@datahistorian.bsky.social
Retired History Prof, UW-Milwaukee, https://uwm.edu/history/about/directory/anderson-margo/ History of Data, Politics of Numbers. Latest book [with William Seltzer]: Use and Misuse of the U.S. Census
god, don't threaten me with a good time
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoTrump: "The Democrats are gonna terminate the filibuster as soon as they have a chance and then they're gonna approve DC and Puerto Rico as states. They get 4 more senators, 12 more congressmen, like 40 electoral votes ... you don't want to see me cry."
And another one, by my late husband, Steve Meyer, lots here on relevance to current politics…
And while we're at it.... emke.uwm.edu Margo Anderson and Amanda I. Seligman, Editors
Encyclopedia of Milwaukee
Milwaukee history topics ranging from arts and culture to philanthropy and nonprofit organizations to business and labor.
emke.uwm.edu
ICE coming to Milwaukee, WI? www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
ICE arrests at least 18 people, mostly in Milwaukee traffic stops, advocates say
The sudden increase in public, visible arrests by ICE, often using SUVs blocking traffic on major roads, diverges from how the agency had been operating.
jsonline.com
This one is a doozer.. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump officials planned to mark 2.7 million living people as dead, whistleblower claims
A former Social Security executive said the plan, which was not carried out, would have used a death database to pressure immigrants to leave the country.
washingtonpost.com
In its latest ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act, the Roberts Court has inverted the Reconstruction Amendments to justify the same racist devices and practices they were adopted to dismantle (🎁) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Note the pic is wrong...Rothman worked in Van Hise Hall, not Bascom Hall [the Madison chancellor's headquarters....] www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
University Of Wisconsin System Fires President Jay Rothman
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents voted unanimously to fire UW President Jay Rothman on Tuesday, after he earlier had refused to step down.
forbes.com
"We are pleased to say that two pieces of our ICE Out package, which take a clear stand against the appalling actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), were passed...in a strong show of support by the Common Council."
Milwaukee, WI: "Statement on passage of ICE Out legislation by the Common Council," 3/3/26: ...
How not to build a dataset... www.propublica.org/article/save...
“Not Ready for Prime Time.” A Federal Tool to Check Voter Citizenship Keeps Making Mistakes.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed out the revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.
propublica.org
Milwaukee, WI: Now…”What do we do about ICE? 3rd District Town Hall... THIS EVENING - Monday, February 2 - meeting REMINDER from Alderman Alex Brower.” Overflow crowd, line to get in snaked around the block, watching on Facebook if not in the room. Looks like there’s a lot of interest. Tks Alex!
More commentary on the release of the Census Bureau release of the 2025 Population Estimates: jedkolko.substack.com/p/four-takea...
Four takeaways from the new Census population estimates
Immigration declined dramatically. Census estimates now align with other government estimates. The 2026 Current Population Survey population base will be adjusted downward.
jedkolko.substack.com
On the heels of Lawler’s ICE backpedal op ed, he releases a bill that radically limits counting of immigrants for apportionment, contrary to 14A lawler.house.gov/uploadedfile...
2025 US Population estimates released today: www.census.gov/newsroom/pre... Commentary starting: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration
U.S. population growth slowed to 0.5% between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, according to the newly released Vintage 2025 population estimates.
census.gov
Wow! www.bbc.com/news/live/cn... "An ordinary American woman has brought down a British Prince..."
Prince Andrew stripped of 'prince' title and will move out of Royal Lodge
Buckingham Palace says he will now been known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. Virginia Giuffre's family say she has
bbc.com
The data community needs to weigh in here, not just on “privacy,” but on data “stewardship,” the way data curators see their ethical responsibilities. The administration has a completely different understanding, namely that all “data” is fair game for their agenda. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/b...
Trump Is Claiming Mortgage Fraud to Attack Enemies. Is Your Information Public?
nytimes.com
More on Trump’s proposals for the census, and the federal statistical system…. apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump seeks to change how census collects data and wants to exclude immigrants in US illegally
President Donald Trump has instructed the Commerce Department to change how the Census Bureau collects data, seeking to exclude immigrants in the United States illegally.
apnews.com
More tinkering: When to report. Who does what, BLS or Census Bureau. What about private sector surveys? What else could one use to measure unemployment, a new question once the Social Security Act [1935] authorized unemployment “insurance.” More to come...
The “Current Population Survey” was born and has been around ever since. We have a “data series”!
4. Get the tabulation report out fast, preferably 2-3 weeks after the data collection. 5.Who’s going to pay for it? For ~10 years, a government “experiment,” originally the “monthly report on the labor force,” late 1930s-1940s, to work out kinks. [Skipping WWII here, a big part of the story.]
3. Let’s get the definition straight: a person was only unemployed if in the right demographic [not too old, not too young], and actually looking for work the week the sample surveyors came around.
2. Probability sampling [a hot new thing at the time], would permit frequent simple measurement [monthly!], so we’ll need a staff of “field interviewers.”
1. Unemployment fluctuates a lot with the cycles of the larger economy, and needs frequent measurement. A census is the wrong instrument to measure it. Too expensive, too slow for the reporting.....
The “data” were unsatisfactory, irregularly reported, long story short, the Depression accelerated technical work on the issue. [A truncated version of the issues…]
A question for the “occupied” population went on the 1880 census, usa.ipums.org/usa-action/v..., asking the “number of months this person has been unemployed during the census year.” Stayed with changes until 1930 census, including a Congressionally mandated “unemployment census” in 1930 and 1931.
IPUMS USA: descr: MOUNEMP
usa.ipums.org
Unemployment, labor force participation, is hard to measure. Who does it apply to? Adults? Of what ages? People with their own “businesses”? What about farmers? What about “homemakers?” ....
A series of posts on the history of data. Like the bridges and roads one drives on, one doesn’t need to know about the bridge builder, unless the bridge falls down, fails. Then all of a sudden it’s really important, which is what happened Friday August 1, 2025, with the monthly unemployment report.
