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Germany and three other European members of the U.N. Security Council are preparing a statement condemning Israel’s latest settlement plans in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, a European diplomatic official said Tuesday. The so-called E4 grouping—permanent council members Britain and France, plus Germany and Portugal—is concerned that such settlements could threaten the possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, the official said. Details of the European statement are being finalized in New York, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because the work was not yet completed. … The European Union—Israel’s biggest trading partner—has been increasingly vocal in...

Adam Lanza, the shooter who massacred 20 children and six adults last Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, spent hours in the windowless basement of his home playing violent video games like "Call of Duty" and obsessing over "guns and military equipment." Peter Wlasuk, a plumber who worked at the Lanza home, told The Sun that Lanza "lived in the basement" and he found it "strange." "He had a proper set up down there — computers, a bathroom, bed and desk and a TV," Wlasuk said. "There were no windows.” Wlasuk said he went down to the basement on numerous...

Gun-free zones are invitations to mass murder, gun-rights advocates argued after a lone gunman's shooting rampage at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, Friday left 20 children and six adults dead. John Lott, author of the controversial 1999 bestseller More Guns, Less Crime, said in an interview with Newsmax.com Saturday it is no coincidence that mass shootings with multiple victims occur repeatedly in designated gun-free zones such as schools, shopping malls, and movie theaters. "The problem is, whether it is the Portland [Oregon] shooting earlier this week, or the Connecticut shooting Friday, or the Sikh temple attack in...

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont was sworn in Tuesday as president pro tempore of the Senate. As the longest serving Democrat now in the Senate, Leahy moved to third place in the line of presidential succession, behind Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner. Biden swore Leahy in as the successor to Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye in the Senate post. Inouye, who also chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee, died Monday at age 88. A vase of white roses was on Inouye’s desk on the Senate floor.

Michael Moore is an elitist gun control zealot, but he has (or at least in 2005) a body guard who carries a gun. Why? Because he’s safer that way. Filmmaker Michael Moore’s (search) bodyguard was arrested for carrying an unlicensed weapon in New York’s JFK airport Wednesday night. Police took Patrick Burke, who says Moore employs him, into custody after he declared he was carrying a firearm at a ticket counter. Burke is licensed to carry a firearm in Florida and California, but not in New York. Burke was taken to Queens central booking and could potentially be charged with...

Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has raised the credit rating of Greece’s sovereign debt by six levels, praising the “strong determination” of fellow European countries to help it stay in the eurozone. S&P has increased Greece’s rating from “selective default” to “B-minus”. …

Cheaper Than Dirt! is suspending online sales of firearms effective immediately. We are reviewing our policy internally, and will continue to be the leader in the outdoor industry with our full line of gear and accessories.

The ICC freed Congolese ex-militia chief Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui Tuesday after acquitting him of war crimes in the 2003 deaths of 200 villagers. The verdict has cast doubt over the ICC’s ability to collect evidence of atrocities in faraway conflicts. … The acquittal of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui on charges including rape, murder and pillage was only the second verdict in the court’s 10-year history and the first time it had cleared a suspect. … Eric Witte, an expert in international law at the Open Society Justice Initiative, said the judgment “will send a worrying signal about the quality of ICC...

Gun control advocates are using this horrific tragedy to justify the promotion of an agenda that they have been progressing for decades. As David Axelrod said a few years back, "Never let a tragedy go to waste." All the while, supporters of the Second Amendment, like me, are expected to apologize, like it was our guns that were used in the crimes, or simply shut up and let the extremely vocal gun control lobbyists be the only voice in this "search for common ground." I, for one, am not going to apologize, I'm not going to be quiet, and I'm...

When Victoria Soto heard gunfire ricocheting off the normally quiet hallways of Sandy Hook Elementary School, she didn’t run and hide. Instead, the 27-year-old teacher gathered her first-grade class into the closet and bravely placed herself between the young children and Adam Lanza, the heavily-armed shooter.

When Victoria Soto heard gunfire ricocheting off the normally quiet hallways of Sandy Hook Elementary School, she didn’t run and hide. Instead, the 27-year-old teacher gathered her first-grade class into the closet and bravely placed herself between the young children and Adam Lanza, the heavily-armed shooter.

Texas online gun superstore Cheaper Than Dirt posted on Facebook today:Cheaper Than Dirt! is suspending online sales of firearms effective immediately. We are reviewing our policy internally, and will continue to be the leader in the outdoor industry with our full line of gear and accessories. They have also removed all firearms from their website. Another business capitulates. We don't need gun grabbers when our own side will bend over and do whatever they want. I have spent thousands at CTD but will hold off on any further spending until they do the right thing. Tell them what you think...

Four days ago, Erik Loomis, an assistant professor of American history at the University of Rhode Island, retweeted the above tweet. In case it disappears down the memory hole, here’s a .jpg captured for posterity:.......

Perfect Love Today's Scripture “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear...” (1 John 4:18, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria When unexpected things happen — trials, difficulty or tragedy — the enemy sends a whirlwind of fear to try to shake our faith and steal our focus. His goal is to take our eyes off of God and cause us to feel overwhelmed by circumstances. But if we will choose to stay focused on the love of God, if we choose to meditate on His goodness, the truth will set us free from...

Exclusive: Barbara Simpson questions role of prescription meds in shootings The countdown had begun. Christmas Eve was just 10 days away. For the children, excitement was building, as it should. Then, in a burst of what can only be described as naked evil, it was over. What had begun as a normal school day took a turn no one could have anticipated or even imagined. Sandy Hook Elementary School, grades K through 4, in the quiet village of Newtown, Conn., became the target of a plot that was carried out with diabolical accuracy that turned classrooms into a charnel house....

Test of Faithfulness "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . ." —Romans 8:28 It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may...

Following pressure from a major investor, U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management is selling gunmaker Freedom Group, whose Bushmaster AR-15 rifle was used in the Connecticut school massacre last week. The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) said on Monday it was reviewing its investment with Cerberus in the wake of Friday's shooting, in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School and then took his own life. Before going to the school, the gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, shot dead his mother in the home they shared, according to law enforcement officials. In...

December 18, 2012 Where’s Hillary Clinton’s medical report? Jim Treacher We’re told she collapsed and hit her head and got a concussion, and that’s why she can’t testify about Benghazi this week. And we’re supposed to just take her word for it.Investor’s Business Daily editorializes: Outside the frothy bubble of U.S. political concerns lie only the hard realities of the real world. That’s why hard questions should be asked — and real answers demanded — of U.S. secretaries of state and those who would be them.That’s not the case with either Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who puts up excuse...

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The White House on Tuesday rejected House Speaker John Boehner’s call for a fall-back option to avert the looming fiscal crisis, in a move the speaker’s office said “defies common sense.” The feisty exchange came as both sides crept toward a possible middle ground in private talks. But underscoring the differences that remain, the White House resisted Boehner’s bid to craft a “Plan B” just in case those talks fail to yield a compromise before a Jan. 1 deadline—that’s when taxes are set to rise on everyone, followed by a wave of spending cuts. “Every income tax filer in America...