Enjoyed your company and commentary in 2025. Be Safe and enjoy family and friends today.

It could be there was little the administration could do for the student known as Mohsen Mahdawi. After reading both articles (one at the end also), it appears the administration felt more comfortable in watching and doing nothing. Read on . . . “Emails Show Mohsen Mahdawi Pleaded with Columbia for Protection for Months Before […]

Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya, famous for leading the charge against lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, appears to be overseeing a reign of terror at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The immediate targets: women, minorities and respected scientists at the agency. Merrill Goozner GoozNews From various news sources this morning: Do you remember what you were […]

– by New Deal democrat The housing market has historically been led by mortgage rates. And since those have been relatively rangebound for most of the past 2.5 years in the 6%-7% range, housing permits and starts have similarly followed. This morning those trends continued. Total permits (dark blue in the graph below) increased 23,000 on […]

 – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims continued to be well-behaved last week. Per this morning’s report, they declined -9.000 to 215,000, while the four week moving average declined -2,500 to 220,750. With the typical one week delay, continuing claims increased 41,000 to 1.885 million – which, despite the big weekly increase, is right in […]

 – by New Deal democrat The former King of Coincident Indicators, industrial production, has faded ever since the “China shock” at the beginning of the Millennium. Downturns in production almost always coincided with the onset of recessions beforehand. Since then, there have been several big downturns, in 2015-16, 2019, and a smaller one in 2023-24, […]

 – by New Deal democrat Martin Wolf of the Financial Times has called T—-p’s tariffs “an act of warfare against the entire world.” Perhaps it is not surprising that in the past week, the entire world has responded. Among other things,  per Eric Michael Garcia, “China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and […]

If you have not been aware, Trump has been executing or abusing Executive Orders taking Lawyering Firms to task. Settlements: Trump reaches deals with 5 law firms, allowing them to avoid prospect of punishing executive orders | AP News — President Donald Trump announced deals Friday with five law firms that will allow them to avoid the […]

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan ~~~~~~~ Then, there was the White House’s new Executive Order on Wednesday concerning, of all things, “Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads.” While that may sound like an Onion headline, the Order included the following clause: “Notice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering […]

This is the report we have been waiting for . . .  – by New Deal democrat In March, with the exception of the usual problem child of shelter, almost every other component of consumer prices was tame – except for meat and eggs. And even shelter continued to decelerate. If Jerome Powell hadn’t tied […]