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.

Taking Office, de Blasio Vows to Fix Inequity  —  Bill de Blasio, whose fiery populism propelled his rise from obscure neighborhood official to the 109th mayor of New York, was sworn into office on Wednesday, pledging that his ambition for a more humane and equal metropolis would remain undimmed.

WORLD'S FIRST LEGAL RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA SALES BEGIN IN COLORADO  —  Colorado's ambitious experiment in cannabis policy hit a historic milestone Wednesday, when licensed stores began making the first legal sales of recreational marijuana anywhere in the world.

Helicopter rescue delayed as second ship trapped in ice  —  On board the Aurora Australis  —  Plans to rescue 52 passengers trapped on the stricken Russian research ship Akademik Shokalskiy have been thrown into disarray after the Chinese ice-breaker Xue Long itself became stuck in pack ice, west of the Mertz Glacier.

Slow Learners  —  What is it about Obama that makes otherwise intelligent people so dumb?  —  Politico has a headline for the ages up right now: “Management Experts Knock Obama.”  Management “experts” are just noticing now, after five years, that Obama's lack of experience is significant.

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower  —  Seven months ago, the world began to learn the vast scope of the National Security Agency's reach into the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United States and around the globe, as it collects information about their phone calls, their email messages …

James Avery, star of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’ dies at 68  —  (CNN) — Actor James Avery, who played the beloved Uncle Phil on the hit 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” has died, his publicist said Wednesday.  He was 68.  —  The cause of death was complications from open-heart surgery, said his manager, Toni Benson.

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 …

Murder most fowl?  Giant rubber duck bursts in Taiwan  —  Happier times  —  (CNN) — A giant yellow duck on display at Taiwan's Keelung Port is finding little to be happy about this New Year's Day.  —  The famed 18-meter inflatable art installation, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman …

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 …

Alabama Republican is Senate's top talker of 2013  —  Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) holds the record for logging the most speaking time on the Senate floor in 2013.  (Alex Wong / Getty Images / November 19, 2013)  —  WASHINGTON — Even in the year of the filibuster, it turns out that slow and steady wins the race.