• The Root's Readers on Obamacare: Yes!

    (The Root) — The federal government may be shut down, but the Affordable Care Act’s health care exchanges are open for business so that Americans can start to enroll in the plan of their choice. The Root asked its social media followers what Obamacare means to them, and so far your support is resounding. Here’s…

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  • 'They Have Lost Their Minds'

    (The Root) — The shutdown is here. It became clear as early as 10:30 Monday night that there was no foreseeable way to bridge the ideological impasse in Congress. Sure enough, midnight came and went without so much as a peep of resolution. It was lights out for the federal government for the first time…

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  • Clock Ticks on Deadlocked Congress

    Updated Mon., Sept 30, 5:30 p.m. EDT: President Obama once again took the stage Monday afternoon, calling on Congress, particularly House Republicans, to come to a resolution before time runs out on the federal budget. “You don’t get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you’re supposed to be doing anyway.…

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  • Why Are These Guys Smiling?

    Updated: Sun., Sept. 29, 9:30 p.m. EDT: With just hours to spare before the deadline of a partial government shutdown, the Senate is scheduled to convene on Monday afternoon. A deal appeared elusive as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) vowed that Democrats would kill a measure approved early Sunday by House Republicans to block President…

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  • Zimmerman's Wife Doubts His Innocence

    Shellie Zimmerman, the estranged wife of George Zimmerman, said on Thursday that she now has “doubts” about the innocence of her husband, who was acquitted in the Trayvon Martin murder trial. Her change of heart follows a domestic dispute in which she complained that her husband had threatened her with a gun. She later refused…

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  • Twitter Responds to Cory Booker and the Stripper

    (The Root) — As news spread about Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker’s Twitter exchange with a Portland, Ore., stripper, Twitter was quick to respond, as usual. Most users, however, were uninterested, saying that the reveal was a “nonscandal” and a “nonstory,” more interested in the fact that a vegan strip club — where the woman…

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  • Putting a Price Tag on MJ's Death

    (The Root) — Michael Jackson’s wrongful-death trial is finally coming to an end after nearly five months in court and testimony from more than 50 witnesses for the suit filed by the pop star’s family against concert promoter AEG Live. Closing statements by AEG’s attorney are under way today, with the possibility of the jury…

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