Obama blames ‘bad apple insurers’ for canceled insurance plans  —  President Obama tried a new tack Wednesday as he fought back against criticism of his Obamacare claims.  —  Fact-checkers and journalists have ruled that Obama wasn't being truthful when he claimed that people who liked their insurance could keep it.

Reid: Cruz nomination would destroy GOP  —  Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says if Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) won the Republican nomination for president, it would destroy the GOP.  —  In an interview on MSNBC's “The Rachel Maddow Show” Wednesday night, Reid discussed fallout from the 16 …

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama approval sinks to new low  —  President Barack Obama's approval rating has declined to an all-time low as public frustration with Washington and pessimism about the nation's direction continue to grow, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

TED CRUZ: THE MASK OF SINCERITY  —  When Ted Cruz lies, he appears to be praying.  His lips narrow, almost disappearing into his face, and his eyebrows shift abruptly, rising like a drawbridge on his forehead into matching acute angles.  He attains an appearance of supplication …

Deficit was $680 billion in 2013  —  The federal budget deficit for fiscal 2013 was $680 billion, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday.  —  This is the first time that the deficit has fallen below $1 trillion during President Obama's time in the White House.

Book: Obama asked Hillary Clinton to stay  —  President Barack Obama asked Hillary Clinton several times to stay on as his secretary of state during a Nov. 2012 ride aboard Air Force One, but she told him it was time for her to move on, a new book reveals.  —  “Would you reconsider, perhaps stay another year?

MASSIVE OIL DISCOVERY IN AUSTRALIA IS DEATHBLOW FOR SAUDIS  —  It is 6 times larger than the Bakken, 17 times the size of the Marcellus formation, and 80 times larger than the Eagle Ford shale.  —  All told the recent discovery outside a sleepy Australian town contains more black gold than in all of Iran, Iraq, Canada, or Venezuela.

Pelosi: No revenue, no deal  —  New revenue must be part of any bipartisan agreement to eliminate the sequester, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday.  —  Although President Obama has reportedly signaled an openness to tackle the across-the-board cuts without hiking taxes …

NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say  —  The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden …

Facebook Tests Software to Track Your Cursor on Screen  —  Facebook Inc. is testing technology that would greatly expand the scope of data that it collects about its users, the head of the company's analytics group said Tuesday.  —  The social network may start collecting data …

Anthony Weiner vs. The New York Times  —  When the former Congressman told our Marshall Sella that he'd “probably get elected mayor” of New York if the Internet didn't exist, he was actually onto something.  Now it appears Weiner has a bone to pick with the Paper of Record, too.

7 Awesome Things That Took Less Time Than HealthCare.gov  —  They had three-and-a-half years and the government still couldn't build an Obamacare website.  A lot more awesome things have been done in a lot less time.  —  BUZZFEED USER  —  This post was created by a user and has not been vetted …

Nixon, Obama, and How We Lost Trust in the U.S. Government  —  After Nixon's obfuscation on Vietnam, the press viewed those in power with a skepticism verging on cynicism.  That changed with Obama—though his Obamacare untruths are worse.  —  The Vietnam War dominated the presidential campaign of 1968.

Another ObamaCare Victim  —  One man's insurance cancellation is a cause for Schadenfreude.  —  He liked his health-insurance plan—or close enough: “It was there, and it did its job.”  He seems to have believed President Obama, who said—and said and said and said—that if you like your health insurance, you can keep it.

In Wake Of Zimmerman Case, Florida City Bans Guns For Neighborhood Watch  —  Just months after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, the Florida city where the incident occurred intends to ban neighborhood watch members from carrying guns, The Orlando Sentinel reports.

America's new hunger crisis  —  In the 22 years that Swami Durga Das has managed New York's River Fund Food Pantry, he has never seen hunger like this.  Each Saturday, hundreds of hungry people descend on the pantry's headquarters, an unassuming house on a residential block.

A Letter From Bill Moyers  —  Two years ago, thanks to the generosity of some unexpected funders and the loyalty of long-time funders, I came out of retirement with a new weekly series, Moyers & Company.  Since then our team has kept a steady focus on some of the vital nerve centers of democracy: Money and politics.

Patrick Leahy: ‘Insurmountable’ Push For Filibuster Rules Change If GOP Blocks Obama Nominee  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, predicted Tuesday that things could get ugly if Republicans block a vote this week on one of President Barack …