Via Atrios, Brad DeLong:

"May’s ADP Report estimates employment in the service-providing sector rose by 48,000, marking 17 consecutive months of employment gains while employment in the goods-producing sector fell 10,000 following six months of increases. Manufacturing employment fell 9,000 in May following seven consecutive monthly gains." [. . . This was well below the consensus forecast of an increase of 178,000 private sector jobs in May. [. . .] This is a very weak ADP report - and more evidence that the BLS report will be below consensus on Friday.

Austerity Now!

Speaking for me only

No More Mister Nice Blog thinks Anthony Weiner is doing it all wrong:

The point is, [Weiner]'s trying to get people to back down by being as aggressive and self-righteous as he thinks a Republican would be in the same situation -- and no one's backing down. He's trying to rally the sympathies of non-wingnuts -- and (as you see from the TPM link above) it's not working all that well. (Also see this post from New York magazine, which generally leans left of center: it's titled "Anthony Weiner Is Not Doing Himself Any Favors.") [. . .] It's not working. Maybe it isn't working because a Democrat simply can't get away with this, but I'd say it isn't because he's misreading how Republicans and right-wingers win.

Not much interested in this story and I do not think I am alone. Sure Fox and the Right Wing Media won't let this go, but they wouldn't under any circumstances. The rest of the world is what interests Weiner. His "moving on" strategy may work there. It is way too early to judge his media strategy it seems to me. If a month from now this is big news, then it will have failed. If it isn't, then it will have succeeded. Judging Weiner's strategy at this point is silly. Nothing is going to happen in the next few days. More . .

Breaking Bad's new season looks awesome. Unfortunately, it doesn't start until July 17. Weeds kicks off its new season on June 27, with Nancy in a halfway house completing her sentence. The show moves to New York. Among the recurring guest roles will be Martin Short, who was so great on Damages as Bernie Madoff's son last year. For Weeds, he plays an attorney.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Did the Government participate in David Headley's lie to the court about his past mental health issues when he pleaded guilty? A bevvy on news articles on the Tahawwur Rana terror trial in Chicago today say Headley lied to the Government and the Judge about his past mental health troubles. But did the Government really not know about them? The Wall St. Journal recaps Headley's cross-examination today by Tahawwur Rana's attorney:

When Mr. Headley told the court earlier that he had never been treated for a mental disorder, he failed to disclose that in 1992 he was diagnosed with a multiple-personality disorder and that he underwent 18 months of psychological treatment around 1997. Confronted with his medical record, Mr. Headley said softly, "I don't recall it." When Mr. Blegen asked him if he would like to see the paperwork, he said, "I will accept it."

[More...]

David Dayen points to Jared Bernstein's response to Paul Krugman's take on political realism. Bernstein wrote:

It’s also congenitally hard for politicians to get behind “a serious program of mortgage modification.” Those who advocate for this (the NYT editorial page, e.g.) are right, but they’re also downplaying a very binding constraint. The politics of this idea are deeply wound up in moral hazard. People forget, but it was precisely this action—giving mortgage relief to someone at risk of default and not to someone who was struggling to keep up their payments—that birthed the Tea Party.

I ran into this "the Tea Party made them do it" argument before - see this. It struck me as specious at the time and still does. But it does point to an important issue- how activists can change political realities. Consider the Tea Party. What was it really? Nothing more than the usual suspect Right Wing Republicans ranting about the same things they always rant about. But not only did the Media pretend it was something new- apparently so to did the Obama Administration. The strange thing about it is would the rantings have been any different no matter what course the Obama Administration chose? I mean if the worries were the Tea Party, how then can the health bill effort be explained? There is a lesson in all of this and I will explore it on the flip.

I'll be in court today, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is back on the witness stand in his Chicago trial. This morning, a juror was excused.

The Chicago terror trial of Canadian businessman Tahawwur Hussein Rana, charged with conspiracy in the Mumbai bombings and a planned attack on a Danish news agency, continues today in Chicago. Former DEA informant Daood Gilani, aka David Coleman Headley, is still on the witness stand, undergoing cross-examination by Rana's attorneys.

Many are hoping today's testimony will reveal more on the nexus between al-Qaeda, ISI and LeT. There are still no answers on the identity of alleged Pakistani ISI officer Major Iqbal or Major Sameer Ali, both of whom are indicted in the case.

Some new articles on David Headley's credibility issues: Economic Times, and from Pro Publica, How Do We Know [Headley] Is Telling the Truth?

Unfortunately, Globe and Mail reporter Colin Freeze is back in Toronto and not live-tweeting today. Updates may be available by others at #Rana Trial. All of our coverage of the case is available here.

Bump and Update: Journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad has been found dead near Pakistan. His body showed signs of torture. R.I.P. Mr. Shazad.

Time Magazine asks: Was the ISI involved?

Original Post 5/30: Pakistani Journalist Feared Kidnapped by ISI

Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief, and author of the newly released book, Inside al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11, has been missing since yesterday when he left his home to do a TV appearance and never got there. The Hindu Newspaper has more. [More...]

Still one of my favorite music videos of all time. And as true today as it was in 1984.

You see it in the headlines, you hear it every day
They say they're gonna stop it, but it doesn't go away
They move it through Miami and sell it in LA
They hide it up in Telluride, I mean it's here to stay
It's propping up the governments in Columbia and Peru
You ask any D.A., man, they'll say there's nothing we can do
From the office of the president right down to me and you
...It's a losing proposition, but one you can't refuse
It's the politics of contraband, it's the smugglers' blues

Time for a new approach? Hardly, according to testimony this week at a Senate Caucus hearing by DEA Assistant Administrator and Chief of Operations Thomas M. Harrigan, on the DEA's five year plan for combating the cartels and drugs in Central America and Mexico. [More...]

Paul Krugman writes:

In pointing out that we could be doing much more about unemployment, I recognize, of course, the political obstacles to actually pursuing any of the policies that might work. In the United States, in particular, any effort to tackle unemployment will run into a stone wall of Republican opposition. Yet that’s not a reason to stop talking about the issue. In fact, looking back at my own writings over the past year or so, it’s clear that I too have sinned: political realism is all very well, but I have said far too little about what we really should be doing to deal with our most important problem.

Political reality once dictated that high unemployment would sweep pols out of office - has that changed? Perhaps 2012 will signal a Brave New World where high unemployment is no longer political poison. I hope not.

Open Thread.

Hope your weekend is going well.

Open Thread.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend.

Remember today's match of the decade, Barca- ManU from Wembley. Go Blaugrana!

Open Thread.