Dems threaten budget deal  —  The budget deal worked out by House and Senate negotiators is on the verge of unraveling over the exclusion of federal unemployment benefits, several leading Democrats warned Wednesday.  —  The lawmakers are outraged by a GOP move to add the Medicare “doc fix” …

The story behind “that selfie”  —  So here's the photo, my photo, which quickly lit up the world's social networks and news websites.  The “selfie” of three world leaders who, during South Africa's farewell to Nelson Mandela, were messing about like kids instead of behaving with the mournful gravitas one might expect.

Meet the littlest casualty in the war on men.  —  Hunter Yelton of Cañon City, Colo., is accused of sexual harassment.  Hunter Yelton is 6 years old and in the first grade.  “He has a crush on a girl at school, who likes him back,” reports Colorado Springs' KRDO-TV.

Sexiest Man Alive Embraces Obamacare to Boost Enrollment  —  The Sexiest Man Alive is being enlisted to spice up Obamacare.  —  Pop singer Adam Levine, who won the designation from People magazine last month, is among the celebrities who'll be promoting enrollment in online health insurance exchanges …

Tea Party Favorability Falls to Lowest Yet  —  Fifty-one percent view it unfavorably  —  PRINCETON, NJ — For the first time, a slim majority of Americans say they have an unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party movement.  About one-third view the movement favorably, a new low.

How George W. Bush failed the GOP  —  Rachel Maddow hosts MSNBC's “The Rachel Maddow Show” and writes a monthly column for The Post.  —  After a presidency, what comes next?  Not just for the president but also for the members of the administration, the president's allies in Congress, his or her political party?

Biden: My ancestors 'didn't all come here legally'  —  Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that some of his ancestors came to the United States illegally and said it's fruitless to compare the immigration system of the 1800s to today's.  —  “My great-great grandparents came escaping …

Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore  —  It's time to give St. Nick his long overdue makeover.  —  When I was a kid, I knew two different Santa Clauses.  The first had a fat belly, rosy cheeks, a long white beard, and skin as pink as bubble gum.  He was omnipresent …

Is The Universe A Hologram?  Physicists Say It's Possible  —  A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.  —  In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe …

Nearly $90 million in fines handed down for government-funded phone fraud  —  (KMOV) - More fines issued for those involved in a government- funded “free phone” fiasco following a News 4 Investigation.  —  Two companies accused of fraud first played off the allegations to News 4's Chris Nagus …

Unprecedented Austerity  —  As many people have noted, a strange thing has happened on the fiscal policy front.  Intellectually, the case for austerity has pretty much collapsed, having been reduced at this point to the Three Stooges Theory: we're supposed to consider austerity a success …

Strike Iran Now to Avert Disaster Later  —  A conventional-weapons attack is preferable to the nuclear war sure to come.  —  Not too many years ago, hardly anyone disagreed with John McCain when he first said that “the only thing worse than bombing Iran is letting Iran get the bomb.”

Juking the ObamaCare Stats  —  HHS won't disclose the enrollment data that really matter.  —  Most of Washington seems to have bought the White House claim that the 36 federal exchanges are finally working, and glory, glory, hallelujah.  But if that's really true, then what explains the ongoing secrecy and evasion?

Obamacare is a disaster: Ted Cruz  —  We need to repeal all of the Affordable Care Act.  —  Obamacare was created with an ostensibly noble purpose: to expand health coverage to some of the uninsured and to make health care more affordable.  Three-and-a-half years ago …

Republicans Running in Reverse  —  Let's hear it for women in high places.  —  This week in Detroit, Mary Barra took over General Motors.  In Washington, Senator Patty Murray made headlines when she worked out a deal with Representative Paul Ryan to keep the government funded for the next two years.