A very smart speech by Speaker Boehner  —  If you spent the afternoon watching C-SPAN, as I did, you heard applause.  A lot of it.  Over and over again.  And when John Boehner took the podium to be sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives, it swelled back up, and stayed there.

Gibbs to Leave as White House Press Secretary  —  Updated Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary and close confidante to President Obama, said Wednesday that he will step down and become an outside political adviser to the president and his re-election campaign.

Retracted autism study an ‘elaborate fraud,’ British journal finds  —  Editor's note: Watch Anderson Cooper's interview with the author of the discredited study, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, on “AC360°” at 10 p.m. ET tonight.  —  (CNN) — A now-retracted British study that linked autism …

Hoyer: Tea Party People Come From Unhappy Families  —  On the eve of his demotion by voters from House Majority Leader to House Minority Whip, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Hoyer offered this insight into the psychology of the Tea Party movement: … So, there you have it.

Obama's Winter White House an Illegal Rental  —  President Barack Obama's two-week stay at his Hawaii Winter White House was illegal under a long-standing Honolulu ban on short-term rentals.  —  Obama did not break the law by staying at the house, but the property owner who rented his house …

U.S. Alters Rule on Paying for End-of-Life Planning  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, reversing course, will revise a Medicare regulation to delete references to end-of-life planning as part of the annual physical examinations covered under the new health care law, administration officials said Tuesday.

Bachmann considering White House bid, aides say  —  Aides say she has made no decision.  But ‘nothing is off the table.’  —  WASHINGTON - Fresh off winning re-election and proving she can raise massive amounts of campaign cash, Rep. Michele Bachmann is beginning to consider a presidential run, according to close congressional aides.

KFC employee screams insults at customer  —  A worker at a KFC restaurant in Sydney has been suspended after he was filmed screaming vicious insults and threatening to attack a customer.  —  The violent outburst happened at a Halal-friendly KFC in Punchbowl on December 26 …

Steve King unveils birthright bill  —  Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) isn't wasting any time with his immigration agenda, dropping a bill on the first day of Congress that goes after birthright citizenship.  —  King's measure would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act, ending automatic citizenship for anyone born in the country.

Why Our Best Officers Are Leaving  —  Why are so many of the most talented officers now abandoning military life for the private sector?  An exclusive survey of West Point graduates shows that it's not just money.  Increasingly, the military is creating a command structure that rewards conformism and ignores merit.

Here it is: The filibuster reform package!  —  Here's a copy of the filibuster reform resolution that Senate Democrats will introduce later today, sent over by an aide to Tom Udall, one of the key Senators driving this campaign.  —  While the broad outlines of the proposal were already public …

Julian Assange's sex-crime accusers deserve to be named  —  The shielding of sex-crime accusers is a Victorian relic.  Women are moral adults and should be treated as such  —  As Swedish prosecutors' sex-crime allegations against Julian Assange play out, one aspect of the case merits serious scrutiny.

Could you pass a US citizenship test?  —  In order to become a US citizen, immigrants must pass the Naturalization Test.  American citizenship bestows the right to vote, improves the likelihood of family members living in other countries to come and live in the US, gives eligibility for federal jobs …

Granite Status Exclusive: Santorum hires Mike Biundo to head his PAC in NH  —  WEDNESDAY UPDATE: THE FIRST 2012 HIRING.  Mike Biundo, the veteran Manchester conservative political strategist who guided Frank Guinta's campaigns for mayor of the state's largest city and then for the U.S. House …

Man found in landfill tied to arson attempt  —  Source: John P. Wheeler 3d planted incendiary devices at a neighbor's home in Del. days before his disappearance.  —  Police in Delaware have discovered evidence that a former Pentagon aide may have been involved in an attempted arson days before his murder …

Pentagon Is Poised to Cancel Marine Landing Craft  —  It was supposed to be a tank that swims, a new way for the Marines to storm hostile beaches.  —  But as military budgets come under pressure, the 38-ton landing craft that turns into an assault vehicle seems destined to be the next bit of high-tech wizardry to bite the dust.

Post-Midterm Approval Ratings Don't Predict Re-Election Chances  —  Barack Obama got some good news to start his new year: his Gallup approval rating ticked up to 50 percent yesterday, against 42 percent disapproval.  That's the first time it has been at the 50 percent threshold since early June.

Tea Party Billionaire David Koch Entertains Newly Elected Republicans On The First Day Of The New Congress  —  Today, as Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) was sworn in as the Speaker of the House for the 112th Congress, ThinkProgress witnessed a group of Koch Industries lobbyists entering the Capitol along …