One of the first teams of heavily armed police to respond to Monday's shooting in Washington DC was ordered to stand down by superiors, the BBC can reveal.

House Republicans up ante in showdown over federal shutdown  —  House Republican leaders bowed to conservative demands and announced plans Wednesday to strip out money for President Obama's healthcare law in a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Sept. 30.

An Open Letter from Howard Schultz, ceo of Starbucks Coffee Company  —  Posted by Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer  —  Few topics in America generate a more polarized and emotional debate than guns.  In recent months, Starbucks stores and our partners …

Chuck Todd: It's Not Media's Job To Correct GOP's Obamacare Falsehoods (VIDEO)  —  MSNBC host Chuck Todd said Wednesday that when it comes to misinformation about the new federal health care law, don't expect members of the media to correct the record.  —  During a segment on “Morning Joe …

Give Back?  Yes, It's Time For The 99% To Give Back To The 1%  —  It's time to gore another collectivist sacred cow.  This time it's the popular idea that the successful are obliged to “give back to the community.”  That oft-heard claim assumes that the wealth of high-earners is taken away from “the community.”

The Money Behind the Shutdown Crisis  —  Representative Aaron Schock is a conservative Republican from Illinois, but not conservative enough for the hard-right activist group Club for Growth, which is seeking someone to run against him in next year's primary.  —  His crime?

Obama distress signal: President seeks help from first-term A-Team  —  A struggling President Obama is calling for help from members of his first-term A-Team, who have left the White House for other jobs.  —  With his poll numbers falling and his second-term floundering so far …

Wrongnado - CNN  —  Reporting on a mass shooting in Washington, CNN doesn't let a lack of facts get in the way of drawing speculative conclusions.  (06:53)

Obama Got Ranted At By Ed Schultz, Was Enraged By Bad NYT Coverage: New Book  —  President Obama had to listen to a rant from Ed Schultz about his leadership and was constantly complaining about the New York Times' critical editorials about him, a new book says.

Google vs. Death  —  How CEO Larry Page has transformed the search giant into a factory for moonshots.  Our exclusive look at his boldest bet yet—to extend human life.  —  In person, it can be a little hard to hear Larry Page.  That's because he has vocal-cord nerve damage …

New Hampshire Senate Candidate: More Women In The Workplace Led To More Mass Shootings  —  Former Republican state Sen. Jim Rubens is expected to announce his U.S. Senate campaign today.  The rise of an economy with added opportunities for women has created “stress” for men, he says.

What Maryland does better than Texas  —  Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, is governor of Maryland.  —  With gridlock and partisanship having all but paralyzed Washington, governors are at the forefront of our country's policy divide.  On the No. 1 issue facing our nation …

Could Republican Senator Rand Paul Win the White House?  —  Tough talk and fearless politics have made Senator Rand Paul a leader in the Republican Party.  Could he—and his charming, secret-weapon wife, Kelley—win the White House?  —  On a sunny Saturday in July, Rand Paul and his wife …

For immediate release  —  Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in July suggests that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace.  Some indicators of labor market conditions have shown further improvement in recent months, but the unemployment rate remains elevated.

Fed Stands Pat on Bond Buying  —  Officials Want to See More Evidence of Sustained Economic Recovery  —  WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday kept the central bank's $85 billion-per-month bond-buying program in place, saying that they wanted to see more evidence that the economy …

Congressman on Obamacare Exemption: ‘Go Home and Talk to Your Wife’  —  A debate among congressional Republicans over a potential line of attack on Obamacare is pitting their pocketbooks against the chance at political gold.  —  At issue is a requirement in the law that congressional staffers purchase …

For First Time, Americans' Views of Russia Turn Negative  —  Despite approval of Russian plan for Syria, Americans sour on Putin  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — More Americans view Russia as unfriendly or an enemy of the United States than as an ally or friendly nation for the first time in 15 years …

Hillary Clinton calls Quinn ‘luckiest politician’ after Daley drops out … Clout Street  —  Even as Hillary Clinton declared him the “luckiest politician” in the world, Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday wasn't publicly exhaling about former challenger Bill Daley dropping out of the Democratic primary.