It's pretty common in US states solidly controlled by one party that policy is to the right/left of the voters because the leadership of the controlling party is and the electorate is too lopsided for the other party to be competitive. This is probably the best case for the initiative system

Regime Accountant, CPA ☠️🎢@regimecpa.bsky.social · 5h ago

Missouri elections be like: Hitler (R) 79% - Christ (D) 21% And then the ballot initiative: Amend the Missouri constitution to require the state to own the means of production and work towards full communism? Yes 92% - No 8%

Pedantic: Hillel wasn't a rabbi

1. You really should update your voter registration after you move (and certainly before you vote again). It's the law! 2. It's not exactly uncommon that people fail to do this and when the geographic distance is small it's forgiveable (but also, don't do it)

Charles Ornstein@charlesornstein.bsky.social · 5h ago

NEW: James Talarico Accused Ken Paxton of Voter Fraud. His Own Voter Registration Is Raising Questions. By @kaylaguo.bsky.social @zachdespart.bsky.social w/ @texastribune.org

The EHRC code of practice comes in today, bringing in to the UK the most draconian regime for single sex spaces targeting trans people for a liberal democracy in the industrialised, under what is our nominally left of centre governing party.

Think of the parents

Volokh Conspiracy@volokhc.bsky.social · 14h ago

Bluesky joins political scientists in being obsessed with Michigan voters

I know two Democratic House candidates in Michigan and it looks like the one I want to win (and gave money to) is losing and the one I feel ambivalent about (and did not give money to) is winning. So it goes I guess

Honestly refreshing that the dumb Israeli EDM article is getting such a negative reception on Bluesky

Well that sure is a helpful definition--don't know what Hamburger Mary's is complaining about

Cucks with humiliation fetishes genuinely enjoy it and usually know how to play in a way that does not endanger serious interests, neither of which is true of Republicans

Sam@samd.bsky.social · yesterday

it’s actually crazy how every Republican who claims they will stand up to Trump is just a total cuck with a humiliation fetish

Thesis: Capitalism produces too much inequality, disempowers workers and consumers, and can undermine democratic institutions Antithesis: Markets are good Synthesis: We're working on it

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈@josephpolitano.bsky.social · yesterday

DSA-aligned Democrats are now the most pro-free-trade voting bloc in the United States, in an incredible turn of events www.theargumentmag.com/p/who-suppor...

In my view, socialists who aspire to this kind of worker ownership model of socialism should think less about cases like Mondragon and more about law firms, which are major economic players subject to laws that restrict the transfer of equity interests to non-workers

Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · yesterday

“Their vision includes a large role for markets but by and large not for capitalists, remains committed to retaining and even expanding political liberalism, and acknowledges that even major social reforms are not a panacea for all problems.” www.liberalcurrents.com/democratic-s...

CourtListener page, for the curious: www.courtlistener.com/docket/73709...

DOE v. KUPOR, 1:26-cv-02723 - CourtListener.com

Docket for DOE v. KUPOR, 1:26-cv-02723 — Brought to you by Free Law Project, a non-profit dedicated to creating high quality open legal information.

courtlistener.com

Assigned Media@assignedmedia.org · 2d ago

@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Jul Guardian Federal employees join class action suit brought by HRC and DC law firm Correia & Puth against Trump admin for blocking insurance coverage for GAC, arguing it violates Title VII's ban on sex discrim. 8.3m employees and family are covered by fed insurance.

I don't think BPJ resolves the legality of these kinds of measures. It might be quixotic to challenge but I'm not sure--bring a straightforward facial sex discrimination claim (these rules do not apply to boys) with a cis girl plaintiff

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d ago

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

What this nation is doing to trans people is disgusting.

emptywheel@emptywheel.bsky.social · 2d ago

DOD is not letting trans service members attend their own separation hearings unless they conform with Whiskey Pete's notion of their gender. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...

yeah he sees himself as being in a negotiation with Iran but at war with Minnesota

Secretary of Defense Rock@sodrock.bsky.social · 3d ago

Still can’t over the fact that the president of the United States just told an entire state to pound sand after getting cyberattacked by a foreign adversary because they didn’t vote for him and it was treated like a Tuesday lol

People talk about the Dem Tea Party, but the actual Tea Party was a disaster for Senate Republicans. The disaster for Senate Democrats is Senate Democratic leadership

#StupidSuez@diplomatofnight.com · 3d ago

Is Gillibrand on crack? Why was she telling donors, without a shred of evidence, that Mallory McMorrow is a DSA member???

