S&P rating: ‘Outrageous’, ‘nothing good to say’  —  Outrage over Standard & Poor's downgrade of the United States' credit rating extended to both sides of the political aisle on Sunday.  —  Steve Forbes, CEO of Forbes Inc. and a former Republican presidential contender …

Tea Party Nation: The left's killed “a billion people”  —  THIENSVILLE, Wis. — The founder of Tea Party Nation claimed liberal ideology is responsible for “a billion” deaths over the last century during a raucous rally here Saturday in support of one of the six Republican state senators facing a recall election Tuesday.

Blame, insults traded over credit downgrade on Sunday shows  —  The bleaker effects of the nation's credit downgrade could be clearer Monday when the markets open, but Sunday's back-and-forth on morning news shows over where to stick the blame was a grim portent of prospects for a bipartisan solution.

What Happened to Obama?  —  Drew Westen is a professor of psychology at Emory University and the author of “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.”  —  Atlanta  —  IT was a blustery day in Washington on Jan. 20, 2009, as it often seems to be on the day of a presidential inauguration.

London riots: Dozens injured after Tottenham violence  —  Clasford Stirling, a resident of Tottenham for 32 years, said the area looked like a battlefield  —  More than 40 people have been arrested after rioting saw police attacked, buildings looted and vehicles set alight in Tottenham, north London.

Sunday Reflection: Why the GOP should give Obama the higher taxes he wants  —  Well, the debt deal is behind us, but it's clear that the White House wants more taxes.  Instead of fighting this head-on, the GOP might want to think about future ways of giving President Obama what he says he wants.

Pressing All the Buttons for a Panic Attack  —  BRADLEY ALFORD, a money manager in Atlanta, just hit the panic button.  —  No, really.  Mr. Alford just hit the key on his computer that initiates the Wall Street equivalent of the nuclear option: Sell everything.

If we are to survive the looming catastrophe, we need to face the truth  —  The idea that a capitalist economy can support a socialist welfare state is collapsing before our eyes, says Janet Daley.  —  Getting it right: the Tea Party recognised where America's policies were heading

Downgrade Blues  —  BARACK OBAMA must wonder sometimes if his luck has run out.  —  Maybe he used it all up in 2008.  —  “Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”  —  “When I said, ‘Change we can believe in,’ I didn't say, ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow,’ ” he told an audience at a Chicago fund-raiser on Wednesday.

Origins of the debt showdown  —  This article was reported by Lori Montgomery, Paul Kane, Brady Dennis, Alec MacGillis, David Fahrenthold, Rosalind Helderman, Felicia Sonmez and Dan Balz.  It was written by Dennis, MacGillis and Montgomery.  —  In mid-January, newly installed …

In this grave crisis, the world's leaders are terrifyingly out of their depth  —  Ineffectual: an emergency telephone conference among the G7 finance ministers feels as relevant as a Bourbon family get-together in the summer of 1789  —  Certain years have gone down in history as great global turning points …