Paul Avey

EU-US trade pact causes peak confusion in Brussels Deal risks flouting World Trade Organization rules

“Trump has raised US tariffs to their highest level since the 1930s and he has struck fewer than 10 of the 90 deals he promised in 90 days.” www.ft.com/content/c638...

👇🎯 This cannot be said often or loud enough. Again, there are two, & only two, solutions to our authoritarian problem, & <both> involve a subset of Republicans deciding they value democracy over power. <Everyone's> allocation of effort is wildly misallocated right now:

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Yes, keep pressuring Dems & get behind those like the Great Khan of the Northern Steppes who will fight. But the lion's share of public pressure needs to be laser-focused on Mike Johnson, John Thune, & 5 GOP Reps & 10 Senators & pressuring them <every day> to do their damn jobs & end the fascism.

This is the most important thing you can read on the internet today from someone whose name starts with "Adam Boni...".

White House backs away from IVF coverage mandate despite Trump’s campaign pledge, Washington Post reports The White House has no current plans to mandate insurance coverage for IVF, despite President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to expand access to fertility treatments, The Washington post reported on Saturday.

White House backs away from IVF coverage mandate despite Trump’s campaign pledge, Washington Post reports reut.rs/4of21YB

The 20 Elections to Watch in August - Bolts Out of 40 special elections for congressional and legislative seats so far in 2025, only two have seen flips; both were Democratic gains. That’s to be expected: Nationwide, most districts... Read More

Did you know THIS Tuesday may be one of the busiest election days before November?

Washington, Kansas, Arizona, Delaware, Rhode Island, Michigan… there’s a lot happening you should know about (and care about!)

so I made this guide: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

This is one of the best things I've seen on the threatened gerrymander.

ICE crackdown imperils Afghans who aided U.S. war effort, lawyers say Advocates fear President Donald Trump’s ambitious deportation plan jeopardizes Afghan interpreters and other allies who worked for U.S. troops during the war.

A disgrace.

“One former interpreter for U.S. forces in Afghanistan was detained by immigration agents after he showed up for a routine green card appointment. A second was arrested just minutes after attending his first asylum hearing in San Diego.”

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

One of the reasons that I push back so hard on people fixated on the Fairness Doctrine (aside from the fact that history matters) is that many liberals still think that such measures are magical solutions to the crisis of democracy.

A Gilded Presidency and A Gelded Senate My conversation with Tom Nichols

A Gilded Presidency and A Gelded Senate

Don't miss: The senator who wanted his sandwiches pre-squeezed.

open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

'I don't care about Direct File': IRS chief says agency plans to end free filing program Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Bill Long said the agency will end its Direct File program.

Commissioner Long also announced plans to shut down the Bedford Falls Savings & Loan
www.cnbc.com/2025/07/30/i...

The story of how Trump sells access to the White House - to benefit himself and his family financially and to benefit his political operation - is shocking and sordid.

No President has ever monetized access like Trump has.

1/ It's a story you need to know.

Washington’s Quiet Work The American Revolution was won by dramatic deeds, but also by decidedly undramatic efforts.

George Washington's example shows that "character and good judgment are far more important in a leader than mere intelligence," Eliot A. Cohen writes. "Talented men, no matter their background, could win their leader’s trust and rise up the ranks":

thread

Larry Summers: "This is way beyond anything Nixon ever did ... this is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism. Firing statisticians goes with threatening the heads of newspapers, launching assaults on universities, launching assaults on law firms. This is really scary stuff."

Founders is the best large craft brewery.

While McLaurin is clearly frustrated with the ongoing contract situation, he continues to carry himself with professionalism.

Trump’s mental decline is undeniable — so what now? hemselves, that there is a problem, just as Biden’s supporters did for him.    Donald Trump is showing all the signs of suffering from dementia. If this were a neighbor, a parent, or a family frien…

That The Hill of all places is publishing this is quite remarkable.

thehill.com/opinion/camp...

Opinion | The Trump Economy Stumbles The President has his new world tariff order in place, but jobs and growth don’t look so good.

“The tariff tax increase in dollar terms at Mr. Trump’s current rates will be close to $360 billion a year. That’s among the largest tax increases in recent history.” www.wsj.com/opinion/dona...

States Have More Data About You Than the Feds Do. Trump Wants to See It.

States know even more about you than the federal government does. The Trump administration is now trying to access that data, too: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/u...

Authoritarians go wrong because they replace competent officials with toadies and yes men. The upshot is that a leader doesn't get sound advice and does stupid things, and eventually he and his country pay a price. For starters, no one will trust Trump's BLS figures from now on.

Not With a Bang, but With a Truth Social Post The president is rattling a nuclear saber as a distraction.

Trump has initiated a new era in which the chief executive can use threats regarding the most powerful weapons on Earth to salve his ego and improve his political fortunes. Once upon a time, America was governed by serious people. No longer.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Which is why Biden released the files. Wait a sec. He didn’t release them? So why’d he tamper with them to incriminate Trump? Very weird strategy by Biden, if you ask me.

1. Hayek's greatest insight was the disciplining power of information.
2. Ned Prescott's greatest insight was that adhering to rules for policymaking solves a serious government problem.
3. Goodhart's Law is that when the measure becomes the target, it is no longer a good measure.

Trump, Claiming Weak Jobs Numbers Were ‘Rigged,’ Fires Labor Official

For months, people have been asking me whether I still trusted gov’t data. My answer was always the same: The stats agencies faced longstanding challenges, some of which Trump was making worse. But there was no sign of political meddling.
I can’t say that anymore.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/b...

EXCLUSIVE: Someone Waived Ghislaine Maxwell's Sex Offender Status to Move Her to a Minimum Security Camp in Texas According to sources, you can't move someone with a Public Safety Factor (PSF) designation - which Maxwell had - without waiving it. That's what happened here.

“The reason for the move is listed as a “lesser security transfer” (code 308), which is completely inappropriate for inmates who are in the early stages of serving their sentences. ‘This is such obvious corruption. I have never seen this before.’”

open.substack.com/pub/muellers...

“The Trump administration has launched a comprehensive attack on knowledge itself, a war against culture, history, and science,” @adamserwer.bsky.social wrote in May. “If this assault is successful, it will undermine Americans’ ability to comprehend the world around us." https://theatln.tc/HxwwbaTF

The article also heavily implies that revising jobs numbers is a scandal that suggests prior malfeasance or incompetence, and not the standard practice of the last several decades
bsky.app/profile/aaro...

FYI, the WH has released an "article" claiming:
1. BLS wrongly overestimated jobs earlier in Trump's term, which is bad b/c Powell used those figures to maintain interest rates; and
2. BLS also wrongly overestimated jobs during Biden's term, which was bad b/c it looked good for Biden

The Supreme Court knocked down one of the two pillars of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 in the Shelby County case. It has now gone out of its way to consider whether it should knock down the other, by rescheduling arguments in a case it could have resolved in June under existing precedent.