I am pretty worried that the modal outcome is: - AES wins the primary - AES loses the general amid a blue wave - this defeat is (not really fairly) blamed on the left/Israel critics and touches off a new vicious round of factional infighting

Sam@samd.bsky.social · 3d ago

I align with Abdul more on policy but I really think many people on the left are underestimating how catastrophic it would be to the broader movement if there’s a blue wave in November but Abdul still loses, costing us control of the senate and allowing Trump to nominate more SCOTUS justices

Both the US and the UK handle these issues poorly in different ways (and even where US free speech protections are rightly robust, they can be gravely lacking on the remedies side)

Evan Greer@evangreer.bsky.social · 4d ago

over the last decade I’ve observed leftists in the US turn against free expression as a value and mock defenders of the 1st amendment as inherently “libertarian.” I wondered if they preferred something more like the UK model; which just allowed JK Rowling to bully Amnesty into deleting a report

PETA does this deliberately because it drives engagement and visibility

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 6d ago

a worrying number of PETA's ads appear to be basically 'the writer's barely disguised fetish'

It's hard to be an enthusiast for the United States these days but I am grateful for New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) (which Trump hates and some current justices, but likely not a majority, want to overrule)

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

Sex Matters here is arguing that it is unlawful for e.g. a trans woman to be searched by a female police officer *even with mutual consent* (thus the disparaging of consent as a standard in the graphic)

Astrid@astridsramblings.bsky.social · 5d ago

Sorry for the SM graphic but they have lost their JR attempting to ensure that trans people must, under all circumstances, be searched by a police officer of the same sex assigned at birth - including intimate and strip searching. Occasional good news

I don't know anything (I emphasize again that I don't know anything) but the text of the "Board of Peace" roadmap reads to me like Hamas will be able to de facto hold on to small arms, which has been a major issue for Israel in past disarmament proposals

I think there's a world in which Democrats win the Texas Senate race and lose the Michigan Senate race and that's...

This is not true

Jessica Tarlov@jessicatarlov.bsky.social · last wk.

Your average Republican is pro-IVF, skeptical of six week heartbeat bills, against deporting productive, law-abiding immigrants, and for gay marriage.

Matthew Vines wrote a response to some of the responses to his op-ed about "queer" in the NYT. matthewvines.substack.com/p/why-i-wrot... It's an interesting essay but I think it is badly analytically confused and conflates several different things that are not closely related

Why I wrote about "gay" and "queer" for The New York Times

Some reflections on my essay from June 30th

matthewvines.substack.com

"You don't suffer misogyny, because you aren't a woman" is a weird way to think just on its face, like sexism and sex discrimination is a sort of metaphysical fact about gender ontology rather than a social practice

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · last wk.

It's really hard for people to grasp that this is what Rowling does all day every day. Her brain is absolutely rotted out. Who the hell talks like this?

Words matter (but not those words)

Joel S.@joelhs.bsky.social · last wk.

This argument from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations against saying Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza explicitly makes the argument that we should simply ignore the public statements of major figures in the government like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.

I am nobody but for what it's worth I am a Jewish lawyer in NYC and I have never heard of any of these groups

Jacob Kornbluh@jacobkornbluh.bsky.social · last wk.

A coalition of New York City’s Jewish bar associations is accusing Mamdani of excluding Jews from his new 18-member Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. In letter, the attorneys say the omission follows a “troubling pattern” that has left many Jews feeling marginalized. More ⬇️

What are the stakes here? After BPJ there's no prospect of using Title IX to challenge sports bans. And it seems exceedingly unlikely that even a Dem trifecta would move legislation on sports (and it does not seem like the right trans-rights legislative priority) www.advocate.com/politics/nat...

Powerful Democratic think tank's reset on transgender rights alarms advocates

The Center for American Progress says its new framework will help Democrats confront anti-LGBTQ+ attacks without abandoning civil rights. Transgender people aren't so sure.

advocate.com