A U.S. Default Seen as Catastrophe Dwarfing Lehman's Fall  —  Anyone who remembers the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. little more than five years ago knows what a global financial disaster is.  A U.S. government default, just weeks away if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling …

In Conversation: Antonin Scalia  —  On the eve of a new Supreme Court session, the firebrand justice discusses gay rights and media echo chambers, Seinfeld and the Devil, and how much he cares about his intellectual legacy ("I don't").  —  a day that just happened to be the 27th anniversary …

AMBER WEBSITE NOW WORKING - Obama plays POLITICS with LOST CHILDREN, shuts down Amber Alert website  —  This is unbelievable.  The Obama administration has shut down the Amber Alert website because of the government shutdown and it now renders this message when you attempt to access it:

Reid plotting to stay in power  —  Republicans are eager for November 2016 — and not just because Barack Obama's presidency will be in its final days.  —  It's when Harry Reid, the man reviled by Republicans for his inflammatory rhetoric and hardball tactics during the government shutdown, could be booted from his Nevada Senate seat.

Outside group hits Liz Cheney on gay marriage in Wyoming  —  A conservative outside group is attacking Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney (R) for her stance on gay marriage.  —  The ad hits Cheney for opposing a federal amendment to ban gay marriage.  She has said she does not support gay marriage …

Defects Cripple Health-Care Website  —  Six days into the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the new health-care law, the federal government acknowledged for the first time Sunday it needed to fix design and software problems that have kept customers from applying online for coverage.

Anxious Allies Aiding Booker in Senate Bid  —  Cory A. Booker is an undisputed star of a new generation of African-American leaders, electrifying liberal audiences with his oratory and charming the social media set with his digital savvy.  —  But the Senate campaign Mr. Booker, a Democrat …

The Boehner Bunglers  —  The federal government is shut down, we're about to hit the debt ceiling (with disastrous economic consequences), and no resolution is in sight.  How did this happen?  —  The main answer, which only the most pathologically “balanced” reporting can deny, is the radicalization of the Republican Party.

ATF tries to block whistleblowing agent's ‘Fast and Furious’ book  —  1st Amendment battle over ‘gun-walking’ expose  —  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is blocking the main whistleblower in the Fast and Furious case from publishing a book for pay …

First Thoughts: From one crisis to the next without any end in sight  —  From one crisis (shutdown) to the next (debt ceiling) — without any end in sight... Dilemmas for both Boehner and Obama... If Boehner says there aren't enough votes for a clean CR, doesn't he have to prove it? …

Some tea party congressmen find signs of political backlash at home  —  GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Nearly three years after a band of renegade congressmen brought the tea party insurgency to Washington, there are early rumblings of a political backlash in some of their districts.