In a previous post, and as flagged by reader rtd, I wrote too quickly and did not show the full set of changes to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services mission statement. Apologies for the omission. The wording of the new mission statement — on top of deleting “a nation of immigrants” — are in my mind actually much worse, and I thank rtd for alerting me. Below is a fuller accounting of changes, annotated.
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Gotta Tell My Mom
[edited to quote current Mission Statement verbatim, per rtd‘s comment; new text in red, original text below in blue]
America under Mr. Trump is transmuted. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) modifies its mission statement from:
“USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.” [emphasis added – mdc]
to:
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.”
[changed text 2/24 12PM Pacific – thanks to rtd for pointing out that “as a nation of immigrants” is not the only thing modified] Original text reads:
…to:
“USCIS secures America’s promise
as a nation of immigrantsby providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.”
The head of USCIS stated that this change was not at the direction of the White House.
Some Additional Possible Covariates for Mass Shooting Casualties
Following up on the other candidate variables in this post.
Figure 1: Mass shooting deaths (black), wounded (gray), both 12 month trailing moving average. February observation for data through 2/23. Source: Mother Jones and author’s calculations.
With Bated Breath… Economic Report of the President, 2018
Fact-check please!
Some Time Series Correlates of Mass Shooting Statistics
Figure 1: Mass shooting deaths (red), wounded (pink). February observation for data through 2/14. Light blue shading denotes assault weapon ban. Orange shading denotes implementation HJ Res 40. Source: Mother Jones, news accounts for 2/14, and author’s calculations.
Shooting Statistical Delusions
Reader PeakTrader writes:
Mass shootings peaked when Bill Clinton assualted women in the ‘90s.
When such assertions are made, it is usually useful to refer to data. I do not see a peak in 1992-2000. I see a peak right now.
Figure 1: Mass shooting count. February observation for data through 2/14. Light green shading denotes Clinton administration. Orange shading denotes 2017 onward. Source: Mother Jones, news accounts for 2/14, and author’s calculations.
Figure 2: Mass shooting fatalities (red), and injured (pink). February observation for data through 2/14. Light green shading denotes Clinton administration. Orange shading denotes 2017 onward. Source: Mother Jones, news accounts for 2/14, and author’s calculations.
Median Real Weekly Earnings for Workers back to 2016Q4 Levels
Figure 1: Employed full time: Median usual weekly real earnings for Wage and salary workers, 16 years and over, 1982-84 CPI Adjusted Dollars, seasonally adjusted (blue), and Employed full time: Median usual weekly nominal earnings (second quartile)f or Wage and salary workers, High School graduates, no college, 25 years and over, seasonally adjusted, deflated by CPI, not seasonally adjusted (red). NBER defined recession dates shaded gray. Orange shading denotes Trump administration. Source: BLS via FRED, and author’s calculations. (updated 8:30PM Pacific)
The U.S. economy keeps growing
The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that U.S. real GDP grew at a 2.6% annual rate in the fourth quarter. That is better than the 2.2% we’ve seen on average since the Great Recession ended in 2009, though below the historical average growth rate for the U.S. economy of 3.1%.
Ruminations about What (and How) to Post in the Current Times
Reader rtd admonishes me:
Someone with your smarts & level of education should be able to ignore these types of political rhetoric & certainly not induce you to create a blog post devoted to such atrocious comments & lunacy (particularly considering, as you’ve explicitly noted in the past, that you hold your readers to a relatively high regard as it relates to their intellectual capabilities). Unfortunately your (persistent) biases & subjectivity don’t seem to allow you to take the high road
He’s writing in response to the December 2015 post entitled NYT: “Donald Trump Calls for Barring Muslims From Entering U.S.”. At the time, I re-worded the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to fit then-candidate-Trump’s call.
Now, in the context of the Mr. Trump’s recent discussion of determining immigration and refugee status, rtd says, don’t sink to the level of Mr. Trump’s terminology of “s***hole” countries, as Mr. Trump considers what legislation he is willing to sign.
I will admit in these changed times, it is hard to stomach much of the language being used (it’s not how my parents taught me to speak) — as well as the intent behind this language. The question is, if Mr. Trump is saying he’s going to do X, shouldn’t we consider outcomes if he does X (taking into account that within the first week of his administration, he did try to ban residents from several majority Muslim countries from entering the country — and finally managed to)? In other words, will ignoring coarse language and intent make those things disappear?
My answer is no.
Market Expectation of Shut Down on 1/22 (Monday) Breaks 50-50
according to PredictIt as of 4:35PM Central.
