J. Emory Parker 🏳️‍🌈

i said on the other site that once you hit the 10k mark you basically generate your own rogues gallery that hates you and probably is sending your posts in the Discord/DMs

said post got Noah Smith mad at me

Mark Zandi @Markzandi · 8h The economy is on the precipice of recession. That’s the clear takeaway from last week’s economic data dump. Consumer spending has flatlined, construction and manufacturing are contracting, and employment is set to fall. And with inflation on the rise, it is tough for the Fed to come to the rescue. Unemployment remains low, but that’s only because labor force growth has gone sideways. The foreign-born workforce is shrinking, and labor force participation is declining. Telling is the economy-wide hiring freeze, particularly for recent graduates, and the decline in hours worked. Mark Zandi @Markzandi · 8h It’s no mystery why the economy is struggling; blame increasing U.S. tariffs and highly restrictive immigration policy. The tariffs are cutting increasingly deeply into the profits of American companies and the purchasing power of American households. Fewer immigrant workers means a smaller economy.

Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi says:
- We are headed for a recession
-The BLS data is totally reliable- for now
-The revisions are due to delayed reporting of DOGE govt layoffs
-Higher tariffs are dragging down the economy
1/

CNBC Lora Kolodny article: Tesla must pay portion of $329 million in damages after fatal Autopilot crash, jury says Key Points A jury in Florida determined that Tesla should be held partly liable for a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash. The company must pay a portion of $329 million in damages to victims and a survivor, including compensatory and punitive damages. Tesla had argued that the driver’s behavior was to blame for the fatal crash, while plaintiffs claimed Tesla’s Autopilot technology was flawed and deceptively marketed.

Elon tweet: "Teslas can drive themselves!"

Two days ago: Tesla has to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for deceptively marketing Autopilot in a way that falsely made people think it could drive the car by itself.

Today: Elon Musk "Teslas can drive themselves!"

Cats don’t bite you if they respect you.

If you mean install from source, you just use the console. I don’t write packages very often in my daily work.

I am mostly daily driving Positron at this point. Still fire up RStudio every now and then.

Trying to figure out which company paid Amy Pohler to do this podcast is like figuring out how they made Roman Emperors in the year 249

We can go even simpler:

Tariffs are tax hikes. Full stop.

This is why I take every opportunity to remind folks that tariffs are taxes which are charged to Americans when they import something.

The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.

The annoying spam texts destroying the Democratic brand:

$678M raised through those spam tactics

$282M to one consulting firm: Mothership Strategies.

$11M to actual campaigns (1.6%)

The party isn’t just treating donors like marks—it’s being fleeced itself yet continues to back Mothership.

This is the fundamental problem. The Fed can’t save the economy from inflation AND labor market weakness. Interest rate cuts can help the labor market a little but will lead to higher inflation.

The US could see a 30-40% decline in new international student enrollment, resulting in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer American jobs. https://www.nafsa.org/fall-2025-international-student-enrollment-outlook-and-economic-impact

China welcomes 183 Brazil coffee sellers in wake of US tariffs China has approved 183 new Brazilian coffee companies to export products to the Chinese market, according to a social media post of the Chinese embassy in Brazil on Saturday.

China welcomes 183 Brazil coffee sellers in wake of US tariffs reut.rs/4mp1Ise

I don’t know what changed, but this is what it feels like to use this website now

“.. We have no interest in running a lower-margin business, particularly due to tariffs,” said the CFO. “And if this is something that’s going to be a permanent increase to our cost structure, we have to find a way to cover it.”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/b...

Nintendo of America tried to give Pikachu "Huge Breasts" according to unearthed interview

reading the news because its important to stay up-to-date on what is happening in the world

A bot that reminds people that there are no “official” rules for English, there are just published opinions about grammar and spelling. And every “rule” people insist on enforcing is really just a popular convention or style suggestion.

let me guess: this will somehow be declared a “national emergency” in the US too

Smithsonian to restore Trump to impeachment exhibit ‘in the coming weeks’ A placard referring to Trump’s two impeachments was removed in July, after the Smithsonian agreed to perform a “content review”

Occasionally, reporting on the excesses of the current moment can bring change. And from the Wash Post, no less. wapo.st/4mhadpX

August 1, 2025 AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Committee on Economic Statistics and Committee on Government Relations Statement from the American Economic Association on the Dismissal of the BLS Commissioner Leaders of the American Economic Association express their grave concern over the dismissal of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) earlier today. The independence of the federal statistical agencies is essential to the proper functioning of a modern economy. Accurate, timely, and impartial statistics are the foundation upon which households, businesses, and policymakers make critical decisions. Undermining the independence or credibility of these agencies threatens the integrity of the information that markets, institutions, and the public rely on every day. Measuring the vast and dynamic U.S. economy in real time is inherently challenging. It is standard practice for statistical estimates to be revised as more complete and higher-quality data become available. These revisions reflect the commitment of statistical agencies to accuracy, transparency, and methodological rigor-not failure or bias. The BLS has long had a well-deserved reputation for professional excellence and nonpartisan integrity. Safeguarding this tradition is vital for the continued health of the U.S. economy and public trust in our institutions. We call upon elected officials to respect and preserve the independence of the nation's statistical infrastructure. Lawrence Katz President, American Economic Association Katharine Abraham President-Elect, American Economic Association Karen Dynan Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Economic Statistics Kenneth Troske Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Government Relations

Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing

As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements

This is a big deal

An aerial view of what the Gaza City area looked like this week. Taken from a Jordanian military aircraft, by our colleague Heidi Levine.

one of the single best deals in streaming. i've been paying for PBS Passport for years. it rules

Excellent piece on some of the scientists behind lenacapavir, the HIV antiviral that could be scaled up to change the course of the HIV epidemic worldwide.

And now people *are* talking about it BUT only because the fake controversy on right-wing media and twitter has forced lots of normie writers and posters to have a take about it.

AGAINST MY WILL I have learned about this “controversy” and I have beef with this headline. You could say it launched “a thousand” critiques in the sense that on *THE WHOLE INTERNET* 1000 posts is a TINY response. This is a controversy invented by Fox News and Twitter.

Of course it helps us the most if you can afford a regular subscription.

I understand not everyone can. We often have sales and we have certain discounts for like students and academics, etc. Feel free to DM me, I’m happy to help figure out if any discounts might apply.

I posted more of this story that I was really comfortable doing because it is so deeply reported.

PLEASE CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TO STAT. They are doing great work in this space and across the board.

THIS HIGH QUALITY JOURNALISM IS NOT FREE BUT IT MAY HELP KEEP US ALL FREE.

my favorite bluesky arguments are the long drawn-out ones where person a responds via direct reply and person b exclusively answers through quote-posts. it's like seeing two people arguing on the street with one person facing sideways and shouting into the open door of a baskin robbins

Lemme just say if President Bernie Sanders had unilaterally imposed, by executive fiat, hundreds of billions of new taxes, personally browbeat executives about job cuts and investments and then fired the head of BLS, the Chamber of Commerce and the business orgs would not be sitting idly by.

yes. i also think people are coming to the question with a perspective of like "i am a happily married 40 year old let me look back on how i got here and give advice to people to follow me" and 19 year old dudes don't want to become happily married 40 year olds, they want to become hot 22 year olds