What do you have to do to a person to make them behave like this? What brings a person to a point in their life where they’re gleefully inflicting lawless, unjust violence like this?

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “By many measures, it’s been the most successful season in league history” for the WNBA, David Berri, a sports economist, writes. “But the players aren’t fully sharing in that success.”

Excellent overview

Political campaigns now burn 30¢ of every dollar raised just fundraising for more dollars (up from 9¢ in 2004). In 2024, $3 Billion was spent on fundraising. In 2026, fundraising costs are on track to exceed advertising spending for the first time.

"When nearly one-third of all political contributions get recycled back into asking for more contributions, we've created a system that exists primarily to perpetuate itself while enriching fundraising consultants." data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-fundra...

“It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives and is in one of its most productive moments, is under threat by the Trump administration.

Danielle Thomsen's (@daniellethomsen.bsky.social) The Money Signal will change how you think about the function of money in US elections. A must-read! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

APSA folks: Free on Saturday, 9/13 at 10 am? Come to an Author Meets Critics panel for my new book, The Money Signal! Thanks to an amazing group of scholars: Larry Bartels, Brandice Canes-Wrone, @carnes.bsky.social, @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social, and Frances Lee. @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Have you ever wanted to hear the stories of pathbreaking LADIES of political science? these new podcasts tell their stories. #GenderSky #Polisky #Behaviorsky #EGEN @egenpolisci.bsky.social

Exactly right. And no incentives for strong GOP challengers to run. Problematic in era of uncompetitive general elections.

If pundits would like to talk about violence, a terrorist recently shot up the CDC and another assassinated Democratic officials in Minnesota but they sort of let both stories disappear Not as threatening as motorbikes in DC I know but maybe we could circle back?

Very bad sign when masked, unidentified agents of the security state are not just grabbing people off the street but openly identifying with the regime's politics

Enjoyed giving a keynote at CogSci 2025! 🧠 🖥️ 🌉@cogscisociety.bsky.social ‬ #CogSci2025 #philsci #philsky #HPS

Thanks for the shoutout, Mirya! Book is hot off the press! Full thread soon.

SNA is amazing. No lines, efficient, small but mighty.

Something I love about running a tiny independent media outlet that's beholden only to our readers: We get to do awesome public service journalism like this. Don't get me wrong—this redistricting war is terrible. But we don't have to worry about clicks or shareholders. We just do work that matters.

DOGE cut less than 5% of claimed savings in contracts www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Republican open House seats are tracking the massive 2020 and 2018 years so far. Notably all but one of this year's open GOP seats is due to the member running for Senate or governor. 1/2 Data: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

In agency after agency, the U.S. government is losing its capacity to measure how American society is functioning, making it much harder to gauge the nature and scale of the problems we are facing and the effectiveness of policies. (Published April)

Great thread about a very cool paper about elite behavior that shapes voter choices.

Excited that my paper on early money and dropout decisions is out at @bjpols.bsky.social! A brief thread: Main finding: Experienced candidates who struggle to raise money are more likely to drop out before the primary. Pattern is even more pronounced in the current money-driven era.

@adambonica.bsky.social and I are economists now (economist salary coming soon, I imagine) Ungated until the end of September: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The real scandal here is how deeply embedded Mothership is with the Democratic establishment. It was founded by DCCC alumni and continues to work closely with party leaders. It’s way worse than I thought. And it’s infuriating they continue to allow preying on people to enrich consultants.

The annoying spam texts destroying the Democratic brand: $678M raised through those spam tactics $282M to one consulting firm: Mothership Strategies. $11M to actual campaigns (1.6%) The party isn’t just treating donors like marks—it’s being fleeced itself yet continues to back Mothership.

The most corrupt White House in history. Here is an account of what people are paying, directly to a PAC called MAGA Inc, in order to meet the president, get pardons, change policy www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/u...

