Ryan Deal Limits Senate GOP's Power to Block Tax Increases  —  Senate Republicans scrubbing the Ryan-Murray budget deal have come across a little-noticed provision that will limit the GOP's ability to block tax increases in future years.  —  The bill includes language from the Senate Democrats' budget …

The story behind “that selfie”  —  So here's the photo, my photo, which quickly lit up the world's social networks and news websites.  The “selfie” of three world leaders who, during South Africa's farewell to Nelson Mandela, were messing about like kids instead of behaving with the mournful gravitas one might expect.

Hill staffers warned not to rely on info from ObamaCare exchange  —  Capitol Hill staffers who signed up for ObamaCare through the Washington, D.C., healthcare exchange, called DC Health Link (DCHL), are being told to confirm their enrollments in person, and not to rely on data provided by the website.

Republicans plan 30-hour talkathon to protest ‘nuclear option’ use in Senate  —  Senate Republicans will stage a more than 30-hour talkathon on the Senate floor to protest Democrats' triggering of the “nuclear option” last month.  —  The GOP protest, which could extend into the weekend …

Prosecutor: No Domestic Charges Against Zimmerman  —  MIAMI (AP) — Prosecutors say they will not file domestic violence charges against George Zimmerman after his girlfriend said in a sworn statement she did not want to pursue the case.  —  State Attorney Phil Archer in Seminole County …

RSC fires executive director  —  The conservative Republican Study Committee, the bastion of right-wing strategy on Capitol Hill, has fired its longtime executive director Paul Teller, accusing him of leaking conversations with lawmakers.  —  Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the chairman of the RSC …

GOP dislikes sitting congressman, eyes DWI pol with secret family  —  Republicans are so nervous about Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm's re-election chances that they've quietly reached out to former GOP Congressman Vito Fossella — who quit five years ago after confessing to having a secret second family …

Oregon signs up just 44 people for Obamacare despite spending $300 million  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL OBAMACARE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES OREGON HEALTHCARE.GOV TECHNOLOGY HEALTH CARE EXCHANGES  —  Oregon, once touted as a model for President Obama's health care law, signed up just 44 people …

Is The Universe A Hologram?  Physicists Say It's Possible  —  A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.  —  In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe …

Minn. Nat.  Guard Member Charged with Stealing IDs for Militia  —  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A member of the Minnesota National Guard and self-described commander of a militia group was charged Wednesday with stealing names, Social Security numbers and security clearance levels of roughly 400 members …

Happy Holidays: Startup CEO Complains SF Is Full of Human Trash  —  Behold a perfect Silicon Valley denizen, an archetype: he's been written up in TechCrunch for his hackathon-organizing company.  He's been fluffed in Business Insider.  And now, inevitably, he's publicly savaged the homeless …

Obama's Orwellian Image Control  —  THE Internet has been abuzz over the spectacle of President Obama and the prime ministers of Britain and Denmark snapping a photo of themselves — a “selfie,” to use the mot du jour — with a smartphone at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in South Africa on Tuesday.

Voucher-mania: Why the right is diseased (and out of ideas)  —  Conservatives have exactly one answer for all spending questions — and it has little to do with serious economics  —  In the second decade of the 21st century, the American right has only two economic ideas.