Arrival of Obamacare forcing insurers to drop customers with low coverage  —  The Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama in 2010 and since then he has repeated one reassuring phrase: “If you like your insurance plan you will keep it.  No one will be able to take that away from you.

House GOP plans no immigration vote in 2013  —  House Republican leadership has no plans to vote on any immigration reform legislation before the end the year.  —  The House has just 19 days in session before the end of 2013, and there are a number of reasons why immigration reform is stalled this year.

Officials alert foreign services that Snowden has documents on their cooperation with U.S.  —  U.S. officials are alerting some foreign intelligence services that documents detailing their secret cooperation with the United States have been obtained by former National Security Agency contractor …

CBO finds much less savings from raising Medicare age  —  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Thursday dramatically lowered its estimate of the amount of budget savings to be gained from raising the Medicare eligibility age.  —  The CBO now says that raising the Medicare age slowly …

Here's The Racist ‘Daily Show’ Interview That Cost A Local GOP Chair His Job  —  A North Carolina county precinct GOP chair resigned on Thursday after an offensive interview that aired on “The Daily Show” Wednesday, in which he said “lazy black people” want “the government to give them everything.”

Sen. Bullhead from Illinois is hooked on outrage  —  Dick Durbin not only baited his own hook, he swallowed it whole  —  A Facebook post by Sen. Dick Durbin asserting that a House Republican leader insulted President Barack Obama while negotiating with him has Durbin in hot water.

A Game of Shark and Minnow  —  In a remote corner of the South China Sea, 105 nautical miles from the Philippines, lies a submerged reef the Filipinos call Ayungin.  —  SCROLL  —  Satellite imagery: NASA  —  In most ways it resembles the hundreds of other reefs, islands …

Gansler says he should have checked drinking at party  —  A month after launching his campaign for governor, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler was entangled Thursday in yet another controversy, this time acknowledging a lapse in judgment when he appeared at a beach-house party …

Report: Iran may be month from a bomb  —  Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in as little as a month, according to a new estimate by one of the USA's top nuclear experts.  —  CONNECT  —  Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build …

Obamacare Fiasco Isn't a Single-Payer Conspiracy  —  I'm spending my morning listening to various contractors testify before Congress.  Back in the day, when I worked for a tech consultancy, the technical term for what is going on in this hearing was “Not it!”

Getting to the bottom of HealthCare.gov's flop  —  MILLIONS of Americans negotiating America's health care system know all too well what the waiting room of a doctor's office looks like.  Now, thanks to HealthCare.gov, they know what a “virtual waiting room” looks like, too.

Croatian Parliament Puts Same-Sex Marriage Ban To Popular Vote  —  A top U.S. official refuses to comment on the decision, saying same-sex marriage isn't a core issue.  —  Around 15,000 people attended Zagreb's 12th pride parade in June.  —  Antonio Bronic / Reuters