Obama says 7.1 million sign up for health care  —  Washington (CNN) — After a surge on the last day of open enrollment, Obamacare met the original White House target of 7 million sign-ups, President Barack Obama said Tuesday at what amounts to a victory for his administration.

Ryan Budget Would Cut Food Stamps and Medicaid Deeply  —  WASHINGTON — Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin on Tuesday will lay out a tough, election-year budget that purports to come into balance by 2024, in large part through steep cuts to Medicaid and food stamps and the full repeal …

Starbucks apologizes to Louisiana woman for alleged Satanic symbols in coffee foam  —  The hellish “brewhaha” is over.  Starbucks has apologized to a Louisiana schoolteacher who complained that a Baton Rouge barista drew Satanic symbols in her coffee foam.  —  It all happened at the Mall …

It was worth it.  Probably.  —  Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act ended officially on Monday night.  And the last-minute rush to sign up for new insurance plans was every bit as big as the experts had always predicted.  Traffic to the online marketplaces and calls to the telephone help centers were the highest ever.

What Really Killed William Henry Harrison?  —  William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, holds a distinction that with luck will never be equaled: He was our shortest-serving president, dying on April 4, 1841, after just a month in office.  —  What killed him?

The CIA and the Moral Sunk Costs of the Torture Program  —  This morning, The Washington Post has a blockbuster story about that 6,300-page Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's torture program.  The part that will likely get the most attention is the conclusion that torture produced little …

CNN's Missing Plane Coverage Turns Up Garbage (VIDEO)  —  In its wall-to-wall coverage of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, CNN has raised the possibility of the supernatural, blackholes, and North Korea; it has interviewed a psychic, tried but failed to rent its own 777 jet …

Appeals Court Finds Florida's 2012 Voter Purge Broke The Law  —  A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Florida's 2012 efforts to remove non-citizens from its voter rolls violated the National Voter Registration Act.  —  The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the state's efforts …

Why a Jeb Bush presidential run would be hard on the GOP.  —  Jeb Bush is having a moment.  For two months or so, as Chris Christie's presidential fortunes have appeared abridged, people who have supported the New Jersey governor (or at least are predisposed to support him) …

The bizarre double life of conservative congressional hopeful Jake Rush  —  Running for the U.S. Congress can be the role of a lifetime for a budding politician, which would seem on the surface to fit right in with “conservative” Republican candidate Jacob A. Rush.

Home-Run Hitters of the Supreme Court  —  In the nation's history, 112 people have served on the Supreme Court of the United States.  Suppose that we were to select the all-time greats.  Who would make the cut?  —  To answer that question, we need a metric.

CREW scores major FOIA win in Tom DeLay case  —  A watchdog group pressing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for records about a federal investigation into former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) scored a major legal victory Tuesday by winning a court ruling that could increase public access …

A Gaffe Can Matter When It Motivates the Base  —  We recently published a forecast that described the GOP as more likely than not to win the U.S. Senate in November.  But our analysis was less bullish on Republicans' prospects of flipping the seat in Iowa currently held by Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, who is retiring.

Obamacare Cuts Kentucky's Uninsured Rate By 40 Percent  —  Obamacare has cut Kentucky's uninsured population by more than 40 percent, signing up roughly 360,000 residents since enrollment opened up on Oct. 1, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.  —  Some 75 percent of them — 270,000 — were previously uninsured.

Covered California Sends Deaf Callers To Hotline Offering ‘Hot Ladies’  —  SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — On the deadline to sign up for health coverage through Covered California, some hearing-impaired residents were sent to a chat line offering ‘hot ladies’ instead of an insurance navigator.

Someone Else's Debt Could Ruin Your Credit Rating  —  Debt collectors are pursuing one in seven Americans—and often screwing up  —  Last month, Amrit Singh, an adjunct professor at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx, received a letter from the New York City Marshal, advising him that he owed $10,000, due within 20 days.

Hobby Lobby's Hypocrisy: The Company's Retirement Plan Invests in Contraception Manufacturers  —  When Hobby Lobby filed its case against Obamacare's contraception mandate, its retirement plan had more than $73 million invested in funds with stakes in contraception makers.

Tax the Childless  —  We should slash taxes on parents by jacking them up for nonparents.  —  When my mother was my age, she was working full time while raising three small children, and she spent every spare moment studying to finish a graduate degree.  My father was working extremely hard as well.

CIA officer confirmed no protests before misleading Benghazi account given  —  Information on ground rejects protest account  —  Before the Obama administration gave an inaccurate narrative on national television that the Benghazi attacks grew from an anti-American protest …