Well holy fucking shit. Ring cancelled their partnership with Flock. Keep pressure on them to stop volunteering their feeds to state, local, and federal agencies, though, because that part's still going.

Too often when discussing trans rights, we’re forced to be on the defensive, as Republicans wage attacks. Today, we take the opportunity to look forward by introducing my Trans Bill of Rights, a comprehensive vision to provide protections for all trans and nonbinary people.

Reporting requires relationships and therefore it fundamentally can't be performed by LLMs. The reason why tech vultures and media CEOs talk about AI revolutionizing journalism is because they see journalism as a set of slop mills rather than newsrooms that produce new information

This is a huge deal. After years of leading in fundraising, Dem small donors are (rightly) pissed off at the spam texts and emails, as well as at congressional leadership. Meanwhile, GOP billionaire money is hitting record levels. Perfect storm. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/u...

We’ve got a great lineup for a great conversation! Consider joining us!

We have juries in the US because it is a bulwark against government overreach. Don’t blow off jury duty.

People on Reddit are getting Amazon to refund their Ring products because of their partnership with Flock and that creepy Super Bowl ad www.reddit.com/r/FlockSurve...

The surrounding buildings should fly rainbow flags from every window, huge banners off the roof, the city should paint an enormous rainbow on the pavement right in front of the building. Just drown it in rainbows.

"It'd be much easier to get a cat to take a bath than to get them to listen to me" - woof thread on a study of the people judged most harshly (unfairly) for not voting

Essential reading for those who understand that having something repeated frequently does not constitute evidence.

Harvard isn’t just fighting for Harvard- they are fighting for our democracy. If Harvard crumbles, so to will so many of our nation’s strongest institutions. Thanks for everything you, and so many others, are doing to lead the resistance! We need your courage & clear moral compass now more than ever

Last week, I published a report - the "Political Disconnect" -based on interviews with 144 low-income & working-class people, across racial groups, who don't usually vote. They are the experts on why, and today I want to share their words. www.swarthmore.edu/u...

Very excited to announce @roberttalisse.bsky.social and @bernybelvedere.bsky.social have joined the lineup! Register today! Attendance is free!

There's a reality that the AAU is comprised of presidents of institutions, some of whom would rather pretend there is no censorship in 2026. At what point do they deal with the mockery this makes of all the other institutions in the org?

Just wanted to say thanks to the many actual academics working on AI's deleterious effects on social economies and culture replying with links to their work. I'll just quote skeet them here (I'm not an academic, I'm a hacker and trans rights researcher with some skin in tech and humanities)

This is fun and cute! I really really cannot draw.

We're living in a terrifying new reality. Trump's DHS mob are killing US citizens, kidnapping kids and terrorizing hard working immigrants - including the farm workers who feed us. Call your Senators TODAY! Tell them don't fund ICEs terror campaign! act.seiu.org/a/do_not-fun... #ICEout

You can understand a lot about American politics when you internalize - in your daily decision, coverage, literally anything - that a lot of things only go one way. As many Trump supporters - including ones who got dem info or addresses from Trump’s online posts - as possible can hurt or try…

Good report here on how very little TANF funds actually go to supporting low income families. It has become a slush fund for states to spend on things that have little to do with program’s mission. “How a $30 Billion Welfare Program Became a ‘Slush Fund’ for States” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

I say intentionally or unintentionally and I get people commenting on posts all the time saying "these weren't suicides, they murdered those kids" But the political authorities of our day genuinely believe they are doing good by withdrawing care and instead insulate themselves from trans suffering

There is a laundry list of things 20 GOP Senators & 5 Reps could sign onto tomorrow if they suddenly now have genuine concerns for equal & fair representation in 🇺🇸 government. That they will support exactly zero of these, while complaining about VA/CA & trying to suppress more votes, is the tell.

Queer bookstores died in 2010. We had a funeral and everything! Except... a ton of people decided to roll up their sleeves and start *new* queer bookshops, all over the place. In cities. In tiny towns. My latest newsletter is about the rebirth of the LGBTQ bookshop: buttondown.com/charliejane/...

