How the fiscal cliff fight will end (unhappily for Republicans) … The word among some Senate Republicans is that a fiscal cliff deal is likely to be struck by Sunday, or Monday at the latest.  (And Monday, being December 31st, is in fact the latest a deal could be struck to avoid January 1 tax increases.)

French Court Says 75% Tax Rate on Rich Is Unconstitutional  —  President Francois Hollande's 75 percent millionaire-tax is unconstitutional because it fails to guarantee taxpayer equality, France's top court ruled today.  —  The tax, one of Hollande's campaign promises …

Claim seeks $100 million for child survivor of Connecticut school shooting  —  Reuters/Reuters - A U.S. flag hangs over stockings left as a memorial for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, along a fence surrounding the Sandy Hook Cemetery in Newtown, Connecticut December ...more

Nation running out of ammo  —  Reaction to threats by Senator Dianne Feinstein and others to ban certain weapons and serverely restrict ownership of guns generally has caused a run on gun stores, as is widely reported.  —  Less reported is the run on ammunition, leaving ammunition inventories down 93% since election day.

There's Only One Way To Fix The Deficit — And Actually It's Totally Painless  —  People who insist that the US has a gigantic “spending problem” are ignorant of what really drives the deficit and the national debt, as Henry Blodget easily demonstrated in a series of charts.

When Getting Your Butt Kicked Is the Strategy  —  Buzzfeed has one of many pieces about anonymous Republicans bemoaning their party's strategic incompetence, this time about the debt ceiling deal.  They report: … Here's what Buzzfeed is missing: For Republicans, losing the political fight isn't a downside of the strategy.

New York newspaper to list more gun permit holders after uproar  —  Reuters/Reuters - A small portion of guns that were turned in by their owners are stacked inside a truck at a gun buyback held by the Los Angeles Police Department in Los Angeles, California, December 26, 2012 ...more

Should People Be Forced to Buy Liability Insurance for their Guns?  —  The latest gun-control idea is forcing owners to buy liability insurance.  That may help a few victims, but it won't stop crime, writes Megan McArdle.  —  Novel gun control ideas continue to percolate through the commentariat.

At Least 15 Killed in Sect Attack in North Nigeria  —  Gunmen suspected to belong to a radical Islamist sect attacked a village in northeast Nigeria, tying up men, women and children before slitting their throats, killing at least 15 in the troubled region's latest attack, witnesses said Saturday.

Egypt to pursue relationship with Hezbollah  —  In shift from Mubarak-era policy, Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon says Brotherhood-dominated Egypt will engage terror group.  —  In a dramatic policy shift, Egypt will seek to forge “tight” relations with Hezbollah, Egyptian Ambassador …