Good morning — and happy Earth Day!
- NatGeo offers a brief history of the movement.
- Here are 10 planetary facts for Earth Day, courtesy of Slate’s Phil Plait.
- At The Nation, Jeremy Brecher argues that it is absolutely vital to counter the “divisive big lie” that saving the environment results in economic pain.
- A new poll finds that around half of the population doesn’t believe the Big Bang is grounded in science. That’s the headline finding on Alexis Madrigal’s story in The Atlantic, but more troubling is that only 33 percent are “very confident” that anthropogenic climate change is real.
- And Dahr Jamail reports for Truthout that people in the Gulf states — and the Gulf itself — are still suffering four years after the BP Horizon disaster.
“The voter is less important than the man who provides money to the candidate” –> Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens tells the NYT’s Adam Liptak that the Roberts court has made a “giant step in the wrong direction” on campaign finance law.
Prisoners of the War on Drugs –> Obama’s Justice Department is preparing to grant clemency to thousands of federal inmates behind bars for non-violent drug crimes. Sari Horwitz reports for WaPo.
Austerity is class war –> At The Monkey Cage, Vanderbilt University political scientist Larry Bartels points out that the US is unique in that the more money we make, the more likely we are to favor spending cuts. Check out his chart.
Head in the sand –> Lois Beckett reports for ProPublica that Republicans are refusing to authorize any money for the CDC to research gun violence, claiming that it’s some kind of plot to disarm the public.
Socialist paradise –> The Daily Beast’s Jacob Siegel writes that you can find one thriving at your local military base.
Locking in a policy disaster –> Dylan Scott reports for TPM that Georgia and Kansas have passed bills making it all but impossible for a future governor to expand Medicaid in those states.
Racial politics –> At Salon, Heather “Digby” Parton looks at how the right’s “view of nonwhite voters got so demented.”
More work doesn’t always equal more productivity –> At ThinkProgress, Bryce Covert looks at a highly successful, very productive company that pays its employees a full salary for a four-day work week.
Slow learners –> CAF’s Dave Johnson: “Elites Discover So-Called ‘Free Trade’ Is Killing Economy, Middle Class”
Realism –> With peace talks stalled, 972′s Dahlia Scheindlin says there are only four possible outcomes for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Welfare rancher –> Jon Stewart deftly exposes Sean Hannity’s hypocrisy in supporting Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who refuses to pay grazing fees to feed his cattle on public land.
