Amid the turmoil caused by a temporary government shutdown, a pessimistic outlook for passing immigration reform in 2013, let alone during the 113th Congress, would not be farfetched. Yet, President Obama expressed optimism on Thursday for striking a comprehensive immigration deal before the end of the year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptsgySM1QXE

With the government back in business, attention has now shifted to the shortcomings of the Healthcare.gov website, with Congress holding the first of many hearings aimed at understanding the technical issues plaguing Obama's signature achievement, healthcare reform.

The government, however, is no stranger to data collection, with the National Security Agency's (NSA) controversial harvesting hundreds of millions of personal contact lists - against the will of the American people. 

The Obama administration has announced today that it will complete immigration reform by the end of the year.

Unidentified and unverified sources have said that the Obama administration has already begun development of the online implementation of a mass immigration system.

The system will require that every legal citizen to be chipped with a GPS locator pre-registered with the NSA, thereby passing the need to get information via Google and Twitter.

How does this help the implementation of immigration reform?

recent data. But what's the appeal of a candidate who -- most likely -- will not actually win the race?

Political scientists and party pollsters run with a common narrative: Independent voters are a myth.

"We think of them as closet partisans who act in almost indistinguishable ways to those who identify as partisans," Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth explains in a recent National Journal article.

Concerns about rising tuition and how students can afford to finance their major investments in post-secondary education are widespread. Solid insights into these questions require accurate and up-to-date information about prices.

While discussion of the government shutdown has shifted to a conversation about the economic implications, John Wildermuth, a longtime writer on California politics, discusses the impact on California lawmakers in respect to the state's new nonpartisan primary system on Fox&Hounds Daily Blog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW9qW-7WETo

But, what about the military? How does the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known colloquially as Obamacare, affect military members and their families who have Tricare, the military's health insurance program?

In short, the vast majority of active duty military families will see no change to their coverage as a result of Obamacare. However, there are nuances and exceptions to everything.