It’s a five minute walk for Dana Salah to reach The Bean coffee shop on 12th Street and Broadway on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The 22 year-old young woman is cozily bundled up in a maroon sweater, thick scarf, and hijab against the dreary December weather. In Dana’s hometown, the village of Bethlehem in the West Bank of Palestine, it’s a balmy 73°. But the weather isn’t the biggest difference that Dana notices — it’s that five minute walk.
“In my country I get up two hours before the university because there are checkpoints. It makes life difficult,” Dana says. “The life here is totally different than Palestine. Totally free.”
This semester is Dana’s first as an NYU student. She’s here as part of a university program which brings four Israeli and four Palestinian students to the school for a semester of classes and intensive dialogue about the conflict in their homeland. The program’s mission is made clear by its name: Paths to Peace.
“I want to have this chance to talk to Israeli people,” Dana says. “I wasn’t allowed to go to Israel so I never had the chance to talk to Israeli people.” Read more…
Grab your chalkboard and start weaning yourself off your medication — because destiny is calling. Politico 
The Grand Ol’ Party took a stern spanking last month when President Obama handed Mitt Romney a clear defeat, shutting down the Stormin’ Mormon’s presidential aspirations for good. Republicans also lost seven seats in the House and two seats in the Senate. While that wasn’t enough to flip control of either body, it was a clear rebuke to the GOP’s 2010 Tea Party insurgency. Ultimately, that defeat may provide a wake-up call to a party that’s been spinning its wheels for the last 4 years.
With the fiscal cliff looming, the deficit ballooning and the economy far from booming, the ongoing debate over how best to address the nation’s economic woes remains unsettled. Now, labor leaders and Occupy networks are agitating for what may be the fix: higher wages.
On Wednesday, Obama held his first press conference in eight months — and his first public appearance since the president’s re-election last Tuesday. With the stench of 2012’s campaign still lingering, the vigorous event was a breath of fresh air. Behind his podium in the East Room of the White House, Obama looked as if he was still feeling the glow of last week’s sweep. Facing him was a room of reporters finally free to ask tough questions without fear of helping Romney slide into the Oval Office on a blunder from Obama.
Tuesday’s General Election was the apex of a political frenzy lasting weeks on either side of voting. Now, it’s a matter of parsing through hundreds of state and local elections to see what the hell just happened.
As a consequence, most of the time we have no idea who was speaking.
Brett Chamberlin
He and Mitt Romney have a bromance.
