A huge sunspot unleashed a blob of charged plasma Thursday that space weather watchers predict will blast past the Earth on Sunday. Satellite operators and power companies are keeping a close eye on the incoming cloud, which could distort the Earth’s magnetic field and disrupt radio communications, especially at higher latitudes. Read full article > >

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Sun shoots a fastball at Earth, but minimal impact expected

Christina Romer had been asked to scare her new boss. It was six weeks after the 2008 election, and the incoming administration had gathered in Chicago. David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s top political adviser, couldn’t have been more clear in his instructions to Romer: The president-elect needed to know how bad the economy was going to get. No pulling punches, no softening the news. Read full article > >

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Financial crisis and stimulus: Could this time be different?

MILWAUKEE — Mention Amazon to the incoming class of college freshmen and they are more likely to think of shopping than the South American river. PC doesn’t stand for political correctness and breaking up on Facebook is more common than any more personal encounter. These are among the 75 references on this year’s Beloit College Mindset List, a compilation intended to remind teachers that college freshmen born mostly in 1993 see the world in a much different way: They fancied pogs and Tickle Me Elmo toys as children, watched televisions that never had dials and their lives have always been like a box of chocolates. Read full article > >

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Mindset List: Web older than college Class of ‘15, which wonders: OJ who? Is LBJ the NBA star?

House Republicans announced Monday that they would vote to repeal President Obama’s health care overhaul on January 12. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Virginia), the incoming House Majority Leader, made the announcement after Republicans posted the proposed legislation, “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act,” on the House Rules Committee web site . read more

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House Republicans Schedule Health Care Repeal Vote for Next Week

Them’s fighting words: Laying out his agenda for the new Congress under a GOP-controlled House, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the congressman who is the incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called the Obama government…

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Obama Admin ‘One of the Most Corrupt’

Republican leaders are already on thin ice with Tea Party leaders before their incoming majority even takes the oath of office. Activists are upset that various GOP lawmakers cut deals with Democrats on tax cuts, an arms-control treaty with Russia, the…

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Tea Party Already Mad at GOP Majority

In Washington and across the country there’s understandably a great deal of speculation on whether President Obama and the incoming speaker of the House, John Boehner, can work together and on what issues.

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Obama and Boehner should quit smoking – and say so

Writing in the Financial Times today , Paul Ryan – the incoming chair of the House Budget Committee – presents himself as a fiscal conservative, primarily focused on bringing the budget deficit and government debt under control. He is not. read more

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Simon Johnson | Paul Ryan Is Not a Fiscal Conservative