Midday open thread

• Nag, nag, nag ...
• Cesária Évora has joined Ella Fitzgerald and Edith Piaf on the Big Stage.
• This will surprise no one:

  Newt Gingrich's proposed overhaul of the tax code would cut taxes for all American taxpayers, particularly the wealthy, according to an analysis released Monday by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.

  Gingrich's plan would provide small tax cuts to those at the bottom of the income ladder, giving those making less than $10,000 an average cut of $222 under one scenario, the analysis found. The Tax Policy Center is a joint project of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, two respected think tanks in Washington.

  Gingrich's plan would be most generous to those making more than $1 million a year, delivering an average tax cut of almost $614,000 a year. At the same time, it would give them with a lower overall federal tax rate — 11.9 percent — than most people making less money, that is, everyone making between $40,000 and $1 million.

  Just don't call it class warfare.

• But speaking of not speaking about class warfare, there are reasons why Democrats lose elections they should win. Pair this:

  Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans -- nearly 1 in 2 -- have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

  The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

  With this:

  Democrats backed away from their demand for higher taxes on millionaires as part of legislation to extend Social Security tax cuts for most Americans on Wednesday as Congress struggled to clear critical year-end bills without triggering a partial government shutdown.

  And try not to bruise your forehead on your keyboard.

• And just for fun, everyone should revisit this October post by Spencer Ackerman.
• The criminal behind the concocted climate science scandal soon may be arrested.
• Even compared to its brethren in an industry that thrives on the devastation of the environment, Exxon long has been known as one of the worst offenders. This fits its overall ethos:

  Exxon Mobile has received the first-ever negative score on the HRC's annual Corporate Equality Index.

• And speaking of asshole bigots:

  Newt Gingrich told the Des Moines Register’s editorial board this morning that gay people have a “significant range of choice within a genetic pattern” and can choose to be straight just like someone can “choose to be celibate.” The former House speaker, who opposes same-sex marriage, explained that there is a “big difference between saying that you’re to have an acceptance of people’s lifestyles and saying that you’re now going to normalize that as a standard for the whole country”

• What a wonderful world:

  State spending on higher education, K-12 education, social services, public safety and other programs will be cut by about $1 billion next month because tax revenues coming into California's treasury this year will not meet expectations, Gov. Jerry Brown announced today.

  But public schools can breathe a partial sigh of relief: The governor's office said K-12 education will face a $327 million cut from their budgets midyear, instead of the more than $1 billion reduction that would have occurred if revenues had been even worse. That reduction in spending will begin Feb. 1; the other cuts will take effect Jan. 1.

  I think we can all celebrate that K-12 will only be cut a third of a billion.

• Oregon Attorney General John Kroger has released a list of the 20 worst charities. Download the pdf here.
• Great art should be accessible to everyone. This is an abomination.
• One more false rationale again proved false:

  Karzai: Taliban Office Should Be in Afghanistan

• The headline:

  Big Oil and Canada thwarted U.S. carbon standards

  Emails show how a Washington lobbyist enlisted Canadian officials to beat back U.S. carbon standards

  Go read.

• Condolences:

  Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright who was jailed by Communists and then went on to become Czech president and a symbol of peace and freedom after leading the bloodless "Velvet Revolution," died at age 75 on Sunday.

  - Laura Clawson