i have made some inquiries why michiganders have primary elections 4 months after normal states and i was told it was "to distract them from pat fitzgerald"

From a Missouri activist group in 1994 about corporate hog farms. I'm sure if we squinted we could find a kernel of relevance today.

Just passed through Ankeny - RIP to the Village Inn, where in 2018 former state rep and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Fitzgerald met and told me stories for 4 hours while the servers looked increasingly annoyed with us. Good times.

As @edsbs.bsky.social notes, my regret: doing research at CU, instead of renting a car and driving to Border War in Laramie, I went to a friend's to watch Northwestern-Huskers. Went to an awful OT. ('Cats won.) Wyo-CSU was a massive snowstorm. Never would've left Laramie. Never would've wanted to.

Elizabeth Picciuto@epicciuto.bsky.social · 2d ago

What is your favorite example of when the cheap version of a product is legit better than the expensive one?

I am begging these people, just once, to read something, anything, on the Bank of North Dakota.

USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 2d ago

Opinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.

Currently doing casual research for one of the next projects, politics of family farming since 1979... ...and this tableau in the Dickinson Press in 2010 is something: a farm advocate assessing the impact of the oil boom on his property and pocketbook. Oh, and a big Bakken ad.

It makes me chuckle every time I come across it in my notes.

I genuinely cannot watch and cringe at Haley Stevens anymore, so I'll bring up what @jimhightower.com predicted the moderate wing of the Democratic Party would do in the 1988 elections, since the progressive populist wing was gaining power. I mean, sub "Michigan" for "Southern" accent, but...

Howard Mortman@howardmortman.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Cool kids on the Internet. They're doing the cool kid chatter. Some of 'em might be the coastal elites, making fun of how I talk. But let's be real. They're making fun of Michigan. They're thinking they're better than us. Their jokes, their criticism, only make me fight harder." -- Haley Stevens

man, Fall 2020 at Tarleton State was an interesting time to be alive and teaching

Cory Haala@coryhaala.bsky.social · last wk.

What's your sign?

What's your sign?

Back to Biff Ball@b1ffy.bsky.social · last wk.

What’s your sign?

I genuinely cannot watch and cringe at Haley Stevens anymore, so I'll bring up what @jimhightower.com predicted the moderate wing of the Democratic Party would do in the 1988 elections, since the progressive populist wing was gaining power. I mean, sub "Michigan" for "Southern" accent, but...

Howard Mortman@howardmortman.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Cool kids on the Internet. They're doing the cool kid chatter. Some of 'em might be the coastal elites, making fun of how I talk. But let's be real. They're making fun of Michigan. They're thinking they're better than us. Their jokes, their criticism, only make me fight harder." -- Haley Stevens

the chat is roasting me with 90s-era wisconsin university system-based jabs and I do NOT like it

See, people said the risque fanfic scenes I included in the epilogue were a mistake, but WHO'S LAUGHING NOW

If you'd like to hear a GREAT conversation (not every day I get to talk race relations in Williston, North Dakota or expanding the concept of the lumpenproletariat in the Midwest) but DON'T want to look at my face... Check out the podcast! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Cory Haala@coryhaala.bsky.social · 3w ago

Really excited to be on This Is Revolution! Let's talk When Democrats Won the Heartland ( @illinoispress.bsky.social ), left-populism, and visions for the future of American politics: youtube.com/watch?v=nebc... Starting now!

Really excited to be on This Is Revolution! Let's talk When Democrats Won the Heartland ( @illinoispress.bsky.social ), left-populism, and visions for the future of American politics: youtube.com/watch?v=nebc... Starting now!

WHEN DEMOCRATS WON THE HEARTLAND ft. CORY HAALA

YouTube video by THIS IS REVOLUTION podcast

youtube.com

gross, boomers, go be populist in AOL or something

Great thread from @philiprocco.bsky.social of how commentators with a political axe to grind willfully misread the history of left-populism and socialism, especially in the Midwest, to serve their present-day agenda.

Phil Rocco@philiprocco.bsky.social · 4w ago

Significant parts of the New Deal were poached by Dems from Wisconsin Progressives, Milwaukee Sewer Socialists, MN Farmer-Laborites, but do go off, David.

Advice given to a progressive organizing outfit in mid-1985, in contrast to the Democratic Party setting up the (short-lived, ineffectual) Democratic Policy Council. Anyone else ever seen this modification of the Goldwater line? Because I'm enjoying it immensely.

Something Sanders-type progressive populist pols have done well: work, over and over, to bring those "moderates" along with clear and accessible messaging. Crosstabs from Paul Wellstone papers and polls from the Strib bore this out despite how left of the electorate he was.

G Elliott Morris@gelliottmorris.com · 4w ago

Here’s a huge data point in the current debate about why DSA candidates are suddenly winning everywhere: Bernie Sanders is the most favorable Democratic political figure today — even among self-described ideological “moderates.” Huh? www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-07-07...

all the more maddening, imo, that dems found a way to win ALL FOUR SEATS in both north and south dakota and the dnc broadly decided it wasn't interested in pesky things like "continuing to do that"

Eric Rauchway@rauchway.bsky.social · last mo.

tbf the point of South Dakota was to give Republicans a lock on the Senate

In honor of the Fourth and my own weight loss goals, I think I'm gonna try the Zachary Taylor diet.

Great to join @joshkluever.bsky.social and Kevin Mason of @midwesternhistory.bsky.social to discuss When Democrats Won the Heartland! We talk #Midwest political culture, 1980s grassroots activism, and the underappreciated place of populism in @democrats.org history. soundcloud.com/user-2236899...

HH - When Dems Won the Heartland

Cory Haala - When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992 Heartland History is the official podcast of the Midwestern History Association Hosts: Josh Klueve

soundcloud.com

Lived in my neighborhood eight years now; last night was the first time I'd been in the ice arena five blocks away. (Older kid's dance class.) Chasing the younger kid, I walked into the north arena, see the wood roof and center ice "NH": BAM! nostalgia city. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG8u...

Incredible disrespect for the Fightin' Lutefisks.

Rodger Sherman@rodger.bsky.social · last mo.

seriously though, there were years of evidence that Paraguay was a really solid defending team and USMNT tore through them like a hot knife through butter and weirdly a ton of people including Americans went with the narrative that it was the equivalent of playing Southeast Minnesota Tech

Love how a manufactured "controversy" about beef largely features shrugs from Argentina fans, celebration of good steak and diasporic cooking...and then Americans (OK, Texans) being really patronizing and weird about genetics and semen. Staying. On. Brand. www.npr.org/2026/06/27/n...

this gets me some kind of special dispensation, right, Archbishop Hebda?

In 1988 #SouthDakota voters initiated/passed a ban on corporate hog farms. Interestingly (to me), Sioux Falls paper broke out results in rural (61.3% for) vs urban (58.2% for) + a failed mine reclamation law, East (41.4%) vs West (38%). Only those lines. #polisky get Mettler/Brown on the horn!

Back by no demand*: #NewDealMpls! * potential publisher plus my wife/GP. Whatever. Today: clean-up last year's ill-fated final ride (pedal snapped clean off). * Chute Square: concrete picnic table + Godfrey House basement * Van Cleve: non-extant sidewalks, sandbox, tables (see pic) 23.5 miles!

In prep of his groundbreaking book (A Police State) coming out early 2027 with @uchicagopress.bsky.social, my colleague Michael Lansing started a timely Substack on the slow, uneven, important history of police politics in #Minneapolis. Worth a read/subscribe: michael368.substack.com/p/reform-int...

Reform, interrupted

...or how the Minneapolis police continue to fail the city

michael368.substack.com