De Blasio's nightmare  —  New York's mayor has lost the police — and maybe much more than that.  —  Bill de Blasio, like his progressive political idol Barack Obama, is finding out that you can't do the New Politics if you don't pay attention to the old politics.

Mitch McConnell: Senate 'didn't do squat for years'  —  Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says his biggest challenge will be righting the course of Congress, adding — in a swipe at outgoing Majority Leader Harry Reid — that his own chamber “basically didn't do squat for years.”

U.S. Third-Quarter GDP Revised Up to 5.0% Growth  —  WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy posted its strongest growth in more than a decade during the third quarter, supported by robust consumer spending and business investment.  —  Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods …

Pelosi: Boehner must force Grimm to resign  —  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is turning the heat up on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), urging him to call for Rep. Michael Grimm's (R-N.Y.) resignation.  —  Grimm is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of tax evasion.

Chicopee Man Faces Charges For ‘Put Wings On Pigs’ Facebook Post  —  CHICOPEE (CBS/AP) — A Chicopee man is facing charges after posting “Put Wings on Pigs” to Facebook, police say.  —  Chicopee police said Monday that local residents alerted them to the “very disturbing post” by 27-year-old Charles DiRosa.

Apple pushes first ever automated security update to Mac users  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc has pushed out its first-ever automated security update to Macintosh computers to help defend against newly identified bugs that security researchers have warned could enable hackers to gain remote control of machines.

North Korea Loses Its Link to the Internet  —  SAN FRANCISCO — A strange thing happened to North Korea's already tenuous link to the Internet on Monday: It stopped.  —  While perhaps a coincidence, the failure of the country's computer connections began only hours after President Obama declared Friday …

Algeria kills militant chief behind Frenchman's beheading  —  © Hervé Gourdel, courtesy of Facebook  —  The Algerian army has killed three members of the Islamist group that beheaded French tourist Hervé Gourdel in September, the army said Tuesday, including the leader of Jund al-Khilafa …

BOMBSHELL REPORT: IRS Targeted ‘Icky’ Conservative Groups  —  Top IRS officials specifically targeted tea party groups and misled the public about its secret political targeting program led by ex-official Lois Lerner, according to a bombshell new congressional report.

Taliban Push Into Afghan Districts That U.S. Had Secured  —  LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan — In a large swath of the Taliban heartland in southern Afghanistan, government centers are facing a long-dormant concern this winter: Four years after the American troop surge helped make such places relatively secure …

Supreme Court to hear ObamaCare subsidy challenge in March  —  The highly anticipated case challenging ObamaCare's subsidies will officially reach the Supreme Court on March 4.  —  Justices will hear arguments in King v. Burwell in just under three months, according to the court's schedule posted Monday afternoon.

Republicans Block Reappointment of CBO Chief Doug Elmendorf  —  (Bloomberg) — Incoming Republican leaders in Congress won't reappoint Doug Elmendorf to another term as head of the Congressional Budget Office, according to a party aide briefed on the decision.

This Is What Our Hellish World Will Look Like After We Hit the Global Warming Tipping Point  —  The de facto assumption of climate change policy is that the world must limit the increase in global temperatures to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-Industrial levels …

Ukraine takes historic step toward NATO  —  1 hr ago  —  Dmitry Zaks  —  Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine took a historic step toward NATO on Tuesday in a parliamentary vote certain to stoke Russia's anger ahead of talks on ending the ex-Soviet state's separatist war.

How do Americans feel about reestablishing relations with Cuba?  —  Shares -  —  In the wake of President Obama's surprise announcement of an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba, 54 percent of Americans approve of reestablishing both diplomatic …