Fun fact: I (100% serious) produced the last NFL Films season highlight film for a Belichick-coached team before New England. Name that team and the year!
Executive editor, The American Prospect. Author, Chain of Title and Monopolized. Tips at ddayen-at-prospect-dot-org or Signal at ddayen.90
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Fun fact: I (100% serious) produced the last NFL Films season highlight film for a Belichick-coached team before New England. Name that team and the year!
OK he's 78, my bad
Well, he did change. He's largely retiring because that's what you do when you're in your 80s
Jerry Nadler ends his remarkable career, conceding that his brand of politics on the Middle East is over. “I don’t know what to say at this point,” he said. “I can’t defend what Israel is doing.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/n...
Only a 30-second standing O here.
I am not denying his awfulness by saying his ties are personally appealing to me
Graduate student worker unions have thrived over the last decade, but either an inert NLRB that can't certify elections or an active one that bans grad student unions is a threat to this growth. What will the states do in response? James Baratta reports. prospect.org/labor/2025-0...
We've got more for you on Labor Day. More than 82 percent of civilian federal workers have had their right to collectively bargain stripped in the largest act of union busting in US history. Unions are a voice from below, and their autonomy poses a threat to autocrats, Harold Meyerson writes:
Stay to the end when these union-busting lawyers try to play it cool fielding questions from the union members who stormed the call. prospect.org/justice/2025...
“We are not in the habit of advising you lightly that you should challenge laws,” one lawyer said on the webinar. But “if you are a bit more risk tolerant, and you want to continue” holding anti-union meetings, “that is a choice that you can make.” prospect.org/justice/2025...
Rhode Island passed a law banning mandatory anti-union employee meetings. Union-busting law firm Littler Mendelson held a webinar for employers about the law. And they essentially told employers... to break the law! We got the transcript and the PowerPoint: prospect.org/justice/2025...
The Supreme Court in Rucho didn't quite say there is, but they indicated they wouldn't do anything about it. In this case the flyer claims that any legislative redistricting violates the independent commission, which is in the state Constitution. But the initiative is a Constitutional amendment!
got a good Labor Day scoop for you tomorrow at @prospect.org
There are actually 2 RW groups sending mailers. This one, from Right Path, is a Kevin McCarthy joint, with his longtime aide Jessica Millan Patterson (fmr CA GOP chair) running the show. There's a second group, Protect Voters First, funded by Republican megadonor Charles Munger Jr.
Like, we did this story at the beginning of July. prospect.org/health/2025-...
Only one person can get to the bottom of this
Did you just read about how traditional Medicare is about to require prior approval - and they’re going to hire **AI companies** to dole out those approvals? Then you need to learn about Dr. Gary Bent.
It's Friday on a long weekend and they're going to hide the news until after bars close to screw over service industry workers
A Dem should introduce a House resolution right now commemorating the death of Donald Trump
[Donald] Summer lovin' had me a blast [Melania] Summer lovin' happened so fast [Donald] I met a girl crazy for me [Melania] Met a boy cute as can be [Both] Summer days driftin' away, because he died of a massive coronary [Everyone] Uh Well-a well-a well-a huh
fabulous book
that is the mode du jour
the ballroom... it's a mausoleum!
Incidentally this was @prospect.org alum Brittany Gibson breaking the news of the wake
Honestly I think all presidents serving nonconsecutive terms have to.
Apparently 2nd in line for the presidency now
well we're all going to die
When he turns up coked out after a three-day bender in Ibiza you all are going to feel so stupid
Andy Card once said, you don't roll out new product in August
Let's say Roberts decides getting smiles at the country club is more important than his love of Trump: As I wrote here, some tariffs can still be done immediately and last 150 days, giving time and space for other tariff methods. prospect.org/politics/202...
The amusing thing here is that most of the conservative legal establishment has lined up against the tariffs, so the only way for Roberts and the gang to please their master is to abandon decades of purported principals, which we at least can laugh at.
LOL I've been waiting all day for a different federal verdict but instead we got the federal circuit striking down all the tariffs. Is that the John Roberts Bat-Signal I see?
Especially because the likely replacement, US Rep. Ashley Hinson, also voted for the Medicaid-destroying bill
I mean when Democrats keep overperforming in special elections in Iowa by 24 points, Republicans running for the hills is expected. It won't wash out the "we're all going to die" energy of Iowa Republicans
I do think there's an element of the cost of living crisis that is psychological. And Ella Tummel makes a good case that some of that is built on dirt-cheap fast fashion, where the illusion of affordability masks an industry built on overconsumption and pushing people to always find something new.
"In 2025, the revolving door between the federal government & the corporations that encircle it has been 'Trump-sized.'" As @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social writes, offices on K St are filling up with Trump administration veterans just 7 months in, while lobby firms with Trump ties are rolling in cash.
