Meanwhile the BLS *does* have serious problems related to declining data integrity — because Trump has deprived it of resources. Hiring freezes, early retirements, “fork” departures etc. have left the agency so thinly staffed that field offices are closing.

Republicans complain that the courts are blocking deportations for him but did not do so for prior presidents. Unlike his predecessors, Trump is claiming a condition of war, so that he can use emergency powers to circumvent the constitutional guarantee of due process. Prior pres’s did not do that.

“America’s reputation, built on its ideals and burnished over centuries, is the greatest geopolitical brand ever created. But as someone put it to me this past week, we may be witnessing the greatest exercise in brand destruction in history.” www.wsj.com/opinion/trum...

The crazy thing for me is that, Howard Lutnik, a major proponent of tariffs in thee Trump Admin. He was previously the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a huge Wall Street firm that specializes in Bond markets. Market instability drives investors to Bond Markets for solid ground.

New from me at Cato: in its demands that Columbia surrender its academic and administrative independence to federal overseers, the Trump administration has violated one law after another. And there's every reason to think it's planning to roll out the same game plan to other universities. /1

DOGE/SSA marked this person dead and *removed his savings from his bank account,* cancelled his social security and Medicare. #seattle https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/heres-a-dead-person-on-social-security-in-seattle-with-plenty-to-say/

American Republicans are ideologically much more like people in Russia or Turkey than they are like members of European right-wing parties, and this only happened in the last 25 years.

www.ft.com/content/3046...

Think about the estimated $16 billion spent on the 2024 election. For those thinking that this is too much, put it into perspective. Americans are projected to bet around $23 billion on the Super Bowl this year! What’s going to matter more?

An empirical question: does anyone know if there is a Dem candidate aligned with or backed by Dem Socialists Justice Dems, that has replaced a Republican in any state legislative race. It appears to be the case that the only victories have been replacing Democrats.

You know who’s a journalist who’s actually meeting this moment? @pbump.com

This is perfection, right down to the footnotes

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

It is National Beer Day. This day commemorates the Cullerton-Harrison Act, signed by FDR on March 21 and effective April 7, 1933, legalizing the sale of 3.2% beer. The Act created a carve out in prohibition, and serves as the origins of 3.2% alcohol beer.

The problem may not be so much Biden’s age, but his approach. Biden is a pol of days gone by when adversaries made deals and compromised. In an in era of intense and asymmetric polarization, Democratic and liberal activists want a fighter who will trade blows and play hardball with Republicans.

What do you call Trump arguing with a judge about whether he can pay?

A Donnybroke.

A century ago, anti-immigration demagogues would have been quite incensed about Trump’s marriages.

This is an explosive story. Clarence Thomas made it known to a conservative MC that he needed more money. Efforts to raise their pay failed. That's about the time billionaires started paying for his vacations, bought his mother's house, etc.

www.propublica.org/article/clar...

Seems very, very bad. plus.thebulwark.com/p/theres-a-s...

60 years ago today, Kennedy was assassinated. on Thanksgiving day, Biden becomes the longest serving Catholic president.