The best speech Obama has given on the economy, plus other items posted on progressive blogs today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/04/the-best-speech-obama-has-given-on-the-economy/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein&clsrd
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/12/04/inequality-is-the-defining-issue-of-our-time/ http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/income-inequality-riskier-you-think
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/12/president-obama-makes-his-pitch-fighting-income-inequality
Really Obama? That’s All You’ve Got?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/05/the-truth-about-obama-era-inequality.html
The president calls income inequality the ‘defining issue of our time.’ So it seems fair to grade him on his success at addressing it. By any measure, he has failed spectacularly.
Growing numbers get health care coverage
http://www.nytimes.com/news/affordable-care-act/2013/12/04/enrollment-numbers-rise-after-website-improves/?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0
About 29,000 people successfully navigated HealthCare.gov and selected an insurance plan on Sunday and Monday, more than the entire number of people who were able to enroll through the federal exchange during the month of October . . .
More: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2013/12/04/most-uninsured-still-plan-to-get-coverage/
Most Uninsured Still Plan to Get Coverage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/12/04/few-uninsured-young-people-say-theyll-sign-up-for-obamacare/?wprss=rss_politics&clsrd
Few uninsured young people say they’ll sign up for Obamacare
Meanwhile: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-healthcaregov-who-cares
Republicans aren’t impressed with the Obama administration’s claim that HealthCare.gov is now effectively fixed. That’s not really the issue, they’ve started to say. No, the problem is canceled policies, lost doctors and higher premiums. Who cares if the website is working?
That is a far cry from the early days of October when a dysfunctional website was “proof” that Obamacare “has been an unmitigated disaster” in the words of House Speaker John Boehner in an Oct. 4 statement. But that’s no longer the preferred talking point. . .
Are we getting used to this yet?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/12/nsa-tracks-cell-phone-locations.html
The NSA Tracks Billions of Cell Phone Locations Every Day
The Republicans howl about the need to reduce entitlements. But that doesn’t prevent them from repeatedly attacking Dems with the false claim that they’re “cutting” Medicare
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/04/first-on-cnn-republicans-bring-back-medicare-attack/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/04/1260067/-Bereft-of-real-ideas-GOP-resorts-to-same-old-Medicare-lie
ALEC’s secret documents
“Over the coming year, [ALEC] will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalising individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations, to blocking the Environmental Protection Agency, which is Barack Obama’s main channel for climate action,” explained The Guardian. “Details of ALEC’s strategy to block clean energy development at every stage, from the individual rooftop to the White House, are revealed as the group gathers for its policy summit in Washington this week.”
The documents also reveal ALEC’s boasting of introducing myriad “model resolutions” nationwide in support of fast-tracking approval for the northern half of Transcanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, along with another “model bill” — the “Transfer of Public Lands Act” already introduced in Utah — set to expropriate federally-owned public lands to oil, gas and coal companies. . . [read on]
Let’s remember what climate change is really doing to us
There are a few different ways that global warming could unfold in the decades ahead. The world might heat up steadily and predictably, giving humans and other species time to adjust. Or we could see large, abrupt changes that are extremely difficult to adapt to. . . . [read on]
A chunk of ice the size of the island nation of Singapore broke off of the continent of Antarctica late last month and is currently adrift at sea. . . .
Hard to believe someone in Scott Walker’s campaign thought this was a good idea. Hey parents, don’t go shopping, stay at home and buy your kids a REAL Christmas present by donating to my campaign instead!
[NB: And, by the way, imagine the “war on Christmas” howls if a Democrat had tried something like this.]
How Fox World became Fox World (fascinating)
Bonus item: Tucker Carlson. Why?
