I was looking for something like baseball, where there’s a lot of data and the competition was pretty low. That’s when I discovered politics.Nate Silver • Discussing his move into the political realm after years as a baseball statistics nerd. The Guardian’s piece on Silver is super-fascinating.
“Papa” John Schnatter, Papa John’s founder and CEO, is back in the headlines once more for his assertion that there’s no way on God’s green Earth he can afford to provide health care for a portion of his employees, as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Now, Schnatter hasn’t been hurting for…
On the Papa John’s tip, Meg sends along 15 cents in a letter to the man himself. Be sure to click for more.
Nearly half of U.S. taxpayers would be unable to file their 2012 taxes — or receive their refunds — until at least late March if Congress fails to enact legislation by the end of this year to restrain the alternative minimum tax, the head of the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.
In a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller said the agency made “a risk-based decision” not to reprogram its computer systems to account for the expiration of legislation that limits the reach of the AMT to about 4 million households each year.
Since that legislation expired in December, the AMT is in line to hit about 33 million people in the 2012 tax year, the letter said — hitting about 28 million of those families with an unexpectedly large tax bill.
Expect to see a lot of discussion about the alternative minimum tax (AMT) dominate cable news and AM radio in the near future. We don’t think much fighting will occur in the House or Senate, because both sides have something to lose with its expiration, but political posturing is practically guaranteed on tax-related legislation. source
If Republicans do not do better in the Hispanic community, in a few short years Republicans will no longer be the majority party in our state. If that happens, no Republican will ever again win the White House. New York and California are for the foreseeable future unalterably Democrat. If Texas turns bright blue, the Electoral College math is simple. We won’t be talking about Ohio, we won’t be talking about Florida or Virginia, because it won’t matter. If Texas is bright blue, you can’t get to two-seventy electoral votes. The Republican Party would cease to exist. We would become like the Whig Party.Republican Senator-Elect Ted Cruz • Discussing the GOP’s need for better outreach in Hispanic and Latino communities around the country, but particularly in his home state of Texas. The Lone Star State, and its 38 electoral college votes, remain central to the Republican Party’s presidential election strategy, and its loss could prove insurmountable for the GOP. While no one is suggesting such a flip will happen by 2016 (or even 2020), Cruz’s concerns follow similar comments made by one of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s own advisers last week. source
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Obama wins Florida, tops Romney 332 to 206 in electoral votes
Barack Obama has been declared the winner in Florida, topping Mitt Romney in the final electoral vote tally 332 to 206, AP reports.
Florida officials said Obama had 50% of the vote to Romney’s 49.1%, a margin of about 74,000 votes.
Photo: President Barack Obama addresses supporters during his election night rally in Chicago, Nov. 6, 2012. (Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)
It’s official, guys.
JUST IN: CIA Director Petraeus resigns, citing extra-marital affair
CIA Director David Petraeus has submitted his letter of resignation to President Obama, citing an extra-marital affair, msnbc’s Andrea Mitchell reports.
Photo: Then-U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in June 2010. (Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images)
O_o
Robert McDonald learned the hard way that every vote counts.
McDonald, who is known to most people as Bobby, finished in a dead heat Tuesday with Olivia Ballou for the sixth and final seat on the Walton City Council.
Each candidate captured 669 votes, but one ballot McDonald is sure would have gone his way was never cast. His wife, Katie, who works nights as a patient care assistant at Christ Hospital and is finishing nurse’s training at Gateway Community and Technical College, didn’t make it to the polls yesterday.
“If she had just been able to get in to vote, we wouldn’t be going through any of this,” McDonald said. “You never think it will come down to one vote, but I’m here to tell you that it does.”
Did anybody else immediately think of Jerry Gergich, from Parks & Recreation, upon seeing this story? It might be good to keep this in mind, particularly if you think you’ll have friends questioning the value of an individual vote during the next round of elections. Unfortunately, for Robert McDonald, there won’t be a run-off either. The tie is likely to be broken by a coin flip some time next week.
He was dead. He had no heartbeat and he wasn’t breathing. I started CPR, and after a few minutes, he revived and started breathing again. He knew his name and his wife’s name. The first question he asked was ‘Did I vote?’Ty Houston • Recounting a particularly shocking series of events that took place while he filling out his absentee ballot at a township office in Oakland County. The 48-year-old home care nurse is responsible for saving the life of an elderly voter who collapsed while filling out his own ballot at a nearby table. After recovering, and once his wife took a moment to remind him that personal health is important too, the unidentified man responded that only two things were important to him. “That I love you and that I finished what I came here to do … vote.” source
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