Today's ECONOMICS story

Trump BLS nominee floats ending key jobs report

What happened
E.J. Antoni, the conservative economist President Donald Trump named Monday as his pick to lead the nonpartisan Bureau of Labor Statistics, suggested scrapping the BLS's closely watched monthly jobs report in an Aug. 4 interview with Fox News Digital published yesterday.

Who said what
Until its "fundamentally flawed" data collection methodologies are "corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data," Antoni told Fox News Digital. Halting the monthly report would deprive "businesses and policymakers" of "the data they've used for decades to gauge the state of the labor market and broader economy," The Washington Post said.

Many economists "share, to some degree, Antoni's concerns" about the government's jobs data, due largely to "trends such as declining response rates to its surveys," The Associated Press said. But economists "from across the political spectrum" said an inexperienced "conservative ideologue" was the wrong person to tackle the issue. Antoni has "nothing in his writing or his résumé to suggest that he's qualified for the position, besides that he is always manipulating the data to favor Trump in some way," said Brian Albrecht, chief economist at the International Center for Law and Economics.

What next?
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt yesterday called Antoni an "economic expert" who had earned Trump's trust, but said she believed "the plan" and "the hope" was for the BLS to continue releasing the monthly jobs numbers.

Today's CULTURE WAR Story

White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump

What happened
The White House yesterday told the Smithsonian Institution it was launching a "comprehensive" review of its 21 museums to ensure their content and operations align with President Donald Trump's interpretation of American history. Any material the Trump administration found "divisive or ideologically driven" should be replaced within 120 days with "unifying, historically accurate and constructive descriptions" that "celebrate American exceptionalism," the letter said.

Who said what
The White House's scrutiny of America's "premier museum system" is part of Trump's "aggressive culture war campaign" against "leading American institutions," USA Today said. It's unclear whether Trump has the "legal power" to "impose his will on the Smithsonian, which has traditionally operated as an independent institution that regards itself outside the purview of the executive branch," The New York Times said. But the institution's board is "facing pressure to give ground," given that 62% of its budget comes from federal funding.

The Smithsonian's exhibits "shouldn't simply reflect any one administration's preferences," Annette Gordon-Reed, a Harvard professor and president of the Organization of American Historians, told the Times. "They are the product of a lot of hard work by dedicated and honorable people who want to present the most accurate picture of American history as possible. That includes the triumphs and the tragedies."

What next?
The Smithsonian said it "will continue to collaborate constructively" with the federal government and was "reviewing" the White House letter while bearing in mind its own "deep commitment to scholarly excellence, rigorous research and the accurate, factual presentation of history."

It's not all bad

Surgeons in Liverpool, England, successfully performed a first-of-its-kind surgery on a toddler with vein of galen malformation, or VoGM, a rare congenital brain abnormality that was previously untreatable. Specialists were in a "fight against time" to help 3-year-old Conor O'Rourke, surgeon Conor Mallucci said to PA. The team came up with a new technique that gave them access to the brain's veins and arteries through the skull and fixed the malformation. O'Rourke recovered well, and doctors say he's "99% cured."

Under the radar

The women-only tours in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has some of the world's most severe restrictions on women, but that isn't stopping all-women tourist groups from visiting the country. Despite its terrible human rights record and a U.S. government advisory against all travel to the country, an increasing number of women are flocking to one of the world's most dangerous places.

Forty years of war have "kept tourists away from Afghanistan," said The Associated Press. But after the Taliban returned to power, a "sharp drop in violence" has been "increasingly attracting" visitors drawn by the "dramatic scenery, millennia of history, and a deeply ingrained culture of hospitality." And tourists can "learn about the lives of Afghan women in context," Zoe Stephens, a British guide at Koryo Tours, said at The Independent.

These tours are closed to male travelers. And at this stage, the groups are small, with between three and eight women. Koryo Tours hopes to build a network of female guides across Afghanistan.

But there are still ethical and safety issues. One thing you "have to watch out for" is the "morality police," a law-enforcement wing that imposes "modesty" rules, Stephens told The Sun. Sometimes, they "politely enforce" laws about women's restrictions, so if a woman is in a park, which is not allowed, they "may come up to you and ask you to leave."

"The main thing is modesty, not just in clothing but in behavior, as well," said Stephens. "I wouldn't recommend going around singing and dancing."

On this day

August 13, 1942

The Manhattan Project, America's program to develop a nuclear weapon, officially commenced. The project led to the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki three years later, the key factor in Japan's surrender and the end of World War II. This early nuclear effort has reentered the cultural zeitgeist thanks to the 2023 film "Oppenheimer."

TODAY'S newspaperS

'All Trump all the time'

Before deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump had a "police takeover playbook" at the ready and a plan for "Guard 'reaction force,'" The Washington Post says on Wednesday's front page. "Trump wearing the hats of many" as he "extends power beyond the traditional," USA Today says. "All Trump all the time all Trump," The Boston Globe says. "July inflation held steady with 2.7% rise," The Wall Street Journal says. "A key inflation measure rises, indicating the effects of tariffs," The New York Times says. "4-year-old among shooting victims" in random gun attack in Target parking lot, says the Austin American-Statesman.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

A fishy fire

Firefighters in British Columbia determined that a recent fire was caused by a fish dropped on a power line by an osprey. They theorize that the "size of the fish and the heat of the day" caused the "rather tired bird to drop its catch," said an Ashcroft Fire Department spokesperson. The osprey was caught, but a judge refused to grant bail, as the suspect poses an "extreme flight risk," the agency joked in a Facebook post.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Chas Newkey-Burden, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.