James Goodwin
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jamesgoodwin.bsky.social
James Goodwin
@jamesgoodwin.bsky.social

I'm Policy Director at @progressivereform.bsky.social where I specialize in federal regulatory policy. When not analyzing federal regulatory policy, I enjoy silent film, soccer, and running.

"Oh! I'm sorry! This is abuse." .. more

Geology 14%
Political science 14%
Pinned
Now that we're staring down the barrel of Project 2025, I guess it's a good time to re-up this essay I wrote a few months ago exploring its plans for an authoritarian administrative state www.bostonreview.net/articles/ins...
Inside Project 2025 - Boston Review
Backed by the Heritage Foundation, the initiative seeks to undermine longstanding safeguards against abuses of executive power.
www.bostonreview.net

These are concentration camps. Why would anyone call these something other than concentration camps?
Breaking news: ICE expects to spend $38.3 billion on its plan to acquire warehouses across the U.S. and retrofit them into immigrant detention centers that can hold tens of thousands of people, according to agency documents.
ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion turning warehouses into detention centers
ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion converting warehouses into detention centers, according to planning documents, more than the annual budgets of 22 states.
www.washingtonpost.com

Post an image you can hear (get off my lawn)

"The automated cost-benefit analysis draws from public sources to the greatest extent possible. If it cannot find a source, it makes an educated guess...." So rigorous! And I'm sure totally reliable!

AI-generated cost-benefit analyses for existing rules? Jesus, what a horrible idea. If it's so important, then do it for real with real human beings.

Holy shit, this is embarrassing. I can't believe he wrote this and then made it publicly available with his name attached.

"[W]ith respect to [WV] v. EPA, if the algorithm discerns that a regulation is using an obscure or vague provision of a statute, it could then... assess if it implements a politically controversial program based on a scan of the web or social media." Yes, we need more conservatives in the academy.

"[A]n algorithm could potentially be used to scan the C.F.R. to identify regulatory provisions that may be in tension with the U.S. Supreme Court’s holdings in West Virginia v. EPA, Loper Bright, or other seminal cases." What a clown.

Yes, but could AI be used to identify existing regulations that ought to be strengthened to better fulfill the authorizing statute's protective mission? You bone head. www.yalejreg.com/nc/ai-empowe...
AI-Empowered Regulatory Reform: Spreading the Virginia Model, by Reeve T. Bull - Yale Journal on Regulation
As these federal efforts get underway, agencies in D.C. can draw on the successes of their counterparts in Richmond. Though federal regulations and state regulations differ in certain important respec...
www.yalejreg.com

Reposted by James Goodwin

Consistent with Project 2025’s goal of weakening critical social institutions by reprogramming them based on racial hierarchy. And consistent with its authoritarian vision, it involved an assist from a member of the oligarchy.
The @washingtonpost.com layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, per data from the @postguild.bsky.social.

50% of Hispanic/Latino guild members,​ 45% of Black members, and​ 43% of Asian members were laid off, compared to 37% of white members.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/wash...
Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, preliminary Guild data shows
"We cannot ignore what this means for equity, representation, and the future of this organization."
www.niemanlab.org

Now, we all know that the Supreme Court has rejected any statutory interpretation argument against the Clean Air Act's definition of pollutant covering greenhouse gases. What this final preamble presupposes is maybe it didn't?

“'While we cannot quantify the impacts on employment due to the uncertainty, removing significant costs on companies allows for increased capital that can be utilized to hire more employees and/or increase wages,' the agency said." Sure, sure. Because that's exactly what will happen.

Note industry demands that kind of evidence for health impacts from pollution reductions, which science often delivers. And even then, it's never good enough. Just a complete double standard.

Has there ever been a single study demonstrating with reasonable reliability a causal connection between deregulation of an industry and meaningful job growth in that industry? I know there's the talking point and the so-called modeling. But I want the actual causal chain.

