Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to clarify his statements about whether his personal lawyer influenced key military promotions. Here's the latest.

Hegseth Is Pressed to Clarify Lawyer’s Role in Promotion Decisions

Representative Jason Crow asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to explain statements about his special adviser’s influence following a New York Times report.

nyti.ms

Interested in a PolSci PostDoc @ Berlin? 4 more days left to apply! 👇

Heike Klüver@heikekluever.bsky.social · last mo.

📣 We're hiring! Looking for a PostDoc? Join our team in Berlin! Work with @heikekluever.bsky.social, @macartan.bsky.social and Johannes Giesecke at Humboldt University, @scripts-berlin.eu and @humboldt-govlab.bsky.social Great people, great project, great city! 🗓️ Deadline: 15 August 2026

For my newsletter, I spelled out once simple trick for the WNBA to shut down that transphobic publicity stunt by two former NBA players: www.burnsnotice.com/heres-how-th...

Here's How the WNBA Can Win the Anti-Trans Controversy

The league has a golden opportunity to make a definitive and educational point about trans athletes–if it has the courage to do it

burnsnotice.com

As a fairly visible gay man on social media, barely a week goes by without some stranger accusing me of being a ‘paedo’. This baseless, harmful trope needs to be consigned to history. I hope that @ofcom.bsky.social this time enforces the broadcasting codes and issues GB News with a massive fine.

Ofcom investigates GB News over guest’s pride and paedophilia remarks

Regulator acts after 12,000 complaints over comments by Caroline Farrow linking parades with bestiality and paedophilia

theguardian.com

One useful way to think about this is that among younger voters of ALL parties, social liberalism is their defining difference from older voters. In aggregate the difference between 40-50 somethings and the retired is economic attitudes. Between younger voters and the middle-aged its social ones.

John Oxley@joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 4d ago

Think this is true, is mirrored on the right, and in both cases fail to understand the extent of demographic shifts that underpin this.

With his total loyalty to Trump, FCC chairman Brendan Carr is remaking media before our eyes. But there are ways to push back. My new post here https://margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/get-outraged-and-active-about-the?r=1yc91&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Get outraged, and active, about the Trump-toadying FCC

Brendan Carr's out-of-control agency is remaking the media in Trump's image. Here's how to fight back

margaretsullivan.substack.com

"Women accounted for 100 percent of the decline in the labor force in July, according to a National Women’s Law Center analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s latest dismal jobs report. Overall, the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July: Women lost 32,000 jobs, while men gained 9,000."

Trump’s Terrible July Jobs Numbers Only Hurt Women

And the number of women who have left the workforce since January is more than double the number of men.

newrepublic.com

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, Accidental Fathers of the Green Revolution With aggression they wrongly thought would be easy, both brought war to oil-producing regions. The resulting supply disruptions did more than anything else to get the world to move beyond oil. -History textbook, 2083

Lots of opposition to London hosting World Pride because of the Bully-Burnham government's multiple oppressive anti-trans measures. If you want to tell the global organisers you oppose this pinkwashing bid, please use this contact form. Not just Londoners but anyone. www.interpride.org/contactus/

🚨 BREAKING We are supporting a legal challenge to the Code of Practice. And we need your help. Join us in fighting back 👇

We’re supporting a legal challenge against the code of practice | Good Law Project

The government’s transphobic statutory guidance is now up and running – we’re fighting back

goodlaw.social

We are hiring a postdoc in Comparative Politics at JGU Mainz! Join our friendly and productive team, led by Armin Schäfer (@arminschaefer.bsky.social). • Full-time position • Five-year contract (!) • Start: from 1 October Apply by 22 August: stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de/jgu/job/56328 Please share!

We need someone who will stand up to the far right. Instead we have Burnham, who, like Starmer, is too weak and scared to stand up to the media and do the right thing. We should, at every opportunity, remind everyone that the EHRC guidance came into force on his watch, and without our consent.

Natacha@natacha.bsky.social · last wk.

Bully Burnham. My latest blog post about what Labour is reluctant to talk about, and why the transphobic EHRC “code” is Andy Burnham’s responsibility, and no-one else’s. We need to hold him to account for it. He is a transphobic bully and a coward.

Once again we’re in the Arrested Development meme. Did trying to get single market access without free movement of people work in the past? God no … but it might work for us.

Simon Usherwood@simonusherwood.bsky.social · last wk.

Nick Boles on his plan for a European confederation. Paper with Demos coming later www.thetimes.com/article/8459...

