All Things Considered

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GUY RAZ, HOST:

It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.

It seems less and less likely that a deal to avert the fiscal cliff will be reached before the New Year. And much of that may have to do with a divided opposition. James Fallows of The Atlantic is with me now, as he is most Saturdays. Jim, hello.

JAMES FALLOWS: Hello, Guy.

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GUY RAZ, HOST:

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, a number of religious charities offered their assistance. Now a coalition called Atheists Giving Aid wants to raise $50,000 to help pay for funeral costs and counseling services for the victims. NPR's Brenda Salinas reports.

BRENDA SALINAS, BYLINE: Amanda Brown is an activist. She runs a campaign called We Are Atheism. She calls it an It Gets Better campaign for atheists. When she heard about the shooting on the news, she wanted to help in whatever way she could.

In the 1980s, Japan appeared to be a world beater — the China of its day. Japanese companies were on a tear, buying up firms in the U.S. and property around the world.

But these days, Japan is considered a cautionary tale for post-industrial economies around the world. The country is facing its fourth recession in what are commonly known as the "lost decades."

Japan's story resonates this holiday season as American politicians try to reach a debt deal.

In 10 days, virtually all Americans will be hit with a tax increase and deep government spending cuts will follow shortly behind. That is, unless Congress and President Obama can find a way to avert the "fiscal cliff."

It's not looking very promising at the moment. On Thursday night, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, pulled the plug on a measure he was calling his "Plan B" and sent his members home for Christmas.

Connecticut's chief medical examiner, Wayne Carver, has raised the possibility of requesting genetic tests on Adam Lanza, the man responsible for the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Carver hasn't said precisely what he may want geneticists to look for, but scientists who study the links between genes and violence say those tests won't reveal much about why Lanza did what he did.

Long before President Obama nominated John Kerry as the country's top diplomat, the Massachusetts senator was seen as a secretary of state in waiting.

He has been chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has frequently jetted off to Afghanistan and Pakistan whenever the Obama administration needed him.

House Speaker John Boehner's alternative plan to the automatic tax hikes set to take effect at year's end fell short of enough votes to pass. The bill would have placed a higher tax rate on income over $1 million a year.