With guest host Jane Clayson.

No indictment in police choke hold death. Free speech and Facebook. Sony Pictures hacked. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Chokehold justice. No indictment in New York. Protesters take to the streets across the country. President Obama names a new Defense Secretary. Iran flies missions in Iraq against ISIS. A US hostage in Yemen pleads for his life.  Ray Rice asks for a second chance.  Seventeen states sue over the president’s immigration plan. The Supreme Court takes up the case of a pregnant UPS worker. More Cosby accusers step forward.  Sony Pictures hacked.  Is North Korea behind it? This hour, On Point: our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-- Jane Clayson

Ron Allen, correspondent for NBC News. (@ronallennbc)

Josh Lederman, White House correspondent for the Associated Press. (@joshledermanap)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@jackbeattyNPR)

New York Times: ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Is Echoed in Voices of Fury and Despair -- "As demonstrators rushed to Staten Island, hundreds of people marched north from Times Square, trying, and failing, to push through police barricades to disrupt the annual Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. Protesting from midafternoon to late into the night, they blocked traffic on the West Side Highway, disrupted it on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge and at the Lincoln Tunnel, sat en masse at Columbus Circle, and held 'die-ins' at Grand Central Terminal and near Radio City Music Hall. 'We can’t breathe,' they chanted."

Washington Post: House Republicans scramble to avoid a shutdown ahead of a Dec. 11 deadline -- "Much of the focus is on passing a spending bill that avoids a government shutdown, and there is growing uneasiness about how easily or quickly that will happen. Meetings and phone calls in recent days among top Republicans have been dominated by consternation over how Boehner will manage his unruly conference and send the Senate a bill that will not be vetoed by the president."

The Wall Street Journal: Taking Obama’s Immigration Bait — "Our guess is that a run off the rails is precisely what Mr. Obama wants, so he can blame Republicans for a shutdown and diminish their political standing before the 114th Congress even begins. For proof, look no further than the many liberal pundits who sound like Mr. Sessions in mocking the House leadership. After the election, they’re begging for a return to GOP suicide."