All I Want for Christmas Is a New GOP  —  You call that governing?  Amid dismal fiscal-cliff talks and an even worse reaction to the shooting in Newtown, Mark McKinnon throws cold water on his wayward party.  —  What I want for Christmas is a new Republican Party.

Obama is CNN's Most Intriguing Person of 2012  —  Obama: His year in facial expressions  —  Washington (CNN) — A year ago, President Barack Obama was under fire.  Today, he is being feted.  —  In just 12 months, the 51-year-old lawyer and former U.S. senator raised by a single mother went …

Senator From Idaho Is Arrested on a Drunken Driving Charge  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Senator Michael D. Crapo of Idaho was arrested early Sunday and charged with driving under the influence in a suburb of Washington, D.C., the authorities said.  —  Mr. Crapo, a Republican …

4 firefighters shot, 2 killed at Webster, N.Y., fire  —  Fires allowed to spread while gunman remains at large  —  Police at the scene of the shooting.  A gunman shot and killed at least two firefighters responding to a house fire at a Rochester suburb early Monday.

THOUSANDS SIGN US PETITION TO DEPORT PIERS MORGAN  —  LONDON (AP) — Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for British CNN host Piers Morgan to be deported from the U.S. over his gun control views.  —  Morgan has taken an aggressive stand for tighter U.S. gun laws …

Search for Way Through Fiscal Impasse Turns to the Senate  —  WASHINGTON — With little more than a week for lawmakers to avert huge tax increases and spending cuts, attention is turning from the gridlocked House to the Senate, where some Republicans on Sunday endorsed President Obama's call …

Map: Where are the gun permits in your neighborhood?  —  The map indicates the addresses of all pistol permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties.  Each dot represents an individual permit holder licensed to own a handgun — a pistol or revolver.  The data does not include owners …

When Prophecy Fails  —  Back in the 1950s three social psychologists joined a cult that was predicting the imminent end of the world.  Their purpose was to observe the cultists' response when the world did not, in fact, end on schedule.  What they discovered, and described in their classic book …

Blues Cruise  —  Steaming past Guantánamo, en route to the Cayman Islands, a boatload of Republicans ponder the plight of a party at sea.  —  The whole thing was white, and broken, that much was clear.  A week after the presidential election, when the dreams of Republicans were dashed …

White House Wavers on Hagel, Considers Others for Defense  —  Nebraska Republican's Pentagon nomination appears to be failing because of his blunt advocacy of unpopular positions.  —  Besieged by criticism from right and left, and considerable skepticism from his former Senate colleagues …

Game of Thrones Most Pirated TV-Show of 2012  —  With 4,280,000 downloads for a single episode, Game of Thrones has the honor of becoming the most pirated TV-show of 2012.  —  Over the years the number of TV-show downloads on BitTorrent has leveled off a bit, but this year we saw a small increase again.

For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall  —  GALVESTON, Tex. — Angelica Gonzales marched through high school in Goth armor — black boots, chains and cargo pants — but undermined her pose of alienation with a place on the honor roll.  She nicknamed herself after a metal band …

The truth is that politicians are telling lies  —  Government is simply unaffordable  —  The Chancellor makes much of his determination to cut benefits  —  Was 2012 the year when the democratic world lost its grip on reality?  Must we assume now that no party that speaks the truth …