Newtmentum! Newt Gingrich has finally surged to the top tier status in the Republican Presidential primary. The most recent national polls show Gingrich making big gains in support now that Rick Perry has almost entirely collapsed.

I found last night’s 60 Minutes story on insider trading in Congress to be uneven, partially underwhelming and at times outright misleading. That Congress has access to insider information and can trade on that information is true, but some of the examples CBS cited were weak or unconvincing.

A new Gallup poll shows Americans most concerned about jobs and the economy, but only 6 percent think the federal budget deficit is the most import concern. This huge disconnect between what Americans care about and what Congress is focus on contributes to the low esteem in which Americans hold the current Congress.

Greece and Italy have installed new Prime Ministers amendable to Europe’s financial overlords, but Greece’s main opposition party leader says he can’t support the austerity measures the overlords demand. That means a Greek default and worse for the Euro is even closer than people feared.

Glad to see the legacy media is picking up on what I’ve been saying for years — that the Secessionist decries “socialism” out of one side of his mouth while the other side is sucking on the federal teat.

We are the 99 Percent, photo of the day, via Tumblr. Today’s photo from a high school senior in Chicago.

Official Washington is coming around to the reality that there’s not going to be any kind of big deficit deal coming out of their Super Committee. So we’re in face-saving time. And the last-gasp proposal put forward is basically to move the deadline down a bit – but only for taxes. The spending cuts would be real and defined.

In a widely expected move the Supreme Court today decided that it will review the constitutionality of the new Affordable Care Act law and its requirement that all Americans carry health insurance. A finally ruling from the Supreme Court will likely come in June, just a few months before the 2012 general election.

The Penn State scandal comes on top of a total breakdown in ethics and accountability in government and beyond. A Penn State grad and member of Sandusky’s foundation discusses his generation’s loss of faith in his parents’ generation.

globalrevolution on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free Hundreds of riot police from more than ten different police agencies have deployed forces in and around Frank Ogawa Plaza, where Occupy Oakland has been occupying for days. The forces began to amass around 3 am. They have surrounded the occupiers, who are standing their ground chanting, drumming and [...]