NBC/WSJ poll: Shutdown debate damages GOP  —  The Republican Party has been badly damaged in the ongoing government shutdown and debt limit standoff, with a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finding that a majority of Americans blame the GOP for the shutdown, and with the party's popularity declining to its lowest level.

A Crisis of the President's Own Making  —  Unless Mr. Obama is willing to make a serious deal on spending, he will spend the next three years fighting the same budget wars over and over.  —  For months now, the GOP has been held hostage by a faction of its party that deluded itself …

C.I.A. Warning on Snowden in '09 Said to Slip Through the Cracks  —  WASHINGTON — Just as Edward J. Snowden was preparing to leave Geneva and a job as a C.I.A. technician in 2009, his supervisor wrote a derogatory report in his personnel file, noting a distinct change in the young man's behavior …

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2013  —  The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 is to be awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.  —  During World War One, chemical weapons were used to a considerable degree.

Dealing With Default  —  So Republicans may have decided to raise the debt ceiling without conditions attached — the details still aren't clear.  Maybe that's the end of that particular extortion tactic, but maybe not, because, at best, we're only looking at a very short-term extension.

The Last Days of the GOP  —  We could be witnessing the death throes of the Republican Party  —  I once wrote about lobbying, and this week I called some Republicans I used to talk to (and some that they recommended I talk to) about the effect the shutdown is having on the Republican Party in Washington.

EXCLUSIVE: Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the website's first week, out of tens of millions of Americans in 36 states  — Obamacare's main signup engine attracted just 6,200 new customers on its launch day and 51,000 after the first week

Obamacare Foes Using Shutdown Echo South's Nullifiers  —  The Tea Party-inspired drive to derail Obamacare is anchored in a place where opposition to the federal government is as old as the nation: the American South.  —  The current fight, a budget standoff that threatens the creditworthiness of the U.S …

The Six Big Takeaways From the Government Shutdown  —  FiveThirtyEight.com will officially relaunch in very early 2014 in cooperation with ESPN.  I've been spending most of my time recruiting and interviewing job candidates for the new site.  It's a labor-intensive process …

Obama Should Just Give in to the Republicans  —  President Obama should give in.  Yes, this mess is all the Republicans' fault.  Yes, it's outrageous that they can hold the government hostage in order to reargue a law that's been voted on, signed, enacted, and upheld by the Supreme Court.

Inside the Republican Suicide Machine  —  It's open warfare within the GOP - and all of America is caught in the crossfire  —  The day before Congress broke for its August recess, on an afternoon when most of official Washington was tying up loose ends and racing to get out of town …