memeorandum: Source: Obama to tap Kerry to be next secretary of state (Jessica Yellin/CNN)

12:45 PM ET, December 16, 2012

Top Items:

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP lawmaker wishes Sandy Hook school principal was armed — Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas, says he wishes Dawn Hochsprung, the principal of the Sandy Hook Elementary School, was armed with an M-4 assault rifle when she confronted Adam Lanza, the shooter who killed 20 children.

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Prairie Weather

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Democratic Senator Will Introduce New Assault Weapons Ban In January — Feinstein says she believes Obama will support it. — Source: youtube.com — WASHINGTON — Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein said Sunday that she will introduce a new ban on assault weapons when the new Congress convenes next year …

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

New York Times:

Killer's Mother, His First Victim, Was a Gun Enthusiast, Friends Say — NEWTOWN, Conn. — She was “a big, big gun fan” who went target shooting with her children, according to friends. She enjoyed craft beers, jazz and landscaping. She was generous to strangers, but also high-strung, as if she were holding herself together.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Mediaite, Washington Post, New Jersey Online, Gothamist, U.S. News, The Democratic Daily, Daily Mail, Guardian, The Other McCain, Telegraph, New York Post, American Power, Slate, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', The Week, Associated Press and The Daily Caller

Garry Wills / New York Review of Books:

Our Moloch — Few crimes are more harshly forbidden in the Old Testament than sacrifice to the god Moloch (for which see Leviticus 18.21, 20.1-5). The sacrifice referred to was of living children consumed in the fires of offering to Moloch. Ever since then, worship of Moloch has been the sign of a deeply degraded culture.

Discussion: New York Times, Wonkblog, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money, News Desk, Balloon Juice and WorldViews

James Barron / New York Times:
Children at School Were All Shot Multiple Times

Discussion: IHT Rendezvous, Xinhua News Agency, Daily Kos, U.S. News, The Reaction, The Caucus, Balloon Juice, Weasel Zippers and Associated Press

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
The Sandy Hook Murders: What To Do?

Discussion: TBogg, Little Green Footballs and No More Mister Nice Blog

Mike Huckabee / CNN:
Huckabee: Lack of religion in classroom leads to violence in schools

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Agonist, The Hill, Roger Ailes, Balloon Juice and The Moderate Voice

CNN:
‘Why? Why?’: 26 dead in elementary school massacre

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, American Power, The Talking Dog, Gothamist, Firedoglake, Los Angeles Times, TMZ.com and This Just In

The Anarchist Soccer Mom:

Thinking the Unthinkable — In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it's easy to talk about guns. But it's time to talk about mental illness. — Three days before 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Business Insider, The Agonist and FIRST DRAFT

Politico:

Fiscal cliff talks: Speaker John Boehner pitches millionaire tax hike — Speaker John Boehner has proposed allowing tax rates to rise for the wealthiest Americans if President Barack Obama agrees to major entitlement cuts, according to several sources close to the talks.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, Business Insider, CNN and This Just In

Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:

AP SOURCE: BOEHNER OFFERS MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKE … WASHINGTON (AP) — Signaling new movement in “fiscal cliff” talks, House Speaker John Boehner has proposed raising the top rate for earners making more than $1 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said.

Discussion: americanthinker.com and The Hill

John Cole / Balloon Juice:

True Stories in Gun Control — After Operation Desert Shield and Storm, I was stationed at Camp Blackhorse in Doha Kuwait with the 11th ACR. We were an Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR), which basically means we were a self contained unit. For each squdron, we had 3 Cav troops- Alpha …

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Justice Dept. Studied and Shelved Ideas to Bolster Gun Database — WASHINGTON — After the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and others in early 2011, the Justice Department drew up a detailed list of steps the government could take to expand the background-check system …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, emptywheel and BuzzFeed

Susan Heavey / Reuters:
Users should not be targeted in states that legalized pot: Obama

Discussion: Main Justice and The PJ Tatler

Joe Weisenthal / Business Insider:

Every Single Pro-Gun Rights Senator Declined To Appear On Meet The Press Today — In the wake of the Newtown, CT shooting, all of the Sunday shows are dominated by gun control politics. — Meet The Press producer Betsy Fischer Martin tweets the following... Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Crooks and Liars

Jessica Yellin / CNN:

Source: Obama to tap Kerry to be next secretary of state — Washington (CNN) — President Obama has decided to nominate Sen. John Kerry to be the next secretary of state and could make a formal announcement as early as next week, a Democrat who spoke to Kerry told CNN Saturday.

Discussion: The Week, Towleroad News #gay, americanthinker.com, BuzzFeed, This Just In and Politico

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
John Kerry to Be Nominated to Be Secretary of State, Sources Say

Discussion: Gawker, The Hill, Taegan Goddard's … and The Hill

Reuters:

Egyptians narrowly back constitution, say rival camps — (Reuters) - Egyptians voted narrowly in favor of a constitution shaped by Islamists but opposed by other groups who fear it will divide the Arab world's biggest nation, officials in rival camps said on Sunday after the first round of a two-stage referendum.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Via Meadia, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

The Hagel Thesis — As we go to press on Friday, December 14, former Republican senator Chuck Hagel appears to be the leading candidate to become the next secretary of defense. Anti-Israel propagandists are thrilled. Stephen Walt, junior partner of the better-known Israel-hater John Mearsheimer …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Power Line

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Chuck Hagel's record on Israel draws scrutiny

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Power Line, Israpundit and Chicago Sun Times

Jonathan Allen / Politico:

After Connecticut school shooting, Washington quiet on gun control — They've watched mass shootings of college kids and schoolchildren, issued countless statements of sympathy, and lived through a colleague taking a bullet to the brain, but Friday's rampage in Newtown, Conn. …

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, This Just In, The Moderate Voice and New York Times

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:

“As Charles Manson Once Argued, Personality Cults Are Completely Harmless.” — Glenn Reynolds got off to a pretty good start yesterday. But never think he can't top himself: … Wait, what? … Ah, yes, William Burroughs: … It's the gun nut/misogynist exacta!

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Mark Follman / Mother Jones:

More Guns, More Mass Shootings—Coincidence? — America now has 300 million firearms, a barrage of NRA-backed gun laws—and record casualties from mass killers. — Update, December 15: Click here for our latest coverage of the Newtown school massacre. This story has been updated to include data from that event.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Hinterland Gazette, PoliticusUSA, The Mahablog, Eclectablog and Mother Jones