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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

Snowden Says He Took No Secret Files to Russia  —  WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, said in an extensive interview this month that he did not take any secret N.S.A. documents with him to Russia when he fled there in June, assuring …

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.

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.

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.’”

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 …

Another GOP Senator facing primary challenge  —  (CNN) - Add Mississippi's Thad Cochran to the list of Republican Senators up for re-election next year who are facing primary challengers.  —  State Senator Chris McDaniel launched a campaign on Thursday to try to unseat Cochran, who's served in Congress for more than four decades.

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.

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.

Insight: As Obamacare tech woes mounted, contractor payments soared  —  (Reuters) - As U.S. officials warned that the technology behind Obamacare might not be ready to launch on October 1, the administration was pouring tens of millions of dollars more than it had planned into the federal website meant …

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.

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 …

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.