It’s not an exaggeration. Henry Waxman may be the most important member of Congress ever to have served.
Amanda Ripley takes on the thing that educators often struggle with in today’s excerpt from her book, The Smartest Kids In The World: How figure out if kids care about school.
Over the next three decades, more and more studies showed that when it came to predicting which kids grew up to be thriving adults—who succeeded in life and in their jobs—cognitive abilities only went so far.
Something else mattered just as much, and sometimes more, to kids’ life chances. This other dark matter had more to do with attitude than the ability to solve a calculus problem. In one study of U.S. eighth graders, for example, the best predictor of academic performance was not the children’s IQ scores—but their self-discipline.
Don’t forget, join us for a chat (sub. req.) with Ripley today at noon.
If de Blasio is serious about his universal pre-K promise, TPM Cafe contributor Conor P. Williams lays out exactly how he could do it — in spite of Cumo’s objections over funding.
We found someone who Sarah Palin can beat in 2016: Rob Ford! But not by much!
Yep, released exclusively to TPM, PPP put Sarah Palin against foreign crack addict, Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto. And here are the details here.
When I wrote about Pete Seeger earlier this week I ended on the rendition of This Land is You Land he performed with Bruce Springsteen and his grandson Tao at President Obama’s first inaugural in 2009. As I wrote, “There are many currents of what America is. For a certain one, perhaps for many, that was a transcendent moment of connection.”
Now the Times has collected together a number of musicians’ remembrances of Seeger and one of the best is from Springsteen where he recalls just this event. He also notes the role of John Hammond, a name you may never have heard but a producer, musician, activist, talent scout among many other things who is undoubtedly one of the most significant figures in 20th century American music.
When we first reported on the Senate GOP’s new Obamacare alternative earlier this week, one expert pointed out that it contained “the biggest tax increase on the middle class” in decades. Since then, the senators have quietly released new language that seems to significantly alter that provision of the plan. Dylan Scott reports.
Daniel Strauss highlights this amazing rant from a Georgia Senate candidate’s campaign aide about why anyone who complains about Gov. Deal’s handling of the city’s snowfall is a giant sissy.
“Imperial” President Obama has fewest executive orders in a hundred years. Chart.
It turns out hotheaded Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY) caught a pretty big break. Capitol Police were investigated his threat against that NY1 reporter as a potential crime but they appear to have dropped the investigation when reporter Michael Scotto declined to lodge a complaint.