Jake Bernstein

Forgoing food. Cutting back on utilities. Driving less. Borrowing money. These are the sacrifices that tens of millions of people are making to afford their health care expenses, according to a West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America survey released.

‪NBC News‬ ‪@nbcnews.com‬ · 11m Defense Department officials told senators in a closed-door briefing that they estimate the first six days of the war in Iran cost more than $11.3 billion, three sources say.

Quite the split screen:
-Millions of Americans are skipping meals or cutting back on utilities to afford health care

-First 6 days of Iran war cost $11.3 billion, Pentagon tells Congress

“.. For the American consumer, things are getting very real, very fast: average gasoline price is now up by 19.9% over the past 10 days ... that eclipses the move in 2022 and is now the largest spike we've seen in the history of the data going back to 2004.” ⛽️

- Schwab

Please please read this from the archbishop of Chicago

www.archchicago.org/statement/-/...

America’s teachers are working two jobs and barely getting by | CNN Business Ashley loves her day job teaching math, reading and science to fifth-graders in Washington. But like many other teachers, Ashley relies on a side hustle or two to get by.

The overwhelming majority of American public school teachers (71%) hold at least one side job, according to a new survey released today.

www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/b...

As measles spreads in South Carolina, RFK Jr’s allies work to gut vaccine laws Activists who dispute safety of vaccines are pushing to limit immunization requirements in schools

Groups with ties to Robert F Kennedy Jr are encouraging followers to organize opposition to vaccine mandates in more than 20 states, including six states with current measles outbreaks.

(AXIOS) - No president in the modern era has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump.

@axios.com
www.axios.com/2026/03/02/t...

To put this in context: Consistently, about 13 percent of Americans believe in Bigfoot. So war with Iran polls slightly better than Bigfoot.

Dr. Catharine Young: We are now at 1136 new measles cases - in just the first 8 weeks of this year alone. A preventable disease resurging. This is an abject policy failure.

I Caught POLITICO and the New York Times Laundering Pink Slime "News" How the sexist backlash to AOC and Gretchen Whitmer at the Munich Security Conference led me to a scammy "local news" outlet pushing a coordinated right-wing narrative

nice exploration of how right wing propaganda and "pink slime" newspapers (fake local papers built by right wing propagandists to lie to locals) propped up the whole AOC "um" non news cycle

‘We’re no longer attracting top talent’: the brain drain killing American science As Trump slashes science funding, young researchers flee abroad. Without solid innovation, the US could cease to have the largest biomedical ecosystem in the world

‘We’re no longer attracting top talent’: the brain drain killing American science

Federal judge orders Trump administration to restore slavery exhibits to the President’s House The order does not give the federal government a deadline for restoring the President's House site.

Federal judge orders Trump admin to restore slavery exhibits to the President's House in Philly www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

Trump touts climate savings but new rule set to push up US prices Critics accuse administration of ‘cooking the books’ by claiming US would save $1.3tn from climate finding reversal

The repeal of the climate endangerment finding will impose an estimated costs of $1.5tn, overshadowing the projected $1.3tn in savings. And that’s before you take into account the huge social and climate costs.

Martha Washington’s enslaved maid Ona Judge made a daring escape to freedom – but the National Park Service has erased her story from Philadelphia exhibit Ona Judge was one of 9 people George Washington owned when he lived in the President’s House in Philadelphia.

Before January 2026, those who wished to learn about Judge could literally stand on the same walkway in Philadelphia she took to flee President Washington’s house. This changed when the National Park Service dismantled the slavery exhibit at Philadelphia Independence National Historic Park.

7-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Of Dehydration And Shock In U.S. Border Patrol Custody The girl's death underscores the crisis precipitated by large groups of families seeking asylum where there are inadequate facilities to detain them.

CBP didn’t give her or anyone any water; she asked 3 times accg to other reports. CBP killed a 7yr old.

“8 hours after the girl & her father were taken into custody, she began having seizures & her body temperature was measured at 105.7 degrees by emergency medical technicians. shorturl.at/d2OTJ

NY FED: Consumers pay 90% of tariffs.

CBO: Consumers pay *95%* of tariffs.

www.crfb.org/papers/cbos-...

abcnews.go.com/Business/tru...

Revelio Labs says January jobs fell 13.3k — the largest decline in at least 5 years.

(via Schwab)

The US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government every year from 1994 to 2023.

The Cato study provides the first-ever 30-year analysis of the fiscal effects of immigration on government budgets.

https://ow.ly/jy8a50Y8kM3

Public health crisis unfolding in Minneapolis as residents avoid healthcare Providers are arranging home visits and telehealth as neighbors pick up prescriptions, groceries and diapers

A public health crisis is unfolding in Minnesota as people targeted by federal agents are afraid to seek healthcare while some healthcare staff are also fearful for their safety at work.

(FT) - Big US companies have this week revealed plans to lay off tens of thousands of workers ..

.. Amazon, UPS, Dow, Nike, Home Depot and other companies said they would eliminate more than 52,000 jobs combined ..”

@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/9953...

There are 3,800 kids in ICE custody.

In Criminal Justice Elections This Year, ICE Contracts Are on the Hot Seat With roughly 2,400 elections for prosecutor and sheriff in 2026, Bolts reviews the map and early hotspots that will shape criminal punishment and law enforcement practices.

Sheriff elections this year will test voters’ appetite for collaborating with Trump’s deportation agenda. The reelection bids of pro-ICE sheriffs in blue or swing counties of Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Montana, and Wisconsin stand out.

HHS wasn't worried about South Carolina's measles outbreak. It's now enormous. “CDC is not currently concerned that this will develop into a large, long-running outbreak," the agency said in December.

I wrote about how in a December email to me, RFK Jr.'s HHS insisted the current South Carolina measles outbreak wouldn't get that bad—and how it has since snowballed into the biggest US outbreak since measles was eliminated. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Wolfers: This is the most interventionist government of my lifetime. It’s the least conservative government of my lifetime. When you are the richest country in the world, maybe you are not the ones who should be tearing down your existing institutions. But that’s exactly what this president is doing

So important. What they say is not the story. That is never the story. What happened is the story. Write what happened.

“.. foreign exporters absorbed only about 4% of the burden of last year’s U.S. tariff increases by lowering their prices, while American consumers and importers absorbed 96%.” 🤡

@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/economy/trad...

GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER: “.. We are constantly experiencing new provocations, .. and here we Europeans must make it clear that the limit has been reached.”

@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump Is Making China Great Again America’s friends and trading partners are running into the arms of our adversaries. What a mess.

Trump has reunited the world—with China.
A parade of foreign leaders is suddenly visiting China after years away. On Friday, Canadian PM wrapped up a Beijing trip, 1st trip since 2017. Korean president was there earlier this month (last visit: 2019); British PM will be there soon (last visit: 2018)

US carbon pollution rose in 2025 in reversal of previous years’ reductions Study from research firm finds that US greenhouse gas emissions grew faster than economic activity last year

In a reversal from previous years’ pollution reductions, the United States spewed 2.4% more heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels in 2025 than in the year before.

Grocery prices were up 0.7 percent in December, the largest one-month gain since October 2022. They were up 2.4 percent from a year ago.