We're excited for Monday and hosting the first in our series of 4 lunch-time briefings in Sacramento. Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/preventing... #CaLeg
Maggie R. Jones
@maggierjones.bsky.social
California Policy Lab/Center for Studies in Higher Education, U.C. Berkeley
You're invited! Join us on Friday, October 30th for a lunchtime briefing to hear about new research on older workers in California and discuss the path forward for policymakers. A moderated panel and Q&A session will follow. Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/preparing-...
Huge congrats to the brilliant economist and historian Ellora Derenoncourt, one of this year's MacArthur Fellows!
Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign. The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers. Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵
he is (For so I know he is, they know he is) A most arch-heretic, a pestilence That does infect the land
A $50 million gift will fund Native student scholarships for the next five years and create a permanent endowment to support Indigenous students for generations.
A $50 million gift from MacKenzie Scott is being dedicated entirely to Native students, with $10 million funding scholarships over the next five years and $40 million placed in a permanent endowment to support Native students for generations to come.
A $50 million gift from MacKenzie Scott is being dedicated entirely to Native students, with $10 million funding scholarships over the next five years and $40 million placed in a permanent endowment to support Native students for generations to come.
nativenewsonline.net
This change grants Commerce political appointees veto power over data and research releases by scientists and statisticians at NOAA, NIST, Census, and BEA.
Hansi Lo Wang (he/him)@hansilowang.bsky.social · 2mo agoSCOOP: After the Census Bureau issued a highly unusual report tied to a President Trump-aligned think tank, the bureau’s parent agency, the Commerce Department, cut language banning political interference from its scientific integrity policy, @npr.org has learned www.npr.org/2026/08/31/n...
The Census Bureau says it found 24k noncitizens who voted in 2020. Here's the issue. It's hard match citizenship and voter records perfectly, especially when some records are missing SSNs. We cover it in today's substack: https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/how-to-fake-a-voting-scandal
Who Put the Census Bureau in the Propaganda Business?
A once-trusted agency has dressed up partisan election claims as official statistics—and hidden the evidence needed to test them.
newsletter.platypuseconomics.com
Skilled programmer who is passionate about improving policy and programs in California? So are we! Join the California Policy Lab's UC Berkeley site as our next Senior Data Analyst. First review is Aug 27th. capolicylab.org/careers/seni...
Choices: You’re an idiot who doesn’t understand what you voted for, or You’re a complicit cynic who fully understands what you voted for and are hoping your constituents fall, yet again, for the disappointed moderate routine. Either choice, it’s time to retire.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoQ: The shock gloves that ICE is reportedly rolling out using the deescalation funding. Is that the sort of use you envisioned when you passed that bill? SUSAN COLLINS: It's not
I’m certain I got measles (and nearly died) and my sisters did not bc of both state-level school vax requirements and parent overwhelm. I had other shots—it’s unclear how I slipped through the cracks, but it’s certain my shots predated MMR, and its availability would have saved me some grief.
Sherrilyn Ifill@sifill.bsky.social · 2mo agoAnd I’m sure all his folks who are Dads will take off work for each of those doctor visits.
Centrists when a Progressive wins.
Monty Python: Black Knight Draw
ALT: Monty Python: Black Knight Draw
static.klipy.com
Susan Collins announcing she'll vote against a controversial nominee is basically the moment it becomes clear that nominee will be confirmed. It means Thune has enough votes to confirm, and thus, Collins gets a pass to look independent.
Our dove flies in Biddeford. Mainers deserve to live and work in peace. ICE out!
I wrote about Mitch McConnell’s monthlong disappearance, and the absurdities of elite impunity that allowed it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Mitch McConnell mystery is solved. But it doesn’t look good for America | Moira Donegan
The senator is alive, a key requirement to maintain one’s job in the US Senate
theguardian.com
Our local newspaper, The Portland Press Herald, has lifted their paywall on coverage of the ICE shooting of a man in Biddeford, Maine this morning. They have excellent reporters and will have much more accurate information than natl news as we learn more: www.pressherald.com/2026/07/13/s...
Live updates: King calls for transparent investigation after Biddeford man killed in ICE-involved shooting
Protests are growing after a man identified as a 26-year-old from Colombia was fatally shot. Immigration advocates say he was authorized to work in the U.S.
pressherald.com
"And so we saw a window here to really make a difference and bring new data to bear to this question." Prof. Till von was interviewed on the Takeout with Major Garrett about the new California AI Unemployment Tracker (CAIT): www.cbsnews.com/video/califo... #AI
California's AI job tracker finds no early evidence of unemployment from AI
California now has the nation's first dashboard to publicly track artificial intelligence-related job trends, ones created and ones lost. As of now, early findings show no evidence of rising statewide...
cbsnews.com
very cool illustration of ranked choice voting and how it worked in Maine’s gubernatorial Democratic primary via www.reddit.com/r/Maine/comm...
"I might have been guilty of some runaway self-indulgence from time to time. I mean, I used to literally drink pearls and once declared war on Neptune. But is America really going to sully its iconic symbol of democracy with Dana White’s CTE speedrun machine?"
I am Emperor Caligula, and Even I Think the White House UFC Event is a Bit Much
“I know this might seem surprising coming from me. And don’t get me wrong, I’m no stranger to bread and circuses. But considering that the price of bread is ...
buff.ly
I have never been retroactively madder about a federal government shutdown than when I realized today that the 2025 October supplement to the CPS was never administered, eliminating a key source of data about college enrollment patterns last fall. 😡
Saez and @gabrielzucman.bsky.social on the CA billionaire tax 250 households (0.001% of the state) holds wealth equal to more than half of California’s entire annual economic output Their wealth grows 15% a year and is taxed at just 0.26% per year www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Opinion | The Case for California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax
Silicon Valley’s growth over recent decades has made California rich — and one of the most unequal places in America.
nytimes.com
Angels Appearing before the Shepherds, by Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1910
How dare they not cast someone born from a swan’s (er, Zeus’s) rape of a Grecian queen and hatched from an egg?
Jonathan Ladd@jonathanmladd.com · 5mo agoThe basic problem appears to be that Elon Musk does not know Helen of Troy isn't a real historical figure.
Huh. Portland Press Herald's typically sycophantic, power-coddling columnist goes rogue and spells out the ugly truth about who Susan Collins has become. Didn't see that coming. (Try to look past -- or at least hold your nose during-- the Joe Lieberman encomiums.) #MEpolitics
Susan Collins no longer even pretends to be a moderate | Steve Collins
Maine’s senior senator once held up the late Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecuticut Democrat, as a role model. I knew Lieberman, and I know Collins falls well short of his commitment to centrist politics.
pressherald.com
Tell me you never worked in a restaurant without saying you never worked in a restaurant.
I wrote about the Olympics’ ban on trans women competing, and the stakes of the new women’s sex-testing regime for female athletes, trans and cis alike. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Olympics’ trans policy polices womanhood | Moira Donegan
Sports bans have humiliated trans women and girls across America. Now, the Olympics joins in
theguardian.com
Man Murders Eight Children seems like a more accurate headline and doesn’t speculate that anyone else may bear responsibility in his motive. A fight didn’t kill them. He did.
Right on @jrothst.bsky.social www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2026...
Jesse Rothstein wants to say yes | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Berkeley economist and Institute advisor Jesse Rothstein on dissecting earnings disparities, improving the safety net, and 10 years of the California Policy Lab
minneapolisfed.org