every time i write about wage theft i do a double take because it's so crazy corporations steal more than $50 bn from workers' paychecks each year, illegally paying workers less than they earned for their labor that significantly exceeds the combined losses from larceny, burglary, & vehicle theft

Weird how he chose to defend a surgery which predominately benefits men, while blaming women for not doing enough unpaid work to support the system.

Trump: I’m going to put ICE in the airports, where they will target and arrest all the illegals, especially Somalis, because I hate the Democrats Headlines: Trump puts ICE officers in airports to ease long lines, provide relief for weary travelers

Greg Bovino won’t just get to walk away — he will be held accountable and responsible for the damage he's done to our nation. We won’t forget, and neither should you. No one is above the law.

No interruptions, please. We’re building universal child care.

Our database paints a detailed financial picture for President Donald Trump and hundreds of his political appointees, some of whom have ties to the industries they regulate. The disclosures include their recent employers, assets and debts.

This is one of the most jaw dropping moments of Trump’s presidency. Up there with brainstorming about injecting bleach and shining light up orifices to cure COVID.

so in conclusion, the state of the union is actually very bad because a man who tried to end democracy is using the government to personally enrich himself and his buddies while executing citizens and noncitizens alike

Turning Point USA hosted an event in Alabama recently with two leading abortion 'abolitionists' - extremists who want abortion patients punished with the death penalty. Legislators in over a dozen states (and counting) have introduced their bills. This is no longer a 'fringe' movement

Clean energy is ready—but it’s stuck in line. Projects wait years in the interconnection queue, even as demand from AI and data centers surges. That bottleneck risks fossil lock-in and higher costs. If we want cheaper, cleaner power, we need to fix the backlog: hboushey.substack.com/p/stuck-in-l...

And away we go. @bloomberg.com

Good news: Happy Kevin walks back his call for NY Fed economists to be disciplined. Bad news: It's bullshit. He says the Fed should stay out of issues like... whether tariffs cause inflation. But inflation is central to monetary policy! He's still saying: The regime shall not be contradicted.

When you put it like this, a $75 million bribe to Melania and gutting the Washington Post seems like a small price to pay.

😕🇺🇸

We are the laughingstock of the world because of our moronic and psychotic president. Deservedly so.

"large language models such as ChatGPT were consistently advising women to ask for lower salaries than men in recruitment processes,... AI tools already in use by more than half of England’s councils were downplaying women’s medical conditions, potentially resulting in unequal care"

Absolutely insane story about a middle-aged woman from Hertfordshire who got arrested, shackled, and detained by ICE and held in a prison for eight weeks.... while on holiday... with a valid tourist visa... as she tried to leave the country.

Supreme Court strikes down Trump's tariffs. A stitched together majority, as expected. Read along thread here.👇 www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

The Supreme Court has finally spoken: The President took his emergency powers far too far. The real emergency is Trump's poor management of the U.S. economy. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

😬

"That a representative body should constrain the executive’s fiscal power dates to Magna Carta in 1215... the framers gave Congress alone the power 'to lay and collect taxes' [because] untrammeled executive power over public money opens the door to tyranny." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/o...

“The U.S. no longer has emission standards of any meaning,” said Margo T. Oge, who served as the E.P.A.’s top vehicle emissions regulator under three presidents and has since advised both automakers and environmental groups… “Nothing. Zero,” she added. “Not many countries have zero.”

ICYMI 🤨 Job growth in 2025 rivals lows not seen since crisis years of 2009 and 2020—a sharp turn from the strongest labor market in decades 🤬 The administration has revoked the endangerment finding, dismissing the economic costs of climate change More here: hboushey.substack.com/p/on-fragile...

An image we won't soon forget. Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to look at Epstein survivors pictured behind her on the Hill today.

The interview w/Idaho sheriff involved in the raid (who I covered OFTEN years ago) is striking. He disputes zip-tied kids until shown pic of 14YO girl (same pic that made FBI backtrack months ago) Then: "I've gone against gang members who are a lot younger than that" www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-zi...

