Many people are following the presidential election closely with the idea that the outcome will have a major impact on national policy. However, according to Steven Pearlstein, a veteran Washington Post columnist and reporter, it may not matter who wins the election. In a column last week, Pearlstein told readers that the top executives of some of the country's largest companies are getting together to craft a budget package that they will try to push through Congress and get the president to sign. As Pearlstein openly acknowledges, this corporate coup is an end-run around the electorate. Pearlstein's plotters are not inviting the rest of us into the conversation.

Syrian troops have stormed armed groups’ command center in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 150 terrorists fighting against the government. - According to reports coming from Syria, the army attacked a rebel-held school in Aleppo’s Salahuddin district, which was being used as a command center, on Wednesday and inflicted heavy losses on anti-Damascus armed groups. Press TV's correspondent in Syria says calm has returned to Aleppo and Syrian forces have cleared most areas of the city of armed gangs although clashes are still continuing on the outskirts.

Reuters: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels

Guests include Dorothy Kilgallen, David Susskind and William Sloane Coffin. The first topic from the headlines of the day is the murder of three young civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss. Thanks to Kathryn Fauble for sending this and other segments from “Hotline.” (Note that audio does not begin until after the first 25 seconds.)

Stephen Lendman: Remembering Gore Vidal - On July 31, Gore Vidal died from complications of pneumonia at his Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles home. He was 86. Many labels characterize him: distinguished author, essayist, playwright, historian, acerbic sociopolitical/cultural critic, freethinker, intellectual, and humanist. In 2009, the American Humanist Association (AHA) named him honorary president. Los Angeles Times writer Elaine Woo called him a "gadfly on the national conscience" and "literary juggernaut." He was that and much more. He'll be missed.

Selling surveillance equipment to vile regimes...The UK government now faces a legal challenge. - The UK government is supposedly against totalitarian or repressive states. The excesses of such regimes are routinely condemned and sometimes there are even sanctions. Prohibitions can be put in place against the export of certain military equipment. But, at the moment, the UK government is doing nothing to stop the export of surveillance equipment from British manufacturers to some of the most vile and illiberal governments in the world to use against their own people. And the horrifying truth is that it is entirely within the legal power of the UK government to stop this trade. Privacy International has now instructed their lawyers Bhatt Murphy to write to the Secretary of State threatening an application for judicial review in respect of the failure to prohibit exports of surveillance technology under the Export Controls 2002. Ambitiously, Privacy International has even given the government the ultimatum of bringing in such a prohibition within 21 days, or face legal action at the High Court.

The Air Force general responsible for U.S. military operations in most of Latin America said Tuesday that he does not believe Venezuela, despite ongoing arms purchases and close ties to Iran, poses a national security threat to the United States. - Gen. Douglas Fraser also said he would like to see more counterdrug cooperation from Venezuela, from which most northbound cocaine smuggling flights continue to originate, according to U.S. and Colombian officials. Fraser was asked if he thought Venezuela's newly announced development of unmanned aerial vehicles and continued purchase of billions of dollars' worth of weaponry, including anti-aircraft missiles from Russia and other nations, did not present a danger to his country.

"From my standpoint, no, I don't see it that way," he told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "I don't see them as a national security threat."