I’m starting to notice a trend in the polling data… —Top Public Worry: Corruption —Biggest problem in Fed Gov: Corruption —Top fear: Corruption —What one word would you use to describe American government?: “Corrupt” It’s almost like voters are trying to tell us something.

Ezra Klein-haters, hold your fire. This great interview with Corey Robin on the red scare and today is worth your time. Ht to @jacobedenhofer.bsky.social for spotting it.

A big challenge for all of us who rely on web surveys.

This post reminds us that big corporations like Disney will stand up for at least one principle: more money better.

@adambonica.bsky.social has a great piece today arguing that the right way forward is creating a new axis around corruption and the rigged system. The fine picture he leads with is in chapter 1 of my forthcoming book with Taeku Lee. Truth lies at the confluence of independent streams of evidence!

Change to “EU’s de facto data protection regulator” and you begin to see the scope of the problem here.

Want to understand the long term drivers of why big business is so unpopular now? (And it’s not just in the US—we trace this phenomenon around the world). Check out our new book coming in January. Too late for Xmas, but what everyone is secretly hoping they get for Valentine’s Day 2026.

*bloody* hell, this entire story www.ft.com/content/0e24...

Houston, we have a problem. @niemanlab.org’s Sophie Culpepper on the challenges that even well funded local news nonprofits face. A sobering deep dive. “We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

“We need to politicise technology. Not in the partisan sense, but in the democratic one.” @marietjeschaake.bsky.social in the FT.

As per this morning, I'd put it just a little differently. The reason @abenewman.bsky.social and I wanted our hegemonic enshittification piece in Wired is that its model fits the journalism we need right now - how our politics is shaped by the power politics of technically complex systems.

Excited to announce the #OxfordLLMs tuition-free AI workshop for social scientists! Join us for 5 days of lectures, coding tutorials, and collaborative research, to learn hot to use LLMs for social science🙂 Dates: 22-26 September Venue: @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social llmsforsocialscience.net

‘England’s higher education system risks long-term decline unless ministers overhaul their “confused, if not incoherent” approach to universities’ FT interview with outgoing @britishacademy.bsky.social President Julia Black where she pulls no punches! www.ft.com/content/3162...

Super thoughtful piece by @davidautor.bsky.social and @gordonhanson.bsky.social on the next China shock and strategies to confront it. As simple as possible, but no simpler, when it comes to a solution.

Yeah, it's quite the paradox that the people who understand AI aren't impressed by it. A real head scratcher.

Whatever you think of NewsGuard’s approach or the usefulness of its labels, the decision speaks to how the internet, political landscape, and notions of collective truth have polarized beyond recognition since 2018. www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/lang...

Yay! @madselk.bsky.social, @benansell.bsky.social, @mhaslberger.bsky.social, @aslicansunar.bsky.social, Laure Bokobza, and my piece on 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 is out in @worldpolitics.bsky.social! Find it here: muse.jhu.edu/article/964464

I think Elon Musk gets away with a lot of illegal stuff. Even with that as a backdrop, I’m reasonably confident he won’t get away with breaking Duverger’s law.

Interesting and important take on how to think about the consequences of all that ICE money in the recent bill.

Financial regulation in 2010, otoh, was very popular.

Indiana Jones will be played by a rotating cast of three adjuncts who answer to two different associate deans

I am excited to see my ARPS article reviewing the return of industrial policy with @dbreznitz.bsky.social is now published! www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Gerschenkron for the age of AI in today’s FT

🚨 Big News for European Political Science 🚨 We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community. 🔗 epssnet.org Here’s a thread with everything you need to know. 🧵

And as @adambonica.bsky.social shows, this particular form of capital explains why increases in wealth are concentrated among the very wealthiest

Those who actually have to attract talent and provide services seem less convinced than Sam Altman that we’ve reached the gentle singularity with AI 🙄

We’ve got a book on this coming out in January. #billionairebacklash

Delayed at the gate at Heathrow, saying “$135 million was not enough”

Dynamite new paper showing how withdrawal from EU created a regulatory void that meant the UK had worse oil spill pollution than its neighbors. Such great data! Check out the cool graphic of the spills in the 🧵.

It all started when they spelled the name of their county wrong.

Good chart. on.ft.com/3FgBiJC Dollar’s correlation with Treasury yields breaks down

this @adambonica.bsky.social piece deserves to be read beside the yeoman work that @donmoyn.bsky.social and @pamherd.bsky.social have been doing. The dismantling of administrative expertise is one of those stories that is so big that pro journalists with beats find it hard to focus on or explain .

🚨BREAKING: The SEC just dropped its lawsuit against Binance—days after the crypto exchange listed the Trump-backed stablecoin USD1. me, for @forbes.com

Today’s Daily Cartoon, by Adam Douglas Thompson. #NewYorkerCartoons

Interesting take on the abundance agenda as the new emerging ideology of moderate Democrats. But kneecapping local activists may not be the way forward when you face an overreaching state, concentrated corporate power, and the need for robust societal collective action.

Dieselgate continues to reverberate, both in courts and in public health, a decade later.

Four former Volkswagen executives were found guilty of fraud charges Monday for their role in an emissions-cheating scandal that shook the auto industry a decade ago and hastened a shift from fossil fuels to battery-powered cars.

In 1963, Bernard Cohen wrote the press may not tell people what to think, but it does tell them what to think *about*. Similarly, in 1960s protests and media made civil rights salient. All to say, politicians may struggle to shape mass opinion, but they can influence which issues are salient.

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.

Topical findings for the big beautiful bill.

Views towards unions and big business marched in lock step until 2012. Then they diverged massively, with big business losing popularity while unions increased. Americans have fallen out of love with big business in a big way. Full thread by @aaronsojourner.org worth a read.

Look for the next anti-billionaire revolt in…Sweden? Thought-provoking article by Ruchir Sharma showing the billionaire backlash looks set to emerge even in some unlikely places.

Excellent visualizations in this article illustrating how rich tech dudes have tentacles in all the places that would otherwise be holding them accountable. Here are main figures of you do not have subscription

🤢

typical corrupt science

Imagine the excitement if the horse’s namesake pulled off the same feat. “Local news escapes clutches of pe owner to highlight local corruption! And the vibrant national press has got people listening to it across the spectrum! Oh my goodness, the kind of happy ending for democracy you read about!”

Well, not the same as this crazy event, but we did have Hamilton, which told us what unites us through stories of competition with some banging tunes and dance numbers. But it turns out some people found it threatening after all.

Over the last year @theguardian.com—which is owned by a trust that protects editorial independence—increased visits to its page by 19%. The Washington Post—owned by a billionaire who has canceled a presidential endorsement and decreed only pro-market opeds get published—decreased by that amount. 🤔