- In theory, Nevada Republicans will be releasing the final totals from yesterday’s caucuses today. In theory. The hold up is Clark County (Las Vegas).
- Deborah Small:
The party that claims to be for limited government and personal freedom is pushing to have government collect urine from people applying for public assistance, unemployment insurance, food stamps, job training and public housing. At a time when the national poverty rate has reached its highest level in decades (15%) and people are forced to turn to the social safety net they are increasingly finding the price for admission is a urine sample.
- There are so many things wrong with this, beginning with the idea that anyone ever would want to make or see a movie about him, but Newt Gingrich wants Brad Pitt to play him on the big screen.
- The Rude One is just done with the Republican presidential candidates and their race to the bottom:
They simply don’t matter. Romney’s gonna win the nomination. He’s gonna lose to Obama. Badly. Period.
Remember Bob Dole? Didn’t think so.
- For one day, Donald Trump managed to recapture the headlines. Of his endorsement of Newt Gingrich Mitt Romney, we can turn to Melissa McEwen:
There are three ways to look at this scintillating endorsement news: 1. Donald Trump knows how toxic he is, and hopes his grody endorsement hurts Mitt Romney. 2. Donald Trump doesn’t know or care about anything except his own ego and flipped a coin to see which of the two conservadipshits he’d endorse once all the cameras were pointed at him. 3. Who gives a fuck.
My preference is #3. YMMV.
- In one respect, we have achieved true bipartisanship: money makes the politics go around.
- Wall Street clearly has noticed President Obama’s increasing focus on economic fairness and his new harder-line approach to corporate criminality:
President Barack Obama has been abandoned by the world of finance.
Over the course of the 2012 election, his presidential campaign has received about one dollar in donations from the financial sector for every five dollars given to his top competitor, Mitt Romney, according to figures provided by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). During the final three months of 2011, however, the margin has widened dramatically.
The 1 percent has made its choice.
- The Washington Post once again allows a right wing ideologue to use its Opinion Page to spread disinformation about poverty. It’s one thing to promote open conversation, it’s another to promote lies.
- Austerity does not help. Even the IMF is beginning to understand that austerity does not help. It’s like watching a slow-motion car crash.
- Droning.
- Emphasis mine:
U.S. forces will cede the lead role in combat operations in Afghanistan next year, but will keep fighting alongside Afghan troops, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday, as the Obama administration struggled to clear up confusion over its Afghan exit strategy.
Panetta surprised allies on Wednesday by suggesting the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan would end in 2013, the first time Washington had floated such a deadline.
On Thursday, Panetta emphasized to reporters that U.S. troops in Afghanistan would remain “combat-ready” as the United States winds down its longest war. But he said the troops would largely shift to a train-and-assist role as Afghan forces take responsibility for security before an end-2014 deadline for full Afghan control.
- The fossil fuels industries sure do love to hate climate scientist Michael Mann.
- No surprise:
Poor, urban and minority residents are most at risk for health problems linked to climate change, according to a new California Department of Public Health analysis of Los Angeles and Fresno counties.
The department examined social and environmental factors ranging from the rising sea level to public transportation access and found that African Americans and Latinos living in these counties are more likely to be exposed to health and safety risks related to poor air quality, heat waves, flooding and wildfires stemming from climate change.
- In case you haven’t seen it, and for me thanks go to Mary Elizabeth Williams, here’s the best YouTube video ever:
