Military intervention in Syria seemed imminent following August’s horrific chemical attacks, but when President Obama brought the idea of a strike to Congress it foundered. Now, as a diplomatic solution is on the table, the Department of Defense weighs in on what military preparedness is required for the region. Pentagon press secretary George Little joins The Takeaway.

In just a few short weeks, the current fiscal year ends. For now, there is no consensus on how government operations will be funded after September 30. GOP lawmakers are refusing to pass any spending bill that keeps funding for the Affordable Care Act intact. Takeaway Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich explains how this might be resolved.

On Thursday, Twitter announced that it has filed paperwork for an initial public offering. The tweet surprised investors and employees alike. David Gelles, reporter for Takeaway partner The New York Times, discusses Twitter's path forward.

Two new documentaries—“Money For Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve” and “Hank: Five Years from the Brink"—look at the financial meltdown five years later. Do they tell the truth? And are they any good? We've got two perspectives. One, from WNYC’s economics editor, Charlie Herman. The other, from Movie Date co-host Kristen Meinzer.

It will be a death penalty for the four convicted perpetrators of one of the most horrible crimes in Indian history—the public rape and murder of a young girl on a moving bus in Delhi last year. Joining us to discuss the sentence is Veena Venugopal, a journalist based in Delhi and author of "Would you Like Some Bread With That Book."

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has become the first human-made object to reach interstellar space. Voyager 1 is not only doing this with technology that is decades old, but a computing system that is slower and less complex than whatever you're using to read this page. Joining The Takeaway to explore the journey of Voyager 1 since it left Earth almost four decades ago is Kelly Beatty, senior contributing editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine.

This week we've been talking about family planning and what influences parents when it comes to having children. We asked you to tell us about your families and what considerations you've made about how many kids to have. Today we hear from two of our listeners who have made very difference decisions about their family.

Aaron Dunn is on a music mission. His new Kickstarter campaign is called "Set Chopin Free." If successful, it will allow him to record all of Frederic Chopin’s music with the world’s top musicians, and then release all the music free to the public and to any filmmaker who wants to use it. He joins The Takeaway to discuss his campaign and how it works.