o In New York city “Between 2006 and 2010, the amount spent (by the school system) on arts and music equipment and supplies was cut by 79 percent

o nearly one fourth of all public schools have not a single art, music, theater or dance teacher on staff

o at Brooklyn Tech (where Flavius'  grandson goes) 24 percent of the students were black in 1999-2000, compared with 10 percent during the 2011-2012 school year

o At Bronx Science, the share of black students dropped from 9 to 3.5 percent over the same period.

be sure you have a big bag.

Obama was wrong to put the chained CPI on the table. I'm fully aware that the Social Security fund will be exhausted in 2000 something or other . And it won't make any difference . The then current contributions from payroll taxes will cover some large % of the requirements and the balance can bloody well be contributed by the public. After all,by then there would have been around 100 years during which the public enjoyed lower taxes because of the subsidy from the social security surplus it'll be time for the public to return the favor.

• Paul Krugman: The Urge to Purge: "When the Great Depression struck, many influential people argued that the government shouldn’t even try to limit the damage…. Andrew Mellon…. Joseph Schumpeter… “artificial stimulus leaves part of the work of depressions undone.” Like many economists, I used to quote these past luminaries with a certain smugness…. How naïve we were.

Herod 

Today has been one of those perfect winter days, cold, brilliant and utterly still, when the bark of a shepherd’s dog carries for miles, and the great wild mountains come up close to the city walls…

Barges are unloading soil fertilizer at the river wharves. Soft drinks and sandwiches may be had in the inns at reasonable prices. Allotment gardening has become popular.