I'm repeating myself a lot this week, but let's do it one more time. The tradition that the minority party doesn't interfere with the majority's election of a Speaker is a strong one—and for good reason. Suppose, for example, that some moderate Republican had the support of 30 other Republicans. In other words, very fringe ...continue reading "The minority should stick to tradition and shut up during elections for Speaker"
Just because I continue to think that a lot of people still don't get this, here are two charts showing wages and inflation. The first starts in 2019: As you can see, every measure of wages has risen more than inflation. Now here it is over just the past year: Once again, wages have outpaced ...continue reading "Charts of the day: Wages have beaten inflation over the past year"
This is not news, I know, but here are the concrete numbers: As of mid-September, when this poll was in the field, Republican support for ongoing military aid to Ukraine had dropped to 50%. This doesn't augur well for "We're on your side, through thick and thin, forever."
“McCarthy mocked Biden’s age and mental acuity in public, while privately telling allies that he found the president sharp and substantive in their conversations — a contradiction that left a deep impression on the White House” https://t.co/w5RfmQpYYx — Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) October 4, 2023
This is the stained glass window in the Bayeux Cathedral. We were in Bayeux to see the famous Bayeux tapestry, which is more than 200 feet long and displayed in a ver-r-r-y long case. When we were done, I hopped over to the cathedral to look around, and then barely made it back to the ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"
This is truly great stuff from National Review's Noah Rothman: On Tuesday night, the House Administration Committee delivered the news to former speaker Nancy Pelosi that she would have to vacate her “hideaway” office in the Capitol, a small chamber conveniently located closer to where the legislative action takes place. On Wednesday morning, onetime Democratic ...continue reading "McCarthy betrayed Democrats over and over. It’s absurd to think they should have bailed him out."
Trump Solicitor General Noel Francisco would like to get rid of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair enough. Lots of conservatives don't like it. But if he wants the Supreme Court to do this he has to provide them with a reason. That reason, it turns out, has to do with funding. The CFPB is ...continue reading "The CFPB appears safe for now"
Should Democrats have provided Kevin McCarthy with the votes he needed to stay on as Speaker of the House? After all, it's not as if they're likely to get someone better in his place. I think Matt Yglesias has the right read on this: My view on this is that Democrats should have been willing ...continue reading "No, Democrats shouldn’t have helped Kevin McCarthy"
No more Kevin McCarthy. For now, at least. Eight Republicans voted to toss him out of the speakership, and along with 208 Democrats that produced a vote of 216-210 in favor of "vacating the chair." Of course, now comes the hard part: finding an alternate Speaker who can command virtually unanimous support within the Republican ...continue reading "McCarthy vacated"
These are the San Jacinto mountains at the start of spring. I took this picture near the middle of a loop off I10 that goes from Banning to Idyllwild and then out to Palm Desert.
I just finished reading Number Go Up, Zeke Faux's tale of the rise and fall of crypto. For the most part it's an engaging book but not a surprising one. Basically, crypto is a scam, and every crypto company is running pretty much the same scam. Details aside, the book didn't change my view of ...continue reading "Thousands of Asian slaves are behind a popular online scam"
Persistent inflation is killing the Democratic Party: But here's a question: Why is inflation such an intense issue? In round numbers, prices have gone up 20% since the start of the pandemic and wages have also gone up 20%. For most of us it's a wash. But that's not how most people see it. They ...continue reading "Why is inflation such a big issue?"
New JOLTS hiring and quits data was released today, and August was about the same as the previous month. Here's total hiring minus total separations: This represents the net number of new workers. It's been heading steadily down for two years and is getting dangerously close to zero. Then again, it almost did get to ...continue reading "Net hiring stays low but steady in August"
Hey, does anyone remember this? House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) indicated the IRS whistleblowers testifying in the investigation into Hunter Biden...are willing to hand over foreign transactions paperwork that could prove President Joe Biden was involved in a criminal bribery scheme. ...."We suspect that the Bidens had offshore bank accounts and that today ...continue reading "Hunter Biden has no offshore accounts. Neither does Joe."
Why are so many Republicans opposing further aid to Ukraine? Paul Krugman says it's not about the money: The answer is, unfortunately, obvious. Whatever Republican hard-liners may say, they want Putin to win. They view the Putin regime’s cruelty and repression as admirable features that America should emulate. They support a wannabe dictator at home ...continue reading "Why have so many Republicans become Ukraine skeptics?"
Get out the popcorn. Rep. Matt Gaetz—archenemy of Speaker Kevin McCarthy for some reason—has finally followed up on his threat to file a motion to remove McCarthy from the speakership. A vote will be held later this week. Gaetz needs 217 votes to oust McCarthy.¹ Obviously he won't get anywhere near that number from Republicans, ...continue reading "Matt Gaetz files motion to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House"
CNN asked John Kelly, chief of staff to Donald Trump in 2017-18, if he wanted to say anything more about his former boss in light of recent developments. He did: What can I add that has not already been said? A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down ...continue reading "Quote of the day: “God help us”"
Harry Brighouse provides a summary of "Sold a Story," a documentary podcast from Emily Hanford. The topic is reading instruction: Very brief synopsis: the methods routinely used to teach children to read in the US don’t work well for large numbers of children, and the science of reading has been clear about this for decades. ...continue reading "Do universities police their own researchers well enough?"
For those of you who missed it over the weekend, here's a chart showing the total population of unauthorized immigrants in the US over the past 15 years: This chart is based on consensus estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population. The final two years are my own (possibly iffy) projections based on the number of ...continue reading "The unauthorized immigrant population in the US has been flat for 15 years"
It's the first Monday in October, which is a good excuse to post this late afternoon picture of the Supreme Court building. I'm sure that everyone inside is eager to get back to work fighting for justice.
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