GOP's McConnell promises no more shutdowns over ObamaCare  —  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he will not allow another government shutdown as part of a strategy to repeal ObamaCare.  —  McConnell (Ky.) told The Hill in an interview Thursday afternoon that his party learned …

Eureka!  Tea partiers know science  —  A finding in a study on the relationship between science literacy and political ideology surprised the Yale professor behind it: Tea party members know more science than non-tea partiers.  —  Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week …

There's no actual debt ceiling right now  —  There's no actual debt ceiling right now.  —  The fiscal deal passed by Congress on Wednesday evening to re-open the government and get around the $16.4 trillion limit on borrowing doesn't actually increase the debt limit.  It just temporarily suspends enforcement of it.

Obama To Name Jeh Johnson Next Homeland Security Secretary … President Obama is expected to nominate former Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson as the next Homeland Security secretary, ABC News has learned.  —  The Department of Homeland Security has been without a Senate-confirmed leader for six weeks …

Tech experts: Health exchange site needs total overhaul  —  WASHINGTON — The federal health care exchange was built using 10-year-old technology that may require constant fixes and updates for the next six months and the eventual overhaul of the entire system, technology experts told USA TODAY.

This is what happened ..... Click to read  —  From FNC CHAD PERGRAM:  —  Urgent: House Stenographer says Holy Spirit woke her up at night to deliver message to the House  —  Karrah Kaplan spoke with the husband of House stenographer Dianne Reidy last night.  There's an emailed statement here from Dan Reidy.

The Year of Living Carlos Dangerously  —  Anthony Weiner's sexting addiction nuked his political career (twice!), endangered his marriage (twice!), and turned him into a walking penis joke (forever!).  —  Marshall Sella tails Weiner through his doomed campaign for New York mayor …

Documents reveal NSA's extensive involvement in targeted killing program  —  It was an innocuous e-mail, one of millions sent every day by spouses with updates on the situation at home.  But this one was of particular interest to the National Security Agency and contained clues that put …

Design Firm Removes All Reference To Its Work On Obamacare From Its Website  —  Teal Media was founded by a former member of Obama's campaign design team.  The firm says it took down all reference to its work on HealthCare.gov “in consultation” with the administration.

Shutdown Hit Boehner's Favorite Diner as $24 Billion Lost  —  Gum Tong owns a diner in Washington, D.C., and Matt Bellinger charters fishing boats in the Florida Everglades.  They have this in common: The shutdown of the U.S. government cost them money they will never get back.

Gohmert Responds to McCain's Dimwit Dig  —  After Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called Tea Party stalwart Rep. Louie Gohmert “a person of no intelligence” in an interview on NBC Nightly News on Wednesday, the back and forth between the two continued Thursday with Gohmert suggesting that McCain “would be better off with ‘no intelligence.’”

Poll: Amid shutdown, Republican falls further behind in race for Va. governor  —  National Republicans may be glad the midterm elections are a year away after polls have shown the party's favorability at all-time lows because of the federal government shutdown.  But one Republican - in a swing state - is caught in the buzz saw.

Hillary Clinton, Welcome to the White House  —  She has no Democratic challenger, and the Republican Party is no longer a credible opposition force.  —  Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiles as she waits to answer questions from an audience at Chatham House on October 11, 2013 in London, England.

Obamacare Website Violates Licensing Agreement for Copyrighted Software  —  Healthcare.gov, the federal government's Obamacare website, has been under heavy criticism from friend and foe alike during its first two weeks of open enrollment.  Repeated errors and delays have prevented many users …

Mental Floss Exclusive: Our Interview with Bill Watterson! … For the December issue of mental_floss magazine, Jake Rossen managed to do something we thought was impossible—he snagged an interview with the legendary Bill Watterson!  Since we're guessing there are a few Calvin and Hobbes enthusiasts …

What If Dick Cheney's First Heart Attack Had Killed Him?  —  Dick “Dick” Cheney, the defining political figure of 21st century America, is publishing a book next week called “Heart: An American Medical Odyssey,” about his own health problems.  Cheney had the first of his five heart attacks in 1978.

Republicans press U.S. officials over Obamacare snags  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress chastised President Barack Obama's top health adviser on Thursday for declining to testify before an oversight panel about problems in rolling out the president's signature healthcare program known as Obamacare.

Milwaukee man gets jail time for voting twice in presidential election  —  By Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel  —  Chad Gigowski said he was not part of any organized election fraud effort, just high on alcohol and drugs when he voted twice in November's presidential election.

Va. removes 40K from voter rolls over Democrats' objections  —  Democrats seek to have names restored; case to be heard Friday  —  Virginia elections officials say they have already purged nearly 40,000 names from the voter rolls, despite a lawsuit filed by Democrats seeking to keep those voters registered.

Sen. Cruz Places Hold on Obama Nominee  —  The shutdown may be over, but Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) isn't done making trouble for the Obama administration.  —  A spokesman for Mr. Cruz said Thursday that he has placed a hold on the nomination of former telecom lobbyist and venture capitalist Tom Wheeler …

Obama to GOP: ‘Win an election’ to change policies  —  President Barack Obama challenged the GOP to end political brinkmanship and said Republicans should “win an election” if they so badly wish to change his policies, an unsubtle reference to his victory over Republican nominee Mitt Romney less than a year ago.