Racism Out of Context  —  I had planned on ignoring the furor over North Carolina Republican precinct chairman Don Yelton, who was pushed into resigning after stupidly making racist remarks to a Daily Show camera.  I mean, the guy is a precinct chairman, not a county chair or an elected official …

Delay Obamacare?  Not as easy as you think  —  More and more Democrats worried about the 2014 election are beginning to join the Republican call to delay the Obamacare enrollment season.  —  But it's not as easy as bumping things back a few days on the calendar.

Obama's Top Economic Adviser Tells Democrats They'll Have to Swallow Entitlement Cuts  —  This morning, Gene Sperling, director of the White House's National Economic Council, appeared before a Democratic business group for what was billed as a speech about the economy after the shutdown, followed by a Q&A session.

NSA site went down due to ‘internal error’, not DDoS attack, agency claims  —  The website for the United States National Security Agency suddenly went offline Friday.  —  NSA.gov had been unavailable globally as of late Friday afternoon, and Twitter accounts belonging to people loosely affiliated …

How Ted Cruz Can Win in 2016  —  Forget what you think you know about the next presidential election.  David Frum details how the junior senator from Texas can take the White House.  —  Three years out, few bets in U.S. politics looked as sure as Hillary Clinton's election to the presidency in 2016.

CNN Anchor Challenges Congresswoman To Substantiate Obamacare Criticism, Hilarity Ensues  —  On Friday morning, CNN anchor Carol Costello challenged Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to substantiate her claim that HealthCare.gov will endanger Americans' medical privacy.

Shepard Smith's Office Romance: A 26-Year-Old Fox Staffer  —  Shepard Smith, the endlessly endearing (and easily angered) Fox News anchor, has likened the right-wing channel to a “family,” with president Roger Ailes as its domineering father.  Which makes it only slightly awkward that in early 2012 …

Over 10 Percent Of America's Largest Companies Pay Zero Percent Tax Rates  —  Among companies listed on the S&P 500, almost one in nine paid an effective tax rate of zero percent — or even lower — over the past year, according to an analysis by USA Today.  —  There are 57 separate companies listed …

Wow: This is How Sarah Palin ‘Politely’ Refused Piers Morgan's Invitation  —  It's Friday, and Sarah Palin and Piers Morgan are fighting on Facebook and Twitter.  It all started with a late morning Facebook post from Palin, “politely” declining Morgan's many “invitations” …

Leader Of HealthCare.Gov Tech Surge: We'll Have It Fixed In A Month  —  Enrollment site for Obamacare should be good to go by “the end of November,” says Jeff Zients.  —  President Obama and Jeffrey Zients in April.  —  Larry Downing / Reuters  —  WASHINGTON — The man in charge of fixing …

Obama says he doesn't want to hear about spending cuts  —  President Obama told Republicans in Congress that he doesn't want to hear about additional cuts to government programs after the 16-day shutdown.  —  The president said the country can afford to make investments in areas like education …

The Science of Tea Party Wrath  —  Jonathan Haidt on the psychology of politics, the emotions behind the Tea Party—and why as a self-described centrist, he thinks a Republican crackup may be coming.  —  Fibonacci Blue/Flickr  —  If you want to understand how American politics changed for the worse …

Leaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret  —  Exclusive: Edward Snowden papers show UK spy agency fears legal challenge if scale of surveillance is made public  —  The UK intelligence agency GCHQ has repeatedly warned it fears a “damaging public debate” …

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!”

Small tsunami reaches Japan after earthquake  —  A small tsunami triggered by a quake has hit Japan's eastern coast - where the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is located - but no damage is reported.  —  The 30cm (1ft) waves reached the region after the 7.1 magnitude tremor struck at a depth of 10km …

Woman Forced To Strip And Serve Jail Time For Overdue Ticket  —  NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A North Texas woman was handcuffed, stripped down and booked into jail - all because of an overdue traffic ticket.  —  It was just a ticket.  Sarah Boaz was cited in August after an officer said she ran a stop sign.

Medicaid enrollment spike a threat to Obamacare structure?  —  (CBS News) The disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov may have another serious problem: A CBS News analysis shows that in many of the 15 state-based health insurance exchanges more people are enrolling in Medicaid rather than buying private health insurance.

Marines shoot down Internet story on Obama's alleged push for ‘girly hats’ … The story is sweeping the Internet: President Barack Obama is trying to emasculate male Marines by making them wear a girly cover with their famed dress uniforms.  The only problem?  It's not true.

Germany wants a German Internet as spying scandal rankles  —  (Reuters) - As a diplomatic row rages between the United States and Europe over spying accusations, state-backed Deutsche Telekom wants German communications companies to cooperate to shield local internet traffic from foreign intelligence services.

GOP comfortable ignoring Obama pleas for vote on immigration bill  —  For President Obama and advocates hoping for a House vote on immigration reform this year, the reality is simple: Fat chance.  —  Obama repeatedly since the shutdown has sought to turn the nation's focus to immigration reform …