Eric, Donald Jr. and Ivanka Trump advised The Donald to cool it on Obama, insider says  —  Rihanna and Chris Brown back on track in Berlin; Jenny McCarthy's livin' large on Twitter  —  Donald Trump's kids advised the billionaire to back off on Obama-bashing, say insiders.

Economic View: A Liberal Obama vs. a Moderate Obama in the Fiscal Debate  —  THROUGHOUT Washington, policy makers are debating how to avoid hitting a wall on Jan. 1, when large and abrupt tax increases and spending cuts will take effect automatically unless Congress acts.

That Shortage of Skilled Manufacturing Workers is Really a Shortage of Employers Willing to Pay the Market Wage  —  News stories have been filled with reports of managers of manufacturing companies insisting that they have jobs open that they can't fill because there are no qualified workers.

Retailers pressure Congress to tax next ‘Cyber Monday’  —  A coalition of retail groups is pushing Congress to approve an online sales tax before the end of the year to ensure that this year's “Cyber Monday” is the last one that goes untaxed.  —  “This should be the last holiday shopping season …

Jurors Agree: University of Iowa Law School Discriminated Against Faculty Applicant Due to Her Conservative Views  —  Following up on my previous posts (links below) about Teresa Wagner's federal lawsuit: Des Monies Register, Jurors Say They Saw Hiring Bias at University of Iowa; But University …

Reid faces task of mending fences with GOP after campaign attacks  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) infuriated Republicans during the campaign with his harsh partisan attacks and now faces the delicate task of mending his relationship with the GOP.

White House Presses for Drone Rule Book  —  WASHINGTON — Facing the possibility that President Obama might not win a second term, his administration accelerated work in the weeks before the election to develop explicit rules for the targeted killing of terrorists by unmanned drones …

U.S. officials tell state to use same standards to grade charter schools  —  PHILADELPHIA — Federal education officials have denied Pennsylvania's request to evaluate charter school achievement using more lenient criteria, saying they must be assessed by the same standard as traditional schools.

UN Climate Chief Calls Out U.S. For Climate Inaction: Hurricane Sandy Is ‘Yet Another Wake-up Call’  —  Hurricane Sandy's $50 billion damage demonstrated the vulnerability of America's largest cities to the effects of global warming.  Christiana Figueres, the top United Nations diplomat …

Thieves strike storm-damaged Breezy Point homes over Thanksgiving holiday  —  The grinches struck early this year.  —  Residents of storm-battered Breezy Point returned from the Thanksgiving holiday to discover that thieves had looted their damaged homes — even taking one family's change jars, The Post has learned.

Grover Norquist: the end of an error?  —  Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia is making headlines today, for his recent comments about the no-tax-increase pledge he once made to powerful wingnut activist Grover Norquist.  Chambliss said he's not worried that Norquist will sic a primary challenger on him if he votes to raise taxes:

GOP, Get More ‘Racist’  —  If the GOP wants to win more black votes, it will need to get a lot more “racist.”  —  The scare quotes are necessary because I don't think the Republican Party is racist now (and, historically, has a lot less to answer for than the Democratic Party does).

Larry Hagman, Who Played J.R. Ewing in ‘Dallas,’ Dies at 81  —  Larry Hagman, whose portrayal of one of television's most beloved villains, J. R. Ewing, led the CBS series “Dallas” to enormous worldwide popularity, died on Friday in Dallas.  He was 81.  —  The cause was complications of cancer, his family said in a statement.

Coming Up on ‘This Week’: Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Dick Durbin, and Ben Affleck  —  This Sunday, “This Week” analyzes the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the battle over Benghazi, and the negotiations on the fiscal cliff-hanger, with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.