NEW: There’s a disaster unfolding in Alaska right now. And no major network is covering it. The remnants of Typhoon Halong battered western Alaska overnight. Homes, with people in them, have literally been swept into the Bering Strait. At least 20 are missing. No comment from any federal agency.

These are mostly indigenous communities in Alaska that have been slammed by the storm. The local manager of a small airline fleet says he is the only one doing evacuations right now! Defund FEMA and people are abandoned. Defund public media and no-one knows. FYI, today is Indigenous Peoples Day.

Molly Roberts has a nice piece at @lawfaremedia.org on the Hatch Act during the shutdown. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Calling political sociologists and political scientists! Submissions are open for the 2nd People-ing Politics Mini-Conference at ESS! This year's theme is "Bringing the People Back In." To submit a paper, please use the ESS conference portal and be sure to choose our mini-conference. www.essnet.org

Befuddled scientists should understand that their animosity isn't mainly to our research; it is toward *us* and expertise as a source of independent voice they don't control. "We have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country...The professors are the enemy."-Vance, 2021

IRS layoffs are costly for the U.S., redistributing wealth to the top 1% (who lie on their taxes at jaw-dropping rates). The bottom 99% generally pay their taxes. cepr.org/voxeu/column...

These guys have gotten incredibly rich by fleecing the government with subpar tech that was designed for rentseeking rather than performance. A smart Dem agenda item would be to build internal tech capacity. The fact that it would punish these guys is just a silver lining.

Government shutdowns offer a rare opportunity to un-submerge the submerged state. Something Democrats could/should be doing is every day of shutdown, pick some agency and focus on it for the day. Highlight what it does and what we're losing each day their staff are furloughed.

thanks! @commiedharma.bsky.social I also wrote a response to that piece from Commune, years ago when it was published fwiw viewpointmag.com/2019/05/16/p...

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

Scoop: Trump lost the legal battle over halting the offshore Revolution Wind project after Orsted, its developer, brought reams of evidence to court alleging the government was lying about military security concerns. It’s a sign truth can empower companies Trump targets. Via @heatmap.news

💯

Important reminder here that the US is not the only place where fossil fuel interests are pushing back hard against climate science and clean energy 👇

This has been the time eternal argument about new technologies. It’s not the technology. It’s a policy choice. It’s why places like Belgium are reducing their workweek, while American tech gods want us to sleep on pullouts in our offices.

Harvard (and all universities) must take a stand against Trump's extorionary "compact". Enos and Levitsky. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Rutgers Professor @mark-bray.bsky.social, who studies & writes about Antifascism,Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats By the time he & his family reached the gate, their tickets were cancelled. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n... flagrantly & appallingly lawless. Hope he & his family are ok.

One significant thing about this video: this is WGN news. This is what my grandparents watched every night when they lived in the northwest suburbs. And although they’re not saying it outright, they are absolutely representing federal law enforcement as the bad guys.

Kavanaugh stop

Maybe it's because I'm a parent, but avoidable harm to kids really gets to me. My kids can be difficult when they don't get an afternoon snack at the usual time. I'm sure various parents and teachers can say the same. Watching a kid starve to death? And the US govt did it on purpose? Unconscionable.

Hahrie is such an inspiring and brilliant scholar, and I’m so glad she’s getting this well-deserved recognition! (That’s my boss y’all!!!)

I’ve read this book twice now and I’ve appreciated the chance to grapple with a new conceptual framework for climate policy analysis. If (like me) you’re a proponent of carbon pricing, it’s your responsibility to read this and explain exactly where you disagree.

I haven't seen the actual memo but I cannot come up with any plausible interpretation that would support the White House's interpretation. The early shutdown guidance even acknowledged furloughed employees were entitled to post. It's all a bluff seeking more leverage in negotiations.

Governor Newsom has a bill on his desk to hold utilities accountable, and get them to stop passing along their dark money campaigns to everyday Californians. Is he going to side with utilities, or side with the public and help lower electricity rates? energyandpolicy.org/california-l...

🚨 Call for PostDoc or Visiting PhD Student 🚨 apply.interfolio.com/175219 We're seeking an American Politics scholar of leg. institutions or representation, under the direction of Jim Curry, Jeff Harden, and Rachel Porter (me!), affiliated with our Representation and Politics in Legislatures Lab

Over at the Notice and Comment blog, today's Ad Law Reading Room entry is "Remedies in the Officer Removal Cases," by Sam Bray. Check it out! www.yalejreg.com/nc/ad-law-re...

