Obama's ratings tumble after health-care flaws  —  The flawed rollout of the Affordable Care Act has pushed President Obama to the lowest point of his presidency, with dwindling faith in his competence and in many of the personal attributes that have buoyed him in the past, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report  —  In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington.  —  The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed.

Va. Sen. Creigh Deeds Stabbed in Bath County Home  —  Sources say Deeds' son stabbed his father, then shot himself  —  Virginia State Sen. Creigh Deeds was stabbed by his son, Austin “Gus” Deeds, before the son fatally shot himself, Democratic sources tell News4.

State Rep. Uses Sledgehammer To Destroy Homeless People's Possessions  —  State Rep. Tom Brower (D) destroying a homeless person's possessions.  —  Much like Batkid, Hawaii has found its own superhero.  Except that instead of protecting the powerless from harm, he roams the streets …

Chris Christie Knocks GOP, Says Washington Is Full of ‘Absolutists’  —  WASHINGTON — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had some harsh words for Washington, D.C. Monday night, telling a group of CEOs that “both parties” in Washington are the problem, but still harshly criticizing the GOP …

Harry Reid: GOP playing with fire on judges  —  Senate Republicans continued rejection of President Barack Obama's judicial nominees threatens “the integrity of the Senate and the future of our country,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday.  —  “It's hard for me to describe words …

The analogy is less telling than who is employing it.  —  Granted, it's an imperfect analogy.  So is every other analogy, but there are some particularly glaring differences here.  As Karl Van Zandt observes on Twitter, President Bush didn't push Hurricane Katrina through Congress without a single vote from the other party.

Duncan tries to quell uproar over Common Core comments  —  Education Secretary Arne Duncan tried Monday to quell the outrage sparked by his comments that injected race and class into the debate about the Common Core academic standards taking root in classrooms across the country.

Court order that allowed NSA surveillance is revealed for first time  —  Fisa court judge who authorised massive tapping of metadata was hesitant but felt she could not stand in the way  —  A secret court order that authorised a massive trawl by the National Security Agency of Americans' email …

DHS Still Hasn't Fired Black Supremacist Who Called for Mass Murder of Whites  —  Almost four months after he was unmasked as a militant black nationalist who called for murdering “Uncle Tom race traitors,” Ayo Kimathi is still employed.  —  The black-nationalist Department of Homeland Security employee …

Cheating students more likely to want government jobs, study finds  —  Followers of Baba Ramdev, who went on hunger strike against corruption, surround a bus containing the Indian yoga guru in New Delhi.  (Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press / August 13, 2012)