Mountain Dew Releases Arguably the Most Racist Commercial in History Tweet  —  If you've never heard of Felicia the Goat, you'll know about her soon.  Felicia the Goat is the main character in a recent Mountain Dew commercial, created in part by Tyler the Creator.

Oregon and Medicaid and Evidence and CHILL, PEOPLE!  —  This is a joint post by Aaron Carroll and Austin Frakt.  Relevant to this post, recently we have published three papers arguing for expansion of Medicaid, not relative to all possible other reforms, but relative to the status quo.

Three additional people arrested in Boston Marathon bombings  —  Three college students have been arrested by federal authorities in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings, a law enforcement official familar with the case said this morning.  —  The Boston police Web page said that three additional …

The systemic plight of labor  —  It's May Day, and Henry Blodget is celebrating — if that's the right word — with three charts, of which the most germane is the one above.  It shows total US wages as a proportion of total US GDP — a number which continues to hit all-time lows.

Penny Pritzker to be nominated for Commerce secretary … Making official what many Democrats have expected for weeks, President Obama plans to nominate Chicago business executive Penny Pritzker, a longtime political supporter and heavyweight fundraiser, as his new Commerce secretary this morning.

U.S. to Defend Age Limits on Morning-After Pill Sales  —  The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it would appeal a federal judge's order to make the most common morning-after contraceptive available without a prescription for girls and women of all ages.

Police say liberal student activist threatened herself with rape in Facebook hoax, framed conservatives  —  A well-known female liberal blogger and radio host at the University of Wyoming (UW) is being accused by police of fabricating a rape threat against herself to appear as if it came from a conservative.

For immediate release  —  Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March suggests that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace.  Labor market conditions have shown some improvement in recent months, on balance, but the unemployment rate remains elevated.

I'm still here: back online after a year without the internet  —  I was wrong.  —  One year ago I left the internet.  I thought it was making me unproductive.  I thought it lacked meaning.  I thought it was “corrupting my soul.”  —  It's a been a year now since I “surfed the web” or …

2016 Poll: If Clinton doesn't run, then who?  —  (CNN) - A second straight national poll this week indicates the obvious: Hillary Clinton, if she decides to run for the White House again, would be the overwhelming front-runner among Democrats for their party's 2016 presidential nomination.

The GOP Sets Its Sights on the Senate in 2014  —  Republicans could win a majority if they avoid candidates likely to self-destruct in the election.  —  Last week Sen. Max Baucus (D. Mont.) announced that he would not seek a seventh term.  His retirement makes it even more likely the GOP will make gains in the U.S. Senate next year.

Governors, GOP Allies Clash Over Tax Cuts  —  Republican lawmakers in several states are blunting plans by GOP governors to reduce or eliminate income taxes, putting the legislators at odds with figures many in the party see as leading voices on reshaping government.

Possible Human Trafficking Investigated at Saudi Diplomatic Compound in Virginia  —  McLean home owned by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, real estate records say  —  Federal and local authorities responded to a report of human trafficking at this McLean compound overnight.

Reid: More funding needed to prevent ObamaCare from becoming ‘train wreck’  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he shares colleagues' concerns that the Affordable Care Act could become a “train wreck” if it's not implemented properly.  —  Reid warned that people will not be able …

Paul Krugman's Proud War on Fools, Knaves and Lunatics  —  Could I say a word about Paul Krugman?  A recent blog post by the eminent economist and New York Times columnist struck me as out of the ordinary, even for him.  Krugman was responding to critics who accuse him of seeing everybody …

Skeleton of teenage girl confirms cannibalism at Jamestown colony  —  The first chops, to the forehead, did not go through the bone and are perhaps evidence of hesitancy about the task.  The next set, after the body was rolled over, were more effective.  One cut split the skull all the way to the base.

Six Ways to Separate Lies From Statistics  —  The discovery of a spreadsheet error in an influential study by Harvard University economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff inevitably raises a troubling question: To what extent can we trust what any researcher claims to be true?

N.D. oil is more plentiful than previously thought  —  The government has sharply increased its estimate, and some think it is still too conservative.  —  The sea of oil and natural gas underneath North Dakota is far larger than first thought.  —  There are 7.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil …