Democracy Local, a planetary publication 地方民主
@democracylocal.bsky.social
Stories, data, analysis, events and other content of, by, and for everyday people governing themselves. Publisher is Joe Mathews, journalist, Berggruen Institute fellow and co-founder of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy
A year ago, @propublica.org told you immigration agents had detained more than 170 U.S. citizens. We’ve updated our count, and we’ve got all the receipts. The tally: At least 506 citizens detained. Sometimes held at gunpoint, handcuffed, or even deported. projects.propublica.org/american-cit...
More Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown — ProPublica
The government doesn’t track how often immigration officers detain U.S. citizens. So ProPublica did. We’ve found more than 500 Americans who were held against their will during this Trump administrati...
projects.propublica.org
My father writes @washingtonpost.com about his time in Vietnam and about the connections brought by service. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | My Vietnam service taught me about Americans. Now, my ‘Vet’ cap does.
I passed up a grad school deferment, and got a different education instead.
washingtonpost.com
What could actually slow the rapid development of dangerously powerful AI? A citizens’ assembly representative of humanity, write Hélène Landemore & Audrey Tang. #ai #airisk #airegulation
Let The People Set The Pace Of Frontier AI | NOEMA
Slogans won’t slow the rapid development of dangerously powerful AI. But a citizens’ assembly representative of humanity’s diversity and independent of frontier labs and national governments could.
noemamag.com
Must read Jerry Brown essay in the New York Review of Books www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
‘I Taste Ashes in the Wind’ | Jerry Brown
Ever since the end of the cold war, the subject of nuclear war and the profound threat it poses to humanity has suffered a “peculiar invisibility.” This
nybooks.com
One lesson for fighting the Trump admin is to embrace escalation. Iran Finds Escalation Is a Fruitful Path to Leverage in War With U.S. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/w...
Iran Finds Escalation Is a Fruitful Path to Leverage in War With U.S.
Iran and its allies now hold sway over two key oil shipping routes, and Tehran is setting the stage for a diplomatic win that could enhance its stature.
nytimes.com
You know who actually did show up at Ground Zero? Canadian emergency rescue crews.
Urban growth in Africa comes with falls on the poorest residents: forced evictions, informal settlements razed for redevelopment projects, with no consultation of the people who live there.
The people who live in cities must have a say in how they are shaped: Notes from the Common City Conference
Urban growth in Africa comes with falls on the poorest residents: forced evictions, informal settlements razed for redevelopment projects, with no consultation of the people who live there.
globalvoices.org
"The great question [of consciousness] is whether there is a metaphysical gap between the body & the soul, or if they are made of the same substance, symbiotic aspects of a singular reality that entail each other." —Nathan Gardels #consciousness
Subjective Perspective Makes Objective Reality ‘Everywhere Whole’ | NOEMA
Striving to understand the nature of consciousness.
noemamag.com
Can an AI incite a person to violence? If it can & does, who should be held accountable? Jess McHugh explores. #ai #ailiability #chatbots
When The AI Says To Kill | NOEMA
Can an AI incite a person to violence? If it can and does, who should be held accountable?
noemamag.com
"If free will is real, then the question of whether artificial intelligence systems can or should acquire this capacity is urgent in a way that our philosophical debates have not adequately confronted." —Albert Yuan #philosophy #freewill #ai
The Nature Of Free Will In The Age Of AI | NOEMA
AI puts a new spin on old questions about free will: Is an actor the genuine author of their actions? Are they responsible for their choices? Can they be held accountable for them?
noemamag.com
In his new book for Berggruen Press, “In Search Of Greater India,” @brunomacaes.bsky.social explores how India’s conception of itself as a civilization differs from the Western paradigm of a world of nation-states, Nathan Gardels writes. #china #india #geopolitics
From The Trap Of Geopolitics To A Geo-Civilizational Paradigm | NOEMA
In India and China, the nation-state is a legacy of Western modernity.
noemamag.com
“The enormous question of what AI is for cannot be answered in Washington or Beijing alone. On issues of this scale & importance, we owe people a say in what they're being both protected from & disrupted for.” —Hélène Landemore #ai #democracy #aigovernance #airisk
How To Give Everyday People A Say In AI Governance | NOEMA
Tech leaders keep saying “we” must decide AI’s future. Here’s an actual plan to include the public.
noemamag.com
"What new narrative can we tell ourselves that will allow us to cooperate at the scale at which we now live?" —Macario Schettino #democracy #media #ai
The Rise And Fall Of Liberal Democracy’s Shared Fiction | NOEMA
For most of human history, climate disrupted our shared beliefs. Now communications technologies do. We are caught between frames.
noemamag.com
“We are learning, every time we talk to AI, what it feels like to be listened to without friction. Over time, this feeling will change us.” —Houda Nait El Barj #ai #airelationships
How AI Will Change Us | NOEMA
When the most patient, well-read, emotionally responsive conversationalist in the world is always available, what will we still need from one another?
noemamag.com
Great to see SM Shaikat's piece in the Dhaka Tribune.
