Why cede the framing?? They are sending fascist thugs into the Twins Cities, not to investigate crime but to violently attack our immigrant communities. We cannot equivocate on this. Fucking spineless

This is a post about why software engineering is difficult

holy shit

The cognitive dissonance of trying to convince the NSF to give me $159,000 for aerosol climate modeling research, pointing to its relevance for future strategic readiness, but being unsure if I should cite a 2024 report from the "Department of Defense"...

My 4th estate... bro, my look at my 4th estate...

Hate to be dying on this hill while everyone (myself included) is livid, but I find it so frustrating that the whole "Democratic party" is always held to blame 8 Senators folded of a 47 member caucus--that's less than 20%. The OVERWHELMING majority of our party stayed principled and held the line!

This is true, and my angle on the solution is that all researchers think more of themselves as "statistician w/ specialized knowledge in [X]" In applied fields, every fact we "know" is filtered by our ability to infer it from data. If you can't think critically through how that works, you're ngmi

i stopped by the katie cashman party at bruhaven in loring park. rep katie jones is there. campaign volunteers have face paint like it’s a sports game. there is pizza @katiecashman.bsky.social @katiejonesmpls.bsky.social @dunktankdoug.bsky.social @ziglaser.bsky.social

Noah and i ran our last voter to the polls with FOUR MINUTES TO SPARE!

Moon Duchin--my former boss at the Data and Democracy Lab--has a good interview in the NYT today outlining the state of play in “democracy science” How do we run towards where the ball *will be* in terms of democratic reforms by the time we have policy makers and courts receptive to change?

Gotta say, I’m pretty anti-cussing out any campaign worker trying to reach out in a normal way. I’ve been the campaign worker to get those texts and it sucks. Don’t bring down some random 18-year-old kid‘s day just to indulge a vengeful spirit! Do better things with you time and text Stop2Quit

I wanted to offer some thoughts on the Gates climate memo that has been circulating this week. While I can't directly speak for others, I can say that my own response is one of dismay & deep frustration (and that this view is shared by many climate/Earth scientists). [1/n]

The Minneapolis Ward 7 race might be the most expensive in Minneapolis history, but we know it's people power that will tip the balance! I'll be going all out door knocking to get out the vote for @katiecashman.bsky.social in the final few days of the election. Join me: mobilize.us/katieforcoun...

I know it isn't worth my time to treat NYT opinion columnists like coherent thinkers, but it's just so galling to watch filibuster-supporter David Brooks insist that Democrats trying to win the bipartisan concessions he so fetishizes are the real problem with our democracy

Not at all a dunk on @joelhs.bsky.social, but I don't find this particularly vexing Why should we expect people who think that Jews and Muslims should be treated differently under the law in Israel draw the line at the US? More evidence for the fundamental incompatibility of Liberalism and Zionism

This is going to be my soapbox for a while, but we're seeing this jurisprudence change in real time. When Rucho was decided, the Court at least acknowledged that partisan gerrymandering was unfortunate. Today, it's treated as a legit goal for states to pursue and one that VRA districts must respect

LMAO Even in Ward 7 this is hilariously stupid political comms

People saying stuff like this are cranks, and almost as far outside the scientific mainstream as climate deniers Under the SSP2-4.5 "middle road" scenario (which imo is a bit pessimistic) we expect warming of 1.4-3 deg C by 2100 (IPCC AR6) Corresponding sea level rise of less than a meter

With the news cycle focused on ABC's suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, a journalist with a valid US work permit and pending green card application is about to be deported for the crime of reporting www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Rucho still is one of the stupidest Supreme Court decisions of my lifetime, and it is impossible to watch Texas and California’s ruthless redistricting arms race without remembering John Roberts being like, “Well, how could we, humble jurists, ever KNOW know if gerrymanders go Too Far To Be Legal??”

Democratic theory and experiment have come a long way in the last 250 years. Single-member districts are terminally flawed and undermine the fundamental democratic notion of "one person, one vote" (states and municipalities can implement w/o constitutional amendments, even congressional districts!)

The statement "Jews lived through the Holocaust, and therefore they (we) have a special obligation to fight the genocide of other communities" is a statement that is at best problematic, if not outright antisemitic, when said by non-Jews, but is also foundational to my own sense of Jewish ethics.

Given this campaign has way less demagoguery about antisemitism, this feels a little more awkward than “Jews for Zohran” Just has a bit of “White Guys for Kamala” energy

The final installment of my series on my April precinct caucus. What can go wrong when a former Park Board President hijacks the delegate selection process to avoid walking subcaucuses? What lessons can we take away about proportional representation?

