Cease-fire hopes flicker amid tension over Tel Aviv bus bombing  —  CNN has multiple crews in Gaza, Israel and neighboring countries to bring you the latest accurate information on the conflict, the impact on people and talks to stop the violence.  Turn to CNN TV and CNN.com for what you need to know now.

McCain Backs Away From Benghazi Conspiracies  —  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) today issued a statement essentially conceding that he was wrong in accusing the White House of changing U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's talking points on Benghazi for political purposes.  —  Former CIA Director David …

Who Said It: Marco Rubio or Barack Obama?  —  Willful ignorance of science is a bipartisan value.  —  By now you've heard the outrageous quote from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on his doubts about the origins of planet Earth.  When asked to give its age, he replied: “I'm not a scientist, man. ...

S.F. barely passes public-nudity ban  —  Protester Gypsy Taub speaks out against the Board of Supervisors decision to ban public nakedness while naked at City Hall in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012.  San Francisco lawmakers on Tuesday narrowly approved a proposal to ban public nakedness …

Lawyer for Christian Alliance Fighting for Marriage Sanctity Faces Child Porn Charges  —  What do you say about people like this?  It's almost a caricature, it's so disgustingly ridiculous.  Lisa Biron was New Hampshire lawyer who worked for the Alliance Defending Freedom …

Citizens rush council members as chaos erupts at Newark City Hall meeting  —  By David Giambusso and James Queally/The Star-Ledger  —  NEWARK — A behind-the-scenes political maneuver by Newark Mayor Cory Booker to fill a vacant council seat with his choice led to a near-riot in city hall tonight …

U.S. Deficit Shrinking At Fastest Pace Since WWII, Before Fiscal Cliff  —  Believe it or not, the federal deficit has fallen faster over the past three years than it has in any such stretch since demobilization from World War II.  —  In fact, outside of that post-WWII era …

The Genius Who Invented Economics Blogging Reveals How He Got Everything Right And What's Coming Next  —  The economics blogosphere was invented in early 2005 by a retired technology executive in Southern California named Bill McBride.  —  Thank God for that, because his blog Calculated Risk …

U.S. Government Hacked Into French Presidential Office, Spied on Senior Officials, Says a French News Report  —  According to the French magazine l'Express, American officials gained almost unlimited access to computers of senior officials in the final days of the Sarkozy administration.  —  AP

Mitt Romney Went To Disneyland  —  Earlier: Mitt Romney fills up his gas tank.

The New Republicans  —  There has been a lot of talk since the election about the possible emergence of a new faction within the Republican party, or at least among the conservative intelligentsia.  These new Republicans, we're told, are willing to be more open-minded on cultural issues …

Iowa's GOP Governor: Time to End the Straw Poll  —  Is one of the quirkiest rituals of the Republican presidential election calendar heading for the grave?  —  It is, if Iowa's Republican Gov. Terry Branstad has his say.  —  Eyeing the wreckage of the 2011 Ames Straw Poll …

Why the Florida and Missouri Guilty Pleas from Docx Founder May Change the Mortgage Crisis  —  Now any bank offering these as evidence is committing a fraud on the court and homeowner  —  Yesterday I dashed off a post about the guilty plea taken by Lorraine Brown, the founder of DocX/LPS …

Poetic justice: Romney likely to finish at 47 percent  —  When all the votes are counted, could Mitt Romney really end up achieving perfect poetic justice by finishing with 47 percent of the national vote?  Yup.  Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report says new votes in from Maryland put Romney at 47.56 percent.

Campaign 2012: The Report Card  —  Has there ever been a less gracious presidential loser than Mitt Romney?  I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt during the campaign.  I figured he was just dialing for dollars when he massaged the Boca Raton fat cats' fantasies about the lack of …

Jesse Jackson Jr. Cancels Call to Chicago Staff  —  Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. reportedly had planned to break his silence Wednesday during a morning conference call with staff but changed his mind.  —  Jackson spokesman Frank Watkins told Ward Room the South Side Democrat was scheduled to talk …

Making the Same-Sex Case  —  Legalizing marriage for gay couples will cultivate community stability and foster family values.  —  They say demography is destiny, and in American politics destiny has belonged to those who best aligned their core beliefs with the rapidly changing and ever-improving citizenry.

From the Maker of Unskewed Polling Comes: The Obama Voter Fraud Map  —  In the last weeks of the election, Dean Chambers became famous for putting into numbers what other conservative put into words.  The polls that showed Mitt Romney losing must, said Chambers, have been skewed.

Republicans, 2016: In full swing  —  Tired of presidential politics?  Get over it: Upwards of 15 prominent Republicans are privately contemplating 2016 campaigns for the presidency — and the most serious and ambitious of the bunch are already plunging in, some quite publicly.