curated citations to news sources
WSJ: U.S. Firms Cut Jobs for First Time in Two Years, ADP Report Shows
American employers shed 33,000 staff last month, a new report showed, in an unexpectedly weak readout on U.S. labor-market health.
- The ADP data undershot consensus expectations for job growth of 100,0000 positions in June, according to economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
- It was the first pullback since March 2023.
- There were notable job losses in professional and business services, and education and health services, but gains in leisure and hospitality, and in manufacturing.
- “Though layoffs continue to be rare, a hesitancy to hire and a reluctance to replace departing workers led to job losses last month. Still, the slowdown in hiring has yet to disrupt pay growth,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.
- Figures for May were revised down, to an increase of 29,000 positions, from an earlier 37,000.
MarketWatch: Be very skeptical of ADP report showing economy lost jobs for the first time in years
WSJ: Hiring Defied Expectations in June, With 147,000 New Jobs
YCharts: June ADP Report vs. Jobs Report: How Advisors Reconcile Conflicting Jobs Data
WSJ: The Jobs Market Is Starting to Fall Apart
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – July 2, 2025
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Far-right Republicans think the bill doesn’t make steep enough cuts; Republicans from swing districts recognize that supporting it will badly hurt both their constituents and their hopes of reelection. But Trump has demanded Congress pass the measure before July 4, an arbitrary date he seems to have chosen because of its historical significance.A new element in the Republicans’ calculation emerged a few days ago as billionaire Elon Musk reentered the fight over the measure, warning he would start a new political party over it. He has threatened to run primary challengers against lawmakers who vote yes, a threat that is a counterweight to Trump’s threat to run primary challengers against lawmakers who vote no. Already Musk has claimed to be donating to the reelection campaign of Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), an outspoken opponent of the bill.
…Trump also met with far-right members, but because the Senate measure must pass the House unchanged, he can offer them little except to promise they will fix the bill after it passes. While that appeared to work on at least one representative, Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) told the NOTUS reporters: “Now we’re having to once again hear the line, ‘Let’s pass this and then we’ll fix it later,’ And we never fix it later, and America knows that.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Bulwark: Republicans Always Chicken Out
They try to pretend they’re not going to do whatever Trump says . . . and then they always do it.
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Dean Blundell: Musk vs. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Feud Ends In Humiliation For Musk. Again.
Elon just surrendered to Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” threats for a second time…
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Robert Reich: Why They Hate Education
What Trump, Vance, Stefanik, and Viktor Orban have in common
(Robert Reich more…)
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Raw Story: ‘Bizarro’: Military leaders aghast as Zuckerberg strolls into secret WH meeting
A bizarre security breach unfolded in the Oval Office when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unexpectedly wandered into a classified meeting about the Air Force’s new F-47 fighter jets, according to insiders who talked to NBC News.The intrusion left high-level defense experts alarmed — and revealed the Trump administration’s increasingly casual approach to national security protocols, the report stated.
According to NBC, Zuckerberg wandered in unannounced, shocking White House staffers who leapt to remove the tech billionaire from the sensitive military briefing. The report doesn’t say when the meeting happened.
(Raw Story more…)
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NY Times: Top F.D.A. Official Overrode Scientists on Covid Shots
Records show that a top U.S. regulator rejected the recommendations of agency experts and limited the use of Covid vaccines.The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official rejected broad uses of two Covid vaccines, citing unknown risks or injuries despite assurances of safety from dozens of staff experts, newly released documents show.
The decisions by the official, Dr. Vinay Prasad, the agency’s new chief medical and scientific officer, stunned agency veterans. Records show that the F.D.A.’s vaccine staff members had signed off on approving the Novavax vaccine, an alternative to mRNA shots and weeks later on the next-generation of the mRNA Covid shot by Moderna for anyone 12 and older.
(NY Times more…)James Eagle: Is expensive medicine part of US life?
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Amelia Mavis Christnot: No One Is Illegal On Stolen Land—ICE Versus the Indigenous in MAGA’s America
…Many Americans worry no one is safe as the Trump administration works to eliminate the 14th Amendment’s provision of birthright citizenship.
Except for Indigenous Americans, of course. They’re safe, right?
…Ironically, the people targeting these Natives of the Americas—labeling them immigrants—can claim only a few hundred years or less on the land they now say is solely their own, having crossed an open border from the 17th to early 20th century.
(Amelia Mavis Christnot more…)
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Ezekiel Kweku: This Is the Birthright Reckoning That America Needs
(Ezekiel Kweku more…)
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Allison Gill: Mr. Abrego’s Account of Torture at CECOT in El Salvador
Mr. Abrego has filed an amended complaint asking the court to declare the government’s actions unlawful and to order his release. He describes his torture in El Salvador in the complaint.
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LA Times: ‘Shock and disbelief’: U.S. citizen says ICE arrested her during Santa Ana park raid
Heidi Plummer, a U.S. citizen and Orange County attorney, strolled through Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana on June 14 to clear her mind after a family funeral when she suddenly encountered an immigration raid.
…She stood only a few feet from the sweep, she said, when ICE agents approached and arrested her. Plummer said the federal agents didn’t ask any questions before taking her personal belongings and leading her back to their vans.
Plummer, who is half-Ecuadorian, began advising people of their rights after agents handcuffed her. In Spanish, she told those arrested by ICE not to answer any questions and to ask for a lawyer.
…Plummer said she provided authorities with her identification. After about an hour-and-a-half, they returned her ID, cellphone and released her.
A spokesperson for ICE did not respond to a TimesOC request for comment.
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“It’s pretty clear that it’s racial profiling,” Jesse Rivera, an attorney representing Plummer, said of the raid. “They’re going in and just grabbing Latinos. It’s a clear violation of these individuals’ constitutional rights.”
(LA Times more…)Sarah Jones: ICE Inflicts Generational Trauma on Wrong Man as His Children and Wife Sob
ICE grabbed the wrong man in front of an immigration building. His children started sobbing as his wife refused to leave his side. Turns out, they grabbed the wrong man.
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NY Times: Judge Rejects Trump’s Attempt to Stop Asylum Claims
The judge wrote that neither the Constitution nor federal immigration law gave the president the authority to “adopt an alternative immigration system.”
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Nicholas Kristof: U.S.A.I.D. Might Be Dead, but the Waste Is Alive and Well
Because of DOGE’s misguided cuts, drugs donated to save lives will probably expire. Trump could still fix this.
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Al Jazeera: US says its strikes degraded Iran’s nuclear programme by one to two years
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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