Can GOP shatter ‘Obama coalition’ in 2016?  —  ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans crowed in 2004 that freshly re-elected President George W. Bush had established a “permanent governing majority” for the GOP.  Eight years later, Democrats were touting the enduring power of the “Obama coalition” to keep their party in the White House.

Passenger tossed after flipping out over staff's ‘Merry Christmas’  —  Bah, humbug!  —  A passenger was tossed off a plane at La Guardia Airport on Tuesday after flipping out — because airline workers wished him a merry Christmas.  —  The man was waiting to board American Airlines Flight 1140 …

JetBlue offering police free flights to slain NYPD cops' funerals  —  Police officers watch over a makeshift memorial in remembrance of the two NYPD cops who were slain over the weekend.  —  JetBlue airlines said Wednesday it will be offering free flights to police officers from around …

Reports: Jeb Bush leaving health-care company  —  Jeb Bush is stepping down from the board of a health care company that profited from Obamacare, according to media reports, a move that comes as the Republican explores a run for the presidency.  —  The Los Angeles Times, citing corporate filings …

Look at the Obamas' Throwback Christmas Snap … The first family woke up to a partly cloudy Christmas morning in Hawaii and celebrated by opening presents and singing carols, a White House spokesman said today.  —  First Lady Michelle Obama was apparently in the sharing spirit …

Man shot with stun gun dies at border crossing  —  SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego police say a 40-year-old man died after a border inspector shot him with a stun gun at the nation's busiest crossing.  —  Police said Thursday that the man jumped over a counter and attacked an inspector …

Alleged Hacker Threatens Albuquerque Residents: “i love you isis”  —  Employees at the Albuquerque Journal are still trying to figure out how ISIS propaganda threatening local residents got posted on the paper's website Thursday.  —  The paper's top online story, a piece on a 1971 police shooting …

Israeli serviceman shoots 5yo Palestinian in the face (GRAPHIC IMAGES)  —  Israeli police have fired a rubber bullet at a five-year-old Palestinian boy's face as he was getting out of a school bus on his way home, the child's family told Palestinian media.  He sustained a skull fracture under his eye.

Father asks Islamic State to treat captured pilot son as ‘guest’  —  (Reuters) - The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State fighters after his plane crashed in Syria said he did not consider his son a hostage and called on his captors to treat him as a “guest”.