Who ‘made $10bn on 10/1 bet that U.S. credit rating would be downgraded’?  —  A mystery investor or hedge fund reportedly made a bet of almost $1billion at odds of 10/1 last month that the U.S. would lose its AAA credit rating.  —  Now questions are being asked of whether the trader …

Rick Perry to make 2012 intentions clear Saturday  —  Rick Perry intends to use a speech in South Carolina Saturday to make clear that he's running for president, POLITICO has learned.  —  According to two sources familiar with the plan, the Texas governor will remove any doubt …

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Aaauuuggghhh!  Market Commentary Edition  —  Carnage in stock markets as I write — and all of the headlines I see attribute it to S&P's downgrade.  —  They really are trying to make my head explode, aren't they?  —  Once again: S&P declared that US debt is no longer a safe investment …

House leaders end page program  —  House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced they were ending the House page program.  —  As of Aug. 31, the program — which employs nearly 70 high school students to serve as messengers and couriers …

Obama Job Approval 50% or Higher in 16 States and D.C.  —  Idaho residents least approving, at 27%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Residents of 16 states and the District of Columbia gave President Obama approval ratings of 50% or higher during the first half of 2011, led by the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware.

CNN Poll: Economic pessimism skyrockets  —  Washington (CNN) - Americans have a bad case of the economic jitters, as recent drops in the stock market have been accompanied by a sharp rise in the public's economic pessimism, according to a new national poll.  —  And a CNN/ORC International …

Hillary Told You So  —  As Democratic disgust with Obama's debt fumbling spreads, Clinton supporters recall her ‘3 a.m. phone call’ warnings—and angry, frustrated liberals are muttering that she should mount a 2012 challenge.  —  At a New York political event last week …

Waiting For A Landslide  —  In 1955, a political scientist named V. O. Key published an essay entitled “A Theory of Critical Elections.”  He argued that realignments in American politics are usually punctuated by transformative elections, in which the old order suddenly gives way and a new majority emerges in its place.

Who has got the margin call?  —  Bronte Capital tends - as this blog has said many times - to be long large cap and relatively liquid companies at 10-16 PE ratios.  —  And we are short the wildest range of frauds, fads and failures you can imagine.  —  Our shorts are small and relatively illiquid.

Obama's horrifyingly bad speech  —  He was a half hour late.  His head turned from side to side as if he were attending a tennis match.  He practically never looked in the camera, as if he were averting our gaze.  And those were the strong parts of President Obama's disastrous speech.

Racially motivated attack on video  —  Editor's note: The following story contains language some readers may consider offensive.  —  Jackson, Mississippi (CNN) — On a recent Sunday morning just before dawn, two carloads of white teenagers drove to Jackson, Mississippi …

Back on Stump, Romney Faults Obama on Downgrade  —  CONCORD, N.H. — After a week's vacation, and facing questions about a relatively subdued campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney kicked off his busiest week yet on Monday and wasted no time in blaming President Obama for America's credit rating downgrade.

London riots: live  —  This is our live coverage of the riots and disturbances in London, which on Sunday night brought looting and disruption to large areas of the capital.  —  Police guard a shop after looting broke out in Brixton on August 8, 2011 in London