To stop the gerrymandering wars we need peace without victory
The escalating redistricting war is the logical extension of the take-no-prisoners struggle for power in American politics. Because power is so closely divided in Washington, each side wants to flex every ounce of political muscle it has; when control of the House teeters on a knife's edge, even a marginal advantage has a major payoff.
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Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Explainer-How US marijuana reclassification could help cannabis companies
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is looking to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a shift that could ease criminal penalties and reshape the pot industry by lowering tax burdens and making it easier for firms to secure funding. Trump said on Monday a decision could come within the next couple of weeks. U.S.-listed cannabis-linked stocks rose in pre-market trading on Tuesday, led by a 13% jump in Canopy Growth. Organigram Global, SNDL, Aurora Cannabis and Tilray Brands gained between 3% and 12%. WHAT DOES RECLASSIFYING ENTAIL? Under the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is listed as a Schedule I substance, meaning it has a high potential for abuse and no current accepted medical use. Reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug could unlock banking access for pot producers, attract institutional investors, reduce tax burden and spur mergers and acquisitions. Securing funding remains one of the biggest challenges for cannabis producers, as federal restrictions keep most banks and institutional investors out of the sector, forcing pot producers to turn to costly loans or alternative lenders. Last year, the Biden administration asked the Department of Health and Human Services to review marijuana's classification, and the agency recommended moving it to Schedule III, a category for substances with a moderate to low risk of physical or psychological dependence. WHAT WOULD BE THE TAX IMPLICATIONS? One of the biggest benefits from a reclassification would be that cannabis firms would no longer be subject to Section 280E of the U.S. federal tax code. That provision prevents businesses dealing in Schedule I and II controlled substances from claiming tax credits and deductions for business expenses. WHAT COMES NEXT? TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg said full legalization remains unlikely, citing a lack of meaningful support in Congress and limits on how far the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) can go through rescheduling alone. "It seems more likely to us that Trump would revive the effort at the DEA to move cannabis to Schedule III, which would permit the government to regulate it," said Seiberg. Some analysts, however, say a reclassification will not change much. Cannabis will remain federally illegal, interstate trade will not be allowed and the silo system of each state deciding their own market rules will still apply, according to equity research firm Zuanic & Associates. Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
CNN
30 minutes ago
- CNN
Here's how Trump's BLS commissioner pick has criticized the BLS
Hours before President Donald Trump fired former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer this month, E.J. Antoni appeared on former White House strategist Steve Bannon's podcast to discuss the BLS' monthly jobs report, which showed much-lower-than-expected numbers for July and shockingly steep revisions for May and June. Antoni called McEntarfer 'incompetent' for failing to fix data collection and interpretation problems at the BLS that have led to major revisions in recent years. He agreed with Bannon on the solution: A MAGA Republican who 'Trump knows and trusts' should be put into the position. 'We still haven't gotten there,' Antoni said of a Trump loyalist running the BLS. 'And I think that's part of the reason why we continue to have all of these different data problems.' On Monday, Antoni became that trusted ally when Trump nominated him to become the new commissioner for the BLS. It's the latest example of Trump's appointment of loyalists to otherwise nonpartisan or independent agencies. Some of those appointments have worked to radically reshape the institutions they were chosen to lead. BLS, an independently operated agency within the Department of Labor, collects and publishes crucial data on jobs and inflation used by businesses, investors and governments. Antoni, an economist at the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation and contributor to Project 2025, has been an outspoken critic of the way BLS collects that data. 