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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Obamacare's winners and losers in Bay Area  —  Cindy Vinson and Tom Waschura are big believers in the Affordable Care Act.  They vote independent and are proud to say they helped elect and re-elect President Barack Obama.  —  Yet, like many other Bay Area residents who pay for their own medical insurance …

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 …

TV ad in Wyoming Senate race hits Liz Cheney on gay marriage  —  U.S. Senate candidate Liz Cheney, right, campaigns in Emblem, Wyo., this summer at the same time as her opponent, Sen. Michael B. Enzi, left.  (Dan Cepeda / Casper Star-Tribune / August 24, 2013)

U.S. terror raids: 2 operations. 2 outcomes. 5 questions  —  (CNN) — Two secret blitzes.  Two high-value targets.  Two very different results.  —  U.S. forces launched dual raids on the northern and eastern coasts of Africa over the weekend in the hunt for two alleged terrorists …

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.