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WASHINGTON — President Obama is preparing to nominate Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio as his new secretary of housing and urban development, elevating one of his party’s Hispanic rising stars as part of a cabinet shuffle that has possible implications for the 2016 presidential race, Democrats informed about the plans said on Saturday. [snip] Some of Mr. Castro’s allies also believe that with income inequality becoming a focal point for Democrats, the HUD job offers the mayor an opportunity to burnish his credentials on issues of poverty and to raise his appeal among those on the party’s left. The...

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is about to be tapped by President Barrack Obama to be the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This is the second time Obama will have asked Castro to serve in his administration. The move for Castro comes at a time where a big game of musical chairs is going on in the Obama Cabinet. Castro will be asked to replace HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who is expected to move to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Mayor Julián Castro is expected to leave his third term in office early to become HUD secretary for President Barack Obama. Mayor Julián Castro (center) with his brother, Joaquín Castro, are interviewed in Time Warner Arena as they prepare for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 3, 2012.

A new CNN poll finds that just 12% of Americans consider the Obamacare program a "success." President Barack Obama has pressed fellow Democrats to laud and run on his signature legislative achievement. However, other polls confirm that the law, which has been in effect for over four years now, remains deeply unpopular. The latest Pew/USA Today poll finds just 41% of Americans now support Obamacare. A record 55% disapprove of the law. The CNN poll found less support for repealing Obamacare; 49% want Congress to make changes to the law, and 12% said to keep Obamacare as is. Of those...

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SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has scheduled a news conference for Thursday to announce a plan to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. **SNIP** Committee members representing business and labor could not agree on issues like crediting tips and benefits against the $15 minimum. And council member Kshama Sawant revealed another hurdle -- she said there has been little talk of automatically increasing the minimum wage with inflation. “If going forward the new minimum wage does not have a cost of living increase attached to it every year of the phase in it's not going to...

The hypocrisy could not be more evident as reports indicate Media Matters for America is resisting efforts by Service Employees International Union Local 500 to unionize its employees. Heck, next thing you know, they'll be asking them for a higher minimum wage. "...Last week, the union filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board, indicating that the nonprofit media watchdog organization rejected an effort by the union to organize MMFA's staff through a Card Check election..."

Among the many political messages that resonate in the African-American community, President Obama knows that calls to protect voting rights will rouse many of his most loyal supporters. In an election year in which fairness and equity are Democratic themes, and motivating the party’s base is essential by November, Obama on Friday expressed alarm about rights threatened and justice denied, stirring 1,600 people packed inside a New York City ballroom to stand and cheer.

Citizens United is not just the default reference for US Supreme Court decisions—including the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling—that have ushered in a new era of corporate dominance of American elections. It’s the name of the conservative group that encouraged Chief Justice John Roberts and the most activist Court majority in American history to tear the heart out of what were already weak campaign finance laws. Citizens United still exists as an activist group that produces documentaries—ACLU: At War with America, Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration, Fire From the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative...

As President Barack Obama's job approval ratings continue to flounder nationwide, he can still look to California for affirmation. A new Field Poll found 53 percent of California voters approve of Obama's job performance while 41 percent disapprove. That's nearly the opposite of the nation as a whole, where an average of major polls now finds a 53 percent disapproval and 43 percent approval -- not his all-time low, but nothing to brag about either. Among California Democrats, 80 percent approve of Obama's job performance and 15 percent disapprove; among Republicans, 80 disapprove and 16 percent approve. Nonpartisans and third-party...

France's socialist prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault resigned yesterday. Joined by his entire government following meltdown in local elections .. Resignation is huge blow to France's social President Francois Hollande. Last night, Hollande admitted mistakes and said priority was to cut taxes ... last night socialist President Francois Hollande – whose rule has become synonymous with a 75 per cent top rate of income tax – admitted to mistakes and said his priority was now to cut taxes. The government’s resignation is a huge blow to the president, who was elected to a five-year term in 2012 but whose first two...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Battling food shortages, the government is rolling out a new ID system that is either a grocery loyalty card with extra muscle or the most dramatic step yet toward rationing in Venezuela, depending on who is describing it. President Nicolas Maduro's administration says the cards to track families' purchases will foil people who stock up on groceries at subsidized prices and then illegally resell them for several times the amount. Critics say it's another sign the oil-rich Venezuelan economy is headed toward Cuba-style dysfunction.

