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.

‘The debate over repealing this law is over’: Obama boasts 7.1 MILLION have signed up to Obamacare - but study shows just 858,000 newly insured Americans have paid up!  — President took a major victory lap and took political shots at Republicans, but ignored shortcomings in his administration's official numbers

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 …

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.

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 …

Behind the Obamacare surprise  —  There was a word White House officials had for Monday, the final day of Obamacare enrollment: “S—t-tastic.”  —  “S—t,” because they couldn't believe that the website had crashed again, and they couldn't get it back for hours.

Mississippi Approves Religious Freedom Bill, Governor Expected To Sign It Into Law  —  The Mississippi bill is the first of many varying “religious freedom” bills introduced in several states this year to advance to a governor since a more expansive bill was vetoed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in February.

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.

Anticipating November, Democrats act desperately  —  H.L. Mencken gets a workout in election years when voters are reminded by pundits of the curmudgeon's observation that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.  —  Mean.  But true?

Kerry-Abbas Visit Canceled as Mideast Talks Falter  —  JERUSALEM — The fraught Mideast peace talks were thrown into confusion on Tuesday as a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority was canceled after Mr. Abbas moved …

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?

Massive 8.2 earthquake off Chile coast sparks tsunami  —  (Reuters) - A major earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck off the coast of Chile on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami that hit the northern part of the country, but the government reported no deaths or serious damage.

Time for climate scientists to go on strike  —  Late last night Yokohama time, the world's scientists did once more what they've done so many times in the past: issued a thumping big report demonstrating that climate change poses the greatest danger our civilization has ever faced.

Lamar Alexander Wants To Know What Equal Pay Bill Does For Men  —  Lamar Alexander Lamar Alexander Paycheck Fairness Act Paycheck Fairness Act Paycheck Fairness Act Men Lamar Alexander Equal Pay Lamar Alexander Gender Politics News  —  WASHINGTON — The only Republican at a Senate hearing …

How This One Magic Number Saved Obamacare  —  Have you heard?  Obamacare survived!  It got to that magic number it was looking for to make everything right!  —  Or rather, it got to half the number the Congressional Budget Office predicted it would get to after the Supreme Court ruling.

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal Urges People to Stop Driving GM  —  (CBS Connecticut) General Motors Co. said it is recalling 1.5 million vehicles worldwide, because the electronic power-steering assist can suddenly stop working, making them harder to steer.

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.

Camp brings a face to South Dakota Tribes' KXL fight  —  If approved, TransCanada's Keystone XL Pipeline would carry tar sands from Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.  It would run through South Dakota, west of the Missouri River, on land guaranteed for tribal use under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.

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 …