• As the weekend arrives, a deal on the fiscal crisis has yet to be reached. [NYT]
• Movies based on history books have quickly become the public record. Jacob Silverman writes on the phenomenon for Jewcy. [Jewcy]
• Just in time for the end of the year blitz, the Washington Post has five myths about charitable giving. [WaPo]
• Sam Freedman writes on the absence of humanists and ‘nones’ in the wake of the Newtown massacre, when a real opportunity was missed. [NYT]
• Hendrik Hertzberg writes on the Israeli response to the NRA claim that the U.S. should emulate Israel’s gun program. [TNY]
Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.