Kevin Drum 🕸

Have you been keeping up with the latest COVID variants? Let's review: January 2023: Omicron XBB 1.5 becomes dominant. July: Two variants, EG.5 and FL.5.1, dubbed FLips because of their specific mutations, become prominent. October: HV.1, a mutation of EG.5, becomes prominent. Now: JN.1, nicknamed Pirola, starts to appear. It isn't prominent yet, but it's ...continue reading "Keeping up with COVID"

The federal government's fiscal year began two months ago and Congress still hasn't passed a defense appropriations bill. But it's not too late: Lawmakers in both parties contend that, as speaker, Johnson is committed to passing a final bill and continuing the over six-decade streak of defense legislation becoming law each year, even if it ...continue reading "BREAKING: Congress funds the military every single year"

Adolf Hitler was famously voted into power and then appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933. There would not be another German election for more than a dozen years. We all know how this went: Germany started a war in 1939 which the Allies eventually won, killing about 3% of Germany's civilian population in the process. ...continue reading "Israel and its enemies"

Boxes come and go around here. Some get used for a while and some are one-hit wonders. Who knows why? But through it all, this box is everyone's favorite. It's been sitting next to the sofa for many years and will probably stay there for many more.

Over at the Washington Post, Philip Bump questions Sean Hannity's claim that both California and Florida have suffered about the same death rate from COVID-19: “Both your states, with such different approaches, which is pretty fascinating, were both lower, significantly lower than the national average,” he said. “These numbers come straight from the [Centers for ...continue reading "Who did COVID better, California or Florida?"

You don't have George Santos to kick around anymore. But at least we can still throw his ass in jail.

I watched the first half hour of tonight's debate between California governor Gavin Newsom and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, but that was all I could take. So I have no idea who "won" or "lost." But just to set the record straight on something I think Newsom didn't make clear enough, it really is true ...continue reading "Raw data: Taxes in California and Florida"

MSNBC canceled Mehdi Hasan's weekly show today. Twitter is alive with accusations that this was done because Hasan is outspokenly progressive and pro-Palestinian. Or did it happen because of low ratings? You decide: Hard to say, isn't it? Hasan's ratings over the past half year have been fairly steady, although he's lost a good chunk ...continue reading "Why was Mehdi Hasan canceled?"

If you want to see the difference between Democrats and Republicans in action, just consider the issue of congressional subpoenas. In the House, Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter Biden to provide testimony in a case where there's no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, Biden has agreed to testify and has asked only for the hearing ...continue reading "Republicans apparently think Republicans can never be subpoenaed"

Palm trees silhouetted against a rainbow near John Wayne Airport.

Kevin McCarthy has long been a loyal foot soldier for Donald Trump, but when House Republicans were preparing to oust him from the speakership Trump was nowhere to be found. McCarthy called Trump to ask why he hadn't offered any support: During the call, Trump lambasted McCarthy for not expunging his two impeachments and not ...continue reading "Trump knifed Kevin McCarthy over obsession with expungement"

Today's inflation news is all good: On a monthly basis, core PCE inflation was down to 2.0%, which is the Fed's target rate. Headline inflation was even better, clocking in close to zero. On a year-over-year basis, headline inflation came in at 3.0% and core inflation at 3.5%. POSTSCRIPT: Now that inflation is going down ...continue reading "Inflation cools to near zero in October"

From Elon Musk, asked what he thinks about companies that have stopped advertising on Twitter in response to antisemitic comments—including one of his own—posted a couple of weeks ago: Go fuck yourself. Musk is once again demonstrating his keen understanding of the business world here. Advertisers don't like having their ads appear next to hate ...continue reading "Quote of the day: Twitter and its sponsors"

A friend sent me an item for the "Pollyanna Drum" file today. It's a study of mental health and the internet, and its basic insight is that internet penetration has been different in different countries. So if we track measures of mental health along with levels of internet usage, we should be able to tell ...continue reading "New study suggests no effect of the Internet on mental health"

CBS News runs the following headline today: Americans need an extra $11,400 today just to afford the basics This is hardly news. Every month Republicans release a report telling us how much inflation is costing the average family—without, of course, bothering to tell us how much the average family's income has gone up. And sneaky ...continue reading "CBS News recycles crude Republican propaganda"

During negotiations over the debt ceiling, Republicans agreed to a topline budget number for the upcoming fiscal year of $1.59 trillion. Within a few weeks, however, the House Freedom Caucus was back to demanding a lower budget number with a peculiar level of precision: $1.471 trillion. In the end, it was this number that prevented ...continue reading "Freedom Caucus caves in on spending"

Two views of the Château Gaillard, overlooking the Seine in Les Andelys. The top view was taken on our way out from Paris; the bottom view was taken on the trip back.

Joe Biden is resorting to some old school politics today. If members of Congress won't approve aid to Ukraine on the merits, maybe they'll do it just to selfishly bring home dollars to their districts: This is all great, but just remember who your friends are, Joe. California only gets $18 per person while Texas ...continue reading "Raw data: How much your state profits from Ukraine aid"

Today's edition of little-known facts features the son of Mao Zedong: Mao Anying, a Chinese military officer, was killed by US bombers on 25 November 1950 during the Korean war. A persistent but frequently denied rumour says he was trying to cook egg fried rice instead of taking shelter, and the smoke from the fire ...continue reading "Egg fried rice can be a dangerous dish"

Graphyte is a company that buys biomass byproducts and compresses them into bricks which are then buried. This prevents the carbon in the biomass from being released into the atmosphere. On its website it says: Graphyte is focused on working with partners responsibly to ensure our solution is not used as a replacement for direct ...continue reading "Can we solve climate change by burying plant waste?"