I’ll update the news as much as possible. The idea is to paint a picture of the trend of things as opposed to a traditional feed that attempts to report on all the news.
The video of the week is really good.
NPR: “President Trump announced Monday on his social media site, Truth Social, that he plans to ‘lead a movement’ to get rid of mail-in ballots and voting machines in the country ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
“Part of his plan includes signing an executive order that bars states from using mail ballots and potentially some voting machines. He said, without evidence, that voting machines are “highly inaccurate,” as well as more expensive and less reliable than counting paper ballots.”
Perhaps Trump should be careful what he wishes for. Taegan Goodard at Political Wire points out that suppressing the vote was seen as a good strategy for the GOP in the past. That may be changing, however, due to shifts in demographics and voting patterns.
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Virginia Mercury: “Democrat Abigail Spanberger holds a 7-point lead over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in the race for Virginia governor, according to a new Roanoke College Poll that shows the contest tightening since the spring.
“The survey, released by the college’s Institute for Policy and Opinion Research Tuesday morning, found Spanberger supported by 46% of likely voters compared with 39% for Earle-Sears. Fourteen percent remain undecided, and 1% said they would back someone else. The numbers mark a closer race than in May, when Roanoke’s poll showed Spanberger ahead 43%-26%.”
It’s early and 31 percent of the voters are unaccounted for. This is a vital race, however. The Democrats basically have to win in Virginia after what Trump and DOGE have done to the federal workforce.
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WGME: “An oysterman and Marine veteran from eastern Maine is joining the small field of Democratic challengers seeking to unseat U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in 2026.
“Graham Platner, 40, from the Hancock County town of Sullivan, announced Tuesday he is running as a Democrat for the chance to take on the Republican senator next year. Platner, who is also Sullivan’s harbor master and planning board chair, served three tours in Iraq as a Marine and one for the Army in Afghanistan before returning to Maine.”
Do you remember a time that the Democrats weren’t thisclose (I almost went with “tchliosse,” but nobody would have gotten it) to winning Texas and defeating Collins? I don’t either, though the name Anne Richards does ring a bell.
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More news below the Video of the Week
A young Ry Cooder. The man is a master and an American treasure. This is from the movie “Let’s Have a Ball.” Supporting Cooder are the Moula Banda Rhythm Aces. The concert was in Santa Cruz, CA in 1987.
CNN: “Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier spent the night on the Texas House floor in protest after refusing a Republican demand to be placed under the watch of the state Department of Public Safety.
“When Texas House Democrats returned to the Capitol in Austin on Monday, after having fled the state earlier this month in order to prevent a vote on a controversial Republican redistricting plan, House Speaker Dustin Burrows put constraints on their movements.”
That has to at least a couple of felonies, even in Texas.
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Axios: “The West Wing has created a scorecard that rates 553 companies and trade associations on how hard they worked to support and promote President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a senior White House official tells Axios.
“Why it matters: Trump works transactionally, and companies have rushed to pay demonstrative homage. Now, senior aides will have data to consult when considering corporate requests.”
“That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.”
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Penn Wharton has released a brief entitled “The Mass Deportation of Unauthorized Immigrants: Fiscal and Economic Effects.”
Policies: We examine two distinct policy scenarios regarding the deportation of unauthorized immigrants: (i) A 4-year policy where 10 percent of unauthorized immigrants are removed annually over four years (2025 – 2028), with unauthorized immigration returning to baseline levels in 2029; (ii) A 10-year policy where 10 percent of unauthorized immigrants are removed each year for a period of ten years, ultimately removing all unauthorized immigrants and preventing the entry of new unauthorized immigrants thereafter. In both scenarios, immigration laws concerning authorized workers remain unchanged.
Budget: The 4-year policy would increase primary deficits by about $270 billion before economic feedback effects and $350 billion with economic feedback effects. The 10-year policy would cost about $862 billion before economic feedback effects and $987 billion with economic feedback effects. Besides lost revenue, these primary deficits include new required outlays that are in addition to the monies (about $170 billion) already allocated in the 2025 OBBBA for border security, interior enforcement, and deportation.
Economy: Not surprisingly, most aggregate economic variables fall. By 2034, the 4-year policy reduces GDP by 1.0 percent; the 10-year policy reduces it by 3.3 percent. By 2054, the 4-year policy reduces real GDP by 1.0 percent; the 10-year policy reduces it by 4.9 percent. But per-capita economic variables also mostly decline, including a fall in the average wage of 0.5 percent (4-year policy) and 1.7 percent (10-year policy). Output per capita also falls between 0.5 percent and 1.1 percent.
Distributional analysis: However, the impact on wages varies by skill class. High-skilled workers, which compromise 63% of the working population, would see their wages fall over time by 0.5 percent or $494 per year for the 4-year policy, and by 2.8 percent or $2,764 for the 10-year policy. But wages for authorized (including US-born) low-skilled workers can increase. Under the 4-year policy, their wages increase by 1.1 percent by 2034 but eventually fall 0.6 percent by 2054. Under the 10-year policy, their wages increase by 5.0 percent by 2034 and mostly persist thereafter. As a result, for the median authorized low-skilled workers born today, these changes translate into lifetime losses of around $8,600 (4-year policy) to lifetime gains of $63,600 (10-year policy). Overall, while a permanent deportation policy can benefit low-income workers, reversals can leave low-income workers worse off over time as higher debt decreases wages.
