Caught on Tape: What Mitch McConnell Complained About to a Roomful of Billionaires (Exclusive)  —  At a secret meeting of elite donors convened by the Koch brothers, McConnell laid out his plan for shrinking the federal government and whined about having to vote on minimum wage bills.

U.S. Mobilizes Allies to Widen Assault on ISIS  —  WASHINGTON — The United States has begun to mobilize a broad coalition of allies behind potential American military action in Syria and is moving toward expanded airstrikes in northern Iraq, administration officials said on Tuesday.

Burger King Says It's Not Trying to Dodge Taxes by Moving to Canada.  Is It Telling the Truth?  —  Burger King swears it's not moving to Canada for the taxes.  —  Jordan Weissmann is Slate's senior business and economics correspondent.  —  The fast food chain is officially set to purchase Tim Hortons …

Jon Stewart Goes After Fox in Powerful Ferguson Monologue  —  Jon Stewart returned from a long summer break to tackle the unrest in Ferguson over the past few weeks.  In fact, he started out by taking the Ferguson Challenge.  It's like the Ice Bucket Challenge, only with mace and tear gas.

Obama Pursuing Climate Accord in Lieu of Treaty  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is working to forge a sweeping international climate change agreement to compel nations to cut their planet-warming fossil fuel emissions, but without ratification from Congress.

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024  —  The federal budget deficit has fallen sharply during the past few years, and it is on a path to decline further this year and next year.  However, later in the coming decade, if current laws governing federal taxes …

Ukraine Says Russian Forces Lead Major New Offensive in East  —  NOVOAZOVSK, Ukraine — Tanks, artillery and infantry have crossed from Russia into an unbreached part of eastern Ukraine in recent days, attacking Ukrainian forces and causing panic and wholesale retreat not only in this small border town …

Why America's Workers Need Faster Wage Growth—And What We Can Do About It  —  The last year has been a poor one for American workers' wages.  Comparing the first half of 2014 with the first half of 2013, real (inflation-adjusted) hourly wages fell for workers in nearly every decile—even for those with a bachelor's or advanced degree.

Between the World and Ferguson  —  When I was eighteen, I stumbled across Richard Wright's poem “Between the World and Me.”  The poem, a retelling of a lynching, shook me, because while the narrator relays the details in the first person, the actual victim of that brutish ritual is another man, unknown to him and unknown to us.

Video shows police shot Ohio man ‘on sight’ as he leaned on toy gun in Walmart, attorney says  —  Surveillance video shows an Ohio man talking on a cell phone, leaning on a toy gun, and facing away from officers moments before police shot and killed him in a Walmart store, according to an attorney for the man's family.

Everyday Economics: Don't Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat?  You Can Pay Me  —  Don't Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat?  You Can Pay Me  —  I fly a lot.  When I fly, I recline.  I don't feel guilty about it.  And I'm going to keep doing it, unless you pay me to stop.

Could an Independent in Kansas Swing the Senate?  —  In national politics, Kansas is considered as Republican as they come: Mitt Romney carried the state in 2012 by twenty-two percentage points, and the last Democratic Presidential candidate to carry Kansas was Lyndon Johnson, in 1964.

Marco Rubio's course correction on immigration  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL IMMIGRATION BARACK OBAMA MARCO RUBIO  —  Marco Rubio's office got in touch this week to say the Florida senator and possible 2016 GOP presidential hopeful wanted to discuss immigration.

The NRA Pissed Off the Wrong Nerd Genius  —  Billionaire Michael Bloomberg already had the gun lobby in his sights.  Now Bill Gates is donating $1 million for universal background checks—and there's more where that came from.  —  Somewhere in a large glass tower in Northern Virginia …