Last Call For A Three-Time Loser

Republicans are continuing to arrange and rearrange the starting blocks for their clown car race for 2016, and at least one group of donors is convinced the secret weapon for the GOP is going to be the biggest non-secret, non-weapon ever.

Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney held meetings with donors in New York this week that left one attendee convinced he is running for president again in 2016.

A member of Romney's inner circle who spoke to Business Insider said the former governor of Massachusetts traveled to New York City on Monday where he met with key financial backers of his past campaigns to lay the groundwork for a 2016 White House bid.

The source, who was at one of the meetings, said other attendees included developer Stephen Ross, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, and hedge funders Julian Robertson and Paul Singer.

A representative for Romney did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the meetings from Business Insider. 

Oh please, please let Mr. 47 Percent run again.  This is a guy who lost by six points to Barack Obama, supposedly "the worst President America has ever had".  Republicans despise him, and his presence in the 2016 contest will only help the Democrats.

Please remind everyone once again why the GOP platform is terrible and that Republicans only care about millionaires.  That's a great idea.

He's Still Smarter Than Louie Gohmert

House Democrats have decided that the best way to remind Republicans (and America) that the GOP used to be someone less insane is to use their own hero against them.  Introducing the most moderate Republican left in 2014:

Cardboard Ronnie Reagan!

Two House Democrats have stood proudly this week in front of a cardboard cut-out of the late Republican President Ronald Reagan during floor speeches, using his paper likeness as a prop to urge the GOP to join their cause on issues like immigration and increasing gasoline taxes. 

On Wednesday, Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer set up the life-sized Reagan behind him to urge the GOP to support his bill to raise federal gasoline by 15 cents. (Gas taxes were increased under Reagan in 1982.) The next day, Reagan showed up again on the House floor next to Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, a staunch advocate for overhauling the nation's immigration laws. (Reagan passed a sweeping immigration reform bill in 1986.) 

How did all these Democrats get their hands on a cardboard Reagan? 

It all began when Patrick Malone, a Blumenauer communications aide, bought the thing online for $30, and started putting Reagan at his colleagues' desks while they were out. He's been popping up around the office ever since. 

"It's a little freaky," Malone told CNN. 

On Wednesday, Blumenauer carried it to a press conference and onto the House floor. 

"Reagan's held in such high esteem by conservatives and they need to be reminded of things he did when they turn away from him," Malone said.

 Now, Reagan did some truly awful things:  Iran-Contra, union-busting, wrecking the environment, nearly tripled the national debt and his record on AIDS alone earns him a place in history's dustbin. But the guy did pass immigration reform and raised the federal gas tax, two things that could never, ever, happen today.

It's amusing to remind the GOP where all of this trouble really started.

Jobapalooza

This morning's November jobs report? Jobzilla. Jobopotamus. Jobocerous. Brontojobus. Jobasaurus Rex. Deoxyjobonucleaic acid.

The US labor market is on fire. 

According to the latest report from the BLS, the nonfarm payrolls grew by 321,000 in November, crushing expectations for 230,000. 

This is the biggest single-month gain in payrolls since January 2012.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.8%.

This marks the 10th-straight month that the US economy saw payrolls grow by more than 200,000, the longest streak since 1995. 

October's report was also revised higher, from an initial reading of 214,000 job gains to 243,000. 

According to the BLS' release, "In November, job growth was widespread, led by gains in professional and business services, retail trade, health care, and manufacturing." 

Payrolls grew by 50,000 in the retail sector in November, with health care adding 29,000 jobs, manufacturing adding 28,000 jobs, and professional and business services jobs growing by 86,000.

The "U-6" unemployment rate, which also includes those who are working part time for economic reasons and those marginally attached to the labor force, fell to 11.4% from 11.5%.

The labor force participation rate also held steady at 62.8%.

These are some of the best jobs numbers since the heart of the Clinton boom years, and yet Obama is a terrible President, right?  And America decided to turn everything over to the damn GOP instead. That was a good call, huh?

StupidiNews!

• Protests over the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner continued across America last night, with protesters blocking traffic in cities ranging from NYC to Dallas to Chicago to Boston.
• A new study by Canadian doctors finds extreme obesity can cost people up to 19 years in life expectancy, particularly among those under the age of 40.
• President Obama is expected to name former deputy defense secretary Ashton Carter to the post of Secretary of Defense this morning, replacing the outgoing Chuck Hagel.
• Billionaire investor Warren Buffet gave the maximum donation to Hillary Clinton's PAC last quarter as Ready For Hillary reported $11 million in fundraising so far this year.
• New UT-Austin estimates of US shale gas production finds that output could peak as early as 2020, drastically sooner than the 2040 estimates by the government.