ObamaCare author: Health law is ‘really complicated’  —  Sen. Tom Harkin, one of the coauthors of the Affordable Care Act, now thinks Democrats may have been better off not passing it at all and holding out for a better bill.  —  The Iowa Democrat who chairs the Senate Health, Education …

Conservatives scoff at Boehner deal  —  Hardliners are again ready to cause leaders problems.  —  The “Hell No” caucus is once again causing headaches for Republican leadership.  —  A cadre of the House's most conservative members will meet Wednesday morning at the Capitol Hill Club …

Mike Huckabee: Brown Could Have Avoided Death “If He Behaved Like Something Other Than A Thug”  —  “I'm gonna tell you something â” what gets you shot is when you grab a police officer's gun, and you lunge at him, and you try to hit him in the face.  View Video ›

2014 Headed Toward Hottest Year On Record — Here's Why That's Remarkable  —  2014 is currently on track to be hottest year on record, according to new reports from both the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the U.K.'s Met Office Wednesday.  Similarly, NOAA reported two weeks ago …

The Latest Challenge to Obamacare Should Embarrass Conservative Judges  —  When the Supreme Court decides whether to void Affordable Care Act subsidies in dozens of states that didn't establish their own insurance exchanges, the most important word the justices will have to grapple with won't be the word …

Uber.gov  —  It's Time to Let the Government Drive  —  Flying to Vegas?  Look to your left.  Now look to your right.  Statistically speaking, one of you is about to get ripped off by a cabbie.  And it'll probably be you, the imbecile who chose the middle seat and paid $15 for plane wifi.

What's the Matter with Economics?  —  Seven Bad Ideas: How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged America and the World  —  The Queen of England famously asked British economists why nobody saw the financial crisis coming.  Lots of nonroyal people also have a feeling that there's something wrong with economics.

12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report  —  The Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report will be released “in a matter of days,” a committee staffer tells The Intercept.  The report, a review of brutal CIA interrogation methods during the presidency of George W. Bush …

The right's ‘State of the Union plan’ continues to percolate  —  Last week, shortly before Thanksgiving, the idea that congressional Republicans might block President Obama from delivering a State of the Union address first crossed the political world's radar.

Fall of the Bond King: How Gross Lost Empire as Pimco Cracked  —  Bill Gross, the 70-year-old king of bonds, rushed through the offices of his $2 trillion empire on a Friday morning distributing hand-written notes.  He knew his reign was over.  —  The billionaire co-founder …

Building a safer Twitter  —  In our continuing effort to make your Twitter experience safer, we're enhancing our in-product harassment reporting and making improvements to “block”.  —  Everything that happens in the world, happens on Twitter - to the tune of more than 500 million Tweets every day.

Media in Frenzy Over Hill Staffer's Comments on Obama's Daughters  —  Five days after Elizabeth Lauten published a Facebook post criticizing the outfits worn by President Barack Obama's daughters, the previously obscure Republican Hill staffer is being inundated with threatening messages …

Georgia Town Votes To Ban Muslim Mosque, Residents Hate Islam (Video)  —  While anti-Muslim protesters waved signs outside the Kennesaw City Hall, the City Council voted against allowing an Islamic group the opportunity to rent a retail space in the small Georgia town.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Scalia?  Set His Dissents to Music  —  Justice Inspires a Different Type of Courtroom Drama; Duet With Ginsburg  —  WASHINGTON—Justice Antonin Scalia , whose barbed wit entertains audiences at Supreme Court arguments, has some competition from Antonin Scalia, the fictional character.

Roy H. Beck Quietly Leads a Grass-Roots Army  —  He keeps grade cards for every member of Congress, deploys three million activists to blast lawmakers with anti-immigration-reform telephone calls, faxes and emails, and runs a website where his followers have called undocumented immigrants “criminal invaders” and “wolves at the door.”

WEST ANTARCTIC MELT RATE HAS TRIPLED  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. - A comprehensive, 21-year analysis of the fastest-melting region of Antarctica has found that the melt rate of glaciers there has tripled during the last decade.  —  The glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica …

Hillary should stop dithering  —  The media have moved from Hillary fatigue to Hillary exhaustion  —  Blessed art they who are ready for Hillary, for they have the patience of saints.  —  Each day, they gather money and names and deep data to lay at her feet in preparation for her presidential announcement.

Former Democratic congressional aide pleads guilty to sexual assault  —  A former Democratic congressional aide pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting two women in 2010.  —  Donny Ray Williams Jr., 37, who served as a staff director for the Senate Homeland Security …