Hypothetical horse race polls all face the same problem: differential turnout. Asking the same people, “if the race were between x and y? What about x and z?” Makes the assumption that the same people who would vote in the first race would also vote in the second.

Sam Wang@samwang.bsky.social · 2d ago

Highly doubtful. El-Sayed and Stevens poll within several points of one another against Rogers. It is virtually certain that voters will come home by November. This is wishful thinking.

In Trump's latest effort to overhaul higher ed, colleges see an opportunity to share their various committments. Others see another attempt to coerce institutions. My story with @jessicablake.bsky.social on the call to action. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

McMahon Sends Reform ‘Questionnaire’ to Colleges

The Association of American Universities and other university leaders consulted on the call to action, which represents a shift in tactics for the administration.

insidehighered.com

Alexandra Fasulo runs one of the most prolific anti-solar campaigns online, regularly telling over 2 million followers renewable energy is threatening farms and wildlife. But how much of her rhetoric is actually true? @alexhannaford.com spent months parsing through the nuance for HEATED:

The influencer teaching millions to fear solar

Alexandra Fasulo says she’s protecting farms and wildlife. Her campaign is becoming a blueprint for the fossil fuel right.

heated.world

Great scoop from Knox. But also puzzling: Why would Higher Ed Compact 2.0 end any differently from 1.0? Trump admin still demanding colleges publicly submit to right-wing priorities, still holding federal research dollars hostage, not committing to dropping lawsuits.

Liam Knox@liamknox.bsky.social · 2d ago

Scoop: The Trump administration is sending a letter to college presidents asking them to pledge a series of policy changes by the end of the year. Unlike last year's Compact, this effort was devised with input from higher ed leaders. Free link to my exclusive: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

I check in on Threads now and then. This week the site is melting down over @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social’s @lrb.co.uk review of The Odyssey movie. People are absolutely losing it over her lack of collegial decorum. The nerve! 1/

If only RFK Jr had thought to investigate the effect of vaccines on autism. I mean, the evidence is RIGHT THERE.

James Downie@jamescdownie.bsky.social · last wk.

"At a May lunch at the president’s golf course in northern Virginia, President Trump asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., why he wasn’t doing more to probe the alleged connection between vaccines and autism, according to people familiar with the matter."

This. Don’t let RFK Jr rewrite America’s most recent history.

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · last wk.

We actually had the 16th highest mortality rate in the world and it largely resulted from the ignorant asshats who were *resisting* the common sense protection measures Fauci was promoting like masking and distancing. What a colossal asshole.

I have been promoted to assistant emperor of France. This achievement is a reflection of my relentless dedication to supporting imperial rule over continental Europe and registering all exhibits from the Egyptian expedition. www.nga.gov/artworks/461...

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries by Jacques-Louis David

How do portraits influence the way we see historic figures? David shows Napoleon Bonaparte working tirelessly for the people of France. The clock reads 4:13, the early morning. The candles are almost ...

nga.gov

Rav@rvbdrm.com · last wk.

Discovering new levels of LinkedIness

A scathing, perceptive critique of The Odyssey movie by the translator Christopher Nolan himself cited as an inspiration for the script.

EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · last wk.

I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

This kills me: A game modeled on Monopoly that enables you to play as scheming siloviki, the autocrats of the Russian state. Now that I think about it, the Kremlin under Putin would be perfect for an RPG.

ChrisO_wiki@chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 2w ago

1/ Does the Russian soldier in your life need something to entertain him? A Russian entrepreneur has come up with the perfect answer: a board game called Silapoly which features 'Uncle Vova', the Oreshnik missile, the FSB, and anything else needed to control Russia. ⬇️

The Russian establishment is in a state of absolute panic over their unpopularity. They cannot allow any real electoral choices.

Meduza in English@meduza.io · 2w ago

St. Petersburg’s election commission has refused to register Yabloko party candidates for the city’s legislative assembly elections. meduza.io/en/news/2026...

Worth noting that 69% of Republicans say that the US should maintain or increase American support for Israel. That's why almost every House Republican voted for Israeli aid on July 15. emersoncollegepolling.com/july-2026-na...

July 2026 National Poll: Democrats with 11-Point Generic Ballot Advantage - Emerson Polling

Opposition to data centers growing; majority think US spending too much on Israel aid A…Full Release & Results

emersoncollegepolling.com

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Enten on the 67 point swing (!!!) against Israel among Americans: "We're not just talking about the Democratic base anymore. The general electorate has turned against Israel. This is not just a left issue. It's an American issue. The trend line is unbelievable."

The easily foreseeable catastrophes likely to result from the Trump administration's plan to limit international students to 4-year stints are nothing short of mind-boggling.

Amanda Katz@katzish.bsky.social · 2w ago

Around 35% of US PhD candidates are here on temp student visas. Time to degree is approx 5-7+ years depending on field. Around 80% of these folks end up staying to make the US awesome. So what happens when you force everyone to reapply to be here, 4 years in??? www.porchpartynews.com/p/trump-rule...

