Just to be clear, this is what happens in a town that prides itself as being liberal when the DSA candidate is also the NIMBY candidate.

Polling USA@usapolling.bsky.social · 2d ago

Michigan - Ann Arbor Mayoral Primary: Rabhi: 51% (DSA Endorsed) Taylor: 38% Data for Progress / July 20, 2026

The critical question of US politics right now is whether the reticence of normally solid Republican voters to pick up the phone and talk to pollsters signals a general disengagement with politics (and thus low turnout in November), or is limited to polling.

Now they’re saying “exaggerates”??? Who changed that? Coward.

Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News@froomkin.bsky.social · 3w ago

Not too shabby

“Prebunking” has been found to be very effective in neutralizing disinformation

capitolhunters@capitolhunters.bsky.social · 3w ago

Journalists: please, please get ready for this in ADVANCE. We know Trump's going to claim "new evidence shows the 2020 election was stolen". You've got 3 days to write a story that confronts that lie head-on before he says it - pre-write this like an obit. America is begging you: plan ahead. 1/

“Weaponized his vehicle” sounds like the ICE version of “It’s coming right at us” www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr0b...

How To Get Around Hunting Laws - SOUTH PARK

YouTube video by South Park Studios

youtube.com

Eric Umansky@ericumansky.bsky.social · 4w ago

ICE agents under Trump have shot at least 20 people who were inside their cars They did it again today, killing a father ICE said he "weaponized his vehicle" -- a claim they've often made & that often has turned out to be BS. The FBI is investigating...the dad. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/u...

1/ So as is my tradition, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today and I was thinking that instead of asking what it says about King George, it might be more interesting to think about what kind of country the founders were envisioning. A 🧵

To celebrate a rebellion is to know that, from a flawed world, we can make new things. We can hold on, we can find each other, and not just imagine but create a much better America. It is a special 250th – it is ours. Video in link: snyder.substack.com/p/on-tyranny...

On Tyranny — Special 250th Edition

With friends, on video, to recall and to rebel

snyder.substack.com

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" "to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"

There’s something quite fitting and ironic about celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday with a two day long power outage. An inspiring anniversary dashed by degraded infrastructure…

Just inadvertently discovered that a whole bunch of research on AI responses may be invalid. Apparently, even with memory off, ChatGPT is still giving contextual information, including the name of the user! It used my full name casually in conversation; which means that data is in the model.

Or maybe it’s his goal: Recall that “Third World” as a term was developed to refer to unaligned nations in the Cold War And Yugoslavia was the original “Third World” country Now, somehow, 2/3 of the official residents of the White House have Slovenian citizenship!

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · last mo.

no sign of racial animus here, no sirree from less than two weeks ago

You almost wonder if this was the strategy on Iran all along… youtu.be/njMR9K5BKbA?...

It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk

YouTube video by OCPublicLibraries

youtu.be

Alex 🫩@lengau.net · 2mo ago

This is bullshit. Oil prices are down 3% since yesterday and much of that movement happened before the deal was signed. They're still significantly higher than they were in February. Don't carry water for that madman.

The distinction between the right parading around masculinity and their desire to masculinize Michelle Obama seems out of left field and self conflicting until you understand the stereotypes at play… as @stewartcoles.bsky.social and I found in our paper. psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

Mona Burns@monaburns.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Full quote: "Shout out to Trump for having the balls to put some shit like this on ... There's only one person more incredible than the Incredible Hulk, and that's my lord and savior Jesus Christ ... Michelle Obama is a man, am I right America?"

Have to give AI some cred on this prediction:

Josh Pasek@joshpasek.com · 2mo ago

As an experiment, I asked AI what it made of the lineup — it sounded like a Maureen Dowd column.

And the grift is so deep everywhere right now that this was more than halfway down the full news scroll on the New York Times homepage.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2mo ago

A senior CIA official was arrested last week after investigators found hundreds of gold bars worth over $40 million stashed in his Virginia residence, a small fortune that he apparently brought home from work, according to court papers.