"Overall, that means the $1.3 trillion in savings is swamped by almost $1.5 trillion in costs — and that's without considering either climate costs or public health impacts from increased emissions over the coming decades...." www.eenews.net/articles/5-h...
5 highlights in EPA’s big climate rollback
Here’s what's in the rule released by EPA near midnight.
www.eenews.net

Think of all the fracking operations we could set up in there

Wait til DOGE hears about this

I kind of wish the press would relentlessly cover the personal lives and failed relationships of Trump administration officials. These people have made individual private lives a matter of public policy. That means exploitation of their personal lives for clicks should be on the table.

I'm not sure the legal profession has the moral authority necessary to be self-regulated anymore

There's a difference between zealous legal advocacy and the bad faith nonsense that the Trump administration lawyers are doing. The legal profession sorely needs to sort this out.

I don't believe in Hell, but I do believe in the righteous judgment of history. Vought will be remembered as one of the great villains of our nation's past -- up there with the likes of Taney and McCarthy.
Reuters Exclusive:

The White House budget office is using millions of dollars from USAID, the former U.S. foreign aid agency, to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought, Trump's budget chief and an architect of the government overhaul cut thousands of federal jobs.
Exclusive: White House uses USAID funds for budget director Vought's security, documents show
The White House budget office is using millions of dollars from the former U.S. foreign aid agency to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's budget chief and an archit...
www.reuters.com

Reposted by James Goodwin

Reuters Exclusive:

The White House budget office is using millions of dollars from USAID, the former U.S. foreign aid agency, to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought, Trump's budget chief and an architect of the government overhaul cut thousands of federal jobs.
Exclusive: White House uses USAID funds for budget director Vought's security, documents show
The White House budget office is using millions of dollars from the former U.S. foreign aid agency to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's budget chief and an archit...
www.reuters.com
DOGE allegedly used ChatGPT to identify 1,400 NEH grants it said were DEI. Grants were terminated April 2025, according to a court filing. E.g.

Film: 1873 Colfax massacre
Film: first female pilots flying for U.S. military in WWII
Film: “Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust"
ChatGPT cuts in action
www.politico.com

Dang. I need a new suit.
In the past year, Trump has promised...
-$5000 stimulus checks via "DOGE dividend"
-$2000 stimulus checks via "tariff dividend"
-$1000+ checks via "savings" from expiring ACA subsidies

So far, no checks have materialized.
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-magi...
Trump’s Magically Disappearing Stimulus Checks
I was promised cheaper groceries and tariff rebates and all I got was this lousy pogrom.
www.thebulwark.com
The @washingtonpost.com layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, per data from the @postguild.bsky.social.

50% of Hispanic/Latino guild members,​ 45% of Black members, and​ 43% of Asian members were laid off, compared to 37% of white members.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/wash...
Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, preliminary Guild data shows
"We cannot ignore what this means for equity, representation, and the future of this organization."
www.niemanlab.org
All those kids & nurses & mechanics & service workers that we are deporting? It costs us $133,333 a head.

Again: we are spending $133,333 per migrant worker that we deport.
US Spent $133,333 for Each Deportation to Third Party Countries
The figures from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats average out to a cost of roughly $133,333 per person deported. The report outlines the cost of President Donald Trump’s controversial pol...
finance.yahoo.com
In the past year, Trump has promised...
-$5000 stimulus checks via "DOGE dividend"
-$2000 stimulus checks via "tariff dividend"
-$1000+ checks via "savings" from expiring ACA subsidies

So far, no checks have materialized.
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-magi...
Trump’s Magically Disappearing Stimulus Checks
I was promised cheaper groceries and tariff rebates and all I got was this lousy pogrom.
www.thebulwark.com

Classy

Too much uncertainty to know if air pollution is bad for public health, but a vibes-based approach to voting integrity policy is A-OK. Got it.
Q: Can you offer us any examples of voter fraud in Arizona?

KRISTI NOEM: Oh, I'm sure there's many of them