Thursday, February 06, 2014 Published Weekday Mornings   To see the full version of today's cartoon, click on the preview graphic of the cartoon (below the Commentary) to be taken to the full version in your favorite web browser. Rendezvous With Irrelevance Michael Gerson: Republicans are facing a rendezvous with irrelevance Dana Mibank: From Obamacare to the IRS scandal, Republicans are ignoring the facts The CBO Reality Fact Check: Anti-Obamacare Chorus Is Off-Key on CBO Report Conservatives Seize On Report To Argue Obamacare Is A Job Killer -- But The Report's Author Says They're Wrong CBO director Doug Elmendorf: Obamacare will actually reduce unemployment Sahil Kapur: Republicans Wanted To Free Workers From 'Job-Lock' Until Obamacare Did It Dylan Scott: Why It's A Good Thing If Some People Stop Working Under Obamacare Sarah Kliff: Yes, Obamacare will probably downsize the workforce. Economists explain why. Jonathan Chait: Obamacare, Jobs, and 'What Matters Politically' Jonathan Bernstein: Newsflash For The Right Wing - Voters Don't Care About CBO Reports The Media's Latest Failure Brian Beutler: Anatomy of a media disaster: Why the media blotched the latest Obamacare story E.J. Dionne: Willful stupidity in the Obamacare debate Steve Benen: The news ACA critics didn't want to hear Jared Bernstein: The CBO Report's Real Message Wasn't About Health Care Olympics 2014 Olympic Threat: U.S. DHS Warns Airlines About Toothpaste Tube Bomb Under Sochi spotlight, forgotten Caucasus insurgency aims to mount comeback Racing to Save the Stray Dogs of Sochi NBC News' Richard Engel: My Computers, Cellphone Were Hacked 'Almost Immediately' In Sochi Sen. Chuck Schumer Wants Russia To Let U.S. Olympians Have Their American Yogurt 15 more signs that Russia is not very ready for the Olympics Indicting The Right Christie officials drag feet on integrity monitors for Sandy aid Port Authority eliminates 'director' job created for Wildstein Idiot America George Zimmerman To Fight Rapper DMX In Celebrity Boxing Match Mychel Denzel Smith: F*** George Zimmerman and the Culture He Rode In On Immigration: Reform Coming? House Republicans Cool to Immigration Overhaul Seung Min Kim: Immigration reform's other hurdle? The House. Energy, Climate & Environment U.S. Northeast battling through yet another winter storm State & feds announce first West Coast wind energy farm off Oregon coast Nations In Turmoil Syria: Deal Struck to Evacuate Civilians from Besieged City Syria government refuses to commit to new round of Geneva peace talks Seven car bombs across Baghdad kill at least 13 Troops' brutal lynching shows instability continues in Central African Republic International News Turkish parliament adopts Internet censorship bill Pakistan enters peace talks with Taliban Hundreds rescued by Italian navy Money in Politics Greg Sargent: Democrats are now seriously alarmed by the massive amounts of Koch money flowing into 2014 races Matea Gold: With early attacks against Senate Democrats, Koch-backed AFP emerges as GOP's most powerful ally Midwest Roundup Nebraska school leaders extremely wary of governor's push to cut property taxes Groundwater decline in Nebraska in 2013, from 2012 drought: Officially 'unprecedented' Judge orders Iowa's State Juvenile Home to reopen Democratic-backed bill restoring voting rights for ex-convicts clears Iowa Senate panel Rendezvous With Irrelevance In virtually every long-term social or political debate, there's eventually a point at which most sensible and intelligent people agree: The public has made a definitive decision. On the subject of smoking, for example, after nearly fifty years of anti-smoking measures, only about 19 percent of Americans smoke any more. So while Wednesday's announcement by the pharmacy chain CVS that they'll no longer be selling tobacco products after October 1 was significant news, it wasn't exactly Earth-shattering. Americans already passed that decision point on tobacco use twenty years ago. Sure, smoking is still legal, though in far fewer places than it once was. For the most part, those who still remain addicted have been severely minimized as a political power