There's a bizarre fusion in my head between "We Love Minneapolis" and "No Kings" that makes me think and say "We Love Kings" day whenever I'm trying to discuss the protest

I feel like such a boiled frog. My first reaction to this is "well, it looks they won't be doing much" and that's probably true! Feels insane how "federal troops are occupying DC" would be end times 10yrs ago, but now `\_(:/)_/`. Obviously not the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Critical support to anyone doing data-driven modeling and analysis of local Minneapolis elections 🫡

thrive mpls a zoom meeting for their supporters a few days ago and we were inside. i've added the full slideshow to my blog post, but wanted to highlight a few things - taylordahlin.com/f/new-pac-in...

Fascinating data illiteracy While abolishing Affirmative Action and ignoring demographics certainly reduces representation of underserved groups, this graph shows the exact opposite of headline's claim of GPA and test score bias: much of the bias in admissions comes *when holding test scores equal*

If you understand the problems with the way the state of Israel rhetorically wields the memory of the Holocaust, then you understand the danger in exceptionalizing any one atrocity in human history, no matter how horrible, as the “worst ever.”

I wrote about the overwhelming feelings of despair that permeate this Tisha B'Av for me. What does it mean to share the guilt of enabling Israel with my community, even as many do not recognize the reality of genocide in Gaza?

I went from sobbing at the most recent RadioLab to crying laughing at this. @taylr.bsky.social's deadpan commentary and John's recycling of Plowy McPlowface one-liners as the police trucks advanced was hysterical. I'm particularly emotionally labile today as I'm fasting for Tisha B'Av, so ymmv.

I'm on the road, making a huge nation-circling trip before heading off to grad school at @caltech.edu this fall. If you want to follow my travels, I'm writing about them here:

ward 7 CM katie cashman has filed! fittingly, she was the 7th candidate to file!! adam schneider also filed for parks at large @katiecashman.bsky.social @adamformplsparks.bsky.social

During Pride I was very concerned about the impending simultaneous outbreak of clear weather, storms, and a heat wave

Katie Cashman: what do everyday people out and about on the street think about the 2026 city budget? Elizabeth Shaffer: what do my friends Tom Hoch and Mike Erlandson think about slashing services so I can give them a tax cut?

Results for @mplsdfl.org endorsement of candidates for Park Board At-Large. Congratulations to our endorsed candidates!

Frey’s team fucked themselves—they needed 33% to block rules changes, 40% to block an endorsement, and chose a 50% quote standard instead 🤷‍♂️ Either that’s boneheadedness, or it was setting up to allow for this kind of aspersion casting about the outcome

I could not agree more! Conventions suck! Heck, an August primary still seems like an unrepresentative tipping of the scales to me. But then your problem is with conventions, not this one in particular! Be consistent, and advocate for their abolition with the State Central Committee

Will’s chronology is correct, the motion did pass before the walk out, though it started slightly 9:16, @taylr.bsky.social has Palmisano walking out before 9:13 I retract this particular objection

I feel like I’m losing my mind. Do you think the latter part about 150 delegates leaving might have anything to do with why the rules were tossed?? If Frey had not intentionally pulled his delegates, the convention wouldn’t have had the 2/3 delegate majority to blast through. Take it up with them!

We were headed to a *paper* second ballot with the unanimous support of delegates Frey’s camp knew they might lose because progressives had consolidated and alternate upgrades were pro-Fateh Badge votes were only adopted after the walkout bc the outcome was obvious provided we had quorum

courtside DFL endorsed @omarfatehmn.com

added a new badge to my collection of badges: a campaign floor pass for tom olsen. @ziglaser.bsky.social is clearly jealous!!

Yeah, I’m claiming victory with this:

My brilliant plan to walk to Pizza Luce for dinner during the Parks candidate presentations is crumbling around me as the first mayoral ballot crashes into the 6pm hour

Email confirmation was an atrocious idea if they couldn’t be sent instantaneously. What’s the point of a confirmation email that arrives an hour after the ballot? Over promising has just led to massive confusion

Ok, what is Brenda Short’s criminal justice background?! She brought it up in Q&A, also mentions it on her website, and a MN Daily interview, but never goes into specifics. I realize it’s a mistake to take her at her word (she also mentioned 27 years in finance?!) but fascinated for the back story