Cornyn: Congress will not allow default  —  Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Republican whip, said in Houston Thursday that Congress will not allow an impasse over raising the debt ceiling to result in the federal government defaulting on its spending obligations.  —  “We will raise the debt ceiling.

Stephen Colbert's sister will run for Congress  —  Stephen Colbert may have “run for president,” but his sister is actually going to run for Congress.  —  Elizabeth Colbert-Busch's soon-to-be-official campaign has informed South Carolina Democratic Party executive director Amanda Loveday …

How the current GOP thinks like revolutionaries — and why that's a bad thing  —  In an exit interview with the Wall Street Journal, outgoing U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said some provocative things about the state of America's political system and how that affects our standing in the world.

Ray Nagin indictment: First New Orleans mayor to face corruption charges  —  A federal grand jury on Friday indicted former Mayor Ray Nagin with 21 counts of corruption, alleging that while in office, Nagin took cash bribes and gifts from two city contractors and used his power as mayor …

New Study Highlights Threat From Far Right-Wing Groups In U.S.  —  A new study from a think tank connected to the West Point Military Academy highlights the threat of violent far-right movements in the United States, leading to the conclusion that, while diverse in in their causes …

Lance Armstrong May Have Lied to Winfrey: Investigators  —  Lance Armstrong may have lied to Oprah Winfrey during his so-called confession Thursday night about his doping during the Tour de France bicycle race, investigators told ABC News today.  —  Armstrong, 41, admitted …

Naked-Image Scanners to Be Removed From U.S. Airports  —  The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will remove airport body scanners that privacy advocates likened to strip searches after OSI Systems Inc. (OSIS) couldn't write software to make passenger images less revealing.

US confirms one American hostage killed in Algeria attack  —  State department declines to say how many hostages are still being held but insists US does not negotiate with terrorists  —  US officials have confirmed the death of at least one American and said others are still being held hostage …

Up next for Obama: A looming Democratic divide  —  As President Barack Obama approaches his second inaugural on Monday, he presides over a party that has largely papered over its divisions for the past four years thanks to the president's commanding popularity.

Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theories Edge Toward The Mainstream  —  “By far the hottest topic of the moment.”  Ignore it and it won't go away.  —  There are two kinds of conspiracy theories: The ones about the Illuminati and about mysterious “chemtrails,” which lurk forever in the online twilight zone …

Five myths about this year's flu  —  Tevi Troy is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former deputy secretary of health and human services.  —  The rapid onset of the flu season this year has led to illness, absenteeism, hospitalizations and, tragically, death.

NRA President Blames Obama For ‘Hundreds’ Of Death Threats … On a right-wing talk show on Thursday, David Keene, the president of the National Rifle Association, blamed President Obama and the left for what he says have been hundreds of death threats made against him and his family.

Whoops: PolitiFact's ‘Lie of the Year’ Turns Out to Be True  —  Last month, PolitiFact selected its “Lie of the Year.”  Given PolitiFact's dubious record of singling out Republicans for lying far more often than Democrats, you probably could have guessed the winner of this particular sweepstakes was a Mitt Romney campaign ad:

Time Warner Cable Bans Gun Ads  —  Company-wide initiative comes weeks after Sandy Hook tragedy  —  Just weeks after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Time Warner Cable has initiated a company-wide ban on certain gun ads.

The Next Four Years  —  President Obama's second inaugural comes at an interesting moment, what you might call the end of the era of the Grand Bargain.  Throughout his first term, Democrats and Republicans didn't achieve a Grand Bargain on spending and taxes, but there was a sense that history was moving in that direction.