The White House doesn't have a clue.
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Federal government employment in Jan 2026 is down 324k since Trump took over, with local government employment up 140k and state government employment down 72k
That's a net hit to government jobs at all levels of 256k in Trump's first year.
The federal government last averaged 2.69 million employees in 1966. The Jan 2026 level is 2.686 million.
I'm so old I remember when Jan 2026 full time employment at 48.79% of population was Great Recession level bad
That whole China joining the WTO and globalization thingy has really worked out great for the American middle class amirite?
The winter trend since Jan 2023 has been DOWN:
Jan 2023: 49.32%
Jan 2024: 49.16%
Feb 2025: 48.88%
Jan 2026: 48.79%.
GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska strongly opposes hypocritical GOP scheme to federalize elections
How did Trump and the GOP sweep into power in 2024 with all these illegal aliens voting?
Inquiring minds want to know.
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski comes out against Trump's election bill, with a warning to her party
... “When Democrats attempted to advance sweeping election reform legislation in 2021, Republicans were unanimous in opposition because it would have federalized elections, something we have long opposed,” Murkowski said in a statement. “Now, I’m seeing proposals such as the SAVE Act and MEGA that would effectively do just that. Once again, I do not support these efforts.”
“Not only does the U.S. Constitution clearly provide states the authority to regulate the ‘times, places, and manner’ of holding federal elections, but one-size-fits-all mandates from Washington, D.C., seldom work in places like Alaska,” she added. ...
“Election Day is fast approaching. Imposing new federal requirements now, when states are deep into their preparations, would negatively impact election integrity by forcing election officials to scramble to adhere to new policies likely without the necessary resources,” she said. “Ensuring public trust in our elections is at the core of our democracy, but federal overreach is not how we achieve this.” ...
“This is not a federal issue,” McConnell told reporters in January 2022 when the bill came before the Senate. “It ought to be left to the states. There’s nothing broken around the country. The system upheld very well during an intense stress during the latter part of the previous Congress. There’s no rational basis for federalizing this election, and, therefore, there’s no point in having a debate in the U.S. Senate about something we ought not do.”
Ford Motor blames tariff timing and fires at an aluminum plant for earnings miss when it was its electric vehicle business
... On an unadjusted basis, the company’s net loss of $8.2 billion last
year was its largest since the Great Recession in 2008, according to
FactSet. That included $15.5 billion in special charges during the
fourth quarter largely related to a pre-announced pullback in its
all-electric vehicle plans.
Automakers commonly exclude “special items” or one-time charges from their adjusted financial results to provide investors with a clearer picture of their core, ongoing business operations.
Ford reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $11.1 billion, or a loss of $2.77 per share, compared with net income of $1.8 billion, or 45 cents per share, in the same period in 2024. Adjusted for the one-time charges, the company reported earnings of 13 cents per share.
Representatives Massie, Kiley, and Bacon revolt against House GOP and vote with all Democrats to take back Congress' Article I tariff power from the president
Expect tariff votes in the U.S. House in the near future, but not necessarily victories.
... The House Rules Committee on Monday approved language that would block
any House votes disapproving of Trump’s tariffs through July 31. ... The Senate has on multiple occasions voted to strike down tariffs issued
by Trump, while the House has blocked votes on tariff-related
resolutions. The latest prohibition on tariff votes expired at the end
of January. ...
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
To get around the law on national emergencies, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives declares that the next 171 days will not add up to even one calendar day
Remember when the Obamacare provisions in March 2010 were deemed to have passed when they hadn't?
Remember how the Big Ugly Bill which passed last summer under reconciliation rules deemed that the Trump tax cuts of 2017 which had had a cost in 2017 no longer had a cost in 2025?
Remember how your mother told you "Saying doesn't make it so?"
That's how all this works now, including son saying to mom, "Mom, I'm a girl now".
Our rotten society views reality as the enemy.
Monday, February 9, 2026
The bond market has voted Nay Nay on the Fed's interest rate cuts which started in September 2024, but I repeat myself
Worries about softening employment have been entirely misplaced. Jobless claims have been FLAT for four consecutive years.
The Fed was wrong about jobs, just like it was wrong about inflation being transitory.
Why did Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick lie about his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein?
Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show
... Lutnick, the former chairman of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald who at one point lived next door to Epstein, told the New York Post in October that he and his wife Allison had cut ties with Epstein in 2005, deciding after taking a tour of Epstein's New York townhouse, "I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again."
However, it appears Epstein and Lutnick continued to maintain contact and emails show they arranged calls and planned to have drinks in 2011.
The following year, the couple and their four children planned a visit to Epstein's island, Little St. James, emails show. Lutnick was invited for lunch on Dec. 24, 2012, and later, Epstein's assistant wrote on behalf of Epstein, "it was nice seeing you."
Their Adfin deal was signed four days later. ...
By the time Epstein and Lutnick agreed to buy stakes in Adfin, it had been more than four years since Epstein agreed to enter a guilty plea to Florida state charges of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. The case brought forth allegations of far broader sex trafficking and victimization of girls, but it wasn't until 2019 that Epstein was charged with federal felonies including trafficking. He died in jail in the weeks after his arrest. ...
... Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., urged Lutnick to step down after The New York Times reported the Trump ally interacted “regularly” with Epstein, according to files released by the Department of Justice relating to the notorious sex offender. Massie was the lead Republican on the Epstein Files Transparency Act that compelled the release of the Epstein files.
“He should just resign,” Massie said on CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday.” “Howard Lutnick clearly went to the island if we believe what’s in these files; he was in business with Jeffrey Epstein, and this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted.”
He added: “He’s got a lot to answer for, but really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign.” ...
Why is NBC afraid of the truth?
... NBC has denied editing the crowd audio, although it is difficult to resolve why the boos so audible in the stadium and on other broadcasts were absent for US viewers. ...
Sunday, February 8, 2026
Trump's corrupt state capitalism, but I repeat myself, is anti-American, anti-competitive, and advances long-standing Democrat objectives, which is one reason big business is keeping its big yap shut
When the Democrats can't get what they want, a Republican chump comes along who does it for them.
The power of existing businesses will only get stronger thanks to Trump, so mum's the word.
The Trump administration’s portfolio of equity stakes in U.S. companies has reached a scale that is unprecedented outside economic crisis or wartime....
“It is a invisible barrier to startups and new market entrants,” said Scott Lincicome, an international trade lawyer affiliated with Cato Institute. “Why would you ever want to enter a market that you know your chief competitor is backed by the U.S. government?”...
The Trump administration’s approach is a major ideological departure for the Republican Party, which has traditionally championed free market capitalism and excoriated government intervention. The Democrats have typically been the party of industrial policy and intervention in markets.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for example, introduced an amendment to Biden’s CHIPS Act that would have allowed the government to take stakes in companies that accept federal funding for semiconductor manufacturing. The measure ultimately died in the Senate....
Top executives have voiced virtually no public criticism of the Trump administration taking stakes....
Before the U.S. took its stake in Intel, Trump said CEO Lip-Bu Tan was “highly conflicted” and called for his resignation over his ties to Chinese companies. The comments sparked a brief sell-off of Intel shares....
Trump bought 433.3 million shares of Intel in August 2025 at $20.47, about $3 off its recent lows around $17.66, risking taxpayer money, not his own.
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