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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Gas used in Homs leaves seven people dead and scores affected, activists say  —  Seven people have died in Homs after they inhaled a “poisonous gas” used by government forces in a rebel-held neighbourhood, activists said.  —  Activists also told Al Jazeera on Sunday night that scores of others …

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 …

Ron Paul denounces NRA schools plan  —  Outgoing Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) distanced himself Monday from a National Rifle Association proposal to place armed guards at every school, saying “government security is just another kind of violence.”  —  He said the federal government should not try to …

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.