Why many Republicans won't support Obama on Syria attack  —  CONGRESS BARACK OBAMA REPUBLICAN PARTY SYRIA  —  Early signs say it will be hard for President Obama to win congressional authorization for military action in Syria.  That could change; lawmakers might re-write …

Miley Cyrus, Steubenville and teen culture run amok  —  Miley Cyrus twerked.  I had to look up the word since my indefatigable spell checker had no idea what I meant.  I discovered from Wikipedia that twerking “involves a person, usually a woman, shaking her hips in an up-and-down bouncing motion …

Jeffrey Bezos, Washington Post's next owner, aims for a new ‘golden era’ at the newspaper  —  Jeffrey P. Bezos, the next owner of The Washington Post, says he doesn't have all the answers for what's ailing the newspaper industry or for the financially challenged news organization he is preparing to buy.

Dennis Rodman Returns to North Korea to Visit Kim  —  HONG KONG — The former basketball star Dennis Rodman returned Tuesday to North Korea, where he plans “to see my friend” Kim Jong-un, the dictator whose country until recently was threatening to annihilate the United States with nuclear weapons.

Sweet Cakes closing shop amid same-sex rift  —  GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN) — A bakery embroiled in controversy after an owner refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple is closing up its Gresham storefront.  —  According to the “Sweet Cakes by Melissa” Facebook page …

Who Do Members of Congress Follow on Twitter?  —  Twitter has become such an integral medium for political communication that, according to our count, 97 percent of members of Congress now have an official Twitter presence.  But Twitter is a two-way street — you spread your message, and you listen to what others have to say.

What's Killing Poor White Women?  —  On the night of May 23, 2012, which turned out to be the last of her life, Crystal Wilson baby-sat her infant granddaughter, Kelly.  It was how she would have preferred to spend every night.  Crystal had joined Facebook the previous year …

Public Opinion Runs Against Syrian Airstrikes  —  Few See U.S. Military Action Discouraging Chemical Weapons Use  —  President Obama faces an uphill battle in making the case for U.S. military action in Syria.  By a 48% to 29% margin, more Americans oppose than support conducting military airstrikes …

MC Anthony Weiner Parades West Indian Style, Sorta: “Anybody Here From Jamaica?”  —  Anthony Weiner may be lagging in the polls, but his West Indian Day Parade float — complete with dancehall-style DJ and Weiner (MC Carlos Danger?) himself on the mic — put his mayoral rivals' productions to shame Monday.

President ‘Present’  —  Washington is abuzz with talk about how much President Obama has damaged America's credibility with his indecisiveness on Syria.  It's become accepted fact that Obama's decision-making style resembles that of an academic convening an unruly seminar whose participants he largely disdains.

The Stakes on the Syria Vote  —  America's credibility as a guarantor of international order is on the line.  —  Barack Obama does not need congressional approval to launch a war.  Even under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which is of dubious constitutionality, the president …

Your Labor Day Syria Reader, Part 2: William Polk  —  Many times I've mentioned the foreign-policy assessments of William R. Polk, at right, who first wrote for the Atlantic (about Iraq) during Dwight Eisenhower's administration, back in 1958, and served on the State Department's Policy Planning staff during the Kennedy years.

The high price of ‘Milking the rich’  —  Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has a tax plan that rivals call a political “fantasy.”  It's a fiscal dream, too.  If de Blasio, the city's elected public advocate, thinks New York can hike taxes on the rich and not suffer for it, he didn't learn much from the 2008 crash.