Adam Lanza's weapons  —  Has technology rendered the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution obsolete?  —  That is, has the application of modern military design to civilian firearms produced a class of weapons too dangerous to be in general circulation?  —  We say: Yes.

President Delivers a New Offer on the Fiscal Crisis to Boehner  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama delivered Speaker John A. Boehner a new offer on Monday to resolve the pending fiscal crisis — and what may be close to a final deal, which would raise revenues by $1.2 trillion over the next decade …

Pelosi Backed Boehner's Tax Cut Proposal  —  A new tax on millionaires, if talks fail.  —  Image by Jason Reed / Reuters  —  WASHINGTON — Speaker of the House John Boehner's “Plan B” to avert the fiscal cliff would cut taxes for incomes under $1 million — a higher threshold than the White House demands …

Stephens: Chuck Hagel's Jewish Problem  —  The would-be secretary of defense has some curious views.  —  Prejudice—like cooking, wine-tasting and other consummations—has an olfactory element.  When Chuck Hagel, the former GOP senator from Nebraska who is now a front-runner to be the next secretary …

Thoughts on the Chained CPI, Social Security, and the Budget  —  According to reliable sources, the Obama administration is seriously contemplating a deal under which the annual cost of living adjustment for Social Security benefits would be indexed to the chained consumer price index rather …

Instagram says it now has the right to sell your photos  —  In its first big policy shift since Facebook bought the photo-sharing site, Instagram claims the right to sell users' photos without payment or notification.  Oh, and there's no way to opt out.  —  Instagram said today …

Gun Debate Must Avoid Crazy 2nd Amendment Claims  —  The rise of the Second Amendment as a serious obstacle to U.S. gun control legislation is astonishingly recent.  —  Its rise is a tribute less to the vision of the Founding Fathers than to the skill, money and power of the contemporary gun-rights movement …

South Carolina Lawmakers Propose 5-Year Jail Sentence for ‘Obamacare’ Implementation  —  Federal officials could face fines and jail terms under proposed legislation  —  Nullification is yet again picking up steam in Dixie.  —  Pursuing an archaic legal theory that punctuated pre-Civil War disputes between …

Tennessee Considers Training And Arming Schoolteachers To Protect Against Shootings  —  Tennessee has emerged this week as a center of the “the answer is more guns in schools” sentiment following the Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting.  —  A member of the Republican-controlled legislature plans during …

Snyder's popularity plummets  —  Just last month when we took a first look at the 2014 landscape we talked about how much Rick Snyder had improved his popularity during his second year in office and how he led a generic Democrat for reelection by 6 points, even as Barack Obama won the state comfortably.

A Bipartisan Nation of Beneficiaries  —  OVERVIEW  —  As President Barack Obama negotiates with Republicans in Congress over federal entitlement spending, a new national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that a majority of Americans (55%) have received government benefits from at least …

Richard Engel and NBC News team freed from captors in Syria  —  Updated at 8:15 a.m. ET: NBC News' Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and members of his network production team were freed from captors in Syria after a firefight at a checkpoint on Monday, five days after they were taken prisoner, NBC News said early Tuesday.

How Wal-Mart Used Payoffs to Get Its Way in Mexico  —  SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACÁN, Mexico — Wal-Mart longed to build in Elda Pineda's alfalfa field.  It was an ideal location, just off this town's bustling main entrance and barely a mile from its ancient pyramids, which draw tourists from around the world.

Rhode Island prof demands NRA chief's “head on a stick” (Update - deletes Twitter account)  —  Erik Loomis is an assistant professor of American history at the University of Rhode Island.  He also blogs at “Lawyers Guns and Money” blog.  —  In reaction to the murders in Connecticut …

Poll: 69% disapprove of GOP on fiscal cliff  —  Nearly seven-in-10 Americans disapprove of how congressional Republicans are handling the fiscal cliff, according to a poll released Tuesday, with a bare majority expecting a deal to be reached by the end of 2012.

Professor blames mass shootings on ‘white male privilege’  —  PASADENA, Calif. - Some opinions only get attention because they come from people with advanced degrees who make their living on the taxpayer dime.  That's certainly the case for Hugo Schwyzer, a history and gender studies professor at Pasadena City College.

More Fun With Numbers At The Times  —  The NY Times are thinking so hard about gun control safety that have lost their math skills and common sense.  But we can help!  —  In Other Countries, Laws Are Strict and Work  —  Like other shootings before it, the Newtown, Conn. …