James Briggs

We have some decisions to make as a society about whether we want to grant masked agents full discretion to render the death penalty whenever it suits them.

ICE is attempting to co-opt my personal favorite thing about America. So I’m in the Indianapolis Star explaining to Indycar fans why what ICE is doing is so harmful, and to everyone else about why Indycar, in particular, represents a better America than that. www.indystar.com/story/opinio...

RFK Jr. is gutting mRNA research while giving a full-throated endorsement to pumping fast-food fries and soda into Americans’ diets. MAHA!

Column:

Elvis' Graceland moved me in unexpected ways Graceland is supposed to be fun. I left in a melancholy daze.

Since visiting Graceland last month, I’ve been obsessed with Elvis. I wrote a piece attempting to grapple with why I found Elvis’ mansion tour so moving.

Mike Braun grandstands on Indianapolis crime while murders drop 24% | Opinion The do-something carnival barkers want you scared about Indianapolis crime. Here's why they don't deserve a voice.

Mike Braun grandstands on Indianapolis crime while murders drop 24% … from metro columnist @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...

Trump's tax bill will crush the rural voters who chose him | Opinion Medicaid cuts and hospital closures will hit hardest in the very communities that supported the president's budget plans.

In which @profhicks.bsky.social predicts eight rural hospitals will close in Indiana.

There’s your empty shelf.

US goods imports drop 19.8% in April — largest on record

Now, the robots want white collar jobs AI will do to office work what automation did to factories.

I wrote about AI for my newsletter. There’s no more time to waste debating its virtues. It doesn’t care about our feelings. It’s here and it’s changing everything for white collar career paths. Adapt or die.

Doyel: Jim Irsay died and we're less for it; Indianapolis, the Colts, all of us Jim Irsay talked with me about death. Mainly his death, the one he’d avoided, the one he knew was coming. Wednesday death came for his beautiful soul.

Jim Irsay talked with me about death quite a bit. Others’ deaths, yes, but mainly his – the one he’d avoided, the one he knew was coming eventually. Wednesday was the day death came for the Colts owner, for this complicated, imperfect, beautiful soul.
www.indystar.com/story/sports...

Indiana hides executions. Firing squads would be more honest. | Opinion Our politicians want tough-guy credit for killing killers, while detaching themselves from the reality of their decisions.

Indiana is really enthusiastic about killing bad guys until the hour arrives and everything is done in total secret. Firing squads, as savage as they are, would be an improvement. www.indystar.com/story/opinio...

just over the last 5 weeks, Trump has helped swing elections (against him) in Wisconsin, Canada, Australia, and the Vatican.

Will home prices fall this year? Two data points make me think yes!
1) The median list price of homes for sale is nearly $40k more than the median price of homes sold.
2) 44% of sellers are giving buyers extra money after accepting an offer to make sure the deal closes.

Trump's tariffs are the new COVID shutdown | Opinion Our standard of living will fall unless Republicans stop President Trump's tariff madness.

Think of Trump's tariffs as a COVID lockdown, but for goods rather than people.

Thanks!

Trump's tariffs are the new COVID shutdown | Opinion Our standard of living will fall unless Republicans stop President Trump's tariff madness.

Great column today from @jamesebriggs.bsky.social with a sobering assessment of where we are and where we are headed.

www.indystar.com/story/opinio...

That’s so kind! Thank you! I’m incredibly fortunate to have this job.

Very lucky to have such a fine columnist in our local paper who writes on local and national topics with verve and intelligence @jamesebriggs.bsky.social

Jim Banks would let Trump commit any crime you can imagine | Opinion Jim Banks has one standard: subservience to Trump's whims. Even when Trump defies a law Banks created, Banks will not oppose him.

I'm confident that if Trump's goon squad were to send me (or you) to a foreign death camp, Sen. Jim Banks' response would be, "🤣 🤣 🤣."

Jim Banks would let Trump commit any crime you can imagine | Opinion Jim Banks has one standard: subservience to Trump's whims. Even when Trump defies a law Banks created, Banks will not oppose him.

I've been thinking about how far Trump's lawlessness can go and I came up with a framework: the Jim Banks test.

Apply it to specific scenarios. Can Trump send US citizens to foreign torture prisons w/o due process? Would Banks defend/enable it? Then yes.

Mike Braun got suckered into a tax-cut promise he couldn't keep | Opinion Mike Braun in three months as Indiana governor has shown he's as lost and rudderless as he ever was in the U.S. Senate.

Few people so bad at politics have made it so far as Indiana Gov. Mike Braun.

The rest of the District Court's order remains in effect but requires clarification on remand. The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the District Court's order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court's authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can con- cerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.

NEW: The Supreme Court directs the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a prison in El Salvador, where he was sent due to an "administrative error." It also somewhat narrows the district court's order.

No noted dissents.
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

Combat Banks, Beckwith, Rokita stunts with earnestness | Opinion These Republican leaders drowned their humanity inside made-for-MAGA personas engineered to generate likes and shares.

Combat Banks, Beckwith, Rokita stunts with earnestness.
Opinion from metro columnist @jamesebriggs.bsky.social

www.indystar.com/story/opinio...

Markets are going to assume we’re in a recession. What we don’t know is whether it’s a recession kind of like March/April 2020 that comes and goes once there’s a reversal in these policies or more of a classic recession that goes on for quarters.

At 12:01 Trump's tariffs officially took effect.

Tariffs are now at their highest level in 100 years.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Ok what’s going on here?

Yields are going up which means bond prices are going down.
Fewer buyers of the world’s safest asset.

Normally when the economy slows, there’s a flight to safety, not away from it.

Means the world may be abandoning America.

We are flirting with a true crisis.

The Trump admin people who used AI to create the tariff formula should consider asking it some more questions.

I don’t understand how we so quickly forgot the supply shock lessons of Covid. Do people not remember what it was like to just not be able to get ahold of stuff required for daily existence?

I am telling you, manufacturers that can’t absorb these tariffs are going to simply stop assembly lines.

The discourse around tariffs has been “things will get more expensive” but I am here to tell you that I am knee deep in reporting on this subject and I strongly suspect that if super high tariffs endure, it will shift to *certain items cease to be available at any price*

I normally bring an NPR vibe to these things, but I get a bit animated (for me) here.

This is a big deal. Spread the word. But it’s tiny compared to the totality of what’s happening at NIH. Cure Research for all cancers, Alzheimer’s, everything is being gutted. Intentionally. It’s all getting burned to the ground but the news isn’t getting out. The new cures won’t be there for you.