James Briggs
@jamesebriggs.bsky.social
Making opinion great again for The Indianapolis Star. Also on Substack: https://www.betweenthemotion.com/ Forward down the field.
Pinned
Micah Beckwith and his Indiana DOGE bros are livin' large | Opinion
The small men governing Indiana need big cars — and they'll cut programs you depend on to afford them.
www.indystar.com
The small men governing Indiana need big, expensive, taxpayer-funded cars — and they'll cut programs you depend on to afford them.
Reposted by James Briggs
ICE is attempting to co-opt my personal favorite thing about America. So I’m in the Indianapolis Star explaining to Indycar fans why what ICE is doing is so harmful, and to everyone else about why Indycar, in particular, represents a better America than that. www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
ICE's 'Speedway Slammer' propaganda gets IndyCar — and America — wrong | Opinion
The people being scared out of public life by ICE are some of the most visible fans at every IndyCar race.
www.indystar.com
August 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
ICE is attempting to co-opt my personal favorite thing about America. So I’m in the Indianapolis Star explaining to Indycar fans why what ICE is doing is so harmful, and to everyone else about why Indycar, in particular, represents a better America than that. www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
RFK Jr. is gutting mRNA research while giving a full-throated endorsement to pumping fast-food fries and soda into Americans’ diets. MAHA!
Column:
Column:
Steak 'n Shake's MAGA makeover is a desperate bid to save a dying business | Opinion
Steak 'n Shake's beef tallow and cane sugar won't make you healthy, but the chain will gladly take your cash if you believe in MAHA.
www.indystar.com
August 7, 2025 at 8:26 PM
RFK Jr. is gutting mRNA research while giving a full-throated endorsement to pumping fast-food fries and soda into Americans’ diets. MAHA!
Column:
Column:
Since visiting Graceland last month, I’ve been obsessed with Elvis. I wrote a piece attempting to grapple with why I found Elvis’ mansion tour so moving.
Elvis' Graceland moved me in unexpected ways
Graceland is supposed to be fun. I left in a melancholy daze.
open.substack.com
July 19, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Since visiting Graceland last month, I’ve been obsessed with Elvis. I wrote a piece attempting to grapple with why I found Elvis’ mansion tour so moving.
Reposted by James Briggs
Mike Braun grandstands on Indianapolis crime while murders drop 24% … from metro columnist @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Mike Braun grandstands on Indianapolis crime while murders drop 24% | Opinion
The do-something carnival barkers want you scared about Indianapolis crime. Here's why they don't deserve a voice.
www.indystar.com
July 18, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Mike Braun grandstands on Indianapolis crime while murders drop 24% … from metro columnist @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
In which @profhicks.bsky.social predicts eight rural hospitals will close in Indiana.
Trump's tax bill will crush the rural voters who chose him | Opinion
Medicaid cuts and hospital closures will hit hardest in the very communities that supported the president's budget plans.
www.indystar.com
July 4, 2025 at 3:36 PM
In which @profhicks.bsky.social predicts eight rural hospitals will close in Indiana.
Reposted by James Briggs
There’s your empty shelf.
US goods imports drop 19.8% in April — largest on record
US goods imports drop 19.8% in April — largest on record
May 30, 2025 at 12:38 PM
There’s your empty shelf.
US goods imports drop 19.8% in April — largest on record
US goods imports drop 19.8% in April — largest on record
I wrote about AI for my newsletter. There’s no more time to waste debating its virtues. It doesn’t care about our feelings. It’s here and it’s changing everything for white collar career paths. Adapt or die.
Now, the robots want white collar jobs
AI will do to office work what automation did to factories.
www.betweenthemotion.com
May 30, 2025 at 12:49 AM
I wrote about AI for my newsletter. There’s no more time to waste debating its virtues. It doesn’t care about our feelings. It’s here and it’s changing everything for white collar career paths. Adapt or die.
Reposted by James Briggs
Jim Irsay talked with me about death quite a bit. Others’ deaths, yes, but mainly his – the one he’d avoided, the one he knew was coming eventually. Wednesday was the day death came for the Colts owner, for this complicated, imperfect, beautiful soul.
www.indystar.com/story/sports...
www.indystar.com/story/sports...
Doyel: Jim Irsay died and we're less for it; Indianapolis, the Colts, all of us
Jim Irsay talked with me about death. Mainly his death, the one he’d avoided, the one he knew was coming. Wednesday death came for his beautiful soul.
www.indystar.com
May 22, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Jim Irsay talked with me about death quite a bit. Others’ deaths, yes, but mainly his – the one he’d avoided, the one he knew was coming eventually. Wednesday was the day death came for the Colts owner, for this complicated, imperfect, beautiful soul.
www.indystar.com/story/sports...
www.indystar.com/story/sports...
