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.

Economy Grows Most Since '03 on U.S. Consumer-Spending Gains  —  The U.S. economy roared into overdrive in the third quarter as consumer and business spending fueled the biggest expansion in more than a decade.  —  Gross domestic product grew at a 5 percent annual rate from July through September …

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.”

Three Pages Of Rand Paul's Book Were Plagiarized From Think Tanks  —  The worst case yet.  Paul's office says the book notes Paul didn't individually report out each case.  —  Joshua Roberts / Reuters  —  An entire section of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's 2013 book Government Bullies …

HHS reports 6 million signups so far for Obamacare next year  —  Nearly 2 million people have signed up for health insurance for the first time through HealthCare.gov and close to 6.4 million people were enrolled in the federal marketplace one month into the 2015 enrollment season, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said Tuesday.

Poll: Support increases for lifting Cuba embargo, travel restrictions  —  A large majority of Americans support establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba, and even larger — and growing — majorities support an end to trade and travel bans to the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Court rejects 2 ozone regulations  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — In a victory for environmental groups, a federal appeals court rejected two Environmental Protection Agency regulations that loosened requirements for achieving compliance with more protective ozone standards.

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.

NYT, Vice, Mother Jones top FOIA suits  —  Reporters for The New York Times, Mother Jones and Vice News filed the most Freedom of Information Act lawsuits in 2014, according to the group the FOIA Project.  —  Vice News reporter Jason Leopold filed eight freedom of information suits in 2014.

How many crimes can you see being committed in this anti-gun ‘public service’ ad?  —  I've gotten several e-mails about this ad, and one reader asked: If a child does what the protagonist did — would the filmmakers be criminally punishable or subject to civil liability?

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.

The Real Threat to Hillary Clinton: Jim Webb  —  WASHINGTON — THE conventional wisdom is that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be almost impossible to dislodge from the Democratic presidential nomination and that even if she does encounter some hiccups, they will come from her left flank on economic policy.

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.

Giuliani's claim that Obama launched anti-police ‘propaganda’  —  “We've had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police.”  —  Giuliani made headlines after his statement on Fox News, which he repeated the next day on CNN.