A small fraction of online actors exerts outsized influence over what the public sees, believes, and discusses. In a new paper, we trace how social media influencers turn fringe claims into viral narratives by exploiting a feedback loop between influencers, algorithms & crowds osf.io/preprints/ps...

30,000 pounds of Bananas is a fantastic Harry Chapin Song.

DOGE turbocharged the deficit. budgetlab.yale.edu/research/wea...

I agree with this, the distribution is important. However, when examining things as public policy, you also look at the median hoping the margins follow. The failure, especially in the West Coast, is not caring enough about the left side of the distribution.

Another underrated victory this week: Artemis had zero to do with SpaceX.

New at Tusk: This wasn’t some billionaire throwing cars or celebrities into orbit as a vanity project — this was a collective effort to send experts in to do a job and come home safely.

In terms of job performance, my experience was that three of the four best division officers I served under were Women. To be clear, this is a man's problem, not a woman's problem.

bigger number is more than smaller number continues to be a concept most of this place does not understand

You know, Congrassman, there is a remedy for this that you can start. The fact that it wouldn't pass in the Senate should be secondary to you actually doing it. Remember, no double jeopardy for impeachment.

Really good post. Better explanation of my issues with SLCM-N that I could articulate. It takes a capability that the US has a comparative advantage in and limits its use at best and creates an inadvertent escalation risk at worst.

This is legit the Air Force cope version of history. The truth is, they realize we were a spent force and let us off the hook after we were all the way out of the picture.

Finally. I'm so happy.

States conducting political influence is often normal and not something to condemn. Color revolutions were good things.

man i will admit, even though i figured it'd be wildly unpopular I failed to consider exactly how much the TSA was going to hate ICE for being *scabs* AND doing *literally fuck-all work* "What is ICE actually doing there?"/"They're the reason that we're not getting paid." goddamn

chat i'm going to ask a somewhat prickly question: what do you (fellow political scientists) want out of your professional association right now (knowing that this is a sample of Very Online People and folks with wildly differing opinions)

I would also like to point out that his was the most "positive" for the administration of the initial polling I've seen.

A great work and one of the major reasons I ended up doing a PhD in political science.

Fun fact: my dissertation was called "Wars of Choice" (became Leaders at War: How Presidents Shape Military Interventions @cornellupress.bsky.social). Tl;dr: they rarely go well. 1/ www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801...

My partner and best friend Kyle suffered from two strokes last week. We need your help. gofund.me/e25c60dfb Anything helps, a like, a share, a donation. thank you for your support during this difficult time ❤️

New guide to Iranian naval mines - www.hisutton.com/Iranian-Nava... #OSINT #Iran #Hormuz

i feel like if i was tasked with not starting a war and bringing back US manufacturing jobs, i could have done a better job than this

Punk Legend Jello Biafra Hospitalized After Suffering Stroke share.google/z4Qo0kcVZrUj... In 1995 I helped Eric move some belongings out of his parents house in Boulder. He was still recovering from having his legs broken & had to use a cane. He's an awesome dude. Here's to his recovery.

Mom: machinist Dad: Army vet, truck driver

The Republicans seem to be prepping an argument that any domestic terror attacks in the aftermath of their Iran attacks will be the fault of Democrats for shutting down DHS funding, so I'd like to remind everyone of this appointment:

I suspect that a graduate degree specializing in deviant psychology would give me more applicable heuristics than my IR degrees. I am tired, boss.

Long term, we need parliamentary government. The executive should be chosen by and easily removable by a simple majority of parliament. Less incentive to act lawlessly and more accountability it it happens. And that parliament should be elected through mixed-member proportional representation.

CW4 Michael Novosel served in the U.S. military from 1941 to 1984. He earned the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on October 2nd, 1969 in Kien Tuong Province, Vietnam. A U.S. Army fort was renamed for Novosel in 2023 but that honor was taken away in 2025. Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cx7...

I think it’s less than ideal how many people convinced themselves that being the VP of the United States makes you directly responsible for the actions of Israel, a standard which is applied to none of America’s other allies.

@mtsw.bsky.social, another one for the file. That's like calling Kermit Washington punching Rudy T a common foul. It might be the case, but there is a lot missing.

The reason we're here is that tens of millions of people will punch a hole in a wall if they hear someone used food stamps to buy soda but they're fine if the right-wing podcaster turned fbi director uses his taxpayer funded private jet to go party whenever he feels like it bsky.app/profile/thed...

I am mad that I cannot meaningfully, in a good-natured way, talk shit about the US beating Canada in hockey twice, because our government decided to make a bunch of weird threats to Canada. They managed to ruin the first men's hockey gold of my natural life.

Yes, because repeating sections of the Uniform Code of Military Justice- part of US Code, BTW, is not a crime, and part of the core responsibilities of Congress.

Drunken Seahawks Fans Climbing Space Needle

He's right, but I think it is strange, because many of the most extreme forms of Christian practice are relatively new, whilst "moderate" forms of Christianity like Anglicanism and Catholicism are half a millennium old or greater. There should be some consideration for that.

Bluesky mechanical keyboard, this is my set MTNU Welles, which will be entering group buy soon. If you like it, keep an eye out for it.

A little girl in Portland, OR after being tear gassed by ICE. what the actual fuck.

I repeatedly tell my family what I work on, I wish it would have remained theory, regardless of my professional prospects.

Twice this week when meeting a new person I've gotten an excited "Wow, it must be an exciting time to be a political scientist!" and both times I've answered "Not really. That's like telling someone it's an exciting to be a surgeon when there's a 63 car pileup on the highway."

I've harped on congressional war powers for a long time and we do need to fix all that, but threatening to invade Greenland while ranting at Norway about the Nobel Peace Prize and imposing trade sanctions on NATO is more the kind of thing you can only fix by not having a literally insane president.

Ashli Babbitt was a terrorist. Renee Good was a concerned neighbor. To reverse their roles—to call the former a martyr while slandering the latter as violent—is an act of unspeakable depravity.

It was always thus, but it has been something seeing all the “libertarian” folks confirming everyone’s belief that they’re just right wing authoritarians who like drugs and hookers.

We cannot be more clear. Leave us the fuck alone.

A 23 year old larping as a journalist made a misleading and inaccurate YouTube video that the administration full of chronically online shitposters used to justify the “largest immigration operation ever” and now someone is dead

I guess a Thai M48 got into it with a Cambodian T-55 and someone called it “unc fight” and I’m screaming

I often think that had FASA not died, both miniatures wargaming and tabletop RPGs would be in a better place. 40k is almost exactly the same, but I'm tabletop.

This is the stupidest possible angle to take about the very real problem that people want to role play in lots of ways that D&D isnt suited for but D&D has such crushing market share that people shoehorn their games into a system that actively resists them

God, it's been an awful *year*to study political warfare.

The pope might turn me into a practicing catholic again.