In solidarity w/ communities being hurt by ICE, I'm donating all new revenue from today's newsletter to The Energy CENTS Coalition, a St. Paul nonprofit that helps struggling folks pay utility bills. If you'd like to support a good cause & PN, sign up for a sub using the buttons in today's edition 👇

When we choose our politicians based on how many rich people they went to high school with, this is the result. I have been on food stamps. I know politics isn’t a sport. It isn’t about scoring points on cable news. Politics is our actual lives. But I am building the campaign funding on the fly.

the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex

We've always done this, but in particular in 2026, one of @runforsomething.net's top priorities is recruiting candidates who have lived experience with the affordability crisis. That's not about ~identity politics~ -- it's about giving people a sense that their leaders *care* because they *get it.*

"People want to feel genuinely listened to and cared about by those who have, or seek, political power – so political leaders need to spend more time in low-income and working-class communities, having meaningful two-way conversations with constituents that don’t end abruptly when the polls close."

This is absolutely the most important thing I’ve read in a long time. If you care about democracy, read it and share it.

Check out this important new research from Daniel Laurison et al on low-income and working-class Pennsylvanians about what politics means to them.

This is important work! Read it!

Important study of why people don’t vote

My family's Christmas Eve dinner, inspired by my partner's mom's Swedish immigrant community, involves a LOT of cheese and crackers (hard tack, specifically). I don't know if it quite qualifies as a holiday FOR cheese but it is a holiday WITH much cheese.

NEW: Abigail Spanberger this afternoon ordered that all state agencies leave ICE's 287(g) program. This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE. Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.

Fascinating work on nonvoters by @daniellaurison.bsky.social. “Non-voters are concerned about being good citizens and good members of their communities, but they feel that people in politics ignore them and their experiences. They think their communities are neglected by people in power.”

Building a more inclusive politics is not all about formal rules & institutions, it's also about how politics is done in a more informal way. (This is a message I send backwards in time to myself)

“People want to see themselves reflected in politics, campaigns, candidates, and government – so party leaders and government officials need to recruit more people from low-income and working-class backgrounds, to serve at every level.”

Important read. One key recommendation:

Today I'm releasing probably the most important scholarly thing I've ever worked on - a report based on talking with 144 people about why they don't vote or only vote regularly, and on what needs to be done to build a democracy that can include everyone. www.swarthmore.edu/u... please share!

If we're going to have a democracy, we need to include everyone - but voting is declining among low-income people. We talked to 144 nonvoters & infrequent voters; they aren't ignorant or apathetic, but they see politics & politicians as disconnected from their lives and concerns. (thread)

This is a great piece! One of the recommendations is to focus on turnout over moderation, which I 100% agree with. There were steep declines in turnout among low-income voters in 2024; Grumbach & Bonica point to the increased racial gap in turnout to ~11%, income gaps were closer to 30 points.

We have a Boston Review Forum out today on the Democratic Party in a time of authoritarianism www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...

Do ordinary Republicans and Democrats really avoid each other in everyday life? In a new working paper with Delia Baldassarri, we present descriptive and experimental evidence to challenge the view that partisanship drives the formation of social relationships. osf.io/preprints/so... 1/15

read the whole thing.

Happy Anniversary to those who celebrate cat attorneys.

A new systematic review has found that trans women on HRT have the same level of fitness as cis women and don't retain any advantage in sports. www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

They really read all the dystopian sci-fi novels (or watched all the movies and TV shows anyway) and decided to do all the things that made them dystopian.

News from central Jersey: I'm running to represent New Jersey's 12th Congressional District. By entering the fray, I hope to bring ideas of repairing our frayed republic. Not only to defend it in 2026, but to build something stronger, for generations to come! samwang.substack.com/p/entering-t...

We had a lot of discussion early on about "what if someone requests 100 whistles and doesn't know how to use them effectively" but our inbox tells us that 100 whistles is also dozens of potential interactions with people in their community, along with a new feeling of agency and determination.

74% of Democrats support abolishing ICE, with 53% *strongly* supporting it, according to YouGov polling from last month. Weak calls for "reform" are coming from *elected* Democrats like Chuck, not the average Democratic voter.

Fascism wants you to believe that you are alone. That you are isolated. That the feelings you have are yours and nobody else has them because everybody is too afraid to speak. But love is stronger than fascism. Community is stronger than fascism.