Farming sustains millions of livelihoods, but 2025 brought trade wars, market concentration, and climate risks. Rural America is at a crossroads, and what happens on the farm affects us all. Read more on farming economics in my latest Substack: hboushey.substack.com/p/strong-far...

If only there were a newspaper in Washington, perhaps one owned by a person of considerable wealth, that still employed “metro” reporters who could cover a story of such intense local interest and importance

Next is "El Apagón" (the blackout) which I could write a whole thread about on its own The song and its video (a mini documentary) are about a lot of things, including the problems with Puerto Rico's electrical grid, which have gotten worse since Hurricane Maria

What's that? You say you want to learn more about Puerto Rico's electricity grid?

Just a few weeks ago, the administration cancelled all remaining department of energy grid resilience projects in Puerto Rico. All of them. www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-end...

power transformers mentioned in halftime show ⚡️

Holding us accountable for the shameful failure to restore power to PR

ICYMI. If you can spare a minute, it’s worth getting to know Senator Lucas. Dedicated public servant working for the common good. apps.senate.virginia.gov/Senator/memb...

Epstein class. That works. I wonder if anyone has cross-checked the Epstein files with the Panama Papers? www.icij.org/investigatio... Great dissertation topic for an aspiring economist … ? @stone-lis.bsky.social @gabrielzucman.bsky.social

Leavitt said the video was “a meme” based on ‘The Lion King’. But there are no apes in the film, people were quick to point out.

Predicting that this week we’ll hear more conciliatory words from the Administration regarding Minnesota (since they’re starting to realize that ICE has become politically toxic) but everyone outside of Minnesota needs to know that nothing on the ground has changed.

Spending power varies across income groups, but every consumer has a degree of agency over when and where to spend. This week, I dug into the evidence behind economic boycotts in this week's Substack: hboushey.substack.com/p/boycott-ec...

4 Black journalists have been kidnapped by the federal government

Donald Trump doesn’t think your housing costs are high enough.

What's morale like at CBP & ICE right now? New survey data are damning. *21% of CBP respondents (9% of ICE respondents) believe their agencies' political leaders maintain high standards of integrity. *Only 23% at CBP (18% at ICE) feel confident they could report illegal acts without retribution

AOC: "An ICE officer had violently pushed a woman to the ground and he had come over to help get her up and that is what precipitated this incident that very quickly led to an execution in the streets. What we are seeing here is a momentous pivotal moment for the United States."

Not one more cent for DHS and ICE. We have the power to end this.

AOC: They need 10 Democratic votes in the Senate to pass, continued unfettered ICE funding with no guardrails. Regardless of where you are in the Democratic party, this moment proves that the status quo cannot stand I would implore my Democratic colleagues in the senate to vote no

It’s about fucking time

In year one, Trump’s policies have SLOWED - closed, delayed, etc. - 70 clean energy manufacturing projects worth $74B and 68,958 jobs. 109 projects have still ADVANCED - moving toward construction or operation - worth $61B and 61,107 jobs. www.the-big-green-machine.com/post-trump-s... 🔌💡

202-224-3121 ^congressional switchboard. Call your rep, call your senator, and ask them why there was illegal use of your social security data. Make this a constituent request for help: should you do something to protect yourself? Is there legal recourse? www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

This morning, Ms. Rachel and I visited District 2 Pre-K Center, where we sang and read with the wonderful students and educators. We also discussed universal childcare - and how we're making it happen for NYC!

CSWEP strongly condemns Larry Summers’ behavior as revealed in the email correspondence with the late Jeffrey Epstein. While abuse of power in the economics profession is not new, rarely has the intent behind such abuse been so clearly stated.

15 million Americans are going to lose their health care.

The president has one core job under the Constitution: to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Not thwarted, diverted, blunted, revised or ignored. Faithfully executed.