J.D. Lande

Democratic Upset in Deep Red Texas District Rattles Republicans

This is a very hopeful sign

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/u...

Firing the BLS Commissioner — the wonk in charge of the statisticians who track economic reality — is an authoritarian four alarm fire.

It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.

This Is Not a Drill American democracy is on the line right now

Krugman again on the money paulkrugman.substack.com/p/this-is-no...
Like Krugman, I've never been a Newsom fan, but he's right, everyone who cares about democracy should be backing him now.

What if government data becomes untrustworthy? It won’t be good for businesses that need to predict tomorrow’s economy. Plus, the warehousing sector, hard versus soft data and Utah’s booming culture of entrepreneurship.

When I feel powerless amidst all the crazy, it's helpful to me to just do something. My something was taking the time to talk to NPR about why we should not cut federal data collection. I realize it won't change many minds. But it was something: www.marketplace.org/episode/2025... #econsky #dataecon

#econsky #useconomy #unforcederror

This totally reminds me of the “I, Mudd” episode of Star Trek, where an android is disabled through the liar’s paradox.

Boy did this tweet age poorly.

LinkedIn post: On January 24th I formally resigned from my position with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). I started at CDC in 2010, and I have spent 20 years in public service, including my 15 years in service at the federal level. Here is a little bit of what I wrote in my resignation, because I'm not sure that anyone is actually going to read it. "I feel honored to be among the public health professionals that have had the privilege to work at CDC. As I reflect on my own experiences and accomplishments during my time here, I am humbled by the magnitude and the importance of our work. To my colleagues: we have worked together through chaos and uncertainty, transition, reorganization, preparation, and response. You are the most selfless, dedicated, and passionate people I know. I have watched you work around the clock, take additional details, deployments, and responsibilities, try to balance work and family, forego self-care, and keep pushing and work together to protect the public’s health. I’ve seen your sacrifice. I want you to know that your support and guidance has been invaluable, and I am proud of the work we have accomplished together." While I was backing up files I found my oath that I signed in 2010. I believe in our work, and I am sad to be leaving federal service. But I have immense gratitude for all of the opportunities that I've had and the connections that I've made. I will continue to protect the public's health in a different capacity (stay tuned...) but for now, thank you for trusting me.

The policy lead for CDC's H5N1 response has abruptly resigned.

Sources tell me CDC's response to the bird flu pandemic has been severely hobbled by the chaos of the past two weeks.

Dairy cows infected with second version of bird flu A version of the avian influenza virus different from the one rampaging through herds since last spring has been detected in dairy cows in Nevada, USDA says.

not good www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

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