james-harris.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

My simple explanation: The KGB would certainly have regarded Trump as a worthy recruitment in the late 1980s. Trump’s ego was big enough that he thought he could handle it, and he was being incessantly flattered. Trump moved on eventually but a history remains, and he’s scared Putin will air it...

submitted 17 minutes ago • 1 comment

Matt Yglesias writing in 2015 about what he took to be the dismal future of the US political system.

submitted 8 hours ago • 1 comment

Murphy becoming the standard bearer. Just watch. "The second-term senator from Connecticut is eschewing caution and throwing out the traditional political playbook as he seeks a broader audience for his critiques of the president and his agenda." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/23/u...

submitted 9 hours ago • 0 comments

Interesting threads over on X about Trump’s possible KGB connection. More on this tomorrow.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Interesting stuff. Not surprising. Let's see if it holds up.

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From UM. Discouraging: "Consumer sentiment extended its early month decline, sliding nearly 10% from January. The decrease was unanimous across groups by age, income, and wealth...Year-ahead inflation expectations jumped up from 3.3% last month to 4.3% this month." www.sca.isr.umich.edu

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Demographics from Japan. Ours could be (a little) like this. From a very good piece, linked below. Thanks Barry Ritholtz and Max Tabarrok.

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I know who I'm rooting for. "In the complaint, The AP said that the White House had ordered it to use certain words in its reporting and that it was suing to vindicate its rights to the editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/b...

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BLS via WaPo.

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"A transactional revolution in American foreign policy is likely to lead to a global cascade of races to the bottom in terms of security, reducing risks and economic welfare. A visible body of common expectations will be the revolution’s first victim." thehill.com/opinion/inte...

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I'm wondering: if the GOP nominates him, and he actually runs for reelection in 2028, is that constitutional crisis enough? What stops him? WaPo--

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WaPo.

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Digesting a 10 year old Matt Yglesias piece. Back to the future: lots of talk of constitutional brinkmanship. (Thanks, MR) www.vox.com/2015/3/2/812...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Some useful perspective. We'll see how things break as Trump fiddles and prices and interest rates respond.

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Trump insults Zelensky yesterday and makes clear he will abandon Ukraine. AND he will cut the defense budget by almost half. We are handing Russia more power and influence than Moscow knows what to do with. Putin didn't even have to ask.

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This is really sick: “Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump said.

submitted 4 days ago • 302 comments

Assertions that Social Security is corrupt will be used to cut the program and its benefits. Mine. Yours. Trump's statements are meant to lay the groundwork. But here are the facts, from the AP. apnews.com/article/soci...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Every. Day. Where to start? How about here: "A memo directed procurement teams at embassies to prioritize the termination of contracts with six news organizations: the Economist, the New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg News, the Associated Press and Reuters." www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/...

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Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. The first inkling in the GOP that the Trump administration is indeed a train wreck. "Republican senators find themselves in an unusual position these days: begging Trump officials to release funds they themselves appropriated." www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

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I hold my nose when dealing with Amazon. "But some companies have stood by their DEI policies, even when faced with pressure from conservative shareholder activists. Costco, Microsoft and Apple have all said they have no plans to cut back on their DEI policies." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Good news story. Spain PM Pedro Sánchez was intent on rallying the country behind a markedly different immigration approach. "Spain needs to choose between being an open and prosperous country or a closed-off, poor country,” he told parliament in October. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

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I gather "I am your retribution" is a serious thing. Link below.

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

Verdict: A "self-coup" in process with result TBD. Link below.

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

This especially resonates with those of us who worked on China during Tiananmen on June 4, 1989. (Don't know who originated this copy of the famous lone resistor video.)

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Terrific. Illegal immigrant arrests, despite all the show, are down 25 percent this month. "Federal law enforcement officials who usually focus on illicit firearms, drugs and sex traffickers are now standing around in their jackets arresting noncriminals.” www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

So our VP is pretty much pro-Nazi. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/w...

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Yesterday. Modi's staff conferring with Musk's...children?

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Didn’t take long!

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Cutting SNAP will hit a lot of rural, heavily Republican counties quite hard. Especially pronounced in the Appalachians. Lots of heavily Black, Latino, and Native American counties hit too though.

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The Senator from VA sums up Trump's Russia caper.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments