Ted Cruz seizes Senate floor in failing quest  —  Ted Cruz seized control of the Senate floor on Tuesday at about 2:42 p.m., vowing to “speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand.”  —  But Cruz cannot stop a Senate now in motion from eventually returning …

Obama Just Gave His Most Significant Foreign Policy Speech  —  President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday to the United Nations was his most significant foreign policy statement since becoming president.  It showed he had clearly learned something from the recent “red line” fiasco in Syria.

AIG CEO: Anger over AIG bonuses ‘just as bad’ as lynchings  —  AIG's CEO Robert Benmosche — who came in to rescue the company after the 2008 financial crisis — told the Wall Street Journal that the outrage over the bonuses promised to AIG's members was just as bad as when white supremacists …

Cornel West + “Crossfire” = One Hell Of A GIF Factory  —  Thank goodness for split screen reaction shots on cable news.  —  You may have missed the extremely animated debate over Obamacare and the future of conservatism last night on Crossfire.  —  Well, Bill Kristol was there, and he did this, which was great.

One man's ObamaCare nightmare  —  Andy and Amy Mangione of Louisville, Ky. and their two boys are just the kind of people who should be helped by ObamaCare.  But they recently got a nasty surprise in the mail.  —  “When I saw the letter when I came home from work,” Andy said …

What's It All About Then  —  Simon Wren-Lewis writes with feeling about the “austerity deception”; what sets him off is a post that characterizes the whole austerity debate as being about “big-state” versus “small-state” people.  —  Wren-Lewis's point is that only one side of the debate saw it that way.

Saying a Shutdown Is Less Likely Makes It More Likely  —  Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner thinks a government shutdown, although possible, remains unlikely: … Klein is one of my favorite conservative writers.  Most informed observers I know would agree with his assessment and, for the record, I would too.

Hillary, don't run for president  —  Hillary Clinton through the years … (CNN) — Don't run, Hillary.  —  Nobody is saying the former secretary of state, New York senator, U.S. and Arkansas first lady, and Yale-trained attorney is not qualified for the White House.

How a Crypto ‘Backdoor’ Pitted the Tech World Against the NSA  —  In August 2007, a young programmer in Microsoft's Windows security group stood up to give a five-minute turbo talk at the annual Crypto conference in Santa Barbara.  —  It was a Tuesday evening, part of the conference's …

News organizations respond to Fed lockup questions  —  The Federal Reserve says it is contacting news organizations to discuss the rules surrounding lock up procedures and the release of market moving information from the Federal Reserve's headquarters in Washington.

Kerry to sign UN arms treaty opposed by Senate, NRA  —  Kerry's plan to sign the treaty on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City this week has sparked immediate criticism from GOP opponents.  —  “This treaty is already dead in the water in the Senate, and they know it …