Given the argument that ended the VRA, I think it’s time liberals did some self reflection about the now decades long obsession with partisan polarization as the problem, as opposed to authoritarianism, extremism, oligarchy, and racism

I am unspeakably angry about this turnout gap figure, and it gives insight into the whole ballgame for gutting the VRA. Alito points out that Black turnout exceeded White turnout twice in 5 elections. The argument is garbage 1/x

Our poll: two-thirds of Americans support term limits for SCOTUS justices, and a slight majority favors expanding the bench from 9 to 13 justices www.gelliottmorris.com/p/two-thirds...

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Literature & Government, or L&G with the LG, a lecture series engaging campuses across Virginia in thoughtful dialogue on democracy, leadership, and public life. Coming to a campus near you!

Well this is interesting

Excellent thread. The TL:DR from a large randomized control trial, is that AI use makes you dumb and lazy, and does so very quickly

RESULT: Democrats have flipped this school board seat in Tulsa. They ousted the conservative board member I wrote about here, who suggested that immigrant children endanger other kids.

hey @abigailspanberger.com please pay some attention to the BOV at Virginia Tech. GOP members are trying to kill our on campus living learning programs using your name. they claim "affordability" but what it'll do is drive upperclassmen off campus and into housing owned by some members of the BOV

Completely unstable and perilous. The House must bring up impeachment articles, and the Senate needs to remove a president who wants to commit war crimes. We cannot sit idly by as Donald Trump threatens to end an entire civilization.

President Trump threatened to obliterate every power station and bridge in a country of 90 million people on Tuesday night in prime time and basically no one is bothering to even ask him how that is not a “war” that would require authorization from Congress under Article I of the Constitution.

Quick reminder that the US Congress can stop this anytime it wants to, and that it is the appropriate remedy for executive lawlessness. Yeah, yeah. I know.

"My patient is refusing a drug studied in 170,000 people because of side effects that a 124,000-person analysis just confirmed do not exist — while injecting a compound studied in 14 humans, from unregulated sources, based on the recommendation of someone who profits from selling it."

Heather Cox Richardson has a larger audience than almost any dudefluencer. More informed. Better values & policy preferences. And yet there are no profiles, no elevation or lionization, because there's *nothing* US media is less interested in than middle-aged lib women. No diner interviews for them.

Unions get all the hate, but school district leaders have been an effective counter to right-wing plans for schools—especially in the South. Whatever else it is, targeting school districts themselves is about removing a major voice for local communities

Wikipedia now has higher standards than all universities

Nerd time! :) I mapped every 4-year college in U.S. higher education along two dimensions (institutional resilience & post-college market position) using federal data plus a novel measure of institutional AI exposure I created. Institution search on the front page! kylesaunders.com/university-m...

The is the federal government telling news stations to provide favorable coverage of the war or their licenses will be pulled. A truly extraordinary moment. We aren't on the verge of a totalitarian takeover. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. Act like it.

tomorrow is with one of the biggest election days of the year. there's so much to go over it's hard to know where to start. so, let me help: here are the *10* elections i'm watching the most closely, *at the state and local level* (=no federal elections included!) 🧵:

I know all eyes are on Minneapolis, but there's a fast-approaching nightmare in Springfield, Ohio. Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3. Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.

I am not being snarky. I need my colleagues who wrote on covid school lockdowns to engage with this. To be as loud as they have been about prior "learning loss." Hell, you can cite Tom & Mark's AERJ paper so you feel better that there's some econ somewhere in your argument.

This is such valuable advice and put plainly. Please take a moment. TY @tressiemcphd.bsky.social

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Congress scholar here. This is good advice.

For some reason, very few people these days will stand up and say it, but: the US federal bureaucracy is one of the great wonders of the world, staffed with incredibly diligent people who do their jobs well and care deeply. Trump's destruction of the federal apparaus was a historic crime.

