The Obamacare We Deserve  —  TODAY marks the beginning of health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act's new insurance exchanges, for which two million Americans have signed up.  Now that the individual mandate is officially here, let me begin with an admission: Obamacare is awful.

Reid says jobless aid vote coming Monday  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told The Associated Press in an interview that the Senate will vote Monday on a three-month extension of federal unemployment benefits.  —  Calling the House a “black hole of legislation,” …

Chief Justice Warns Sequestration Cuts Already Threatening Public Safety  —  Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, in his annual Year-End Report on the State of the Federal Judiciary, blasted the 2011 Budget Control Act's automatic “sequestration” federal spending cuts and warned …

Mayor Bill De Blasio Chooses His Path With Uncompromising Inauguration  —  A mayor unafraid to make enemies, and eager to keep his friends.  —  Former President Bill Clinton, left, administers the oath of office to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, on the steps of City Hall.

Last Slide  —  The new year got a little happier for pot smokers in Colorado on Wednesday as the nation's first retail outlets for recreational marijuana opened their doors.  —  “Marijuana does not have to be a burden to our communities,” said Betty Aldworth, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association.

Justice Sotomayor grants temporary Obamacare exemption to nuns  —  The Catholic nuns would have faced ‘draconian fines’ if they failed to provide contraceptive coverage, as the healthcare law requires.  —  Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor starts the countdown for the New Year's Eve ball drop in New York's Times Square.

The State of the Euro, In One Graph  —  Happy New Year!  I'm trying to organize my thoughts and data on matters European, and I think I've come up with a useful way to summarize what has been happening in the euro area.  In the figure below I compare the ratio of government debt to GDP …

Outrage at JFK as Customs men smash a musician's instruments  —  Boujemaa Razgui, a flute virtuoso who lives in New York and works with many US ensembles, was returning to base over the holiday when Customs officials at Kennedy Airport asked to see his instruments.

2014: Good Year for a Great War?  —  Precisely a hundred years ago today, the richest man in the world sent New Year's greetings to a thousand of the most influential leaders in the U.S. and Europe announcing: mission accomplished.  “International Peace,” he proclaimed …

The top 10 most viewed fact-checks of 2013  —  As 2013 comes to close, it's time again to share our most popular fact-checks from the past 12 months.  Topics ranged from government surveillance to the national debt to the Obamas' family vacation.  —  The following are the 10 fact-checks …

No, 2.1 million haven't enrolled in Obamacare plans  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL OBAMACARE HEALTH CARE KATHLEEN SEBELIUS CMS HHS  —  With President Obama's health care law scheduled to begin in earnest when the new year kicks off, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius claimed …

Jail survey: 7 in 10 felons register as Democrats  —  CRIME WASHINGTON SECRETS DEMOCRATIC PARTY GOVERNOR JUSTICE DEPARTMENT  —  A new study of how criminals vote found that most convicts register Democratic, a key reason in why liberal lawmakers and governors are eager for them to get back into the voting booth after their release.

13 hospitalized after building explosion in Mpls.  —  A check on Google Maps indicates that the main floor of the structure houses a business called the Otanga Grocery, with the upper two floors consisting of apartments.  —  CONNECT  —  MINNEAPOLIS - Authorities say at least 13 people …