"Minister Louis Farrakhan, who resides on the south side of Chicago in the same neighborhood where President Obama's home is, appealed to the President to visit people in inner city Chicago the same way he did the families in Newtown, Connecticut after the Sandy Hook School massacre. Twenty six people lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School after a mass shooting.

In November, the power of the fast-growing Latino electorate seemed to be conversation topic one for those interested in politics. This week, Latino Decisions, a polling firm that specializes in tracking and gauging the opinions of Hispanics, brings us an interesting reminder that the real power of the Latino vote has not yet been tapped.

Maryland lawmakers are expected to consider a measure sometime in the next two to three weeks that could eliminate the death penalty and make the state the first South of the Mason Dixon line to ban capital punishment.

ack Lew looks likely to be the next treasury secretary, replacing Tim Geithner in Obama's second term. Lew, who currently serves as Obama's chief of staff, adds to the list of key cabinet positions expected to be filled by white men. Having sat next to him on a plane from Charlotte, N.C. to New York following the Democratic National Convention, I can also say he has some very interesting ideas on management and the value of intellectual and cultural diversity in the workplace that came up during the trip.Um, this is just embarrassing. "Younger Americans die earlier and live in poorer health than their counterparts in other developed countries, with far higher rates of death from guns, car accidents and drug addiction, according to a new analysis of health and longevity in the United States," The New York Times reported today. "....The rate of firearm homicides was 20 times higher in the United States than in the other countries, according to the report, which cited a 2011 study of 23 countries."

A few deeply interesting stats brought to us by the Pew Research Center

• The nation's birth rate dropped 8 percent in 2010, the most recent year for which data is available. That decrease is due largely to immigrant women opting to have fewer children.
• That same year, the share of new marriages between couples with different racial or ethnicity climbed to 15.1 percent
• Half of parents with teens who access the Internet say they have used some sort of monitoring or site-blocking software in an effort to try to stay on top of their kid's virtual lives.
• Nearly one third -- 32 percent -- of ALL Americans have benefited from two or more entitlement programs in their lifetime.