Donning a pinstripe home white jersey and blue Mets cap over dress pants, de Blasio was loudly booed twice by Flushing faithful — once as he was announced and then again as he left the Citi Field diamond.... De Blasio wore No. 6 in honor of late-1960s Boston Red Sox great Rico Petrocelli, the mayor’s aides said. The infielder, who slugged 210 home runs in his 13-season career, grew up in Brooklyn. So the Boston-loving mayor managed to pay homage to his beloved Red Sox, his adopted home borough and to Italian Americans by donning that shirt. But that still...

France's historically unpopular President, François Hollande was handed another embarrassment this week when the top constitutional authority partially struck down another one of his laws. That strike-out left Hollande as the holder of a record he won't be proud of. France’s Constitutional Council ruled on Thursday that a reform that would have allowed the government to fine companies that shut down profitable factories was unconstitutional. The reform was deemed by the council - France's highest constitutional authority - to be a violation of “a freedom of undertaking and private property rights.” ... The council's ruling is the 13th law to...

“Onto the ballot – into the streets.” That’s the headline for the next big moment for 15 Now – a conference on April 26 to kick-off a mass campaign in Seattle to collect 50,000 signatures for a robust $15 minimum wage ballot initiative. Whether or not 15 Now will file those signatures in June, triggering a popular vote on November 4, depends on whether the City Council passes a real $15 minimum wage ordinance and will be decided by a democratic 15 Now conference in June. The credible threat of a winnable ballot initiative is the best tool – under...

A senatorial report proposes a junk-food tax on products that cause cardiovascular diseases. The tax aims specifically at soft drinks, which currently benefit from low taxes. EurActiv France reports. Similar to steps taken by other European countries, a new junk-food tax is doing the rounds in the French parliament. […] The senators who led the report, Yves Daudigny (socialist) and Catherine Deroche (UMP), encourage talk of “contribution to public health” and not the frequently used term “behavioral taxation”. …

I have 17 million reasons for wanting to increase the minimum wage. Yes, 17 million—the number of children whose lives would be a little more secure if their moms and dads earned at least $10.10 an hour. When I was in junior high, my daddy had a heart attack. He was home for a while, the medical bills piled up, and we lost our family station wagon. So my mother did what she had to do: She went to work answering the phones at Sears. The job paid only minimum wage, but it was enough to make sure we could...

First Lady Michelle Obama received an unscheduled greeting today from the President of China at the end of her first full day in the country, a place which President Obama has said he wants to “rebalance” US foreign policy. But the first lady is not engaging in any formal talks on issues such as human rights or global politics. Her trip to China is purely for cultural reasons. President Xi Jinping welcomed the first lady and disclosed he had spoken to President Obama by phone a few days ago and confirmed the two presidents are scheduled to hold a bilateral...

Kshama Sawant has held office less than three months, but the Seattle City Council socialist wants her newly unveiled $15-an-hour minimum wage plan to be “the main agenda item” as Mayor Ed Murray’s income advisory committee meets next week. **SNIP** She would implement a $15-an-hour minimum wage for “big business” on Jan. 1, 2015, with prescribed cost of living increases after that. There would be no credit for tips paid to restaurant and hotel workers, no teenage wage and no training wage. “Small business” would be allowed a three-year phase-in, starting with an $11-an-hour minimum wage next January. Full implementation...

SEATTLE — Kshama Sawant said she needs to see progress on a $15 per hour minimum wage soon, or she and her supporters will move ahead without the help of her fellow city council members and the mayor. She said if there is not significant progress soon she will start collecting signatures to put a minimum wage measure on the ballot. Sawant said signatures are due June 10. The socialist council member is holding a rally this coming Saturday where she will lay out her latest plan of action moving forward.