Layna Mosley

Opinion | America Has an Edge Over China. Why Won’t We Use It? American manufacturing prowess won’t be restored without bringing new technologies to the factory floor.

China automates while America hesitates. I have a piece in the NYT today arguing that America's strategy to compete with China in manufacturing is fundamentally misconceived — and that we're heading toward a reckoning we're not prepared for. 1/

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/o...

Dear students, spellcheck is no substitute for proofreading.

(My favorite error, throughout a student's paper, remains "trade surpluses and defecates.")

A lot of people are looking at this as insider trading but it's an even bigger issue for national security if there was advance warning of air strikes.

We could place bets on Polymarket on when there will be accountability for corruption, but it's hard to pay out on "never."

👇🎯 Again, neither ___ is Evil, nor ___ does Very Bad Things, nor ___ is Maybe Still Trying to Get Nuclear Weapons are justifications for what is happening now. Lots of folks & organizations are telling on themselves by revealing preferences for 👇 as the general principle.

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

When you've decided that expertise doesn't matter -- and indeed, isn't wanted -- in government, this is what you get.

U.S. Ability to Determine What Comes Next in Iran Might Be Limited

Understatement alert

Trump releases video message on strikes against Iran | CNN In a video posted to Truth Social, President Donald Trump encouraged Iranians to seize control of their government when US military operations conclude. He also warned American lives may be lost as a ...

The notion that this is a war to "defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats" from Iran is simply fantastical. This is a straight-up preventive war a la Iraq 2003.
www.cnn.com/2026/02/28/u...

receiving Billions and Billions of Dollars that they should not have been allowed to receive, would now be entitled to an undeserved ‘windfall,’ the likes of which the World has never seen before, as a result of this highly disappointing, to say the least, ruling.”

Sigh. [2/2]

Beginning to think he *actually* doesn't understand who pays tariffs.

Not even who pays them in terms of pass-through, but who pays them when goods are imported...

“It doesn’t make sense,” Mr. Trump said on Friday, “that Countries and Companies that took advantage of us for decades.... [1/2]

A few years ago, our local middle school changed its name. After much discussion of for whom it might be renamed, the school board decided to just go with "Princeton Middle School."

Hilarity ensues.

What channel is the Bad Bunny SOTU on?

Caveat Emperor.

Not quite the regime change we've been hoping for.

Yup

Tariff tantrum, day 2.

Pritzker’s invoice to White House:

(via @nbcnews.com) @govpritzker.illinois.gov

Imposing a Temporary Import Surcharge to Address Fundamental International Payments Problems BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION The United States plays a pivotal role in shaping the global economy. At the same time, Every child deserves a safe and nurturing home w...

I'm fairly certain that it's the tariffs (and the lack of respect for rule of law) that distress the financial markets & erode investor confidence [2/2]

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

First para of the order imposing Section 122 tariffs warns that currency depreciation & balance of payments deficits "can, among other things, endanger the ability of the United States to finance its spending, erode investor confidence in the economy, and distress the financial markets." [1/2]

"Consulting historian" is a great line for one's annual faculty activities report. @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social

Commenting on energy injustice is now the floor for any halftime act.

A story about competing footballers: Cleated Rivalry
Patients comparing Dr care: Treated Rivalry
Two whiskey companies vie for the top prize: Peated Rivalry
A documentary about competitive Musical Chairs: Seated Rivalry
Winter sweater crochet club: Heated Ravelry

(end-of-day energy over here)

Two fast fashion retailers battling to capture the market for trendy trousers.

Pleated Rivalry

Judge Reyes: Noem may say what she wants, but that doesn't make it true and it doesn't make her actions legal.

@jeremywallace.bsky.social notes the distributional consequences of changes in natural gas vs solar usage in Pakistan.

Importing solar panels requires hard currency...but once installed, should free up hard currency (gas imports ⬇️), perhaps easing (foreign currency) debt servicing burdens?

In the @nytimesoped.bsky.social , Stacie Goddard & @abenewman.bsky.social discuss neoroyalism as a way of making sense of Trump's foreign policy.

For a 4000-word discussion of their theory, see this open access #IOFoGG special issue essay:

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

What are the implications of the Trump presidency for climate politics? Listen to the @goodauth.bsky.social podcast with @fgenovese.bsky.social & @jeffcolgan.bsky.social, and read their #IOFoGG short essay!

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Yes, It’s Fascism Until recently, I thought it a term best avoided. But now, the resemblances are too many and too strong to deny.

I, too, have been reluctant to use "fascism" to describe what we are seeing, but Jonathan Rauch does an excellent job of putting all of the pieces together. Fascism it is. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Without America, "right now, you'd all be speaking German" Trump tells an audience in Switzerland.