Cory Smith

Among other things, let's say this really does lead to regime change in Iran (unlike Venezuela)

What happens to all the nuclear material we've supposedly been negotiating about?

It’s incredible how much US military power can do without achieving concrete political goals. We removed one hostile head of state (Maduro) and maybe another (Khamenei)

But what will change in Iran/Venezuela for the good?

It’s (effectively) a joke, but this actually reflects the real costs of tariffs. Businesses handed over the money but also raised their prices and bore less of the cost

US Consumers paid most of the tariffs via those high prices, meaning they should get the rebates

Kevin Hassett condemning an analysis of the incidence of import tariffs that looks at import prices because he says one should also look at quantities. The second exhibit in libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2026/02/who-is… is titled "China’s Share of U.S. Imports Has Fallen Markedly".

Person who was fired here - you should still trust BLS data. The agency is being run by the same dedicated career staff who were running it while I was awaiting confirmation from the Senate. And the staff have made it clear that they are blowing a loud whistle if there is interference.

Glad to see this is out in @nber.org WP series and since my excellent co-author @chinemeluokafor.bsky.social and I have been discussing the results for the past few weeks, here's an old-fashioned paper thread on why protests matter/can work to influence economic redistribution 1/n

No one will be able to say they didn't know what was happening.

This implies death. Mass death.

Caused directly by the decision of the White House and M*sk (then a top White House official) to recklessly obliterate—not reform—our overseas assistance capacity.

YouTube video by Rep. Kelly Morrison Rep. Morrison details her oversight of the federal Whipple building

My office has been flooded with reports of the cruel, unsafe, unlawful conditions inside of the Whipple detention facility in Minneapolis.

This weekend, I was finally granted access to perform oversight of the facility. youtu.be/0SxPn8n2Bfg

This is sickeningly cruel and inhumane.

I'd just add I don't think the crisis is at all over, because Trump never sticks to agreements just because they're conventionally considered binding. The crisis will only be over when his regime is dislodged from Washington, if then.

Some perspective: The S&P opened down -1.3% on Trump's Greenland saber-rattling. That's $750 billion of wealth destroyed -- roughly equal to estimates of the value of Greenland.

And so ~in dollar terms~ his shenanigans have already cost the US one Greenland, and we've got nothing to show for it.

A lot of international conflicts aren’t black-and-white, but here it is crystal clear.

And it really sucks to unambiguously be the villain.

New Ban Bars Half of Legal Immigrants, Even Citizens’ Spouses & Kids Congress needs to reassert its control over the legal immigration system and prevent further attacks by an administration intent on destroying its system.

Yesterday, the State Department expanded the immigrant visa ban to half of all legal immigrants, including all immigrants from 93 countries. No law was passed. Not even an executive order was signed. They just did it. Tweeted it. Banana Republic.
www.cato.org/blog/new-ban...

Like, what is the limit here — can they just color the whole world map in?

bsky.app/profile/davi...

It should not be legal for one person to have this kind of executive power over thousands of people

U.S. to suspend immigrant visas from 75 countries over public assistance concerns The State Department says it will suspend the processing of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries whose nationals are deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United State...

Have a friend who is likely stranded from his wife & kids indefinitely because of this. No warning to people who have sunk years of their life into an onerous process

www.npr.org/2026/01/14/g...

Frustrating. If you have a US-based friend you'd trust with your account info, perhaps they could do it?

Not a direct answer, but would a (free) Google Voice account work for you?

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Best I can find is that the news dropped futures by ~0.4%. How's that for retirement affordability?

www.tradingview.com/symbols/CME_...

Fed rates at 3.5% is not a crime

You do not want interest rates to be set by political whims because historically everyday people paid the price. Literally.

🤔

I am tired of the lies.

Truth exists. This federal officer was clearly not "run over"—as the US president lied. He was not under attack. He was not forced to shoot this US citizen in the face.

Draw the line now. Allowing government murder with impunity will harm all Conservatives, all Liberals.

I was listening to @thebulwark.com's Next Level podcast today and they were thinking through the chance that Trump actually tries to seize Greenland and there was a @jvl.bsky.social sort of 'I kinda hope he does it to drop the mask entirely' and I just cannot scream loudly enough: No, You Do Not. 1/

How about “Heaven’s Vault” for a linguistic + archaeological puzzle vibe?

A bit contrary to my expectations, Kalshi has opposition candidates with majority odds* to run Venezuela by the end of the year
kalshi.com/markets/kxve...

* probabilities add up to > 100%, so adjustments necessary to say exactly

The president cannot unilaterally declare war. At least with Iraq, they made a public case for regime change and held a congressional vote.

This really is grotesque: they went through years-long citizenship processes and are now being denied simply because if the country they are from. It’s formalized bigotry.