I am begging my fellow Americans to learn how parties work *literally* every where else. Candidates are not more legitimate just because they were selected via a primary. Parties regularly select candidates and then voters, in an election, tell the party if they liked them or not.

Chris Murphy@chrismurphyct.bsky.social · last mo.

Democrats have to win back the Senate if we’re going to stop Donald Trump’s daily, nuclear-grade corruption. The assault allegations against Graham Platner are disqualifying and he should be replaced as the nominee. But this can’t happen as a party insider backroom deal.

Strong incentives for reviewers to push back against work that challenges reigning paradigms. They also prefer papers that incrementally build on their own work rather than criticize it. Anonymity is supposed to safe-guard peer review but it also creates perverse incentives for authors.

I've spent years living and working abroad. But sure, go ahead with the ad hominem attacks and straw men instead of engaging with what I actually said.

Kathryn Brightbill ✒️@kebrightbill.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This is a claim that no one who's actually talked to anybody in another country other than their hotel desk clerk could come up with. I know someone who went through a stretch where her parents couldn't get her to eat anything but a drink of raw eggs beaten with sweetened condensed milk, ffs

It's very funny seeing the horrified responses to this from people that seemingly don't realize that hundreds of millions of children in other countries around the world still just eat what their parents eat and 1) don't starve and 2) are not emotionally scarred for the rest of their lives.

C.A. Pinkham@eyepatchguy.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I firmly believe kids need to at least *try* whatever you’re making to see if they like it but this is fucking psychotic

My wife isn’t Jewish and we’re members of a Reform synagogue and our son just got his bar mitzvah date and literally no one there has ever remotely suggested we aren’t all full, valued members of the community

Return of the Cmonmacques@cmonmaque.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“I feel like I’m nothing. And the world often agrees”. We sure do, Olivia.

New Bright Line Watch report! -Expert ratings of U.S. democracy largely stable at lowest levels measured (since 2017) -Record partisan divide in public ratings of democracy driven by Republicans whose evaluations are highest since 2017 -Experts near-unanimous on many threats to democracy 🧵 below

Deadline for submission to the Boston/New England Area Working Group in African Political Economy (BWGAPE) at Harvard is March 27. Please apply! @nlnathan.bsky.social @evlieb.bsky.social @piaraffler.bsky.social @scrosenzweig.bsky.social @chinemeluokafor.bsky.social Link: forms.gle/7R9PkFWEZTc6...

After years in academia, I’m exploring data science and research roles in industry. I'm a quant. social scientist (PhD Yale ’24, NYU) focused on causal inference, experiments, and large-scale data. Feel free to get in touch or share; all leads appreciated. dwstommes@gmail.com

🧵 I suspect that there are a lot of people out there, who are deeply troubled by the actions of ICE, but are also uncomfortable with the response of activists. One friend preferred the protests from the civil rights era. I pointed out that at the time, most mainstream white Americans disapproved...

Trump Announces 5,000% Increase In All Numbers

Trump Announces 5,000% Increase In All Numbers

WASHINGTON—Touting his latest executive order as a historic win for the U.S. economy, President Donald Trump announced Friday that he was mandating a 5,000% increase in all numbers nationwide. “Effect...

theonion.com

Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.

I miss Harry Reid

IN NEW ISSUE: Ethnic voting - @scrosenzweig.bsky.social examines the subject through the lens of group norms & social pressure using data from Africa. Read in more: buff.ly/YYogOYs #polsci @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social @sagepub.com #polsci #poisky

That multiple NYS races show up on this list is a huge indictment of the New York Democratic Party. Lost all races in Nassau County, where candidates ran on their opposition to Mamdani, while just across the Sound in Westchester, Ken Jenkins—who did not—cruised to victory with 66% of the vote.

Taniel@taniel.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I've gotten this question a bunch. Of the races I was watching on my cheat sheet, here are the GOP wins: —Nassau County executive & DA —mayor of Columbia, SC —mayor of Binghamton, NY —mayor of Manchester, NH —prosecutor of Virginia Beach —a special election for NH state House note: all holds

It's not in this article but the government asserts that the sandwich was thrown at "point blank range", which implies subway sandwiches have defined effective weapon ranges of varying lethality, and I would like to see the government's chart of these ranges.

