“He said it was a ‘public safety’ issue. No it’s not,” said bill sponsor Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-Fort Lauderdale) according to the Miami Herald. “These are non-violent drug offenders.” The bill, a rare common sense favorite during a legislative season that saw Scott approve dying animals and Jay-Z lyrics debated on the House floor, was…
It wasn’t your imagination: US experienced warmest March ever
As record temperatures swept through the Midwest and trees bloomed early across the Northeast, lots of talk focused on what an unusually warm start spring was having. The folks at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have now crunched the numbers, and found that it wasn’t just unusually warm—March was bizarrely hot. With 15,000 record…
Economy has grown the most when Democrats have been in power
Earlier today, I linked to a Goldman Sachs research note arguing that the most fiscally conservative outcome in the 2012 election would be an Obama victory and Republican control of Congress. But their analysis was limited to deficit reduction. Last week, JPMorgan looked at this question using a broader lens: what happens to the economy…
White-on-White Crime: It Goes Against the False Media Narrative
Bill O’Reilly, the Fox News host and one-man propaganda machine, recently interviewed Columbia University professor Marc Lamont Hill to discuss similar claims from Wall Street Journal contributor Shelby Steele, who wrote in “The Exploitation of Trayvon Martin” that “black teenagers are afraid of other black teenagers, not whites.” O’Reilly vehemently defended Steele’s premise that the…
26 Major Corporations Paid No Taxes For The Last Four Years
Last year, Citizens for Tax Justice found that 30 major corporations had made billions of dollars in profits while paying no federal income tax between 2008 and 2010. Today, CTJ updated that report to reflect the 2011 tax bill of those 30 companies, and 26 of them have still managed to pay absolutely nothing over…
Americans Disagree with the Ryan Budget’s Priorities
Conservative politicians have eagerly embraced Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) radical fiscal year 2013 budget proposal, which would slash social spending to the bone while preserving or extending all tax breaks for the wealthy. President Barack Obama, in contrast, is trying to make the case that the Ryan budget has its priorities completely wrong and that…
Researchers recreate bee collapse with pesticide-laced corn syrup
Scientists with the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have re-created the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder in several honeybee hives simply by giving them small doses of a popular pesticide, imidacloprid. Bee populations have been dying mysteriously throughout North America and Europe since 2006, but the cause behind the decline, known as Colony Collapse Disorder,…
Elizabeth Warren Raises $6.9 Million
Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren D has posted another mammoth fundraising quarter, raising $6.9 million in the first three months of the year, more than double the $3.4 million haul of Republican Sen. Scott Brown. Warren raised $5.7 million in the fourth quarter on 2011, teeing up sky-high expectations for the first three months of…
March Heat Records Crush Cold Records by Over 35 To 1, Scientists Say Global Warming Loaded The Dice
The final data is in for the unprecedented March heat wave that was “unmatched in recorded history” for the U.S. and Canada. New heat records swamped cold records by the stunning ratio of 35.3 to 1. This ratio is almost off the charts, even with the brutally warm August we had, as this chart from Capital…
Gallup Poll: Blacks, Nonblacks Hold Sharply Different Views of Martin Case
Black Americans’ views differ dramatically from those of nonblacks regarding the circumstances involved in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26. Blacks are paying much closer attention to the news of the incident; overwhelmingly believe that George Zimmerman, the individual who shot Martin, is guilty of a crime; believe that…
Why I don’t stress about deficits
I’m not particularly worried about the budget deficit. In fact, of all the major problems the U.S. faces, I’m least worried about the deficit. That’s not because we don’t have to get the problem under control; it’s because I’m pretty sure we will. Why? The budget deficit is unique: If Congress is unable to agree…
Scott Walker Quietly Repeals Wisconsin Equal Pay Law
A Wisconsin law that made it easier for victims of wage discrimination to have their day in court was repealed on Thursday, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) quietly signed the bill. The 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act was meant to deter employers from discriminating against certain groups by giving workers more avenues via which…
Arguing That Republicans Aren’t Science Deniers, S.E. Cupp Says Climate Change Is ‘Phony Studies’ | ThinkProgress
Arguing that Republicans don’t reflexively deny scientific facts, conservative MSNBC commentator S.E. Cupp repeated Climategate smears against climate science. Cupp was attacking the premise of author and Science Progress contributor Chris Mooney’s new book, The Republican Brain, which looks at how conservative propaganda and ideological tendencies have led to increasing distrust in science among the…
Taking Action on Clean Energy and Climate Protection in 2012
We must accelerate the economic transformation that has already begun and move forcefully into a completely new clean energy economic era defined by stronger industries, better infrastructure, and a steadily growing middle class. In this paper we propose how to do just that. We identify clean energy and climate solutions that are effective, strategic, and…
We Need to Transition Our Energy Infrastructure
Last year threw into stark relief America’s interlinked economic, energy security, and climate crises. On the economic front Americans called out those lawmakers who work relentlessly to build an economy that works for the wealthy few rather than for all of us, but faced determined resistance from conservatives bent on preserving the status quo. At…
New Jobless Claims Drop To Another 4-Year Low
The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell to a four-year low last week, as layoffs slow and the job market strengthens. Weekly applications dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 357,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the fewest since April 2008. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 361,750, also the…
Arizona’s Private Prisons: A Bad Bargain
Since 1987, Arizona’s Department of Corrections has been legislatively mandated to produce cost and quality reviews for its private prisons, in part to judge how they compare with state-run facilities. The data on costs were collected, but in recent years, it took a lawsuit by the AFSC for the Department of Corrections to release quality…
Despite History and the Numbers, Wall Street Wants Republican in the White House
The stock market may be up more than 75% since President Obama moved into the White House, but Wall Street is looking for a change come November. Stocks have historically performed better during a Democratic administration, yet a whopping 70% of investment strategists and money managers say a Republican president will be better for the…
Mark Zandi is feeling even sunnier about jobs in 2012 – The Washington Post
Add Mark Zandi to the growing chorus of economists who believe that the U.S. is finally headed for a real turnaround. The chief economist for Moody’s Analytics just revised his outlook for 2012, and the biggest change to his forecast involves the unemployment rate. Back in January, Zandi predicted that the rate, which is currently…
Boycotts Hitting ALEC, Group Behind ‘Stand Your Ground’ Gun Laws
Two of America’s best-known companies, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, have dropped their memberships in the American Legislative Exchange Council, a low-profile conservative organization behind the national proliferation of “stand your ground” gun laws. ALEC promotes business-friendly legislation in state capitols and drafts model bills for state legislatures to adopt. They range from little-noticed pro-business bills to…