Brilliant keynote by @laurennross.bsky.social at #cogsci2025 on cognitive science and its philosophy. Lauren pointed out the myriad ways in which cogsci and philosophy support and benefit one another, using explanation and causal reasoning as case studies. Thank you for a great talk!! 🙏

Been a busy year in the data mines.📊 Just published my mid-year roundup: 29 data visualizations on the state of US democracy, tracking everything from judicial resistance to billionaire influence to why Dems have a mobilization crisis, not a moderation problem. All charts free to use:

The avg. campaign dollar now comes from a 67-year-old donor—up from 61 in 2016. When political money talks with a 67-year-old voice, it's no surprise our policies look backward, not forward. The good news: early donations to younger candidates can help break this cycle and reshape our future.

Two pertinent graphs from me tonight... First, U.S. support for bombing Iran is very low — much lower than support was at the time for the American military attacking Afghanistan, Iraq, and ISIS. Link: www.gelliottmorris.com/p/polls-amer...

More polling just dropped -- by a pretty huge margin Americans think that having international students at US universities is good for the country, not bad -- 56% to 14% (+42) and for 18-29 YOs, nearly 1/2 say international students are "very good"

A huge majority of Americans say that more people should work in manufacturing - but that they, personally, don't want to.

International students add $44 billion to the US economy, annually. www.aau.edu/newsroom/lea...

Stunning. May was brutal for Trump in federal court: 96% loss rate ⚖️. Even GOP-appointed judges have ruled against the admin 72% of the time. District courts are doing their job defending the Constitution. Soon the Supreme Court may be the only court unwilling to defend the rule of law.

New post from me: a free society should not tolerate routine masking and other attempts to conceal identity by ICE agents raiding worksites, stopping cars and arresting protesters. And it's part of a wider Trump administration strategy of pursuing impunity for rights-violating law enforcers.

NEW: A federal judge raised alarm Friday that the Trump administration appeared to have deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras with "no meaningful process" — even as her father was fighting to keep her in the country. Details w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

To everyone that said Democrats like Van Hollen were making a political mistake in defending due process, you were wrong, and we shouldn’t even need a poll to tell us that.

The wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador dominated last week’s news headlines. Here's why Democrats should keep talking about immigration: goodauthority.org/news/why-dem...

Good reporting here. Student paper gets what the bigs have missed. White House is actually threatening to defund all of bostons major hospitals www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Thermostatic public opinion (that people adjust their views against current policy) is accelerated by providing a strong alternative policy view, poor performance, and media coverage of that poor performance. Immigration right now has all 3 - lawsuits and protests keep it in view

With Yoon removed from office today, by my count that makes 34 democratic leaders convicted since 2010. Only one—Trump—faced no real consequences. Trump's actions weren't uncommon. What was exceptional was how our institutions failed to hold him accountable.

We have had nearly two decades of panic about Free Speech on Campus and not a single case, not even the ones they made up, were as bad as what's happening now

My new one @slate.com: "The Ultrarich Have Reshaped Presidential Elections. Here’s Where They’re Looking Next. Billionaire money could have even more of an impact on these races than it did on the 2024 election." slate.com/news-and-pol...

Well wow. With just 3 precincts left, Dem James Malone is up by 800 votes in PA's #SD36. This is looking like an astonishing Dem flip in a Trump+15 seat, per our calculations. electionresults.lancastercountypa.gov/results/publ...

Dozens more pregnant and postpartum women have died in Texas hospitals since the state banned abortion, our analysis shows. As the maternal mortality rate dropped nationally, it rose in Texas by 33%.

Tucson, Arizona today. Original projected attendance was 3,000 people. 23,000 showed up.

1/🧵 Judges across ideological lines are ruling against Trump at strikingly similar rates (84% liberal, 86% centrist, 82% conservative). This isn't partisan opposition to Trump—it's the judiciary functioning as intended by cutting across partisan lines to uphold the Constitution.

One thing everyone should understand is that DOGE has created the least efficient conditions for government I've ever seen. *The working conditions are chaotic. *No clear sense of who works there. *Routine processes have been stopped. *No planning can take place. *People are incredibly demoralized.

As markets plummet again today from Trump's chaotic economic policies, ask yourself: Why would billionaires back policies that tank their own stock values? It’s the taxes. I wrote a step-by-step explainer of how billionaires avoid paying taxes. People are often surprised when I explain it.🧵