Top Items:


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.
Discussion:
New York Times, Politico, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', americanthinker.com, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite and Capital New York
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Cerberus Capital Management Statement Regarding Freedom Group, Inc. — We were shocked and deeply saddened by the events that took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT on December 14, 2012. We cannot comprehend the losses suffered by the families and friends of those killed …
Discussion:
Quartz, The Democratic Daily, DealBook, southernstudies.org, Reuters, Slate, The Caucus, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, Forbes, Gothamist, Gawker and The Hinterland Gazette


White House Gets More Specific on Gun Control Measures the President Might Back — President Barack Obama walks off stage after delivering a speech at an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Washington Examiner and ABCNEWS

Sandy Hook: The Corrections Begin — I noted here that the news media's performance on the Sandy Hook elementary school murders has been terrible, with news outlets committing one factual error after another. Yet in all the calls for “soul searching” that have followed Adam Lanza's rampage …
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog and Dave Winer


Sporting goods chain suspends sale of certain semi-automatic after shooting — Mourners leave Honan Funeral Home after attending the funeral for Jack Pinto, 6, one of the youngest victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, on Monday, December 17, in Newtown, Connecticut.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Shakesville, DealBook, Quartz, Daily Kos, Shot in the Dark, ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS, PoliticusUSA and Mediaite


Bob McDonnell: Consider guns for school officials — Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) said on Tuesday that it's “time to have a discussion” about arming school officials, in wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. — “If someone had been armed, there would have been a possibility …


Cerberus: We want out of gun biz
Discussion:
Politicker, The Raw Story and emptywheel

How Walmart Helped Make Newtown Shooter's AR-15 the Most Popular Assault Weapon in America
Discussion:
Quartz and Politicker

Gun sales surge after Connecticut massacre
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, New York Times and Wake up America


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 …
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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 …
Discussion:
Reuters, BuzzFeed, PoliticusUSA, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Hit & Run, Politico, Quartz, Washington Examiner, The Week, The Glittering Eye, Talking Points Memo, The Agonist, The Huffington Post, Towleroad News #gay, Prairie Weather, The Daily Caller, Jared Bernstein, National Review, Slate, Calculated Risk and Wall Street Journal


John Boehner moving to Plan B on fiscal cliff — House Republicans, discouraged by the pace of negotiations with the White House, will move their own bill that would hike tax rates on income above $1 million, according to several sources familiar with the plan.

White House: Obama would support new gun laws — President Obama “strongly” supports the renewal of the assault weapons ban and would back new gun legislation, the White House said Tuesday, as the president spoke to a pro-gun senator who has shifted his position since Friday's mass shooting in Connecticut.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, msnbc.com and The Hill


Boehner offers ‘Plan B’ tax fix to avoid cliff; Obama says no
Discussion:
Right Turn and Washington Post

Obama's Latest Fiscal Slope Offer: I'm Missing the Part Where Republicans Give Up Something
Discussion:
PoliticusUSA and Daily Kos

White House Rejects Boehner's Fiscal Cliff “Plan B”
Discussion:
Wake up America, Daily Kos and Post Politics

Corker: 'We're not close to a deal'
Discussion:
Politico and Taegan Goddard's …

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 …
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Dick Durbin: No cut in Social Security benefits
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

The Deal Dilemma — First things first: cutting Social Security …
Discussion:
Mother Jones and msnbc.com

The Morning Plum: Should progressives accept emerging fiscal cliff deal?
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, American Prospect and Wonkblog


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 …
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EXCLUSIVE: ADL pans possible Chuck Hagel pick — Abe Foxman, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, emails me from overseas on the potential for Chuck Hagel to be picked as secretary of Defense: … Foxman's criticism follows in the wake of a column by Bret Stephens who documents Hagel's insinuations about dual loyalty.
Discussion:
Moe Lane, Weekly Standard, National Review, Washington Free Beacon and Power Line


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 …
Discussion:
Politico, Firedoglake, Wired, ComPost, BBC, Techdirt, Wake up America, NBC4 Washington, TechCrunch, The Frisky, Shakesville, CBS Boston and AMERICAblog, more at Mediagazer »
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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 …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, The Raw Story, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and LewRockwell.com Blog


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 …
Discussion:
The National Memo

Richard Engel and NBC News team freed from captors in Syria — After being held captive for five days in Syria, NBC's Richard Engel and his team recount being ambushed, blindfolded and traumatized before being freed at a checkpoint. — By Mike Brunker, NBC News


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.
Discussion:
msnbc.com and Outside the Beltway
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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.
Discussion:
Politico, Eclectablog, emptywheel and Taegan Goddard's …


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 …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and Prairie Weather

Rhode Island prof demands NRA chief's “head on a stick” — 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, Loomis tweeted that he had never …