Indiana is really enthusiastic about killing bad guys until the hour arrives and everything is done in total secret. Firing squads, as savage as they are, would be an improvement. www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Indiana hides executions. Firing squads would be more honest. | Opinion
Our politicians want tough-guy credit for killing killers, while detaching themselves from the reality of their decisions.
www.indystar.com
May 21, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Indiana is really enthusiastic about killing bad guys until the hour arrives and everything is done in total secret. Firing squads, as savage as they are, would be an improvement. www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Reposted by James Briggs
just over the last 5 weeks, Trump has helped swing elections (against him) in Wisconsin, Canada, Australia, and the Vatican.
May 8, 2025 at 6:32 PM
just over the last 5 weeks, Trump has helped swing elections (against him) in Wisconsin, Canada, Australia, and the Vatican.
Reposted by James Briggs
Will home prices fall this year? Two data points make me think yes!
1) The median list price of homes for sale is nearly $40k more than the median price of homes sold.
2) 44% of sellers are giving buyers extra money after accepting an offer to make sure the deal closes.
1) The median list price of homes for sale is nearly $40k more than the median price of homes sold.
2) 44% of sellers are giving buyers extra money after accepting an offer to make sure the deal closes.
May 2, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Will home prices fall this year? Two data points make me think yes!
1) The median list price of homes for sale is nearly $40k more than the median price of homes sold.
2) 44% of sellers are giving buyers extra money after accepting an offer to make sure the deal closes.
1) The median list price of homes for sale is nearly $40k more than the median price of homes sold.
2) 44% of sellers are giving buyers extra money after accepting an offer to make sure the deal closes.
Think of Trump's tariffs as a COVID lockdown, but for goods rather than people.
Trump's tariffs are the new COVID shutdown | Opinion
Our standard of living will fall unless Republicans stop President Trump's tariff madness.
www.indystar.com
April 23, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Think of Trump's tariffs as a COVID lockdown, but for goods rather than people.
Reposted by James Briggs
Great column today from @jamesebriggs.bsky.social with a sobering assessment of where we are and where we are headed.
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Trump's tariffs are the new COVID shutdown | Opinion
Our standard of living will fall unless Republicans stop President Trump's tariff madness.
www.indystar.com
April 23, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Great column today from @jamesebriggs.bsky.social with a sobering assessment of where we are and where we are headed.
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Reposted by James Briggs
Very lucky to have such a fine columnist in our local paper who writes on local and national topics with verve and intelligence @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
I'm confident that if Trump's goon squad were to send me (or you) to a foreign death camp, Sen. Jim Banks' response would be, "🤣 🤣 🤣."
Jim Banks would let Trump commit any crime you can imagine | Opinion
Jim Banks has one standard: subservience to Trump's whims. Even when Trump defies a law Banks created, Banks will not oppose him.
www.indystar.com
April 18, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Very lucky to have such a fine columnist in our local paper who writes on local and national topics with verve and intelligence @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
I'm confident that if Trump's goon squad were to send me (or you) to a foreign death camp, Sen. Jim Banks' response would be, "🤣 🤣 🤣."
Jim Banks would let Trump commit any crime you can imagine | Opinion
Jim Banks has one standard: subservience to Trump's whims. Even when Trump defies a law Banks created, Banks will not oppose him.
www.indystar.com
April 18, 2025 at 8:12 PM
I'm confident that if Trump's goon squad were to send me (or you) to a foreign death camp, Sen. Jim Banks' response would be, "🤣 🤣 🤣."
I've been thinking about how far Trump's lawlessness can go and I came up with a framework: the Jim Banks test.
Apply it to specific scenarios. Can Trump send US citizens to foreign torture prisons w/o due process? Would Banks defend/enable it? Then yes.
Apply it to specific scenarios. Can Trump send US citizens to foreign torture prisons w/o due process? Would Banks defend/enable it? Then yes.
Jim Banks would let Trump commit any crime you can imagine | Opinion
Jim Banks has one standard: subservience to Trump's whims. Even when Trump defies a law Banks created, Banks will not oppose him.
www.indystar.com
April 18, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I've been thinking about how far Trump's lawlessness can go and I came up with a framework: the Jim Banks test.
Apply it to specific scenarios. Can Trump send US citizens to foreign torture prisons w/o due process? Would Banks defend/enable it? Then yes.
Apply it to specific scenarios. Can Trump send US citizens to foreign torture prisons w/o due process? Would Banks defend/enable it? Then yes.