'There are better ways to collect, process, and disseminate data—that is the task for the next BLS commissioner, and only consistent delivery of accurate data in a timely manner will rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last several years,' Antoni posted on X last week. In particular, Antoni has criticized the BLS for failing to capture sufficient and prompt data in the post-pandemic era. By law, except in a handful of states and Puerto Rico, participation in the survey for the monthly jobs report is voluntary. But survey response rates have tumbled since Covid – from 60% in January 2020 to less than 43% for the April 2025 report. Antoni has also echoed a frequent Trump criticism of the BLS, claiming that recent massive annual revisions – including a revision that showed 589,000 fewer jobs were created in 2024 than initially reported – gave former President Joe Biden favorable headlines each month that critics say he didn't deserve. 'Under the Biden administration … we routinely got a great number – a blockbuster number – initially, and then in the subsequent months that number would be revised down, and then when it was time for an annual revision, the figures would be revised down further. In other words, millions of jobs that we thought we had, it turns out were never there in the first place,' Antoni said in July on 'The Right Idea,' a Texas Publicly Policy Foundation podcast. 'Of course, no one pays attention to the revisions months later, so it always is just that blockbuster headline and then quietly revising those numbers down.' That revision was not a record, as Trump has falsely claimed: A 902,000-job revision in 2009 was larger. The BLS said the difference between the initial and final annual revisions last year was due to information received in US tax returns. Antoni called post-pandemic economic data 'highly problematic.' The BLS has warned cuts issued by the Department of Government Efficiency have disrupted the data collection that feeds into the government's reports. Yet Antoni has applauded the work by DOGE in cutting government jobs. His criticisms of the BLS go back years. In a 2022 blog post, he called a methodology change for the BLS' Consumer Price Index an 'Orwellian trick' to mask higher inflation. Antoni is a favorite of conservatives and makes frequent appearances on right-wing media outlets. In addition to his work at the Heritage Foundation and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, he is an opinion columnist for the Daily Caller and guest on Bannon's show. But Trump's firing of McEntarfer and nominating of Antoni have been met with swift backlash from many economists, who worry about the credibility and non-partisan nature of the bureau. Trump accused McEntarfer – who was appointed by former President Joe Biden to the role of commissioner in 2023 and confirmed by a bipartisan Senate vote – of manipulating jobs data without offering any evidence. 'E.J. Antoni is completely unqualified to be BLS Commissioner. He is an extreme partisan and does not have any relevant expertise. He would be a break from decades of nonpartisan technocrats,' economist Jason Furman posted on X. Another economist, Justin Wolfers, called Antoni 'disastrously terrible' and wrote that he has 'few credentials beyond a long history of misrepresenting or misunderstanding basic economic statistics.' CNN has reached out to Antoni for comment.
New York Times
30 minutes ago
- New York Times
Gaming Out the Price of a Trump Trade Deal With China
Andrew here. We're digging deeper into President Trump's tariff talks with China, which have been postponed for another 90 days. (Some critics are calling it another TACO — short for 'Trump Always Chickens Out' — moment.) We're also still thinking about the implications of the deal Trump reached in which Nvidia will pay 15 percent of revenue from A.I. chip sales to China. Will Beijing view this as state-sponsored capitalism? Will Nvidia — and by extension companies like Apple and Tesla — no longer be viewed as independent businesses but as arms of the U.S. government? If so, is the brand of capitalism that the U.S. has promoted for decades now in question? Let us know your thoughts. We're also watching the fight that Elon Musk started with Apple (and Sam Altman jumping into the debate). We dive into all of that, and more, below. Chips, and a truce President Trump has again postponed, by another 90 days, one of his biggest trade battles, removing for now a major worry hanging over the global economy. But even as Trump urges China to buy more American products like soybeans, U.S. lawmakers and national security experts are concerned about what the president is willing to agree to — notably potentially giving Beijing greater access to high-end artificial intelligence process technology. The latest: At the White House on Monday, Trump defended an agreement in which Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices could resume selling some powerful semiconductors to Chinese companies. In exchange, Washington will take a 15 percent cut of sales. Trump justified the agreement by calling the Nvidia H20 processors at the heart of it 'obsolete' — but left open the possibility that Nvidia could soon sell a stripped-down version of its top-end Blackwell chips to China as well. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