Explain to Congress how important it is to keep multiyear funding of NIH grants in the funding bill. This protects against Russell Vought's trick, which is to make this year's NIH budget cover multiple years of research in advance. Tell your Congresscritter. US Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

APSA Ed Politics & Policy Virtual Conference Presentation Schedule is up! It is free to attend and will take place February 26th from 12:00 to 3:30pm EST. connect.apsanet.org/s51/events/

This beautifully written piece by my pal @adambonica.bsky.social is worth your time today. A bit of light amid the darkness. open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...

Stephen Colbert on the ICE murder of Renee Nicole Good: “The message from this administration is clear. Only they determine the truth. And when their forces come to your city: obey or die. And if you die, you clearly didn’t obey. This should be an alarm bell for the entire country.”

To ring in the new year, I'm excited to announce the launch of the Politics of Education Lab (PEdL) at the Stanford GSE. The goal is to advance understanding of the political dimensions of education policymaking to help policymakers and practitioners strengthen school systems. pedl.stanford.edu

The right, along the Roberts Court, is trying to nullify the Reconstruction amendments guaranteeing equality under the law, in order to restore the Antebellum Constitution, which envisions “liberty” as an eternal aristocracy of race and class (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Don’t look away. sahanjournal.com/immigration/...

Final day to submit an abstract!

I'm not exaggerating when I say following @boltsmag.org rn will unlock money for our journalism. A generous reader, @russ41.bsky.social, has offered to donate $1 for every 1-person increase to our follower count. If you're not following @boltsmag.org yet, it'll directly help fund our reporting!

Last Friday, Dr. Caitlin Jewitt, Associate Professor of Political Science, discussed and workshopped a chapter of her upcoming book as a part of the CAIR working group paper series! 📚

Join us on November 11th at 12pm for the latest installment of the Conversations in International Studies series!🗓️ Prof. Lorenza Violini's talk entitled, "Federalism in Context: The Strange Case of the European Union." 📚

Trying to figure out what #SCOTUS just did with #SNAP, and why Justice Jackson temporarily froze the district court's ruling? Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it: www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf

Came here to say this, but Jamelle Bouie has this covered. 👇 When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.

The trend is real, but this NYT analysis at the Congressional district level has big ecological bias Poor *areas* vote Republican, but it's often the richer *individuals* within those poorer areas that are most Republican And many poor *individuals* rich blue urban *areas* vote Dem

NYT pushed its “Dems must go moderate” take again yesterday. In a new piece out today, @adambonica.bsky.social shows even more clearly why the data don’t support it. It also shows what a skilled empiricist and teacher Adam is. Very proud of my pal’s public work. open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...

Our Winter Education Politics & Policy Virtual Conference will take place on Wed. Feb 25, and Thurs., Feb 26, 2026 from 9am-12:30pm Pacific. We invite proposals from scholars at all stages of their careers. Please send us your proposal by Dec. 8th, 2025, using this form: forms.gle/2Ets9aj1YP9b....

George was just trying to get to work. ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process. This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.

Government shutdowns offer a rare opportunity to un-submerge the submerged state. Something Democrats could/should be doing is every day of shutdown, pick some agency and focus on it for the day. Highlight what it does and what we're losing each day their staff are furloughed.

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

My new op-ed with @lkfazio.bsky.social: Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain. Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

This is lawless, inhumane, and cruel. It’s also official government policy personally endorsed by the president and his cabinet. The president may be immune but those who serve him are not.

Our department is hiring for U.S. Political Institutions! careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us...

An important political tactic that helped advance the defeat of enslavers was creating the term Slave Power, which *correctly* diagnosed the way a shadowy & corrupt network of white conservatives hijacked the state for their own profit & power. We need some version of that today.

New from me: Russ Vought is using federal employees as hostages in federal shutdown negotiations, threatening mass firings if Dems do not accept Trump's terms. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court just allowed Vought to impose a de facto impoundment of foreign aid. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/shutdown-h...