Was a national civics competition for high-school kids ... Rigged? Biased? Botched? I followed one family through Trump's patriotic contest and found a remarkable story about our age of suspicion. For @notus.com: www.notus.org/national/ame...

Suspicion and Doubt at the National Civics Contest

America’s finest young scholars competed to mark their country's birthday. It led to a disputed finish in the age of mistrust.

notus.org

Does...does Trump know he's still got 2.5 years left in his term?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Trump: "We're in the golden age. This is the greatest we'll ever be."

Timely hearing.

EdTrust@edtrust.bsky.social · 2w ago

REMINDER: SVP Wil Del Pilar, Ph.D. will testify at a House Ed & Workforce Committee briefing, “Education in the Crosshairs, Part III: What Dismantling the Dept of Education Means for Students,” TODAY, 7/22 at 2:45pm. Live stream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/eQHjfbclXFs?si=00mjGFrt1OxK-jOQ

A 🧵 about The Odyssey movie. 1. It's wonderful. I'm a fan. 2. It's hilariously chaste. Who could imagine that a 3000-year-old poem would be so much hornier than a 2026 adaptation? Odysseus doesn't even have sex with Circe, much less stay with her for a year as her f-boy.

Expected, but still a big, big deal. Editorializing here, I think it was the right move. But now Zelensky has to fill the post and also choose a new Defense Minister. Guessing it will not be Fedorov, but we'll see.

The Kyiv Independent@kyivindependent.com · 2w ago

⚡️Breaking: Zelensky dismisses Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi amid widespread protests. President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 21 dismissed the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California admitted that they used keywords related to diversity to screen for projects. It’s an admission that lawyers for the researchers say is proof the agencies illegally cancelled nearly $2b in grants.

DEI keyword search led to billions in cancelled California university grants

The Trump administration cancelled $2 billion of research grants to UC professors. Their legal team says it has proof that was unconstitutional.

calmatters.org

Good thread on EU’s frustrating parochialism.

Anton Gerashchenko@antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 2w ago

Negotiations on the 21st sanctions package have revealed the limits of the current model of EU political integration. The European Commission proposed new restrictions targeting Russia's energy, financial, and military-industrial sectors. ⤵️

My view of the Odyssey: it is a wonderful movie. But it is not a film about Homer’s epic. Homer believed that the gods walk among us and that war engenders greatness. Nolan simply does not believe either of these things.

People using AI to record and transcribe all the conversations in their lives - dates, watercooler chats, whatever. They no longer ask for consent, and the people being recorded no longer ask if they're being recorded. Is this dystopian or am I just old? www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...

This Conversation Is Being Recorded. They All Are.

People in tech use AI apps to record and transcribe meetings, workplace chats and even dates—all in the name of productivity.

wsj.com

Oxford commas can't save us.

A 🇺🇦🧵 based on new @kyivindependent.com report: As Gen. Syrski teeters on the edge of losing his job, the Skelia regiment on which Syrski has lavished favors is supporting him by carrying out flamboyant flag-raising expeditions in Kostiantinivka, the most contested battleground city in Ukraine. 1/

As an Auburn University grad, I mourn the degradation of my alma mater. I learned about marxist-leninism at Auburn, but it didn't make me a communist. Thanks to @brianlyman.bsky.social for keeping the flame alive at @alabamareflector.com.

Brian Lyman@brianlyman.bsky.social · 3w ago

My column from Monday. The leaders of the University of Alabama and Auburn University have been notably weak amid escalating attacks on students and educators. That’s only going to encourage further attacks and ongoing erosion of the schools’ core missions.

Fetterman is setting a condition for leaving the Democratic Party that could never happen: an official statement that his party opposes the existence of a Jewish state in Israel. My hot take is that Fetterman is speaking from the heart, not signaling a political strategy. Dumb but sincere.

T. Greg Doucette@gregdoucette.bsky.social · 3w ago

Laying the groundwork for the switch in 2027, so he can run as an R in 2028 www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Those gentlemen seem to have quite a heated rivalry.

picklesbaseball.bsky.social@picklesbaseball.bsky.social · 3w ago

IT GOT HEATED

Fedorov created a military procurement system that is efficient and decentralized, possibly the first ever. Ukraine needs him.

Euan MacDonald@euanmacdonald.bsky.social · 3w ago

By law, Ukraine cannot have elections just now, but Ukrainians still have agency if not a formal vote. This is a type of street referendum. Zelensky’s response - cave or stand firm - will show how far he has strayed from the public mood. I’m betting he caves.

Props for a zero-baseline graph that doesn’t visually exaggerate the rate of change.

Scott Clement@sfcpoll.bsky.social · 3w ago

This is the first Post-Ipsos poll where significantly more than half of Trump approvers support him only “somewhat,” rather than strongly. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

This is the difference between Trump I & II. In Trump’s first term, he had several Honey Huans who assured him that the Great Wall had been destroyed and rebuilt. In his second term, the functionaries all race to wield the hammer and post rubble selfies on X.

Malaclypse the Middle@malaclypse.bsky.social · 4w ago

Unironically, America needs a Honey Huan: