Can’t understand why this isn’t the first thing they told him. And we know they haven’t told him this because he would be complaining about it every minute.

Wrote a thing about whether the American presidency even exists anymore. No reason. open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

These are the icy mountains of Pluto. It took 9 years to get these magnificent images… and 4.8 billion kilometers.

i just feel like america has no business starting fights with the country that makes ozempic

🗳️ How can we identify voting blocs when individual votes are not observed? ➡ Using a Bayesian mixture model, J O’Brien recovers geographically structured voting blocs from aggregated municipal referendum data in the US (Maine 2008–2019) www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #FirstView

Alright that’ll do.

Dem state party recruiters got a memo. poindexterforcongress.com

😚👌

It’s ironic that they’re like “if we do ethnic cleansing we’ll have a high trust neighborly society” and then Minneapolis is literally doing high trust neighborly society and they’re like nooooo

Assistant, associate, and full profs checking in at a conference.

Average Sunday show interview: OFFICIAL: we are going to dip enemies of the state into acid vats HOST: how will you pay for it? OFFICIAL: tariffs HOST: critics say tariffs don't generate acid vat money OFFICIAL: tariffs have generated more money than has ever existed HOST: thank u for ur time

“Republicans in Congress”

Blueskis, studies have shown that when folks see or hear about a book more than five times, they are likely to check it out, and buy it. So in the spirit of creating buzz, here is the gorgeous cover of THE WESTERNERS, which will be published on March 31!

Keep pretending like nothings wrong, Republicans!

oh no

The latest from YouGov (n ~ 8k). GOP attacks on the midterm elections are deeply underwater - even among Rs. Approve/disapprove of Trump's "we shouldn't have an election" statement: All: -50 Dems: -87 Inds: -56 Reps: -7 Which party will win midterms?: Dems +8 today.yougov.com/topics/overv...

In 1708 a Spanish ship carrying "gold, silver and emeralds" mined by Indigenous people under forced labour was attacked by the British & sank off the Cartagena coast (now in Colombia). Treasure? Archeological heritage? Whose? @harrietbarber.bsky.social reports. 🗃 #earlymodern #VastEarlyAmerica #18C

Evergreen: “The men who were less-skilled at the game and performing worse relative peers—made frequent, nasty comments to female gamers. In other words, sexist dudes are literally losers.” www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-int...

“Though ICE has never come close to meeting that daily goal, officers are rewarded for making arrests, even if the immigrants they take in are later released.” - Wall Street Journal with a good overview of ICE crimes. www.wsj.com/us-news/the-...

Photo made possible by Virginia’s single consecutive term limit. 15 states had these as late as the 1970s, now only Virginia. www.whro.org/virginia-gov...

Do generous welfare policies foster political trust? Matthijs Gillissen, @silkegoubin.bsky.social & Anna Ruelens examine the long-term effects of welfare generosity on trust in political institutions. Read more: buff.ly/KrWGJzx @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social @sagepub.com

"I spent much of 2025 pointing out that political pundits were misreading immigration and effectively ceding ground to Trump. This argument was controversial when I started making it. Now it is undeniable," writes @gelliottmorris.com. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/ice-is-a-7...

Learned something new and cool about VA.

“To the Steelers.” LOL.

DOJ investigating whether Denmark lied on its Greenland mortgage.

Probably a good day to re-up my piece on why so many women and candidates of color won elections in 2025. With new data! goodauthority.org/news/theres-...

Wasow’s study supports the use of nonviolent direct action during the civil rights movement, a protest technique that King favored for both moral and STRATEGIC reasons. Excerpt from a paper by me (currently under peer review):

Have been thinking a lot lately about how some conservatives are ideologically adjusting to the (temporary?) Trumpist takeover of the GOP. This short discussion is a nice window into one branch of that. Sober reflections on what Trump's rise revealed about their own ideas coalition.

This is all — all of it — downstream of malapportionment in democratic systems. The world over, most people vote with their feet by moving to big multicultural cities. And the left-behind rural populations — in big, empty, and declining constituencies — use their vote to complain about it.

R yeas on gay marriage Suetterlein, SD4 (Trump +1, Span +7) DeSteph, SD20 (Trump +3, Span +4) Diggs, SD24 (Harris +8, Span +14) Durant, SD27 (Harris +3, Span +13) Jordan, SD17 (Harris +5, Span +11) Only frontline R no vote was Sturtevant in SD 12 (Trump +0.3, Span +8)

Gonna open a hair salon where no one is forced to make small talk and hit the introvert market jackpot.

I did a quick analysis of North Carolina's party registration monthly trends to see if they support Gallup's reported change in party self-identification (spoiler: the data support of some trends, but not all) open.substack.com/pub/michaelm...

Reminded of one of the best things I read last year. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I wonder what happens when you subsidize demand

Example of the broader impact of media representation: "Kortuem said Heated Rivalry had 'sparked' something in him and inspired him to come out publicly. 'I realised it is finally time to share a journey I have kept close to the vest for a long time,' he said." www.thepinknews.com/2026/01/15/h...

Fair enough for anonymity but this was a scary zoom.

To give you an idea of how bad this is, Biden was never sub-30% with independents, even at his least popular

Unironically true.

University of Montana President Seth Bodnar is expected to run for U.S. Senate as an Independent, part of an elaborate plan apparently backed by former U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in a move that has angered Democrats.

We're #1.

From Museveni’s long rule to repression of opposition parties, these issues have shaped this year’s election. Here are four things to watch in Uganda’s 2026 election. goodauthority.org/news/four-th...

Rare time when the "as of today" intro may make a bit more sense than "generally speaking." Would love a companion trend with the "generally speaking" though using a comparable sampling strategy for context.

Everytime someone says bLuEsKy iS dYiNg or criticizes this place, even when those criticisms are valid, my primary reaction is "compared to what, exactly, & where else should we go?"

On the long history of this kind of relationship to the state in the Black community: under the mailbox, “We don't dial 911”

VO Key begins his unjustly neglected classic, American Democracy and Public Opinion, with an eloquent version of this exact point that even tyrannies are worried about what the people think:

Waited way too long in life to get a rice cooker.

Always the ones you least suspect.

"Here’s the core finding we keep coming back to: Americans support “strict immigration enforcement” in the abstract, for a vague person who has broken the law, but oppose enforcement in practice, when enforcement means violence and your neighbors disappearing" www.gelliottmorris.com/p/support-fo...

Every version of comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship included tons of border security. At this point, if Dems could pass their 2013 bill, they'd think they died and went to heaven.