curated citations to news sources
James Eagle: What’s going on with US jobs data
The US added just 73,000 jobs in July, missing expectations of 100,000. But the real shock came in the revisions: May and June were slashed by a combined 258,000 jobs, marking the steepest two-month downward revision on record outside the pandemic. The three-month average collapsed to 35,000 – less than one-third the pace of a year ago.
Trump’s response? Fire the commissioner and claim, without evidence, that the numbers were “rigged”. Here’s the reality: revisions are normal. Early job reports rely on large firms that respond quickly. Smaller businesses report later, and they’re the ones suffering most. When their data arrives, numbers get revised down. That’s statistics, not conspiracy.
The underlying data is grim. Health care and social assistance accounted for 94% of July’s job growth. Average weeks unemployed hit 24.1, the highest since April 2022. The US economy has just slowed, and the jobs numbers reflect this.
(James Eagle more…)
James Eagle: Trump’s war on statistical independence
Robert Reich: Trump’s “State Capitalism”
It would be communism under any other dictator
WSJ: The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics
President Trump is imitating Chinese Communist Party by extending political control ever deeper into economy
WSJ: Now Trump Wants an Export Tax
Want a license to sell chips to China? Better pay the man.
Bulwark: The Ministry of Truth Is Real Now
E.J. Antoni’s nomination isn’t designed to reassure markets, the Fed, or the business community. It’s designed to provoke them. And force them to submit.
Jennifer Rubin: ‘New numbers’ are lies
“All new numbers,” boasted Donald Trump last week in the Oval Office, showing off brightly colored charts, the economic equivalent of the Sharpie-edited hurricane map from his first term. Whatever “data” (unpublished and unverified, the press duly noted) they rely on, Trump’s “new numbers” (like “alternate facts”) cannot be taken seriously. The real numbers don’t lie.
Robert Reich: Trump’s political hack nominee for the Bureau of Labor Statistics is already monkeying with the data.
The Senate mustn’t confirm him
WSJ: Trump’s Doomsday Tariff Letter
He says judges must bless his ‘emergency’ or we’ll have a depression.
And here you thought the lesson of the Smoot-Hawley tariff era was that a trade war can be destructive. Think again, folks, because President Trump’s lawyers say the courts must uphold the legality of his tariffs or there could be “a 1929-style result.”
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David Fenton: The Pollution Blanket: A Metaphor That Can Save the Planet
(David Fenton more…)Register: You’ve got drought: UK gov suggests you save water by . . . deleting old emails
Keep calm and clear out that inbox. Also maybe lay off the GenAI
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – August 12, 2025
… Her comment was in reference to President Donald Trump’s social media post of 7:30 this morning, when he chummed the water by suggesting that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, more commonly known as the Kennedy Center, would soon be called the “TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER.” He made the comment as he said this year’s Kennedy Center Honors recipients would be announced tomorrow.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Daily Beast: Republican Gets Booed in Furious Town Hall Trainwreck: ‘F*** You!’
MEETING MELTDOWN
Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California had a tough time selling Donald Trump’s domestic agenda to voters back home.
(Daily Beast more…)
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John Pavlovitz: The Sin of Denying Someone’s Joy
How Anti-Marriage Equality Christians Rebel Against Jesus
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Qasim Rashid, Esq.: Landlords Threaten Tenants With ICE
Weaponizing the law [to] intimidate immigrants is illegal, yet increasingly prevalent, and shamefully ignored
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Waging Nonviolence: New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history
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Atlanta Black Star: ‘You Need to Go!’: Entitled White Woman Tries to Evict Family from Beach, Claiming It’s Private Property, Then Realizes She Can’t Call the Cops, Video Shows
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engadget: Russia reportedly implicated in hack on US federal courts’ databases
Few specifics have been confirmed about the “persistent and sophisticated cyber threat actors.”
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Sarah Jones & Jason Easley: Democrats Are On The Verge Of Defeating Trump’s First Attempt To Rig Texas
Texas House Republicans have announced that if there is no quorum on Friday, they will end the special session, which means that Democrats will win round one in the battle for Texas.
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Politico: Trump Wants to Destroy the Drug Cartels. He May Strengthen Them Instead.
The president’s punishment-heavy plan doesn’t just ignore other factors — it actively undermines itself.
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Trump has succeeded at scaring Mexico’s business class over the cartel issue and rattling Mexico’s broader political class with menacing promises of military action. But will he achieve his grander ambition of quashing the cartels? Almost certainly not. In fact, Trump could make an already bad situation worse.Trump’s approach to the cartels is not a comprehensive strategy. It is an incoherent set of tactics at best. At worst, the approach undermines itself.
The most glaring example of this is how, even as Trump turns to hard power tactics to weaken the cartels, he is simultaneously cutting funds for U.S. drug treatment programs. So while cartels may face some blows from Washington, the demand for their product could grow, giving them financial reasons to keep up supply.
On top of that, tariffs, deportations and growing tensions with Mexico’s government, especially over U.S. military action, are creating openings for the cartels to expand their reach.
Trump deserves credit for forcing more attention on the cartels, their transnational reach and Americans’ sad addiction to fentanyl and other drugs, as well as how U.S. adversaries such as China are involved. The danger is real.
(Politico more…)
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Closer to the Edge: August 28 Could Seal Ayman Soliman’s Fate
Ayman Soliman Survived Egyptian Torture. ICE Wants to Send Him Back. This Court Has One Last Chance to Stop It.
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Jennifer Rubin: What We Make of Trump’s Fascist Takeover of D.C. Policing
…and why it matters far beyond the city limits.
…To write this off as a “distraction” misses the danger of the moment; the potential for unbridled deployment of the military for domestic policing.
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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Sarah Jones: Busted: Trump Cut the Program that Reduced Violent Crime in DC
Donald Trump cut the gun violence program credited with reducing violent crime in DC, and Jeanine Pirro, his US Attorney for the District of Columbia, dismissed this fact with an aggressive dismissal.
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Ryan W. Powers: Big Law Recruited Me, Celebrated Me, Then Fired Me
The cost of speaking out in the Trump era.
(Ryan W. Powers more…)
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Lev Parnas: Ukraine Just Hit Putin Where It Hurts Most
While Trump and Putin play theatrics in Alaska, Ukraine takes the fight to Russia’s oil heartland.
Bulwark: Ukraine Doesn’t Have to Defeat Russia. They Just Have to Outlast Putin.
Why Trump won’t get a “peace deal” in Alaska.
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Bulwark: The 18-Year-Old Vigilante ICE Agent Is Coming
The trouble with getting rid of age limits for new ICE hires.
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Decoding Fox News: Epstein Files? – The Democrats Left Texas We are At War!
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 8/10/25
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Borowitz: Citizens of DC Demand Republicans Leave Immediately
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Additionally, the petition indicates that a “mentally unwell” Republican menaced the city last week by skulking about on the roof of the White House.
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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