Ted Cruz: The Distinguished Wacko Bird from Texas  —  In less than a year, Texas Republican Ted Cruz has become the most despised man in the U.S. Senate.  He's been likened to Joe McCarthy, accused of behaving like a schoolyard bully, and smeared by senior members of his own party.

Scandal at Clinton Inc.  —  How Doug Band drove a wedge through a political dynasty  —  One Thursday evening last September, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair met in New York to conduct what was supposed to be a high-minded discourse on terrorism, geopolitics, and the global economy.

Al-Shabaab: Three Americans Among Gunmen in Kenya Mall  —  Al-Shabaab is claiming that there are American gunmen among those still holed up in the Westgate mall in a standoff with Kenyan and Israeli special forces.  —  The Somali al-Qaeda affiliate tweeted a series of names on its latest account …

Why Barack Obama looks so exhausted  —  Barack Obama looks exhausted these days.  He looks about as tired, in other words, as the nation feels.  —  He knows this.  At a speech Saturday, he said that people are always telling him to “hang in there.”  —  “Don't worry about me!”  Obama said.

Free to Be Hungry  —  The word “freedom” looms large in modern conservative rhetoric.  Lobbying groups are given names like FreedomWorks; health reform is denounced not just for its cost but as an assault on, yes, freedom.  Oh, and remember when we were supposed to refer to pommes frites as “freedom fries”?

Rick Perry Deserves a Second Chance, Thinks Rick Perry  —  After his comical pratfall of a presidential campaign in 2012, many may have forgotten that it wasn't as though Texas governor Rick Perry's performance came as a surprise.  Oh, he looked pretty good on paper—never lost a race …

Chaos Computer Club breaks Apple TouchID  —  The biometrics hacking team of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) has successfully bypassed the biometric security of Apple's TouchID using easy everyday means.  A fingerprint of the phone user, photographed from a glass surface, was enough to create …

Atheism starts its megachurch: Is it a religion now?  —  The non-religious Assembly is perhaps the fastest growing church in the world — and it's coming to a mall near you  —  Organized Atheism is now a franchise.  —  Yesterday, The Sunday Assembly—the London-based “Atheist Church” …

Merkel Gets Biggest Victory Since Kohl's Reunification Vote  —  Angela Merkel won an overwhelming endorsement from German voters, putting the country's first female chancellor on course for the biggest election tally since Helmut Kohl's post-reunification victory of 1990.

Tempers flare inside GOP as Obamacare defunding fight escalates  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL CONGRESS OBAMACARE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REPUBLICAN PARTY JOHN BOEHNER MITCH MCCONNELL HEALTH CARE TED CRUZ MIKE LEE  —  On March 13 of this year, Sen. Ted Cruz and 20 Republican co-sponsors offered …

SHUTDOWN COUNTDOWN: 10 days — ALAN GREENSPAN WARNS: ‘no viable long-term solution to our badly warped economy’ without fixing political system — WHITE HOUSE SIGNALS Janet Yellen nomination coming  —  FIRST LOOK - ALAN GREENSPAN, Fed chairman from 1987 to 2006, in a book out Oct. 22 from The Penguin Press …

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Sunday eulogized the 12 victims of the Navy Yard shooting and lamented what he called a “creeping resignation” in America about the inevitability of gun violence.  —  In remarks to service members and their families who packed the bleachers in the barracks …

Exclusive: Rand Paul wants Chief Justice Roberts, all federal workers, to enroll in Obamacare  —  Arguing federal workers should not get special treatment, Rand Paul says he does not want taxpayers subsidizing the personal health care plans of any federal employee — including Chief Justice John Roberts — anymore.

Man's Penis Amputated After “Enthusiastic” Viagra Overdose  —  A 66-year-old farmer and “self-proclaimed politician” from the town of Gigante, Huila in Colombia apparently—and “enthusiastically”—took too much Viagra in an attempt to “please his new girlfriend.”

Netanyahu: Jews can move into Hebron building near where IDF soldier killed  —  PM's decision comes hours after fatal W. Bank attack.  —  Hebron Jews can move into a building next to the spot where a Palestinian sniper killed an Israeli soldier on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu …