How Much Does #Immigration Increase Poverty? Less than Robert Samuelson Thinks it Does

Jared Bernstein
November 17, 2014

It is a common mistake to overestimate the contribution of immigration to the increase in poverty. Today’s purveyor of this erroneous association is the WaPo’s Robert Samuelson, who writes in the context of a discussion about immigration reform:

Continue reading How Much Does #Immigration Increase Poverty? Less than Robert Samuelson Thinks it Does

Poll: Public Has ‘Pulled Back’ From Dems On The Economy

By DANIEL STRAUSS

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

A new poll has some disturbing news for Democrats: the country defers to Republicans rather than Democrats when it comes to the economy. Continue reading Poll: Public Has ‘Pulled Back’ From Dems On The Economy

Six Words: ‘With Kids, I’m Dad. Alone, Thug’: NPR | #BlackLivesMatter

November 17, 2014

Marc Quarles, his wife, Claudia Paul, and their children, Joshua and Danielle, live in an affluent, predominantly white neighborhood in California. Quarles says his neighbors treat him differently when his children aren't around.

Marc Quarles, his wife, Claudia Paul, and their children, Joshua and Danielle, live in an affluent, predominantly white neighborhood in California. Quarles says his neighbors treat him differently when his children aren’t around.

Continue reading Six Words: ‘With Kids, I’m Dad. Alone, Thug’: NPR | #BlackLivesMatter

.@DailyKos: New DSCC chair Jon Tester doesn’t like or think like his party…

By Kos

November 14, 2014

Montana Sen. Jon Tester is a testament to the pragmatism that infuses the netroots—a conservative Democrat who was eminently electable in light-Red Montana. Today, however, he was chosen for a task broader than his corner of America—heading up the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Senate Democrats are looking at a fantastic 2016—with presidential-year turnout demographics and a map that might put 10 or more Republican seats in play. Yet the extent of our gains will depend in huge part on our ability to turn out our base, and nothing in Tester’s history suggests he has what it takes to inspire that broader participation. Continue reading .@DailyKos: New DSCC chair Jon Tester doesn’t like or think like his party…

Senator Claire McCaskill and Post-Election 2014 Democrats


Blogger’s note:

Whenever I’ve written about Claire McCaskill, I’ve always described her as a neoliberal. The purpose of her posturing on today’s Face the Nation is a reminder to her base of mostly white conservative liberals or ex-moderate Republicans, not to lump her in with a possibly rising progressive tide in the Senate. Continue reading Senator Claire McCaskill and Post-Election 2014 Democrats

Election 2014: Lessons for progressives

It was my hope, a week after the election, that I would hear and read meaningful analyses on the cause, consequences and long-term outlook for Democrats after their losses this midterm election. Very little of what I read this week was “filling,” until I came across William Greider’s  “How the Democratic Party Lost Its Soul” in The Nation. Greider concludes:

The tattered authenticity of the party matters more now because both the country and the world face dangers and disorders that demand a fundamental reordering of the global economic system. This requires bold action, at a time when neither party is confronting the threatening situation. The Republicans are a wholly owned subsidiary of the business-finance machine; the Democrats are rented.

Continue reading Election 2014: Lessons for progressives

Manchin: I Won’t Put Up With ‘Bulls**t’ If Dems Try To Obstruct GOP

By Daniel Strauss

November 11, 2014

Eugene Ellison | Request for DOJ Investigation of Little Rock Police

Eugene Ellison, a 67 year old black male, was shot to death by two police officers who entered his home without a warrant on December 9, 2010. Mr. Ellison was the father of a Little Rock Police Department police officer.

See the  Laux Law Group’s letter (below) to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting an investigation of the Eugene Ellison case.

Continue reading Eugene Ellison | Request for DOJ Investigation of Little Rock Police