The new Texas congressional maps are predicated on a continued Republican shift from Latino voters who have soured on Republicans, and didn't turn out for Republicans even last year, when they turned out for Trump. I don't think this is all that likely. prospect.org/politics/202...
This is the way
Our Policy Director & COO @amandalfischer.bsky.social spoke with @prospect.org about the risks of allowing crypto to be used as collateral for mortgages. prospect.org/economy/2025...
Bill Pulte is extremely concerned about mortgage fraud and also trying to allow crypto to be used as collateral in mortgage underwriting, which is sure to generate a whole bunch of mortgage fraud. He also owned a bunch of crypto as of January. From James Baratta: prospect.org/economy/2025...
"The implication is clear: Trump wanted a payoff—protection money, really—or he would hurt the company. That is far different than seeking equity in exchange for federal support." Yep.
You can't have vaccines or cancer research but RFK definitely wants you in a wearable that can transfer your health data to unsecure databases or have it shared with third parties, as Charlie McGill writes. prospect.org/health/2025-...
Here's the conclusion. On Intel, Trump is taking an equity stake and facilitating the Apple-TSMC chip cartel simultaneously, weakening the very investment he just acquired. None of this has any strategic sense behind it. prospect.org/economy/2025...
There's a tendency to grade Trump economic policies in theory and not in practice. Only the reality matters and it's been generally been bad. I tried to set the record straight: prospect.org/economy/2025...
The US Attorney who declined to prosecute an Israeli government official arrested last month for underage solicitation has a colorful collection of deep-pocketed donors from past political campaigns, including one who fled a fraud case by going to... Israel. prospect.org/justice/2025...
National Guard soldiers called into service for President Trump's law enforcement surge in D.C. have been assigned to spread mulch at federal monuments. Normally the Park Service does that, but the administration laid off the workers. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
"In a roundabout way, many of the fundraising consultants will genuinely get money out of politics, siphoning political contributions from small donors, but never spending it on campaigns." Good God what a mess. This scam PAC cancer inside the party has been known about for a decade.
Kim Reynolds already announced her retirement earlier this year—a totally unexpected move. Joni Ernst has been dogged by retirement rumors, too, and still has yet to announce her plans. Does she want to run for a third term in this environment?
🚨 MAJOR BREAKING Democrat Catelin Drey FLIPS Iowa SD-1 — a district Trump won by 11.5 points in 2024 — defeating Republican Christopher Prosch in a landslide special election and breaking the GOP supermajority.
All that compute power to find 3 people who just happen to be at the top of the list of Trump political enemies!
I don't care how deep into the deep state you get, there is nobody randomly looking at mortgage applications on performing mortgages. Anyone doing this would have to be asked to do it. And hopefully we will find out how and when they were asked.
I was waiting for who the state political establishment would go with, they weren't going to stand still. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
I do think it's good that Roberts now is forced to stare his own dicta in the face and reverse it. The whole pretext was absurd anyway
The Lisa Cook incident is not only authoritarian, it will if successful still leave Trump short of a majority of votes on the FOMC, even after replacing Powell. But it will still do lasting damage as Bob Kuttner reports. prospect.org/economy/2025...
As ever you can get episodes delivered direct to your inbox at our 'Stack. www.organizedmoney.fm
New Organized Money pod is out! Solo show with me, talking with Daniel Stone about his terrific report on how private equity took over skateboarding. Listen on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
People who wake up to this unfolding nightmare and think they see an angle for self-enrichment shouldn't wake up.
"Between the 1860s and the 1950s, defenders of slavery succeeded in creating a dominant narrative in the nation’s textbooks, trying to show that slavery wasn’t so bad and that the real outrage was the abbreviated period of Reconstruction." Lost Cause-ism is back, writes Bob Kuttner.
Trump is canceling a wind energy project that's 80% complete while electricity prices spike, flushing potentially billions in investment down the toilet for no reason. The stupidity of this action is glaring, @ryanlcooper.com writes: prospect.org/environment/...
I mistakenly put yesterday's close as the market open because I was 10 minutes early, expecting a bigger reaction to the alleged firing of Lisa Cook than a 0.77% decrease. But it turns out the market has opened flat!
The open was worse! (or better, depending on your perspective)
not for nothing but the real reason we have had 7 IRS Commissoners this year is Trump hasn't found his Bill Pulte yet
We got an interview with Maine's populist Senate candidate, veteran and oyster fisherman Graham Platner, who is part of a growing group of "fighters from the working class" who are bellwethers for the ongoing debate over the Democratic coalition’s future. Austin Ahlman reported this one:
More like: Federal judge: Google is engaging in illegal market power by engaging in exclusive deals with Apple for search Google: How about we do different exclusive deals with Apple for search?