1 year after the U.S. abruptly cut international democracy aid, the field is rethinking but has yet to find a clear path forward. 🆕 @carnegieendowment.org, @richardyoungs.bsky.social and Thomas Carothers analyze the losses and ongoing efforts, suggesting ideas for the future.
Post-U.S. International Democracy Support: Aspiration in Search of Substance
The reinvention of democracy support needs to be carried forward without the clear leadership of one dominant player.
carnegieendowment.org
AI governance keeps collapsing two different failures into one: imperfect data and imperfect systems. They are not the same problem, and they demand different forms of accountability, reform, and oversight, argues Michael A. Santoro.
When AI Fails, What Actually Failed? The Distinction AI Governance Keeps Missing
Michael A. Santoro makes the case that AI governance must distinguish between failures caused by bad data and failures caused by flawed systems.
buff.ly
Great column. People dont need anyone's permission to make constitutions. Supreme Court Doesn’t Own the Constitution www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/o...
Opinion | The Supreme Court Doesn’t Own the Constitution
nytimes.com
"Professor Guinier predicted this problem would worsen as the Supreme Court became more hostile to the Voting Rights Act. She urged us to adopt electoral systems that allow for proportional representation.These systems are less vulnerable to gerrymandering and less dependent on judicial remedies."
How to secure a multiracial democracy despite the Supreme Court
Now is the time to envision a better electoral system, regardless of who sits on the court.
thehill.com
The state of California has 3 core functions. It educates, it medicates, it incarcerates. Two straight nights of governors debates and almos no questions or ideas on those 3 topics.
Most people don’t realize there are glaciers in the tropics — we think of palm trees, not ice. This explorer gives us a rare close-up look at the disappearing phenomenon: www.noemamag.com/when-the-ete... #climatechange #glaciers
Huge opportunity for the Liberal Democrats in the 2026 Birmingham City Council Elections “We are now looking to win new seats across large parts of the city.” #LibDems 🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶 www.libdemvoice.org/huge-opportu...
Huge opportunity for the Liberal Democrats in the 2026 Birmingham City Council Elections
In what is likely to be a dramatic set of local elections this May, Birmingham is poised to be one of the most notable, with huge opportunities for the Liberal Democrats. Think of Birmingham City Council and it’s likely the words ‘bankruptcy’ or ‘bin strike’ will come to mind. While these have done huge damage...
libdemvoice.org
The new Homeland Security secretary wants to close all international air travel into Los Angeles. Remind me, why are we hosting the World Cup and Olympics? www.foxnews.com/media/dhs-se...
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin signals closer scrutiny of customs at major sanctuary city airports
DHS chief Markwayne Mullin says the agency will take a hard look at customs enforcement at international airports in sanctuary cities like LAX and JFK.
foxnews.com
Plouffe thinks he is giving good advice. He's actually making a case for abandoning elections and moving to democratic models that don't require 24-7-365 digital propaganda mills. The Old Way of Campaigning Won’t Cut It Anymore www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/o...
Opinion | The Old Way of Campaigning Won’t Cut It Anymore
nytimes.com
At the University of Washington in Seattle this am, accidentally wandered into the cherry blossom festival
“Many social, historical & economic forces led me to check my work email in the bathroom. Among them is the way we have come to imagine the internet not as a place we go, but as a space we inhabit.” — @laurajmartin.bsky.social #internet #onlinelife #disconnect
Limiting Not Just Screen Time, But Screen Space | NOEMA
The internet has stopped being a place we visit — it’s now an environment we inhabit.
noemamag.com
Remember Mussel Slough! The forgotten massacre (by the feds!) that spurred California to build a new kind of government. My Zócalo col @sfchronicle.com www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
The hidden massacre that birthed modern California
OPINION: Most can’t remember the Mussel Slough massacre. Because you were never taught about it in the first place, Joe Mathews writes.
sfchronicle.com