Headlines from December 17, 2012

Newtown recently underwent a civic battle between traditional hunters and assault weapon enthusiasts.
Liberty entails precisely the freedom to offend. A gun in every pocket would stifle that.
The gun control that works: no guns. And that will never pass in America. #opinions
What happens when you’re Facebook friends with a person mistakenly identified as a killer.
Comic: “Open Carrying” doesn’t stop killers, so maybe it’s time to legalize “Open Pointing.”
Chuck Hagel’s defense-secretary nomination is a litmus test of the Israel lobby thesis. #opinions
TMN’s Kevin Guilfoile on the enduring mystery of Robert Clemente’s bat. via
Gerard Depardieu gives up his French passport after the Prime Minister calls him “pathetic” for moving to Belgium.
Seventy-eight percent of Americans can’t name a single living French artist.
“It probably wouldn’t hurt if less Chinese people associated black people with toothpaste.”
For the first time, Monopoly customizes its game design for a city in Africa: Lagos.
Monopoly is a game designed by a woman, as were many, many more—overview of women in board games.
See also: Matthew Baldwin’s top 10 new board games that make for good gifts. #tmn
Survey of when architects appear in children’s books.
List of the worst business executives of 2012.
Even the casual football fan knows that the other 21 players on the field impact the outcome of each down, even if she can’t name them all.
In our last installment of translated Russian fiction: The triple threat Mikhail Shishkin. #tmn
Breakup letters from Simone de Beauvoir, Oscar Wilde, etc.
Obama: “Are we really prepared to say we are powerless in the face of such carnage?”
Bloomberg: “If [Obama] does nothing during his second term, something like 48,000 Americans will be killed with illegal guns.”
Round-up of the best reporting on guns in America.
The fear of the NRA is so engrained in American politics that the group doesn’t actually have to be successful in punishing gun control advocates anymore.
Essay by Idaho mother of a very troubled child: “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mom.”
This past Friday in China, a man stabbed 22 children at a village elementary school.
Consider your man card reissued. Twenty contemporary advertisements for guns.
Photographs of the year in volcanic activity.
Thanks to a 1974 marketing campaign, Christmas in Japan isn’t complete without a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
History and psychology behind Britain’s Christmas-time Black Magic chocolates.
Ian Frazier: Thanks to technology, the days of exaggerated travel writing are finished.
Profile of the life and times of Trigger, Willie Nelson’s guitar.
Hollywood elite says the funniest, nicest, best of them all is Martin Short.
Mumford and Sons can’t believe they all got each other mandolins for Christmas.
Finalists and winners for best shots played in tennis this year. #video