Definitely telling that this character seems to be one of the more authentic folks that will be showing up…

Vanilla Ice MTV Interview

YouTube video by Thrivers

youtu.be

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The featured performers for The Great American State Fair on the National Mall: -Vanilla Ice -Martina McBride -Young MC -C+C Music Factory -Milli Vanilli -The Commodores - Morris Day & The Time - Flo Rida -Bret Michaels

Here are 3 essential takeaways from our latest episode with political communication scholar @joshpasek.com. 🎧 Listen now on your fave podcast platforms here: captivated.buzzsprout.com/2569769/follow #CAPTIvatedPodcast #PodcastRecommendations #DigitalDemocracy #MediaLiteracy #SelectiveExposure

New in @polbehavior.bsky.social: over the first half of this decade, people came to believe that white people experienced more discrimination and black people less. And Republicans now think that whites are more discriminated against than Black folks (though partisan trends are ~ parallel)

In our latest episode, we sit down with @joshpasek.com, professor of Communication and Media and Political Science at the University of Michigan, to unpack two of the most important concepts in media psychology: selective exposure and motivated reasoning. 🎧 captivated.buzzsprout.com/2569769/follow

Can’t amplify this sentiment enough.

So sad to lose Barney Frank, I particularly remember him talking about his role in Freedom Summer, & the risks that he and others entailed to help bring America closer to a true democracy. The story reminds us both why we don’t want to go back and that pursuing what is right is not always welcomed.

Freedom Summer @ 50: The Politician | American Experience | PBS

"I felt morally empowered, but it was very scary," Congressman Frank Barney from Massachusetts.

pbs.org

There are a few places that an Astroturf campaign like this seem less likely to work than here in Ann Arbor. Many people in the know on the issue were tepid on public power prior to this campaign; but I can now name a number of new public power supporters, convinced by DTE making this effort.

Progressive News Service@prognews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Utility industry using ‘astroturf’ groups to stop public ownership. "...the Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition... appears to be a local, grassroots [group] opposing a public power campaign.... But state filings show its mailing address was One Energy Plaza..." www.theguardian.com/business/202...

AAPOR submitted an amicus brief to defend #FirstAmendment protections and the future of #PublicOpinionResearch. At stake: whether pollsters can face legal liability when survey results differ from election outcomes. Read full announcement: aapor.org?p=7931 #AAPOR #DemocracyNeedsPolls

AAPOR Submits Brief to Protect First Amendment Rights and the Future of Public Opinion Research - AAPOR

On April 21, AAPOR submitted an amicus brief, reinforcing the importance of protecting public opinion research as protected speech under the First Amendment.

aapor.org

Although it’s fair to say that there are a lot of particular challenges for election surveys, the widespread perception that political polls have not changed methods since 2004 is shocking. Far more election surveys are based on the USPS CDSF database than conducted via RDD (true for > a decade)

Matt Darling@besttrousers.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Economic surveys are imperfect in many ways, but the critiques of 1,000 person surveys conducted by random digit dialing don't apply to 20,000 in-person interviews using the USPS database.

Israel's hegemonic ideology is Kahanism: pursuing a Jewish non-democratic one state where Palestinians are subjugated, expelled or dead. Some say this is an inevitable continuation of Zionism, others that it is a corruption of Zionism. I disagree with both accounts, but don't mind either. 1/

Highly, ironic that they just closed the city survey on whether to keep the sirens. engage.a2gov.org/siren-review. Good moment for a motion to reconsider #a2council?

Outdoor Warning Siren System Review

A reivew of the City's warning siren system to determine if they should be decomissioned or maintained

engage.a2gov.org

griffie@nordurljos.bsky.social · 4mo ago

the city of ann arbor said they wanna save money by cutting the tornado sirens. and the universe laughed

What you really have to admire is the juxtaposition of the incredible attention to detail of the imagery (spokesperson, white jacket, even the slightly too long sleeves despite tailoring), with the absolute disregard for the actual text.

Seth Cotlar@sethcotlar.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The thing you have to admire about the folks at the Department of War is their attention to detail. This is real.

An incredibly shameful action — all the more so given that every major Jewish movement has long condemned the death penalty, and that Israel itself used to assert that the only justification for putting someone to death was for crimes against humanity.

Joel S.@joelhs.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Knesset passed a bill today mandating the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terror - but not for Jews. There is a word for a legal system where different legal standards apply to different categories of people. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

The elite attack on universities has already substantially eroded academic freedom and free speech. People should be hired based on merit. We should avoid any procedure that punishes applicants or faculty based on political views. And no ideological quotas or monitoring of faculty.

Brendan Nyhan@brendannyhan.bsky.social · 5mo ago

"the decline in [academic freedom in] the United States has been more rapid and pronounced, particularly in the last year. It has deteriorated by 50% from 2015 to 2025 and is now evaluated as moderate autonomy by country experts" academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...