We begin today's roundup with
Paul Krugman's excellent analysis of the current economic landscape:
Two impossible things happened to the U.S. economy over the course of the past year — or at least they were supposed to be impossible, according to the ideology that dominates half our political spectrum. First, remember how Obamacare was supposed to be a gigantic job killer? Well, in the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s full implementation, the U.S. economy as a whole added 3.3 million jobs — the biggest gain since the 1990s. Second, half a million of those jobs were added in California, which has taken the lead in job creation away from Texas.
Were President Obama’s policies the cause of national job growth? Did Jerry Brown — the tax-raising, Obamacare-embracing governor of California — engineer his state’s boom? No, and few liberals would claim otherwise. What we’ve been seeing at both the national and the state level is mainly a natural process of recovery as the economy finally starts to heal from the housing and debt bubbles of the Bush years.
But recent job growth, nonetheless, has big political implications — implications so disturbing to many on the right that they are in frantic denial, claiming that the recovery is somehow bogus. Why can’t they handle the good news? The answer actually comes on three levels: Obama Derangement Syndrome, or O.D.S.; Reaganolatry; and the confidence con.
Next up,
The Washington Post takes on the wave of "religious freedom" bills in state legislatures:
[I]n many instances the bills conservatives are advancing are drafted so broadly that they would go much further — giving conceivable grounds for discrimination by individuals and businesses that might claim religious justification for their refusal to hire, employ or serve gay men or lesbians, or members of virtually any minority group. [...]
Advocates for those state measures present them as meant to block any infringement on religious liberty as well as an effort to standardize discrimination laws so that businesses and individuals do not face a confusing patchwork of local laws. Yet many businesses are warning against such measures as antithetical to states’ efforts to promote commerce and attract a diverse class of people who can invigorate economic development. Those arguments helped convince Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) last year to veto a so-called religious liberty bill, which would have enabled discrimination against LGBT individuals.
Other states should be equally wary of embracing intolerance under the guise of protecting people of faith.
For more on the day's top stories, head below the fold.
Damon Linker at The Week has a "draft" of Ted Cruz's presidential stump speech:
Instead of economic stagnation and small businesses going bankrupt, like they do in places like Wisconsin and New Jersey, imagine small businesses growing and prospering and hiring young people for a minimum wage kept nice and low. Imagine young people coming out of school with four, five, six job offers — and all of them together adding up to a salary that will make ends meet and make it possible for them to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. [...]
Instead of a tax code that crushes innovation, that imposes burdens on families struggling to pay the bills, imagine a flat tax that makes poor people pay more and millionaires and billionaires pay far, far less. Because freedom, and liberty, and America.
John Cubelic writes in The LA Times that climate change is his litmus test issue:
Climate change is not a political issue — nor strictly an American issue. We are talking about the one and only home our species has. I can no longer take seriously a politician who allows for doubt on this issue. Any candidate who starts a comment on the climate with, "Well, I'm not a scientist..." can stop right there. That's correct. You are not a scientist. So why don't you talk to one? Maybe a climatologist, glaciologist, or atmospheric chemist? Men and women who have dedicated their lives to studying the natural world; who are providing data and documenting the overall warming of our planet because of greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans.
First Lady
Michelle Obama celebrates the five-year anniversary of the Let's Move Campaign:
It has been five years since I started Let's Move!, an initiative to address childhood obesity and help all our kids grow up healthy. And as we mark this fifth anniversary, we're celebrating how far we've come, we're challenging ourselves to do even more, and we're committing to be true champions for this issue in the years ahead. That's our theme for this anniversary year: Celebrate, challenge, champion.
We certainly have plenty to celebrate. Over the past five years, we have seen a real cultural shift across our country. Food and beverage companies are racing to cut sugar, salt, and fat from their products. Cities, towns, and counties are supporting healthy after-school programs and youth sports leagues. Faith leaders are educating their congregations about healthy eating and physical activity. Restaurants are offering healthier versions of their dishes, and fast food places are even including apple slices and low-fat milk in their kids' meals.
Over at US News,
Sara Mead writes in favor of pre-k for all:
1. All kids can benefit from quality pre-K: Most publicly funded preschool programs in the U.S. focus on low-income children, so the research base is strongest on pre-K’s impacts for low-income kids. But research on universal pre-K in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as international studies, shows that kids of all income levels can benefit from pre-K – although poor kids do benefit more.