Visiting a retirement community in St. Paul, MN and this is on the front door as you walk in. No idea if ICE actually has to respect this, but I love the sentiment. Some badass senior citizens here.

Ability to control the Fed from the presidency may be the single most consequential aspect of U.S. democratic backsliding in terms of direct impact on ordinary Americans. This is a job that affects the entire economy. Millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in money supply at stake.

Fifteen minutes before the President announced he was pausing strikes on Iran, somebody moved $500 million in oil futures. Somebody knew. Somebody told them. Or somebody is them. New piece ↓ open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...

Great news for the Haitian refugee community! Just as important, a good sign for democracy that the president's hold over the GOP is starting to crack and resistance is working. www.cbsnews.com/news/house-v...

Exciting news! 🎙️ The Ukraine Shelf is back with two fantastic guests: Luke Harding and Myroslav Laiuk. Coming very soon to your favourite podcast platforms and UIL’s YouTube channel. Until then, dive back into our previous episodes! 🎧

Apparently Sam Altman also wrote a manifesto (on top of Marc Andreessens a while back). Are there others? Genuine question: why do we think the tech bros are doing this? Which need does this fulfill for them?

👇🤔

Woke up and saw people posting about the Palantir thread and fascism and thought "surely they're exaggerating" and nope, they're not twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...

One observation: Palantir's manifesto uses language from the far left ("decadence of a ruling class") and far right (national strength, hard power etc). The common thread is the breakdown of liberal internationalism and democratic institutions/ideals.

Day 506 of uninterrupted, nationwide protests in Georgia. 🇬🇪

How to Defeat the Authoritarian Message If democracy’s defenders want to push back against authoritarianism, they must learn to tap into patriotic language and a sense of national identity. Such emotional appeals shouldn’t be left to autocrats and demagogues.

A year ago, I wrote that state prosecutors can enforce criminal laws against lawless federal "law enforcement" agents when the DOJ refuses to. That is now happening, and it is past time. 1/

It's kind of like arguments about salary caps in MLB. The Royals could have won the WS that one time and structural competitive imbalance can still be terrible for the game.

Can we get a clarification on "ordo amoris" and immigration we're at it?

I wonder how it feels to be so wrong on doctrine that multiple authorities within the Church clarify exactly how and where you’re wrong Not wonder in an “I’d like to experience that feeling” way though

Trying to explain St Augustine to the pope, the former head of the Augustinian order, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Augustine, on his way back from celebrating mass at the Basilica of St Augustine in Annaba, Algeria, overlooking the site where Augustine lived is peak Adult Catholic Convert.

I would be curious how he thinks the Iran campaign fits into just war doctrine when it involves a pre-emptive invasion halfway around the world.

New on our blog: Social media can both save democracy and destroy it. Both things can be true. @dwj.eurosky.social makes sense of new KF-Gallup survey data on social media & democracy. kettering.org/social-media...

The nonprofit that runs the successful, Pulitzer-winning Baltimore Banner is going to take over the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Of all the possible outcomes here, this is likely the best we could have hoped for. apnews.com/article/pitt...

"The broad erosion in support is now threatening MAGA's foundation. "A new CBS News/YouGov poll found Trump's approval among white voters without college degrees—the backbone of his movement—has swung from +36 early in his term to underwater at -4, a 40-point collapse."

NEW: Virginia just passed a law to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, giving it 222 of 270 electoral votes needed to activate. This map and spreadsheet show which states could join to activate it by 2028 depending on the outcome of the 2026 elections docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

We are proud to launch the Alliance Fellowship Program and inaugural cohort of fellows! The Program includes scholars from across the country and is an investment in the sector's infrastructure, designed to bridge the gap between scholarly research and systems-level change. 🔗 bit.ly/4vpDx2t

Yes, it seems significant that *the* model for MAGA politics failed and was resoundingly defeated.

Summer Institute of Civic Studies in Dayton @kettering.org peterlevine.ws?p=35512

"More juice to squeeze"?

Terrific piece by @judgeluttig.bsky.social on the total moral inversion occurring in our democracy today. Now is the time to come together in support of true democracy. Thank you to both Judge Luttig and Rev. William Barber for their leadership. substack.com/home/post/p-...

This is a terrific professional development opportunity for folks who want to dig deeper into scholarship across fields concerning democracy and civic life. This year it will be hosted by the Kettering Foundation. Click through for details and application info! kettering.org/summer-insti...

Fear in MAGAWorld, anger in the Kremlin, joy in Europe.

Bollinger's interview in the Chronicle of Higher Ed is one of the best things I've read recently on the administration's higher ed playbook and how to respond. Looking forward to this.

Somehow we almost missed Fox saying teens ages 15-19 not having babies is a “problem”🤔

Orbánism is 1) capturing & making partisan the judiciary, election regulators, central bank, administrative state, and 2) pressuring civil society (media, universities, firms) into acquiescence Trumpism has those things plus secret police & immigration enforcement for authoritarianism

Vance and nat con elites have repeatedly said Hungary is the model for MAGA. Orban's resounding loss shows that right wing nationalism does not produce material change for people worth wrecking your democracy. www.cnn.com/2026/04/12/w...

Hungarians showing how to win big in an unfair election: organize AND protest AND vote AND demand profound change.

The logical endgame of "viewpoint diversity"?

Another way the administration has betrayed its own America First ideology. If we are not supposed to help other democratic countries, why are we supporting a pro Russian dictator? The actual policy is not anti-globalism, it is pro-globalism with right wing authoritarian countries.

New on our blog: Social media can both save democracy and destroy it. Both things can be true. @dwj.eurosky.social makes sense of new KF-Gallup survey data on social media & democracy. kettering.org/social-media...

🫣 www.euronews.com/2026/04/10/e...

It is deeply stupid that this is happening. Not to mention entirely avoidable.

Kind of crazy that with the current level of polarization and dysfunction we are able to accomplish this.

War in Iran, NATO collapsing, ICE everywhere, and we're still worried about the problem of woke language on the left? Peak New York Times!

Running the government like a business may not be the best idea www.forbes.com/sites/danale...

In all seriousness this is a huge issue with the subsidized right wing bullshit machine. Articles written by well-funded news “foundations” are syndicated out with no paywalls. This is subsequently rewarded in several ways.

Since I had to read the Manhattan Institute's proposal to entrench direct state control of higher education institutions, you do, too manhattan.institute/article/mode...

It’s been ten years. I think this has aged well. www.niskanencenter.org/authoritaria...

Very interesting in the context of American Christian Nationalism. Just highlights how much damage they have done to the Christianity brand in the U.S. @andrew-whitehead.bsky.social

Under weak campaign finance laws, wealthy donors are increasingly hiding behind non-profits to anonymously donate large sums of money to political campaigns. “We are moving toward a system where transparency is just optional,” @danw329.bsky.social told @nytimes.com.

JD Vance is heading to Hungary to endorse Viktor Orban after Easter. Here is a description of the corrupt regime, and the post-reality campaign, that the US administration now supports: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Veiled capacity" is excellent 🤔

Nice win for trans rights and model for advancing inclusive democracy at the state level while it's under attack at the national level www.erininthemorning.com/p/maryland-a...

First time a President has attended SCOTUS arguments www.npr.org/2026/04/01/g...