Josh Mankiewicz@joshmankiewicz.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Trial Begins for Man Accused of Lobbing a Sandwich at a Federal Agent www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/u...

Great analysis of the situation in Tanzania by Dan Paget

Has Tanzania Reached Its Breaking Point? | Journal of Democracy

President Hassan promised Tanzanians freedom, transparency, and reform. Instead, she has delivered repression, violence, and arrests as she bars anyone who dares challenge her.

journalofdemocracy.org

I’m sure I’m not the first to say this, but I can’t see a photo of Bovino without thinking he’s Col. Lockjaw from One Battle After Another

Adam Keiper@adamkeiper.com · 9mo ago

NEW: This guy has been working hard to make himself the face of Trump's deportation push in Chicago. He knows what that could mean for his own future career—because he knows Trump is watching. www.thebulwark.com/p/this-man-i...

This is an excellent piece on Raila Odinga and how his politics fit into Kenyan politics since independence writ large

PATRICK GATHARA - Raila Odinga and the Politics of Power - The Elephant

Predicating change on capturing power makes politics a zero-sum game.

theelephant.info

#NYC #NoKings 👑

So dangerous that they must be blown into small pieces rather than arrested … unless they are actually captured in which case they may go home with a warning. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...

This is a great paper that I had a chance to read an earlier version of as a committee member for the @epovb.bsky.social Best Paper award (which it won).

Sumitra Badrinathan@sumitra.bsky.social · 10mo ago

🚨 out at @apsrjournal.bsky.social 🚨 ➡️ We ran a large media literacy experiment to fight misinformation ➡️ 13,500 students, 583 villages in Bihar, India ➡️Created custom misinfo curriculum of 4 months ➡️Partnered w the government to roll it out as an official course in classrooms hopeful findings👇🏽

Why most polls overstate support for political violence www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...

Why most polls overstate support for political violence

Misperceptions about the popularity of violence increase public support for it — but you can help change that.

gelliottmorris.com

So happy to see this out! We caution against excessive optimism that the opposition will restore countries back to their democratic trajectories after electoral victory. Weakened institutions and the memory of repression makes it tempting to continue rather than buck the trend of autocratization.

Journal of Democracy@jodemocracy.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Conventional wisdom says that, once in power, opposition parties will return backsliding countries to the democratic path. In reality, not only is this not true, but it is not uncommon for the opposition to adopt the autocratic habits of the regime they replaced. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a... 1/2

More evidence of backlash against politicians associated with political violence

Journal of Peace Research@jpeaceresearch.bsky.social · 10mo ago

📢 New publication! 📢 Does political violence backfire in mature democracies? In this article, @kkrakows.bsky.social (@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social) and @juansemorales.bsky.social (Wilfrid Laurier University) examine how the January 6 US Capitol Attack affected public support for US politicians.

🚨 New Bright Line Watch report on state of US democracy brightlinewatch.org/violence-red... -Expert ratings ~= since April but ↓ substantially since January -US now most closely resembles an illiberal democracy -Partisan gap in democracy ratings highest since 2017 Full thread of results below

Here's 90 minutes with @adamprz.bsky.social, Sue Stokes, Steven Levitsky, and @dziblatt.bsky.social on the state of American democracy right now. It was a great honor for me to be able to convene this set of people to speak together at this moment. Please share! open.spotify.com/episode/0F8W...

The State of American Democracy with Steven Levitsky, Adam Przeworski, Susan Stokes and Daniel Ziblatt | The Civic Forum E10

Spotify video

open.spotify.com

We must stand resolutely against political assassination and political violence of all kinds, and just as resolutely against everyone who exploits acts of violence as the pretext or excuse for political repression of political opponents.

Zack Beauchamp@zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Very, very bad stuff coming from leading right-wingers

Information environment has reached its grotesque conclusion in that there is a very real killer out there who has not been identified, apprehended, or investigated, a detail practically inconsequential to nearly every commentator’s purposes.

I mean what on earth are district court judges supposed to do at this point other than get the message from SCOTUS to let Trump do whatever he wants to no matter what the law says.