Pro-gun Sen. Joe Manchin: Time to act  —  West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — who has an “A” rating from the NRA and is a lifetime member of the pro-gun rights group — said Monday that it was time to “move beyond rhetoric” on gun control.  —  “I just came with my family from deer hunting,” Manchin said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”

Top Democrat Warns Senate Will Be Spending Christmas Break In Washington  —  “It appears the Senate will be coming back the day after Christmas,” Reid says.  Vows to deal with Sandy relief, fiscal cliff.  —  Image by Alex Wong / Getty Images  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate will likely work overtime …

Tim Scott to Be Named for South Carolina Senate Seat, Republicans Say  —  Updated Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina has chosen Representative Tim Scott to replace Jim DeMint in the United States Senate, according to three Republican officials.  The move will make Mr. Scott the first black senator …

President Obama's speech at prayer vigil for Newtown shooting victims (Full transcript)  —  Full transcript of President Obama's remarks at a Dec. 16 prayer vigil for victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.  —  OBAMA: Thank you.  —  Thank you, Governor.

Dukakis seen as possible Senate replacement if Kerry tapped for State  —  Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, may be headed back to the political spotlight as he's considered a likely interim replacement for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

In Town at Ease With Its Firearms, Tightening Gun Rules Was Resisted  —  People in the rural, hilly areas around Newtown, Conn., are used to gunfire.  In one woodsy stretch, southeast of downtown, the Pequot Fish and Game Club and the Fairfield County Fish and Game Protective Association …

Richard Engel is Missing in Syria; NBC News Enforces News Blackout  —  NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has gone missing in Syria, according to Turkish news reports.  The reports also say that Aziz Akyava, a Turkish journalist working with Engel, is unaccounted for.

Obama expected to nominate anti-Israel Hagel as secretary of defense  —  US President Barack Obama is expected to nominate former Senator Chuck Hagel, an outspoken critic of Israel, as the next Pentagon chief.  —  The White House Counsel's office has reportedly completed Hagel's vetting process …

North Alabama player tweets racist Obama comment after speech pre-empted NFL game, now gone from team  —  A North Alabama football player posted a racist tweet about President Barack Obama tonight in response to NBC pre-empting the 49ers-Patriots game on Sunday Night Football to show Obama's speech …

The GOP's Electoral College Scheme  —  Swanson Middle School, a polling place in Arlington, VA.  —  Republicans alarmed at the apparent challenges they face in winning the White House are preparing an all-out assault on the Electoral College system in critical states, an initiative …

Deputy shoots gunman at San Antonio movie theater  —  SAN ANTONIO — A man was shot by an off-duty deputy after investigators say he opened fire at a South Side theater Sunday night, injuring one person.  —  Authorities said 19-year-old Jesus Manuel Garcia showed up at the China Garden restaurant …

Tea Party Group Blames Connecticut Shooting On Teachers, Unions, And Sex  —  In a lengthy screed that's essentially a round-up of every major cultural and policy grievance the American right holds with the rest of the country, author Timothy Birdnow cited concerns about the mental health …

That Terrible Trillion  —  As you might imagine, I find myself in a lot of discussions about U.S. fiscal policy, and the budget deficit in particular.  And there's one thing I can count on in these discussions: At some point someone will announce, in dire tones, that we have a ONE TRILLION DOLLAR deficit.

NRA's Social Silence Group shuts down Facebook, goes mute on Twitter By Christopher Heine  —  The National Rifle Association shut down a key Twitter account last summer in the aftermath of the Aurora, Colo. theater shootings.  On Saturday, one day after the unthinkable shootings at a Newtown …