Few people so bad at politics have made it so far as Indiana Gov. Mike Braun.
Mike Braun got suckered into a tax-cut promise he couldn't keep | Opinion
Mike Braun in three months as Indiana governor has shown he's as lost and rudderless as he ever was in the U.S. Senate.
www.indystar.com
April 16, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Few people so bad at politics have made it so far as Indiana Gov. Mike Braun.
Reposted by James Briggs
NEW: The Supreme Court directs the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a prison in El Salvador, where he was sent due to an "administrative error." It also somewhat narrows the district court's order.
No noted dissents.
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
No noted dissents.
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
April 10, 2025 at 10:47 PM
NEW: The Supreme Court directs the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a prison in El Salvador, where he was sent due to an "administrative error." It also somewhat narrows the district court's order.
No noted dissents.
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
No noted dissents.
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
Reposted by James Briggs
Combat Banks, Beckwith, Rokita stunts with earnestness.
Opinion from metro columnist @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Opinion from metro columnist @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Combat Banks, Beckwith, Rokita stunts with earnestness | Opinion
These Republican leaders drowned their humanity inside made-for-MAGA personas engineered to generate likes and shares.
www.indystar.com
April 10, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Combat Banks, Beckwith, Rokita stunts with earnestness.
Opinion from metro columnist @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Opinion from metro columnist @jamesebriggs.bsky.social
www.indystar.com/story/opinio...
Reposted by James Briggs
Markets are going to assume we’re in a recession. What we don’t know is whether it’s a recession kind of like March/April 2020 that comes and goes once there’s a reversal in these policies or more of a classic recession that goes on for quarters.
April 9, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Markets are going to assume we’re in a recession. What we don’t know is whether it’s a recession kind of like March/April 2020 that comes and goes once there’s a reversal in these policies or more of a classic recession that goes on for quarters.
Reposted by James Briggs
At 12:01 Trump's tariffs officially took effect.
Tariffs are now at their highest level in 100 years.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Tariffs are now at their highest level in 100 years.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
April 9, 2025 at 4:17 AM
At 12:01 Trump's tariffs officially took effect.
Tariffs are now at their highest level in 100 years.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Tariffs are now at their highest level in 100 years.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by James Briggs
Ok what’s going on here?
Yields are going up which means bond prices are going down.
Fewer buyers of the world’s safest asset.
Normally when the economy slows, there’s a flight to safety, not away from it.
Means the world may be abandoning America.
We are flirting with a true crisis.
Yields are going up which means bond prices are going down.
Fewer buyers of the world’s safest asset.
Normally when the economy slows, there’s a flight to safety, not away from it.
Means the world may be abandoning America.
We are flirting with a true crisis.
10-year yield going vertical here. Something’s gonna break.
April 9, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Ok what’s going on here?
Yields are going up which means bond prices are going down.
Fewer buyers of the world’s safest asset.
Normally when the economy slows, there’s a flight to safety, not away from it.
Means the world may be abandoning America.
We are flirting with a true crisis.
Yields are going up which means bond prices are going down.
Fewer buyers of the world’s safest asset.
Normally when the economy slows, there’s a flight to safety, not away from it.
Means the world may be abandoning America.
We are flirting with a true crisis.
The Trump admin people who used AI to create the tariff formula should consider asking it some more questions.
April 9, 2025 at 3:36 AM
The Trump admin people who used AI to create the tariff formula should consider asking it some more questions.
Reposted by James Briggs
I don’t understand how we so quickly forgot the supply shock lessons of Covid. Do people not remember what it was like to just not be able to get ahold of stuff required for daily existence?
I am telling you, manufacturers that can’t absorb these tariffs are going to simply stop assembly lines.
I am telling you, manufacturers that can’t absorb these tariffs are going to simply stop assembly lines.
April 8, 2025 at 11:50 AM
I don’t understand how we so quickly forgot the supply shock lessons of Covid. Do people not remember what it was like to just not be able to get ahold of stuff required for daily existence?
I am telling you, manufacturers that can’t absorb these tariffs are going to simply stop assembly lines.
I am telling you, manufacturers that can’t absorb these tariffs are going to simply stop assembly lines.
Reposted by James Briggs
The discourse around tariffs has been “things will get more expensive” but I am here to tell you that I am knee deep in reporting on this subject and I strongly suspect that if super high tariffs endure, it will shift to *certain items cease to be available at any price*
April 8, 2025 at 11:46 AM
The discourse around tariffs has been “things will get more expensive” but I am here to tell you that I am knee deep in reporting on this subject and I strongly suspect that if super high tariffs endure, it will shift to *certain items cease to be available at any price*