Student protests are basically a necessary condition for any democracy movement open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...

APSA Grants for Indigenous Politics Research. apsanet.org/DIVERSITY/AP...

A bill is sitting on @GavinNewsom’s desk that would lower Californians’ utility bills – all he has to do is sign it. But rumors are swirling that he plans to do the opposite - a move that could prove disastrous for California and for Newsom. A 🧵:

There are reasons for what’s going on with this administration and the military

"The last, and perhaps most important, thing that I want to impress upon anyone considering entering The Compact is that it’s the beginning, not the end... Campuses will be forced to comply with yet unspecified demands to meet the Trump administration’s assessment of The Compact’s obligations."

It's Dem Senators today, but if the Executive can selectively impound federal funds for certain districts & shutter businesses in certain districts as a cudgel, every legislator's power is reduced to what they get by kissing the ring. The scale of self-sacrifice for Team Unitary Executive is wild.

Yes, New College is incredibly inefficient but it also dropped 60(!) spots on the US News & World Report rankings. Not easy! Everytime Chris Rufo is introduced as an impt voice in higher ed, remember that the one time he had a hand in running an institution has been a disaster. Competence matters.

Well, if only there were a large supply of foreign students who would happily pay a premium price to get access to American higher education.

There are credible reports that federal agents may be replaying the 2020 playbook and surging into Portland with the goal of provoking conflict and violence in my hometown. I am in close contact with state and local officials to monitor this activity.

The decimation of public goods through staffing cuts is a problem. Even if we wanted these goods to be provided by the market (and some scholars believe they are best provided by the market), it would need to be done through a systematic and meaningful transfer of expertise and equipment. 1/2

Great conversation with @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social, one of the smartest people I know about politics and policy. You can watch here, and there is a transcript feature (not great but ok) on Substack too. newrepublic.substack.com/p/the-comey-...

I think it would be helpful if DA Bragg charged a few of these assaults. If the agents think that federal law immunizes them for actions that would result in ordinary New Yorkers being charged, let them litigate it.

Ladies and gentlemen, the meritocracy

THIS is political violence. Why haven’t all of the national political leaders decried it? @governor.ny.gov has said nothing.

Backseat car hammocks for babies? Thanks to government, they are no longer for sale in the United States. Now, as federal regulators come under attack from within, political scientists and legal scholars gathered for a conference on the future of studying the administrative state: bit.ly/44LJSbW

“Loyalty has got to be number one. [The White House Office of Presidential Personnel] will diligently go through and understand not just where were they in 2015 and 2016, but where were they on January 7th. What were they doing and saying at that time?” - Donald Trump Jr., 2024

This is deeply unpopular, for what that's worth. I have an article out soon about this, but the data is clear that people really don't want climate science to end. climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications...

He had a detailed plan for mass denaturalization at the end of his last term. We knew this was coming. And the new budget will give him more than enough money to do it www.acslaw.org/expertforum/...

My heart is so heavy knowing that they will also go after naturalized family members of their opponents. U.S. citizens in mixed-status families have long had to be careful not to attract attention from the feds. Many more families are now in that boat.

New, at Can We Still Govern: Both authoritarians and anti-authoritarians buy the idea that bureaucrats can thwart illiberal governments. New research using the Israeli judicial overhaul suggests that the potential for bureaucratic resistance is exaggerated. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/will-civil...

And the new budget bill seeks to vastly expand this aspect of the administrative state

Counterpoint: there's never been more data available about what the government actually does. Most political scientists just have a soft spot for what happens between peoples' ears.

Indeed. @chriswarshaw.bsky.social, one of our best behaviorists, ironically put out this analysis showing how little voters matter Compares the popularity of Trump I legislation to all other modern major bills. Trump I was the least popular ever. Biden bills were pretty popular. Doesn't matter.

This @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social video is absolutely INCREDIBLE. The numbers he cites, the strategy and results they produced — it’s the future. When have you heard *any* campaign talk about this, ever? (Video split in 2 to fit in Bluesky’s limits)