There’s a lot of hubbub today about this Bloomberg poll, showing that Americans don’t pay attention to CBO or NBER reports or watch C-SPAN very often. What matters to people is whether or not their personal situations have improved.

In violation of state and federal election laws, a McDonald’s franchise in Ohio sent a note in the paychecks of their workers urging them to vote for Republicans in next Tuesday’s elections. And they implicitly threatened to stop all wage and benefit increases if those Republicans do not win, essentially tying the future economic fortunes of their employees to their vote.

The White House, from Robert Gibbs to David Axelrod to President Obama himself, refuses to tell us whether they think Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is constitutional or unconstitutional. They claim that since the president is not on the Supreme Court, it’s not right for them to speculate. But way back in the prehistoric times of March of this year, the White House was fully engaged on answering constitutional questions about laws — specifically the health care law.

When it comes to marriage equality, we’re talking about rights every one of us is born with, inalienable rights. The state has no compelling reason to restrain the exercise of these rights, whether at national or federal level.

And we’re letting one man tell us that opinion — characterized as evolving understandings — is the restraint on rights.

I want to focus in on Damon Silvers. He’s the director of policy and Special Counsel for the AFL-CIO, and a member of the panel. And his performance yesterday was remarkable. “We are faced with a choice here,” Silvers closed. “We can either have a rational resolution to the foreclosure crisis or we can preserve the capital structure of the banks. We can’t do both.”

At this very moment, we’re going to great lengths in Gitmo to villainize Omar Khadr, at least partly to dismiss all the criticism about trying a child soldier (for a crime that is not a crime). It’s as if those involved are trying to convince themselves that their war on terror trumps international norms of decency.

And even as we’re doing that, the President is taking affirmative steps to make it more likely that another boy, like Khadr, will be put in the same situation as him, attacked for following the orders of the adults around him.

The FDA’s response is disproportionate between small farm producers and mega-corporate businesses.

This is something to watch: state attorney general may not be at the top of the ticket, but it’s at the top of the list when it comes to the foreclosure fraud scandal. And the offices across the country may end up having a radically different focus by this time next week.

I can’t help but wonder whether William Lynn is using the term “adversary” rather loosely.

Yes, marijuana legalization can motivate young people to vote. There is new evidence from PPP that Proposition 19, the effort legalize marijuana in California, is in fact motivating people to go vote this year.