This case involves a convicted Ponzi schemer who apparently tried to scam his way out of a prison sentence by putting the squeeze on a sitting congresswoman. His plan didn’t work out too well.
TPM Reader SE just flagged this piece from Minnesota Public Radio surveying the Minnesota congressional delegation in the wake of the Newtown, CT massacre. MPR notes that last year Michele Bachmann said that her favorite firearm was the AR-15, the weapon used last week by Adam Lanza. And they link to the video of her interview, which happens to be a TPM video. (Bachmann declined the station’s request for comment.) Read More
Those who watch these things closely say the Newtown massacre has catalyzed a genuine political shift on gun control. How broad and deep a shift remains to be seen, but it’s more substantial than anything that happened after other recent mass shootings. Still, there is the matter of the House GOP majority, which by all appearances is an immovable object in the path to more sensible gun regulation.
Obama and Biden to address gun control in a White House briefing room appearance at 11:45 ET.
TPM is taking applications for our revolving Tech Fellowship. Details after the jump. Read More
We’re hiring a Front End Developer to be based out of our New York City office. Help build great apps like PollTracker and do elegant and intuitive front end design that makes facts beautiful. Full description after the jump. Read More
White House says no dice on Speaker Boehner’s ‘Plan B.’
Personally, my favorite part of John Boehner’s “Plan B” is how exquisitely it exposes the low cost of hypocrisy in politics. Last year, Dems were fighting amongst themselves over whether the threshold for extending the Bush tax cuts should be set at $1 million or $250,000. Today, a $1 million threshold is a non-starter. (Yes, an election interceded, but let’s not pretend Chuck Schumer preferred the $1 million threshold for purely political reasons).
On the other side of that coin, Republicans are now claiming “Plan B” — which would lock in the Bush tax cuts for income under $1 million — is a huge tax cut. But of course, if that’s a tax cut, so is setting the threshold at $250,000, which Republicans have spent the last year describing as a huge tax increase on small businesses.
But on a strategic level, I think Boehner’s plan, while clever, is also risky — if in fact his goal is to cut a deal with President Obama. Read More
This afternoon we’ve got an exciting Live Chat with economist Jared Bernstein. Jared’s been of the top progressive economists in DC for as long as I can remember. More recently he was Vice President Biden’s Chief Economist and top Economic Advisor — and in general a top White House economics player during the first Obama term. Now he’s at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. A lot of you are asking now, what about this or that detail in the rumored/leaked fiscal compromise plan? What about the tax rate level? What about Chained CPI? Jared knows these things like the back of his hand, the pros and cons and also has no little insight into how this White House makes decisions. So don’t miss your chance. Jared joins us at TPMPrime at 4 PM. But you can get your questions in now.