Breaking: Unemployment applications drop to lowest level since April 2000

BREAKING: Unemployment aid applications drop 43,000 to a seasonally adjusted 265,000, lowest level since April 2000: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/832bb71ede834992b301beaa92d32cfa/us-unemployment-benefit-applications-plunge-15-year-low

"Let Me Start Over" Ted Cruz SOTU Rebuttal

Press Play.

https://vine.co/v/OIqaAQwlDYL

Oscar for Best Pic is 'American Sniper' vs. 'Selma'.

That is effed up on so many levels.

Yes, of course Hillary is running in 2016

No need to keep speculating, it's happening. (Besides the fact she's already fundraising)

White House Adviser John Podesta to Join Emerging Hillary Clinton Campaign.

Move Is Another Indication Clinton Is Working Toward Launching 2016 Presidential Bid

LOL. Brownback To Propose Tax Revenue Increase To Help Fill Budget Gap

Oh sweet schadenfreude... few things more gratifying than watching conservatives basically admit their economic policies FAIL:

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) will propose tax revenue increases in order to address the state's budget shortfall, the Wichita Eagle reported on Saturday.

Brownback announced last month that he would initiate budget cuts to help fill the large budget deficit projected to reach $279 million by June 2015. Jon Hummel, the governor's chief of staff, told the Eagle that the governor would specifically target the state's education budget.

Brownback implemented steep income tax cuts during his first term in office, which prompted some state Republicans to back the Democratic candidate in the 2014 election.

Hummel said that the governor is still focused on limiting spending despite the proposal to increase tax revenue.

"Revenue didn’t come in quite as was projected," he told the Eagle. "If we can do some things on the tax side and do some things on the budget side and still maintain that overall philosophy, then he's always been open to that."


Link: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/brownback-tax-revenue-increase-budget

Obama to Unveil Proposal For Tuition-Free Community College

President Obama on Friday will propose making community college tuition-free for “responsible students,” launching what officials described as an ambitious plan for the federal and state governments to widen access to higher education.

Under a program dubbed America’s College Promise, administration officials said, an estimated 9 million students a year nationwide could benefit. The average tuition savings for a full-time student at a public two-year college was estimated to be $3,800 a year.

Obama’s goal, said Cecilia Muñoz, the White House’s domestic policy director, is “to make two years of college the norm — the way high school is the norm.”

Muñoz and Ted Mitchell, undersecretary of education, discussed the plan Thursday evening in a conference call with reporters, saying it would be included in Obama’s State of the Union address and his budget.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/obama-to-unveil-plan-for-free-community-college/2015/01/08/b15b47f4-977a-11e4-8005-1924ede3e54a_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

America's rightwing now likes France??!

The French have been the butt of every conservative joke ever told for as long as I can remember. From Dennis Miller, to Larry the Cable Guy, to FOX News, to the drunk moron in your local pub, etc. The rightwing has spent their entire life calling France's men feminine and their women hairy. They call them "cowards" every chance they get, "traitors", "wimps", say "they smell like cheese", and mock their accent, etc. It always seems like when rightwingers claim to "stand" with someone i.e. Israel, now France, what they really mean is "I stand with you in hating an enemy scapegoat". It seems like hate is the only thing that gives the rightwing a sense of comradery with others, not common good or love or tolerance or understanding. Even when the other side doesn't return the same mutual feelings of hate i.e. France, Israel. It always boils down to rallying around enemy scapegoats for them.

Banksy weighs in Charles Hebdo

Bernie Sanders remakes Budget Committee in his image

With Sen. Bernie Sanders set to become the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee this week after Republicans take control of Congress, the Vermont lawmaker is wasting no time remaking the panel that writes the government’s budget in his image. 

After naming a self-described “deficit owl” as his chief economist, Sanders has hired well known progressive operative and writer Matt Stoller to advise the committee on Wall Street and other economic issues. Stoller started last Monday as senior policy adviser on financial services, trade and economic issues, a spokesperson confirmed to msnbc

-snip-

Sanders, who is eyeing a 2016 presidential bid, will become ranking member of the Budget Committee when Congress reconvenes Tuesday.

-snip-

Kelton, the chairwoman of the economics department at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, who used to tweet under the handle “@DeficitOwl” (as opposed to a “deficit hawk”) is a leader in a school of thought known as Modern Monetary Theory that advocates for some deficit spending as a means to grow the economy. This year, she gave a lecture titled “A Heartwarming Tale of Debt and Deficits in the Modern Economy.”

It’s another sign of the resurgence of the progressive left, which is aiming to move the Democratic Party on key issues ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Link: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bernie-sanders-remakes-budget-committee-his-image