Have You Seen This Beautiful Little Girl? News: Tips are pouring in to police from all over regarding Jhessye Shockley, the 5-year-old Glendale, Ariz., kindergartner reported missing two weeks ago, authorities tell The Arizona Republic. None has panned out. For instance, an Ohio woman told the Sandusky Register that she’d contacted police to say she saw a girl at a Wal-Mart that looked like Shockley. Police determined it was not the Glendale child. Read more here.
POTUS News: President Barack Obama has announced new executive actions to lower student loan payments. He told a crowd at the University of Colorado that it’s never been more important for Americans to get a college education, but that it has never been more expensive to do so. The plan would allow millions of student loan recipients to lower their payments and consolidate their loans, in hopes of easing the burden of the No. 2 source of household debt. Read more here.
Meanwhile…In Tunisia News: Tunisia’s voters have again set a model for Arab countries still on a rough road to democracy. More than 90 percent of registered voters had their forefingers inked at well-run polls on Monday. And more than half of the seats went to secular parties, not Islamic groups. But the election also marks something grander. For the first time, there will be a democratic government in the Arab world born of a popular uprising. Read more here.
Anybody With A Brain Would Know That This Stupid Ass 999 Plan Was D.O.A. News: Despite the roll-off-the-tongue nature of the title, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan seems to be falling out of favor with voters. The Washington Post reports that 56 percent of hardcore conservatives don’t like the nine percent flat tax. But, perhaps as a sign that Cain’s candidacy isn’t being taken seriously, aside from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, very little analysis has actually been done of the changes to the 9-9-9 Plan. Instead, analysts and journalists are taking note of Rick Perry’s newly introduced flat tax plan. The Washington Post notes conservative praise of the plan, while TPM insists its merely designed to cut taxes for the rich. Read more here.I’ve Said It Once, And I’ll Say It Again: FUCK PETA! News: A federal court is being asked to grant constitutional rights to five killer whales who perform at marine parks — an unprecedented and perhaps quixotic legal action that is nonetheless likely to stoke an ongoing, intense debate at America’s law schools over expansion of animal rights. Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is accusing the SeaWorld parks of keeping five star-performer whales in conditions that violate the 13th Amendment ban on slavery. SeaWorld depicted the suit as baseless. Read more here.
U Mad? Ho, Have A Seat News: Look for a big battle today between backers of Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and those of President Obama. In a speech today at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Ryan plans to accuse Obama of “preying on the emotions of fear, envy and resentment” in the run-up to his 2012 presidential campaign, as well as “sowing social unrest and class resentment.” Read more here.