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.

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.

Obama unveils ‘Organizing for Action’  —  President Barack Obama on Friday announced the relaunch of his remaining campaign apparatus as a new tax-exempt group called Organizing for Action that will “play an active role” in “mobilizing around and speaking out in support of important legislation” during his second term.

GOP De-Escalates Debt Limit Fight  —  The jig is up.  Republicans are going to increase the debt limit.  Probably for free.  —  And in the end, their change of heart took about two weeks.  —  Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who on January 4 warned that Republicans might force the country past the debt limit …

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 …

TSA ends contract with Rapiscan, maker of full-body scanner  —  A TSA agent demonstrates the full-body scanner at Los Angeles International Airport.  (Los Angeles Times)  —  The Transportation Security Administration has ended a contract with the Hawthorne-based manufacturer …

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 then Democrats, you probably could have guessed the winner of this particular sweepstakes was a Mitt Romney campaign ad:

Americans Call for Term Limits, End to Electoral College  —  Virtually no partisan disagreement on these long-discussed constitutional reforms  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Even after the 2012 election in which Americans re-elected most of the sitting members of the U.S. House and Senate …

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 …

The Education of Ezra Klein (and Barack Obama) continues: In 2007, Young Ezra Klein was full of enthusiasm about the cost-saving potential of electronic record keeping in the health industry.  The failure to rapidly adopt this new technology was nothing less than an indictment of the American way of Medicine:

Lance Armstrong to Oprah: Story was ‘one big lie’ … Saying his “mythic, perfect story” was “one big lie,” Lance Armstrong admitted that he cheated during most of his famed cycling career and that he bullied people who dared to tell the truth about it.  —  After denying doping allegations …

Google's Media Barons … I had to cheer when I read the news the other week about a French company that's selling an ad-blocking service on the Internet.  Xavier Niel, the entrepreneurial owner of the web-service provider Free, is threatening to smash the advertiser-supported “free-content” model.

Rubio's New Foreign Policy Adviser Called For War With Iran  —  The Tampa Bay Times reported on Friday that Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-FL) will name Foreign Policy Initiative executive director Jamie Fly his new top foreign policy and national security adviser.  —  Rubio — considered …

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.

I Have No Words  —  I'm not going to characterize this or say anything about it.  But I had to share it with you.  From TPM Reader PH ...

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.

Cole: Change ‘Offensive’ Redskins Moniker  —  WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — One of only two Native American members of Congress said that the Washington Redskins should change its team name because it is racially offensive to the minority group.  —  Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation …

The Dwindling Deficit  —  It's hard to turn on your TV or read an editorial page these days without encountering someone declaring, with an air of great seriousness, that excessive spending and the resulting budget deficit is our biggest problem.  Such declarations are rarely accompanied …