I’m excited to share that @ksavin.bsky.social, @calliefreitag.bsky.social, and I have a new piece out summarizing our research on how the Trump admin’s attack on the public sector have made it harder to get and maintain disability benefits—which were already quite difficult to navigate.

I know this happened on the other side of the globe, but I still imagine it as @abeeinthebonnet.bsky.social and Mr. Rad. (The rest of the thread is equally delightful.)

Playground teacher getting a class of kindergarteners in from recess.

Chicago is the greatest city in the world. @mattenloe.bsky.social

*Railroad Retirement Board mentioned*

This is an interesting idea. I think I would quibble with putting OMB in that fourth branch; I do think there are important policy functions that it performs that should probably stay under the executive, but maybe transferring the apportionment function specifically to the Comptroller General/GAO.

Anthony is the master of AI metaphors. This one takes the cake. Or perhaps, the brush.

this is true for mayors too. between wildcat strikes, manipulating data, and maybe kidnapping your kid, the cops have all the leverage.

1/ This is awful for so, so many reasons. Just to pick one: even if you thought it was lawful and appropriate to vet funded research for consistency with the government's priorities, *the president is not the government*.

Kid found Dance Monsters on Netflix and my opinion is the CGI animation of the facial expressions and mouth movements is DEEPLY unsettling, smack in the middle of Uncanny Valley.

As someone who has been working in government benefit agencies for 15 years, the technical legal term for this is "lying horseshit." Cc: @donmoyn.bsky.social , @pamherd.bsky.social and all their hard work on administrative burdens.

A year after the probationary firings, many former feds say they’re still out of work, taking gig jobs, draining savings and struggling to recover from the chaos that upended their careers. Sean Michael Newhouse reports: buff.ly/3yMcVIH

If I was President, I would celebrate my birthday by quietly & without media attention inviting @cwtycho.penny-arcade.com to the WH to play Alpha Strike and @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social and others to play Terraforming Mars and other board games.

The episode they cite for the idea that Janeway was a competent leader who resisted nihilism and cruelty is "Equinox," the two-parter in which Janeway tortures Crewman Lessing for information, who survives the event only because Chakotay intervenes.

White dresses instead of graduation gowns? Absolutely not.

Doing some data analysis. I wonder what happened... /sarcasm

Every time I tell my friends that I will need them as character references at the truth and reconciliation hearings for being a gov't attorney during this period, it's a little bit less of a joke.

Hey @jamesftierney.bsky.social , might be adding this to my syllabus, FYI. (Am I nervous as heck about teaching ethics/professional responsibility for the first time, in this environment and point in time? Why yes, why do you ask. At least I have no shortage of real-world examples.)

BREAKING: Federal judge finds that Presidential Records Act is likely constitutional, issues preliminary injunction requiring compliance with the law. Judge Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, opens his opinion with an Orwell quote.

Kind of feel like we especially don’t need fancy law explainers at the moment. “Can the president just take money when he wants?” A third grader could answer this. A Yale law prof is likelier to write the wrong answer so their 2L can work for Alito

academics trying to normalize acceptance of AI hallucinated citations in their field: do you seriously expect me to show my work and check my work me, baffled, a naïf, a fool: yes that’s why it’s called *your* *work*

Yay train law!

The whole thread is great but this bit especially. Portraits. Aren't. Polaroids.

lolsob

All of this. Vought is maybe the most malicious member of this administration, even accounting for Stephen Miller.

From the reporter who scooped the news that Treasury's GC was quitting, IRS wrote a 25-page memo about why Trump's IRS lawsuit was dogshit. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/a...

more and more my job seems to be just explaining to 100% disbelieving ppl that the job of research is actually literally doing all the reading, even when it takes forever, even when it is boring, even when it requires a new skillset and the response I get is like telling people we breathe underwater

French toast, bacon (if it's crispy but not burned), hash browns (crispy), hot cocoa, and a $2 tip.

Hello from Naperville, where Martin Luther King Jr. came in 1960 and wasn't allowed to stay in a hotel in the city limits. As the linked article points out, the Black population in town is only about 4%, and the recent history of racial incidents in town is, uh, not encouraging.

Another Saturday, another humbling lesson in learning ice skating and setting a good example for kiddo and trying new and hard things. But it's scary and hard and I would very much like to quit and walk away, please and thank you.

Friday Fantastic. This morning's twilight in Chicago's River North at the Spirit of Progress.

Today is the 20th birthday of the Bean in Chicago.

Can I nominate Durbin, who has been so feckless as the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee facilitating so many confirmations of Trump-nominated judges?

Cc: @matthewstiegler.bsky.social

You: Please act normal, you need these people to like you. Me: I don't think so. If they don't like me for who I actually am, it doesn't do me any good to fake being whatever their conception of "normal" is, sorry.

This thing is so shiny, it's hard to take a good picture of it.

I spent most of last week at a fiber industry conference, and among all the other conversations and connections, I came away with a reaffirmation of one of my most fundamental beliefs: Making things with your own hands, especially during times of crisis, is empowering and liberating and joyful.

Slightly increase a band. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Middle-Aged

Cc: @kentremendous.bsky.social @sepinwall.bsky.social @lindaholmes.bsky.social @joeposnanski.com

Naperville earned its character through [exclusionary and restrictive zoning, redlining, and 20 years of failing to meet state requirements for affordable housing units]. FTFY, Mayor. As a Naperville homeowner and taxpayer, I fully support state preemption of local restrictions in the BUILD Act.

See, it's not just AI that can produce hallucinations in the law.

Yay trains! (Also, @barrybutler9.bsky.social is an amazing photographer of all things Chicago, really shows off the beauty and grandeur of the city.)

EXCLUSIVE: A Long Island school district has settled a lawsuit with a former student for $125k after they erased her artwork in the school parking lot of a watermelon and a keffiyeh, both symbols of Palestinian solidarity. But what she really wanted—a public apology—ultimately eluded her. My story:

Ich thynke but litel of a Mondaye bleake Tuesday grey and Wednesdaye eke Thursdaye Ich care not for thee Yet Fridaye Ich am yn love [small riff yn honor of Canvas] Mondaye thou kanst fall awaye Tuesdaye, Wednesdaye, myne herte slaye No mirthe ys founde upon Thursdaye Yet Fridaye Ich am yn love

Tapping the sign.

Vets Join Rail Job Parade (1945) Source: Hennepin County Library Hero of Okinawa in the Railroad Retirement Board Office parade. L to R: Hoyer, Pett, Budke, Berger, Hindman, Lundblad

The latest claim that campus left-wing radicals are silencing right-wing speakers concerns a Fed Soc-hosted talk by the Homeland Security General Counsel at UCLA Law School. Unsurprisingly, the facts don't support the accusation, as UCLA Law Prof David Marcus details in a guest post on the blog. 👇

Last July, the pope called his bank in South Chicago. He wanted to update the phone number on his account. The teller told him that any changes had to be made in person with an ID. Knowing that was impossible, he asked: “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?” She hung up on him.

The @machinistsunion.bsky.social was founded on May 5, 1888. 19 railroaders came together to form the Order of the United Machinists and Mechanical Engineers. Today, the IAM stands nearly 600,000 members strong. Happy Founding Day!