The unworkable EHRC Code comes into effect today - A reminder to all my lovely trans+ fam… It’s designed for organisations, not you! It does NOT make it a criminal offence for you to carry on using whichever loo best suits you/ your needs. If someone complains, that’s the orgs problem, not yours!

Two(!) permanent lectureships coming up at Cardiff: One in political behaviour/opinion cardiffuniweb.eploy.net/vacancies/52... One in British politics (very loosely defined) cardiffuniweb.eploy.net/vacancies/53... Feel free to get in touch and I'll be happy to answer any questions I can

“In recent months, ICE has deployed a round-the-clock digital dragnet to scour the public internet—from Facebook to Instagram to X—for speech that could endanger the agency’s mission.” Speech. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

How ICE Is Weaponizing Social Media Against its Critics

Agency says its surveillance program searches for threats to agents, but critics see free-speech infringements.

wsj.com

Amnesty have issued an apology to JK Rowling and the rest. Adjust your expectations, and donations, accordingly www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/an-ap...

An Apology for A Growing Threat briefing, published on 8 July 2026

Amnesty International UK has made a public apology for the publication of the briefing “A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK”. Click here to read it in full.

amnesty.org.uk

Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.

Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says

LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance

ft.com

Every major organization and NGO dedicated to trans rights in the UK from Stonewall to Mermaids to Amnesty have been systematically attacked and neutralized. All that's left are severely underfunded trans led orgs that are systematically ignored by the British press and government.

"To put this in perspective, the last time an American subgroup migrated at these rates was the Great Migration, in which roughly 6 million Southern Black people fled Jim Crow violence and repression."

Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · 2w ago

“There has been persecution in the form of increased social scrutiny, harassment and violence. And there has been persecution in the undercutting of access to vital, lifesaving gender-affirming medication despite the overwhelming medical consensus for it.” www.liberalcurrents.com/the-american...

The official government response to London Trans Prides message to Andy Burnham from the end of various articles: A Government spokesperson said: ‘The Government is committed to protecting the rights, dignity and safety of all LGBT+ people. 🧵 (me- this is simply insulting)

Stop Sex Matters spreading transphobic hate goodlaw.social/8968d9 Remember Helen Joyce gave her vile ‘every trans person is a problem in a sane world and their numbers should be reduced’ speech, less than 24 hours before Alice died by suicide. Email for Alice 💗

Stop Sex Matters spreading transphobic hate

The anti-trans pressure group Sex Matters are running a campaign of hate, spewing abuse online and in the media – and putting trans people in danger. Sex Matters say they work to “protect everybody’s ...

goodlaw.social

Letting elites act with impunity is in fact probably the greatest threat to democracy. People often contend that if you hold them legally accountable for their illegal actions will lead to a backlash against democracy. New evidence indicates that these fears are unfounded.

Victor Araújo@victoraraujo.bsky.social · 3w ago

📄 New pre-print on SSRN New evidence on a timely question: Does holding anti-democratic leaders legally accountable produce democratic backlash? Contrary to widespread concerns, I find no evidence that accountability increased affective polarisation or reduced support for democracy. 🧵👇

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

If you want to reduce energy bills the best way is de-linking the price of electricity from the price of Gas. This extra money on 100% of electricity is paid to just the 30% of people supplying Gas, all Solar, Wind and Hydro are all on fixed contracts and get nothing.

NEW: After the unrest in Belfast last month, a GB News presenter said there was “no riot” and no burnt homes, despite reports and pictures. Despite 400+ complaints, Ofcom has opted not to investigate. Critics say its bar for accuracy now set far too low www.theguardian.com/media/2026/j...

GB News will not be investigated over ‘no riot in Belfast’ claim

Media regulator to take no action despite receiving 446 complaints about comments by Bev Turner

theguardian.com

It’s your right and your obligation to call out corruption and abuse.

“After Medicaid officials improperly shared data about millions of people in January with immigration officials, ICE then shared that data with the data analytics firm Palantir, according to new court filings.”

ICE shared Medicaid data it wasn't supposed to have with Palantir

The revelations came out in a federal court case brought by Democratic states challenging ICE's access to Medicaid data to aid in deportation efforts.

npr.org

The ACLU has just detailed hundreds of cases of misconduct by immig agents: -kneeling on necks 52x -Agents choking people 10x -smashing car windows 47x -ramming cars 14x -Hit people w/ car 6x Report repeatedly cites ProPublica's reporting B/c transparency takes a village--when the govt blocks it

Fascinating observation from the first day of ISPP. A very large number of studies use Prolific to study AI and media bias. Let's hope there's not too much cross contamination for professional survey takers