group, effectively making smokers politically irrelevant. In a similar, yet frightening way, recent studies have confirmed the American middle class has almost been nearly erased, politically, by right-wing political policies over the last forty-plus years. Politicians may still claim to pander to the middle class, but as stories in both Business Insider and the New York Times this past week confirmed, the businesses that depend on the middle class are struggling - because much of the economic and political power of the middle class has already been erased. There is another major group of Americans that is about to become irrelevant though, and it's one we - and others - have been pointing to for some time. Of course, we're talking about Americans on the political right, in general, and Republicans in particular... To continue reading... click here. And now, for your Daily Felltoon preview for February 06, 2014 (Click the preview cartoon above to see the full version of the cartoon) Jobs & The Economy U.S. Jobless Claims Fall Sharply, More Than Expected; Positive Signal Ahead of Friday's Jobs Report ADP Private Employment Survey Report: U.S. Businesses Added 175,000 Jobs in January Ryan Cooper: On jobs, conservatives are completely full of it Mortgage Rates Hit Lowest Level in 3 Months Hitting The Ceiling House GOP Abandons Plans To Tie Debt Ceiling To Keystone, Obamacare Boehner's new plan? Link debt-ceiling hike to a restoration of recent cuts to military benefits James Downie: Republicans' newest debt-ceiling farce Danny Vinik: It's Time For Republicans To Wave The White Flag And Abolish The Debt Ceiling Wall Street Watch U.S. Regulators Again May Clip Volcker Rule on CDOs | ECB keeps interest rates on hold despite deflation fears Economic Inequality As Minimum Wages Rise, Businesses Grapple With Consequences, Both Good And Bad Robert Reich: Why Widening Inequality is Hobbling Equal Opportunity Different Rules For The Rich Judge in 'affluenza' case rules out jail time for teen driver who killed four people in DUI Judge who let off 'affluenza' teen previously put 14 year old boy in prison for ten years Health Care Checkup CBO Report: Obamacare Is Freeing Workers From the Insurance Trap Paul Krugman: What Everyone Else Missed In The CBO Report - ObamaCare Is Basically A Success CMS proposal says insurers selling exchange plans should have tougher standards in 2015 Cyberattacks are rising Health-care data is their biggest target. Smoked Out CVS pharmacy chain to stop selling all cigarettes and tobacco products by Oct. 1 CVS tobacco ban: Why it's sacrificing $2 billion in sales Lauren Friedman: Why CVS' Decision To Stop Selling Cigarettes Makes Perfect Business Sense E-Cigarettes: FDA Regulation Looms for $1.5 Billion Industry Media Matters Washington Post's Brad Plumer, Sarah Kliff, Max Fisher Joining Ezra Klein's New Venture At Vox Media | Jay Leno's long goodbye: Ready or not, it's time for him to move on, after tonight It's Your Cap News Toon for February 06, 2014 (Click the preview cartoon above to see the full version of the cartoon) White House Update Obama tells Dems keeping control of the Senate is top priority for 2014 Mark Bittman: President Obama, Please Just Say No To Keystone - And The Farm Bill News From Capitol Hill Fast-Track Trade Bill's Path in Congress Gets Bumpier Josh Kraushaar: The Most Divided Congress Ever, At Least Until Next Year On The Left David Plouffe Arrives to Calm Democratic 'Bed-Wetting' Democrats Aim for a Presidential Fervor in '14 Vote On The Right GOP's Paul Ryan: Obamacare is a 'poverty trap' More Misogyny From The Right: Ladies, You Suck at Your Job States Of Confusion Democrat & Former FL Gov. Crist up 47-40 over current GOP Gov. Scott in new Univ. of Florida poll South Dakota Republican State Lawmaker Disgusted With Anti-Gay Legislation | Oregon Democrat destroys top drug official who can't say if weed's less addictive than meth Fox News correspondent's report on unpatriotic Colorado school turns out to be exactly wrong We hope you enjoy "The Daily Felltoon" every business day. Thanks for continuing to be a member! Paul Fell Shawn "Smith" Peirce Paul Fell Cartoons, Inc.