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.

Mother of girl involved in ‘kissing’ discipline speaks out  —  Boy was suspended for two days after second kissing incident  —  The mother of a girl involved in the case of a 6-year-old Cañon City school boy being suspended for a second violation of giving a classmate unwanted kisses …

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.

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 …

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 …

Mandela and the Question of Violence … I have the misfortune of being near the end of Tony Judt's Postwar at a moment when of the great figures of our history, Nelson Mandela, has passed.  Judt's gaze is relentless.  He rejects all grand narratives, skewers Utopianism (mostly in the form of Communism) …

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?

Health director who approved Obama birth certificate dies in plane crash  —  The health director who approved the release of President Obama's birth certificate has died in a plane crash, Hawaiian officials said Thursday.  —  Loretta Fuddy died after the Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft …

Obama administration extends state high-risk pools through January  —  With some high-risk patients still struggling to gain health insurance, the Obama administration is extending a health law program that covers more than 100,000 Americans with preexisting conditions.

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.”

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 …