mastodon 4.7.3Washington Post: National columnist. Newsletter: "How To Read This Chart." Book: "The Aftermath."
Last year (as first reported by 404 Media), a public records request revealed how often a small police department's camera network was searched by other law enforcement agencies. It was … a lot.
A look at the national networking of local surveillance. Gift link: http://bit.ly/4cYvaDH
I wrote about what it means to be American from the perspective of someone whose family was here before America was.
I also figured out that a sixth of immigrants in the country last year had been in the U.S. longer than JD "being American is about having roots here" Vance.
https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/philip-bump-family-history-what-makes-american-22326156.php
Some (non-April Fool's) personal news. https://pbump.net
Made some charts and maps to visualize just how stark the U.S.'s democratic backsliding has been in the past year. https://www.pbump.net/o/visualizing-the-erosion-of-american-democracy/
Even when it’s not obvious, the 250th anniversary has been poisoned by commercialism, partisanship and a rejection of history.
Gift link: https://bit.ly/4ejc8r4
Rooted in part on research I did for my book, I wrote about how and why the U.S. is dependent on immigrant labor — including the overlap of an aging population with services provided by immigrants targeted by the administration's TPS moves.
Good charts herein: https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/aging-connecticut-workers-immigration-philip-bump-22310999.php
Dug into federal data to compare the known speeds of cars involved in crashes with posted speed limits. Found a dramatic and accelerating link between the risk of injury and the extent to which speeders are breaking the law.
Gift link: https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/ct-speed-camera-debate-speeding-risk-22233537.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3RpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9jb2x1bW5pc3QvYXJ0aWNsZS9jdC1zcGVlZC1jYW1lcmEtZGViYXRlLXNwZWVkaW5nLXJpc2stMjIyMzM1MzcucGhw&time=MTc3NzU2MzAyMTU0NQ%3D%3D&rid=OTUyN2NiMjktZDJkMC00YmViLWFmN2ItNzAzNjJiYjMyMWU0&sharecount=Ng%3D%3D
It is not California's fault that Trump and his allies are alleging fraud. It has nothing to do with the process or the timing any more than when he attacked Iowa in 2016 and Georgia in 2020. Making voting harder in response to bad-faith attacks on democracy throws out the baby with the bathwater.
Gift link: https://bit.ly/4urnQpB
I, like you, am tired of I-talked-to-a-Trump-voter-in-a-diner stories. But newly published research that involved weeks of contact with conservatives and their communities offered some novel insights that I hadn't considered.
So I wrote about it. Gift link: https://shorturl.at/3FeaO
I wrote about the "anti-weaponization fund" and how the "weaponization" cited basically didn't happen and how there is *actual* weaponization happening at the moment but that the targets of it will never see a single dime for their troubles.
Gift link:
https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/trump-settlement-fund-ct-taxpayers-22266161.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3RpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9jb2x1bW5pc3QvYXJ0aWNsZS90cnVtcC1zZXR0bGVtZW50LWZ1bmQtY3QtdGF4cGF5ZXJzLTIyMjY2MTYxLnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc3OTIyMDI5OTIyMw%3D%3D&rid=OTUyN2NiMjktZDJkMC00YmViLWFmN2ItNzAzNjJiYjMyMWU0&sharecount=MQ%3D%3D
Inspired by ProPublica’s new database, I created a visualization of the nearly 400 LLCs that make up Trump’s business empire.
That and more in this week’s newsletter. Read! Free!
https://www.howtoreadthisch.art/where-trumps-money-comes-from-and-other-mysteries/
A little personal update: Overhauled my personal site (including links to nearly everything I ever wrote at The Post and an updated/polished Trump golf tracker). https://www.pbump.com
If you separate your thumb and index finger by *just a little bit*, that's about a millimeter in distance. That space can provide useful context for an unexpectedly difficult concept to grasp: just how insanely huge one billion dollars really is.
(Hint: That dome isn't Musk's fortune.) https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/how-rich-billionaires-are-visualized-22254237.php
My first newsletter/column for my new gig is up. A little about smaller U.S. communities; a little about how rooting for Michigan is doing the Devil's work.
