Melissa Whitler

Press release: “Violent Crime in DC hits 30 year low”

“Today, we’re announcing a public safety emergency,” Trump says

Currently up on the Department of Justice’s website: www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/v...

FT: “.. Businesses surveyed by the Financial Times in the Midwestern city of St Louis said their suppliers had hiked prices for a broad range of products in recent weeks, sometimes by as much as 30 per cent.”

@financialtimes.com
(via Kevin Gordon)
www.ft.com/content/00f6...

Republican Earle-Sears on the defensive in Virginia's governor race Republican Winsome Earle-Sears says she's running her campaign for Virginia governor like a military-style operation

that the virginia GOP is in disarray is another testament to glenn youngkin's total lack of juice. the reality is that if the national political environment were modestly less anti-biden in late 2021 then youngkin would have lost, even with terry mcauliffe at the top of the ticket

@anneapplebaum.bsky.social will be on tomorrow morning to discuss her recent article on Sudan with recently retired senior CIA Africa analyst @hollybfletcher.bsky.social. And there will be a dog shirt!

FBI moves to dispatch 120 agents to D.C. streets as Trump vows crackdown on crime The unusual move comes as President Donald Trump threatens a federal takeover of the nation’s capital.

This is happening after Kash Patel has been bragging that the FBI is laser focused on "tier one" threats like fentanyl and China and organizational priority is to fan out across the country instead of DC.

Think of where all these FBI agents are being drawn from.

Henderson going No Kings shows why she joined her colleagues to say Trump was not immune from criminal prosecution before SCOTUS reversed them.

I appreciate your work and it's what inspired me to finally get out there and start doing banner drops on the bridge next to my house. Courage is contagious.

Two-thirds of the DOJ unit defending Trump policies in court have quit Seven lawyers who spoke with Reuters cited a punishing workload and the need to defend policies that some felt were not legally justifiable among the key reasons for the wave of departures.

The Federal Programs Branch (the DOJ unit tasked w/legal defense of policies like birthright citizenship, slashing Harvard funds, etc.) has lost nearly 2/3 of its staff...69 of the roughly 110 lawyers have "voluntarily left since November or have announced plans to leave."

A deadly shooting at the CDC shook its scientists. Now they want answers from RFK Jr. CDC Director Susan Monarez convened an online all-hands meeting of the agency division that focuses on vaccines, and employees called out Kennedy’s rhetoric specifically.

Exclusive: CDC Director Susan Monarez met with its vaccine-focused center to talk about yesterday’s shooting. I listened to a recording. Scientists and officials are shaken & pointing fingers at RFK Jr. Many said his vilification and misinfo turned them into targets. www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...

Opinion: Remembering Sandra Grimes, mole hunter Sandra Grimes died at the age of 79. Her work was crucial in catching a Soviet agent who "caused more damage to the national security of the United States than any spy in the history of the CIA."

Sandra Grimes died at the age of 79. Her work was crucial in catching a Soviet agent who "caused more damage to the national security of the United States than any spy in the history of the CIA."

People walk toward a large red and white ship

The U.S. Coast Guard is commissioning its newest used icebreaker, the Storis, tomorrow in Juneau. Today, I’m on a five-hour sail with other reporters, families, and the Navy League. #akleg #Alaska

Would you drink a ketchup smoothie? Heinz and Smoothie King have debuted a new concoction. blockclubchi.co/3IYcpUu

On a quick read, this seems in line with some of the points I keep trying to make to the CSed crowd: curricular trade-offs matter and you can't assume nudging/coercing students into specific tracks will necessarily have predictable impacts on those students' long-term labor market outcomes.

Trump shows weakness, permitting Putin (who is under indictment) in the US and traveling to the meeting in Alaska. And what's being reported-giving Russia all of eastern Ukraine - is precisely what Russia was proposing in 2016 with Paul Manafort and others, and would reward its illegal war effort.

On the Alaska talks:

Trump’s leverage over Ukraine, Russia and Europe has decreased since the spring and Ukraine is in a better position than back then, given their improved own industrial output thanks to the Danish model that many European countries are now implementing

KESSLER: “Why I left the Washington Post… like being on the Titanic, drifting aimlessly as it sank with not enough lifeboats…”

An editor asked him: “How do we appeal more to Fox News viewers”? 🤔

The fact-checker’s reply: “We have to tell the truth.” glennkessler.substack.com/p/why-i-left...

This is the world created by those who promote conspiracies and misinformation…

I have no advice but lots of empathy as someone who has completely different issues flying. Hopefully the motion sickness and/or sore body is temporary.

Unbelievable.

Mary Shields, First Woman to Finish the Iditarod, Dies at 80 She originally treated it as a ‘leisurely trip’—until she discovered that men were betting she wouldn’t make it, and women were taking the other side of those bets.

Mary Shields treated the second-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1974 as a “leisurely trip”—until she discovered that men were betting she wouldn’t make it. The women who bet on her success inspired her to complete the race.

Trump Delayed a Medicare Change After Health Company Donations

Trump delayed the rollout of a Biden rule that sought to prevent abusive Medicare pricing practices from private companies — after Trump PAC MAGA Inc. received a $5 million donation from one such company that stood to lose out on billions in earnings due to the rule. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/u...

Happy Dave Matthews Band Tour Bus Day to all who celebrate.

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the New York attorney general who won a civil case against President Trump: cnn.it/4fshZdL

📉Wage growth is easing and premium for job switching has turned into a discount... all this points to softening labor market conditions

Chart via @AtlantaFed

Brokered Violence: Safety for Sale in the Free Marketplace of Data In a world where data brokers enable violence by selling our information, safety requires a data-deletion right that people can reliably enforce.

The perpetrator of an assasination of a Minnesota lawmaker in June likely used data brokers to find personal information of his victims. Sam Adler, @thomaskadri.bsky.social, and @chinmayisharma.bsky.social look at how policymakers should address this brokered violence.

SAVOURI: “.. If you look through the front windscreen rather than the rear-view mirror, it's clear to see stagflation is coming to the U.S." 🇺🇸

www.morningstar.com/news/marketw...

Trump Administration Continues Purge of F.B.I. Officials

“Neither Mr. Driscoll nor Mr. Giardina is eligible to retire. Mr. Giardina’s wife died last month of cancer.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/u...

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Case No. 25-6396 COMPLAINT JURY TRIAL DEMANDED Plaintiff, v. HUDSON VALLEY PROUD BOYS CHAPTER; WILLIAM PEPE; JOHN DOES 1-100, Defendants. Plaintiff Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church (“Plaintiff,” “Metropolitan AME,” or the “Church”) brings this action for injunctive, monetary, and other relief against Defendants Hudson Valley Proud Boys Chapter and William Pepe, President of the Hudson Valley Proud Boys Chapter, for unlawful and ongoing infringement of Plaintiff’s trademark rights and other violations of law. Metropolitan AME, by its undersigned attorneys, upon personal knowledge with respect to itself and its actions and otherwise on information and belief, alleges as follows:

Via @courtwatch.bsky.social, DC's Metropolitan AME Church is suing the Hudson Valley Proud Boys and Jan6er William Pepe for copyright infringement.

😘

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

After nearly 24 years, NYC officials identify 3 more 9/11 victims Using advanced DNA-analysis techniques researchers in New York City identified three more victims of the 9/11 terror attacks that occurred nearly 24 years ago.

Using advanced DNA-analysis techniques researchers in New York City identified three more victims of the 9/11 terror attacks that occurred nearly 24 years ago.

A faux gold medallion stuck on the recessed door panel

The kitsch isn’t even sized correctly.