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Dear Reader,

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December is make-or-break for Mother Jones’ fundraising, and in "No Cute Headlines or Manipulative BS," we hope that giving it to you as matte-of-fact as we can will work to raise the $350,000 we need to raise this month. Donations make up 74 percent of our budget this year, and all online gifts will be matched and go twice as far until we hit our goal.

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GOOD NEWS….Some modestly good news today:

U.S. retail sales jumped 1% in January, reversing a six-month declining trend and defying economists’ expectations by posting the biggest increase in 14 months.

What else? For my local readers, a solar firm has signed yet another deal to provide Southern California with 1,300 megawatts of solar electricity. The first plant should be operational in four years.

And the California legislature has supposedly reached a deal to “balance” the state budget. It includes $15 billion in spending cuts, $15 billion in tax increases, and $12 billion in smoke and mirrors — which isn’t a bad ratio considering how prevalent accounting tricks usually are. Now all we have to do is round up two or three non-insane Republicans to vote for it. Stay tuned.