Gift link:
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/philip-bump-newsletter-22192187.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3RpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUvcGhpbGlwLWJ1bXAtbmV3c2xldHRlci0yMjE5MjE4Ny5waHA%3D&time=MTc3NTUxNTc1MDYyMw%3D%3D&rid=OTUyN2NiMjktZDJkMC00YmViLWFmN2ItNzAzNjJiYjMyMWU0&sharecount=MA%3D%3D
So, about the GOP’s argument that you need ID to prove you’re old enough to drink, so why not in order to prevent “voter fraud”? https://www.ms.now/opinion/save-act-worst-voter-id-argument-republicans
According to the president, the war in Iran is "ahead of schedule." To which you likely responded: there's a schedule? The answer, almost certainly, is no; this is just something he says, having internalized it as a positive metric back in his developer days.
https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-iran-war-ahead-of-schedule
A two-month period in the summer of 1946 birthed Trump, W., Clinton — and the baby boom itself. A look at how the boom shaped U.S. politics and how it didn't.
Gift link: https://shorturl.at/ermkQ
I wrote about how prediction markets combine the moral dubiousness of gambling with the artificial certainty of polling averages and win chances. It ends with a Simpsons quote.
This column, about how the bulge that was the baby boom is now distorting retirement, is basically a distillation of the first chapter of my book. Get up to speed on a massive demographic disruption, for free!
Gift link:
https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/baby-boomers-aging-connecticut-bucket-list-boom-22261323.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3RpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9jb2x1bW5pc3QvYXJ0aWNsZS9iYWJ5LWJvb21lcnMtYWdpbmctY29ubmVjdGljdXQtYnVja2V0LWxpc3QtYm9vbS0yMjI2MTMyMy5waHA%3D&time=MTc3OTM5MDYzOTQzNA%3D%3D&rid=OTUyN2NiMjktZDJkMC00YmViLWFmN2ItNzAzNjJiYjMyMWU0&sharecount=Mg%3D%3D
Instead of blowing up things in Iran, the federal government could have spent $11 billion in a week paying the entire household incomes for everyone in these counties. https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-iran-war-11-billion-income-housing
Working on a series about Americans getting older. Here's the first piece, which is about Connecticut but also about the U.S. overall. Gift link: https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/connecticut-aging-population-longevity-meaning-22239391.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3RpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9jb2x1bW5pc3QvYXJ0aWNsZS9jb25uZWN0aWN1dC1hZ2luZy1wb3B1bGF0aW9uLWxvbmdldml0eS1tZWFuaW5nLTIyMjM5MzkxLnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc3ODUxNDIyMDE5NA%3D%3D&rid=OTUyN2NiMjktZDJkMC00YmViLWFmN2ItNzAzNjJiYjMyMWU0&sharecount=OQ%3D%3D
Tried to figure out which elected officials in the U.S. have the largest constituencies.
https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/largest-constituencies-elected-officials-22278304.phphttps://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/largest-constituencies-elected-officials-22278304.php
Here is the last How To Read This Chart. It is mostly about human insignificance!
https://www.howtoreadthisch.art/on-to-new-frontiers/
Took that leaked database of proposed changes to the historic presentations at national sites and mapped them. https://www.pbump.net/o/heres-where-national-park-material-is-under-review/
I wrote about OuR hErItAgE. https://www.ms.now/opinion/elon-musk-white-immigration-american-heritage
I wrote about two 20ish guys — one who wants to be elected to office and one who was arrested by ICE — to talk about power and being young in America.
For all of the interest in pretending that inequalities are a function of will or that structural racism is in the distant past: 12 million people were born in Jim Crow states before Jim Crow ended — and still live there today. Gift link: https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/philip-bump-america-250-22217919.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3RpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9jb2x1bW5pc3QvYXJ0aWNsZS9waGlsaXAtYnVtcC1hbWVyaWNhLTI1MC0yMjIxNzkxOS5waHA%3D&time=MTc3NjgwMTI4NDU2NA%3D%3D&rid=OTUyN2NiMjktZDJkMC00YmViLWFmN2ItNzAzNjJiYjMyMWU0&sharecount=Mw%3D%3D
Hello, gang. My weekly newsletter comes out in 12 hours, and it's a good one. A big ol' visualization of the Trump business empire, updating a historic graph from the Times and a new megatool for understanding the world.
And more. Sign up for free! Get it in your inbox! Thrive!
https://howtoreadthisch.art
I went to New London to see how a Harris+40 community felt about the president showing up. What I found is that an awful lot of people would rather just not talk about any of it. https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/bump-trump-coast-guard-neighbors-22268404.php
Who wants to read an overview of how Trump's SOTU rhetoric about the economy has held up over the past two weeks? https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-polls-economy-jobs-report
The newsletter is out! This week has maps: maps of language, maps of knowledge, maps of deaths, maps of geographic anomalies.
