Michael Hicks

I have a question. If Kristi Noem is now Shield of the Americas is Corey Lewandowski Condom of the Americas? And what's his failure rate?

I love this. Rapid social media turnaround, costs nothing, easily spreads online for attention.

The competition for the dumbest member of the United States Senate has just heated up with the elimination of one its strongest contestants!!

Thanks to President Trump, The Gas in Your Car is Worth 20 Cents More Per Gallon Rising Value of Gas Just One Initiative in Turning Around Biden Economy!

Now on Substack!
open.substack.com/pub/represen...

I know that the people who need to read this aren’t here, but here goes:

Rules of engagement aren’t for the enemy. They’re for you. They’re for your soldiers when they’re captured or wounded. They’re for your civilians when they’re in range of the enemy. They’re for your allies, to reassure.

It’s looking increasingly likely that Kristi Noem and Lewandowski funneled almost 200 million in government money to a company that is run by her friend and that nobody can give an address for.

Oh, and it was 8 days old when it was awarded the contract.

Prof Hicks compares listening to the pro-tariff crowd to hiring a bad plumber.

This by my favorite IN Economist, @profhicks.bsky.social

Author posted this as a dunk on liberal higher ed. But more striking to me is a future GOP more captured by "plutocratic populism." A growing % of GOP voters will be less educated, voting for policies that pay billionnaires who distract with racism & culture war.
www.city-journal.org/article/high...

1/ A Russian drone developer looks back on four years of war in Ukraine with "shame and disappointment". He complains that rival Russian UAV developers constantly lie and sabotage each other's projects for profit, with state-run enterprises undermining private developers. ⬇️

Next D administration and Congress needs to outlaw these things, and assess 300% tax rates on gains from them

JUST IN: A federal judge in Oregon has barred ICE from conducting warrantless arrests without probable cause in the state, saying the agency's "dragnets" have flouted "clear and undisputed" law. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Anthropic responds to Hegseth. www.anthropic.com/news/stateme...

if you believe in any form of free enterprise at all, the idea that the Pentagon can not only cut off your contract but designate you a supply chain risk and prevent other companies from buying from you just because you won't build killbots for the government should be terrifying

Elon can't make an AI as good as Claude. So instead of actually trying to win over users in a free marketplace, he's trying to have the pentagon stop using Claude AND ban all their contractors (incl. Amazon, NVIDIA, etc) from even working with Anthropic. tinpot dictatorship stuff

This is amazing.

www.getyourfuckingmoneyback.com

Though it has a certain ring to it.

Video shows ICE agents drive-by pepper spraying an Ohio mom and her three kids. While she was driving.

When asked by a local TV station for comment, DHS put out a statement that directly contradicts the video.

www.wkrn.com/news/nationa...

Interviewer: "What's your take on how he's framing the economy?"
Me: "It's that he's lying."

Mission impossible . . .

A lonely position . . .

Trump treasury official to exit after objecting to Minneapolis crackdown John Hurley’s exit follows internal disputes over the White House-backed push to target alleged fraud in the Somali community.

Exclusive: John Hurley, a top Treasury Department official, is leaving after privately raising objections to White House-backed plans to crack down on the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota, according to seven people familiar with the matter.

Visiting Poverty Scholars Program, 2026-2027 The Institute for Research on Poverty is calling for applications for its Visiting Poverty Scholars Program. The Visiting Poverty Scholars program funds up to four poverty scholars per year to visit IRP or any one of its U.S. Collaborative of Poverty Centers (CPC) partners for five days in order to interact with its resident faculty, present a poverty-related seminar, and become acquainted with staff and resources. Visiting scholars will confer with a faculty host, who will arrange for interactions with others on campus. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. Central on Friday. April 3, 2026 Eligibility: Applicants must be PhD-holding, U.S.-based poverty scholars at any career level who are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

#FundSocSci
www.irp.wisc.edu/visiting-pov...

Pink

if inflation is down why is Trump bestowing the presidential medal of freedom on the men’s hockey team goalie

A+ State of the Union counterprogramming by TCM.

"The most powerful economic development tool available to any community isn't a tax incentive or a new highway interchange — it's making the place worth living in."

If you listen to the wind, you'll hear the sound of a million demoralized Hoosier urbanists: "...nooooo duuuuhhh..."

I don't agree with all of Michael's takes but it's notable that he's willing to stand on an island when the data shows him something that contradicts the governing praxis of his ostensible ideological peers (center, center-right). Indianapolis (D) still often struggles to accept the truth of it.

Why Carmel beats Muncie for jobs — and what it means for cities | Opinion There are a lot of Muncies around the Midwest. That's why economic growth has been so sluggish across the Great Lakes states.

What would your city do differently if simply making neighborhoods nice places to live — with good schools, low crime and walkable streets — was a better economic development strategy than tax incentives and industrial policy?

www.indystar.com/story/opinio...