Republicans tussle over gay candidates  —  Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes, a senior House Republican eyeing a powerful committee chairmanship, is causing friction with some of his colleagues by pushing the House GOP campaign arm to deny support for some of the party's gay congressional candidates.

Remarks by the President on Economic Mobility  —  Washington, D.C.  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you so much.  Please, please have a seat.  Thank you so much.  Well, thank you, Neera, for the wonderful introduction and sharing a story that resonated with me.

Palin Hopes Bashir's Attack Won't Stop People From Starting A Business (VIDEO)  —  Responding to the resignation of Martin Bashir for the first time, Sarah Palin said once again Thursday that she accepts his apology.  She just hopes that the former MSNBC host's “unprovoked” …

Young invincibles spurn O-Care  —  Mounting opposition to ObamaCare among young adults is creating a new crisis for the White House.  —  While the federal enrollment website HealthCare.gov appears to be improving by the day, polls show the “young invincibles” key to making the law work are becoming less likely to enroll.

2 million Facebook, Gmail and Twitter passwords stolen in massive hack  —  Hackers have stolen usernames and passwords for nearly two million accounts at Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo and others, according to a report released this week.  —  The massive data breach was a result …

Polis melts down on House floor  —  Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) on Wednesday night lost his cool on the House floor over the issue of immigration, after the presiding officer warned another Democrat not to refer to people sitting in the House gallery.  —  Democrats were calling for House passage …

Remember all those Obamacare horror stories?  Not looking so bad now  —  Inflammatory personal testimony has been a staple of bad debating since humans first started arguing with each other  —  Statisticians dismiss the practice of using personal stories to argue about an objective reality as …

The 10 Best Books of 2013  —  The year's best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.  —  FICTION  —  Alfred A. Knopf, $26.95.  —  By turns tender and trenchant, Adichie's third novel takes on the comedy and tragedy of American race relations from the perspective of a young Nigerian immigrant.

Ted Cruz explains dad's Fidel Castro comment  —  Sen. Ted Cruz said while there are some differences between President Barack Obama and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Obama is displaying “dictatorial” tendencies as president.  —  During an interview by Jorge Ramos on Fusion …

TIME Exclusive: Icahn Files Apple Shareholder Proposal  —  The richest man on Wall Street is opening a new front in his quest to persuade Apple to part with more of its massive cash stockpile.  —  Veteran investor Carl Icahn is opening a new front in his quest to persuade Apple to part with more of its massive cash stockpile.

Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Square  —  An unarmed, emotionally disturbed man shot at by the police as he was lurching around traffic near Times Square in September has been charged with assault, on the theory that he was responsible …

Budget Deal Looks Likely, But Passage Uncertain  —  Ryan, left, and Murray are likely to announce a modest budget deal in the coming days.  (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)  —  Budget negotiators are nearing a deal that could ease the way for leaders to avert another government shutdown before the 2014 elections …

De Blasio to Name Bratton as New York Police Commissioner  —  Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio was expected on Thursday morning to name William J. Bratton to lead the New York Police Department, according to two people with knowledge of Mr. de Blasio's decision.  —  The move will return Mr. Bratton …

Can Obama unilaterally ban deportations?  —  He may have the authority, as a protester challenged him to.  But doing so would be fraught with political and legal risks.  —  President Obama looks back at a man in the audience who asked Obama for help getting his family to the United States during …

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: Hillary Research Already Underway  —  HH: Back in California after two wonderful days in the nation's capital, but I can't keep talking about anything except Obamacare.  And the best person to do that, chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus …

Obama steals past the Nov. 30 deadline.  —  NBC's Michael O'Brien had some fun yesterday paraphrasing President Obama's latest infliction on the ears of America: “Obama said his signature health care reform law is going nowhere as long as he's in office.” … Obama gives a health-care speech.

Obama moves left on the economy to change the subject from ObamaCare.  —  For all of their mutual public admiration, Presidents Clinton and Obama react differently to political trouble.  Bill moved to the middle, while Barack always moves left.  So it's no surprise that Mr. Obama is responding …

Will Heads Roll?  Who Gets Fired Over Obamacare? … The development and roll-out of the federal online health insurance marketplace has been panned inside and outside the White House as a management fiasco.  But still unclear, two months after its launch, is whether any administration …

How the GOP lost its nerve on tax reform  —  The email blasting Rep. Dave Camp's tax plan as “disastrous” arrived two days before a pivotal meeting between House Republican leaders and their chief tax writer.  —  The subject line: “Republican tax plan threatens conservative talk radio and media localism.”

ALEC calls for penalties on ‘freerider’ homeowners in assault on clean energy  —  • Documents reveal conservative group's anti-green agenda  —  • Strategy to charge people who install their own solar panels  —  • Environmentalists accuse Alec of protecting utility firms' profits

Obama: How terrible of Congress to ruin Christmas by ... causing people to lose their insurance  —  Via RCP, he's talking about unemployment insurance, but no matter.  When the man's right, he's right.  What kind of monsters would sandbag an unsuspecting middle class by ... taking away their coverage?

Amsterdam Has a Deal for Alcoholics: Work Paid in Beer  —  AMSTERDAM — After more than a decade out of work because of a back injury and chronic alcoholism, Fred Schiphorst finally landed a job last year and is determined to keep it.  He gets up at 5:30 a.m., walks his dog and then puts on a red tie …