Free maps. Getcher free maps here.
https://www.howtoreadthisch.art/visualizations-of-our-conversations/
Will Texas turn blue in November? Well [takes a long drag off of a joint] what does “blue” even *mean*, man?
https://www.ms.now/opinion/texas-north-carolina-primary-elections-red-blue-state
Trump's presidency is centered on making the country look the way he wants it to look. Hegseth's taken that to heart, targeting "wokeness" in the military — officers in which are already more White and more male than the public overall.
https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/philip-bump-hegseth-military-demographics-wokeness-22287649.php
Seems to me that, among other shifts, the Callais decision is likely to accelerate the pattern of states becoming more uniformly partisan. Wrote about it, pulled some new data. Gift link:
https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/callais-red-blue-dominance-states-22242055.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3RpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9jb2x1bW5pc3QvYXJ0aWNsZS9jYWxsYWlzLXJlZC1ibHVlLWRvbWluYW5jZS1zdGF0ZXMtMjIyNDIwNTUucGhw&time=MTc3Nzk5OTM5NjQ5Nw%3D%3D&rid=OTUyN2NiMjktZDJkMC00YmViLWFmN2ItNzAzNjJiYjMyMWU0&sharecount=Nw%3D%3D
Made a quick interactive about federal spending and the federal debt. https://www.pbump.net/o/trump-likes-spending-federal-dollars/
The state of the union is not strong; it is incredibly weak and alarmingly fragile. What Trump was focused on last night was not strengthening the country but on strengthening his base, which is also unusually weak.
https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-state-of-the-union-speech-weakness
Over the past decade, teams that won on Opening Day had winning seasons 60% of the time. Those that lost? Only 40%.
That and far more than you ever wanted to know about Opening Day, here: https://www.pbump.net/o/opening-day/
At SOTU, Trump claimed that young men were becoming more religious because of Charlie Kirk. There's no evidence they are, and certainly not because of him. So why say it?
https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-charlie-kirk-religion-church-attendance
On a Scouts trip with my kids so I'm late plugging the newsletter, but: The newsletter is out in about 11 hours!
Inspired by a very cool map, I made some slightly less-cool versions of it. Also: Guess who can't identify their elected officials?
Sign up! It's free!
https://howtoreadthisch.art
My employer allowed me to indulge an interest of mine:
No team has ever started the season exactly the way the 2026 Mets have. Teams that have started the season as shittily have gone to the playoffs twice in the modern era — 3% of the time. https://www.ctinsider.com/sports/article/mets-3-percent-chance-playoffs-steve-cohen-22215825.php
Yes, Trump is way less popular now than Bush was in 2003 and, yes, the Iran strikes are viewed more negatively than Iraq was at first. But this makes his position less fraught, not more.
https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-polls-iran-war-iraq
The newsletter is out. It’s about movement and destinations and downward spirals and Charles Barkley’s noggin. https://www.howtoreadthisch.art/where-journeys-end/
In this week's newsletter, I answer some questions:
- Where do losing presidential candidates' votes come from?
- Do Senate primaries predict the general?
- Who worked for DOGE?
- Does history forecast an inflation surge?
And more! All for free. Right here: https://www.howtoreadthisch.art/the-answers-to-five-questions/
Prior to now, the biggest point differential through 3 playoff rounds since 1999 was the Warriors' +196 in 2017. The Knicks are at +271. They also have a bigger net win margin than any other 11-game streak in history — and a bigger margin at 11 games than any longer streak. Gift link: https://bit.ly/4dQY5sx
The newsletter is out! It's about Epstein and birth rates and Minnesota and views of Israel and [touches earpiece] oh I guess war in Iran? https://www.howtoreadthisch.art/this-way-madness-lies-but-you-knew-that/
Even by Trump's standards, he's not getting around much in his second term. 4 out of 5 days he's visited a state outside DC, it's to visit one of his clubs or golf courses.
Gift link: https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/philip-bump-trump-obama-biden-golf-visits-data-22229264.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3RpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9jb2x1bW5pc3QvYXJ0aWNsZS9waGlsaXAtYnVtcC10cnVtcC1vYmFtYS1iaWRlbi1nb2xmLXZpc2l0cy1kYXRhLTIyMjI5MjY0LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc3NzM5MDIxMjQ4MA%3D%3D&rid=OTUyN2NiMjktZDJkMC00YmViLWFmN2ItNzAzNjJiYjMyMWU0&sharecount=NQ%3D%3D
