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.

Ben Stein: Michael Brown Was ‘Armed With His Incredibly Strong, Scary Self’  —  Conservative pundit Ben Stein appeared on Newsmax on Tuesday to discuss the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and challenged the use of the term “unarmed” to describe Brown.

Poll: Romney breaks away in Iowa  —  The day after Mitt Romney opened the door to another possible presidential run, a new poll shows he has a huge lead among likely 2016 Iowa Republican caucus voters.  —  According to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Wednesday …

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 …

Obama Shouldn't Bomb ISIS in Syria  —  We have no strategy for intervening there, and no reason to think it will work.  —  Let's hope that President Obama does not bomb ISIS inside Syria—unless, maybe, the airstrikes are coordinated with some other country's troops on the ground.

Georgia cops fired Taser 13 times ‘as a cattle prod’ to make tired man walk before he died  —  A Georgia man died after police shocked him with a Taser as many as 13 times because he said he was too tired to walk due to a foot chase, his attorney said this week.

Kirsten Gillibrand: Peers called me ‘porky’  —  “Don't lose too much weight now.  I like my girls chubby,” one lawmaker told Gillibrand.  AP Photo  —  Close  —  New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand reveals in her new book that a number of her male colleagues on Capitol Hill made remarks about her weight …

ZARA apologizes, says yellow star shirts will be ‘exterminated’  —  Following an international outcry this morning over a striped children's shirt embossed with a yellow Star of David, fashion company Zara began removing the product page from its websites.  While the statement …

Did Tony die at the end of The Sopranos?  —  David Chase finally answers the question he wants fans to stop asking  —  The main topic of conversation about The Sopranos, seven years after the series finale, is still whether Tony Soprano, mob boss of North Jersey, is dead or not.

Across the Country, the Federal Government Fights For Muslim Worship Spaces  —  The government of the United States is suing the town of St. Anthony, Minnesota, a Twin Cities suburb with a population a little over 8,000, to force the town to allow development of an Islamic center in an area reserved for industrial development.

FBI Examining Whether Russia Is Tied to JPMorgan Hacking  —  Russian hackers attacked the U.S. financial system in mid-August, infiltrating and stealing data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and at least one other bank, an incident the FBI is investigating as a possible retaliation …

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.

Michael Brown's Mom Laid Flowers Where He Was Shot—and Police Crushed Them  —  New details emerge about callous tactics that fueled anger in Ferguson.  —  As darkness fell on Canfield Drive on August 9, a makeshift memorial sprang up in the middle of the street where Michael Brown's body …

The Expanding World of Poverty Capitalism  —  In Orange County, Calif., the probation department's “supervised electronic confinement program,” which monitors the movements of low-risk offenders, has been outsourced to a private company, Sentinel Offender Services.