Rounding out our week-before-Labor-Day Labor Day coverage, here's Harold Meyerson on the awful 5th Circuit ruling that the NLRB is unconstitutional: prospect.org/justice/2025...
A Teamsters local in Illinois whose workforce is 90% Latino is striking with the specific demand that the company turn away federal immigration authorities unless those authorities present a signed judicial warrant. Our friends at @workdaymagazine.bsky.social have the story:
I couldn't make the Zcavenger Hunt but thousands of others did and it seemed like a great community event in a country where we don't have enough of them.
Documents obtained by @prospect.org show that EPA managers are attempting to require prior approval for union-protected organizing activities—on non-duty time. This is a federal agency and employer trying to tell workers what they can do when they're off the clock. James Baratta reports:
Trump’s militarization of Los Angeles seems to have been just the start of an authoritarian takeover of American cities. This is not leadership. This is a scary, unlawful grab for power, and we should all be deeply concerned.
I'm in the area, mulling it over...
Intel is also a dying company and this "investment" of already announced grants doesn't help them in any way. What's 10% of nothing?
The fiction here is that the equity is "funded" with $5.7 billion awarded from the Chips Act and $3.2 billion awarded by DOD for "Secure Enclave" (a Pentagon chip factory). I'd say in reality the equity is funded by Trump not taking those already pledged funds away. www.cnn.com/2025/08/22/t...
I'm in a hotel and at the breakfast lounge, a morning show was playing. The segment was about "36% of all shopping is AI-assisted" and when the host drilled down, that mostly meant using ChatGPT to ask when stores are open. We're putting that AI to work people
If Biden had taken 10% of Intel, at least it would have been in exchange for the billions in Chips Act funding granted to the company. Trump's taking this in exchange for deciding not to destroy the company. It's literal protection money.
The way to bring down electricity prices is to stop electricity generation
Looking further, I think because it was a K-State home game
As data centers guzzle natural resources, their neighbors are often left in the shadows. From @gurleygg.bsky.social, why communities are pushing back: trib.al/C8LQt8Q
Why K-State only? Part of the corn v potato side dish wars?
We could have, you know, made D.C. a state when we had the chance, @ryanlcooper.com inconveniently points out. prospect.org/politics/202...
Considering that practically every US Attorney is being shuttled through this same scheme to maintain their job without Senate confirmation, I'd say this is big news
Update: we're boarded
Into hour five of a United flight delay, and I don't think it's a good sign that the flight crew is at the gate looking out the window for the plane. They should have more information than me
awesome!
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We're working on a lot of changes in that department. But for now, this is at the top of the nav on mobile: simplecirc.com/subscribe/the-american-prospect
The Transportation Department got rid of the advisory committees that help it to design safety regulations (who needs 'em!), James Baratta reports. prospect.org/infrastructu...
That's exciting. We think our print product is really worth unplugging and spending time with. It's good to see that sentiment is driving growth at The Onion
People are being kidnapped into unmarked vans by masked police. There is a genocide happening in Palestine. Literal billionaires have taken over our government. And all Democratic leadership can do is send us another fundraising text?
In talking with the report author, it's clear that PE learned its lesson from the World Industries buyout and has tried to cover its tracks in buying up other brands, hiding the corporate owner behind the scenes.
My old deck from growing up!
Certainly possible, and some are cited at the end. But they are going up against giants.
Along with PE extracting cash and bankrupting iconic brands, the local skate shop culture has given way to homogenized, PE-backed mall shops and online giants: prospect.org/economy/2025...
There isn't a bigger anti-establishment, fuck-the-man pursuit than skateboarding. Yet even that industry has succumbed to private equity, destroying leading brands and the relationships that kept the scene thriving, cool, and local. I look at a new report on this cursed financialization:
The east coast of North Carolina, yes.
"The private-equity industry globally had an 'inventory' of over 30,000 companies through the first quarter of this year." 30,000! www.wsj.com/finance/investing/private-equity-firms-stocks-are-struggling-despite-getting-into-401-k-s-759ad08d
Keep an eye on Dem Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains (@asmjasmeetbains.bsky.social), who's running against David Valadao in #CA22. She's come out against CA's counter-gerrymander. Will she vote against it—and allow her vote to be weaponized against the plan? www.kcra.com/article/cali...
At every turn, working people are hurting because of this administration’s War on Workers led by the Union-Buster in Chief. Thank you @majorityreport.bsky.social, for having me on to talk about my article in @prospect.org. Thank you @emmavigeland.bsky.social for the conversation.
Um, sorry governor, those National Guard troops are supposed to be for jaywalking patrols