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COVID-19 recession: One of America’s deepest downturns was also its shortest after bailout-driven bounceback

Thanks to a roaring economy, plunging joblessness and a consumer spending spree, it probably won’t come as a surprise that the COVID-19 recession is officially over.

We didn’t know this, formally, however, until July 19, 2021, when a group of America’s top economists determined that the pandemic recession ended two months after it began, making it the shortest downturn on record.

As an economist who has written a macroeconomics textbook, I was eagerly waiting to know the official dates. This is in part because I recently asked my Boston University MBA students to make guesses, and we all wanted to know who was closest to the mark. While many of my students ended up nailing it, I was off by a month. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz is blocking diplomats from being confirmed, and it has nothing to do with their qualifications

WASHINGTON — An extraordinary effort by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to block nominees from being confirmed to vital jobs in the State Department is creating hurdles for the Biden administration and hindering US diplomacy, according to Democrats and Republicans who spoke to CNN.

The Biden administration — with about 60 State Department nominees waiting to be confirmed — is encountering greater roadblocks in securing Senate confirmations at State than at any other agency. Administration officials and Democrats point to Republicans, who admit they’re playing a role. But sources from all three groups say the bulk of the blame should be placed on Cruz.

The junior senator from Texas has become the public face of the State Department’s difficulties, proudly claiming responsibility for blocks on a slew of senior officials. Cruz is trying to pressure the administration on a specific point of Russia policy, a campaign that other Republicans say is fruitless and that triggered a fiery shouting match with Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who’s the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Rep. Eric Swalwell says Cruz and Gaetz are like WWE wrestlers and behind closed doors Cruz told him he was doing a great job as an impeachment manager

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California likened several outspoken GOP lawmakers — namely Rep. Matt Gaetz, Sen. Ted Cruz, and Rep. Jim Jordan — to professional wrestlers, saying they were simply putting on an act on social media and television.

Speaking with the anti-Trump group MeidasTouch in a podcast released Tuesday, Swalwell said many of his colleagues were “better suited to work at the WWE” and were trying to give viewers “what they think the fans want.”

He said he had worked with Gaetz before the rise of Trumpism in the US and observed that Gaetz would turn into a character and “laugh at himself about how stupid he had to act to keep the act going.” Continue reading.

Milley to Trump: “I don’t expect you to understand”

The new book by The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Bender — “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost” — pinpoints the moment that the relationship between former President Trump and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley began to disintegrate.

It came last year during a fiery Oval Office confrontation over Milley’s public apology for appearing in a photo op with Trump at St. John’s Church:

“Why did you apologize?” Trump asked him. “That’s weak.”

“Not where I come from,” Milley said. “It had nothing to do with you. It had to do with me and the uniform and the apolitical tradition of the United States military.”

DEA agent trespassed at Capitol on Jan. 6 and lied about it, prosecutors say

A Drug Enforcement Administration special agent trespassed with his government-issued firearm on the Capitol grounds Jan. 6 and then lied about his actions, according to federal prosecutors.

Mark Ibrahim, who was arrested Tuesday, is not accused of entering the Capitolbuilding. Prosecutors say he entered the restricted grounds around the building shortly after barricades were torn down by the mob and then repeatedly showed off his badge and gun to other protesters. He then falsely claimed he was there to help the FBI, prosecutors say.

According to the court record, Ibrahim, of Orange County, Calif., arrived at the Capitol just after 1 p.m. Jan. 6 and was there when the barricades around the building were torn down. He appears in several photographs inside the collapsed barricades, near the Senate steps. About 3 p.m., he filmed a video of himself on the Peace Monument outside the building. Ibrahim took personal leave to attend the Jan. 6 rally, the government said. He was released Tuesday until a hearing in September. Continue reading.

Trump blew campaign cash by paying MyPillow CEO to make an ad for him — and it was an epic disaster

One of the many stories to come out of the 2020 presidential campaign was that President Donald Trump blew through $1.1 billion and didn’t move the needle in his polling.

Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker’s new book, I Alone Can Fix It, details a bizarre bet between disgraced former campaign manager Brad Parscale and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell over who was better at creating campaign ads.

According to the book, Trump was fascinated with the “deal” he thought Lindell was getting for ads on Fox News. Candidates theoretically are supposed to be given the lowest ad rate, and cable news advertising is notoriously cheaper than networks. Continue reading.

Texas Republican Urges Election Audit — In Counties Biden Won

Texas state Rep. Steve Toth (R) on Monday announced that he had filed legislation calling for a “forensic audit” of the state’s 2020 election results.

Former President Donald Trump won Texas in 2020 by nearly six percentage points despite ultimately losing the national electoral college and popular vote to President Joe Biden.

Toth’s bill, the “Texas Voter Confidence Act,” would not audit all of the 11 million-plus votes that were cast in the state. Instead, the legislation calls for an audit in “every precinct in each county with a population of 415,000 or more.”

This would disproportionately target counties that voted for Biden. Continue reading.

Trump official slashed salary of newly hired virologist because he was jealous he was making more money

At a time that Americans needed a smart and stable government, Donald Trump’s COVID-19 Task Force was overwhelmed with petty squabbles.

According to the new book by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, I, Alone Can Fix It, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was preoccupied with the salaries of the people on the task force.

Dr Stephen Hahn, who joined as the FDA commissioner in Dec. 2019, had a morning call with the purpose of “navigating task-force personalities and political land mines.” The last thing anyone wanted was for the typical Trump White House drama to interfere with protecting the country from the impending pandemic. Continue reading.

GOP blocks infrastructure debate as negotiators near deal

Republicans on Wednesday blocked the Senate from debating a bipartisan infrastructure proposal as negotiators say they are near finalizing their agreement.

The 49-51 vote fell short of the 60 needed to advance what is effectively stand-in legislation that senators will swap the bipartisan group’s text into once it is finished.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) changed his vote late in a procedural move that allows him to bring it back up for a second vote quickly. Continue reading.

Tampa man, 20, admits intending to block Congress with Oath Keepers in new Capitol riot guilty plea

A Tampa man pleaded guilty Tuesday to joining a “stack formation” of Oath Keepers members and associates who allegedly breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, becoming the latest to cooperate with prosecutors and the first among the formation to specify that he intended to hinder Congress that day using intimidation and coercion.

Caleb Berry, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of obstructing an official proceeding.

In a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to request lowering an estimated prison term of 51 to 63 months under federal guidelines for Berry, who has no criminal record and is one of the youngest defendants charged in the Capitol riots, in exchange for his substantial assistance. Continue reading.

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