Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

Name a film containing a memorable elevator scene.

Even 2024 me seems so quaint now…

2016: Gee, the prestige media seems ill-equipped to do its job in the current political climate. Hope they learn from this. 2023: So, the media’s perfectly aware of what it’s doing… they’ve just chosen their profits. 2024: Oooh, the media is willing and complicit in the destruction of US democracy.

Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once.

And in the end, it was the frog that saved us all.

Interesting timing for this to be popping up on people’s feeds…

Looked at my data collections for state-backed activity. If the report were a picture:

This is the take. I am sad for his family and for the tragic loss of life to violence. But that does not prevent us from being clear-eyed about who he was & the effect he had, especially on the vulnerable populations who were his primary targets. You can hold both in your heart and mind.

Curious to know about where IDDP is headed? In a Q&A with GW Today, @catiebailard.bsky.social and @ethanvporter.bsky.social spoke about their vision for the Institute. Read it at gwtoday.gwu.edu/q-new-co-directors-gws-institute-data-democracy-and-politics.

Our first post! And what better way to mark this occasion than by announcing the start of a new chapter at IDDP. Last month @catiebailard.bsky.social and @ethanvporter.bsky.social stepped in as the Institute's Co-Director's. Read their full statement at iddp.gwu.edu/about.

Purely speculative theory: He’s the one the police were called about after an incident with a woman, he fled when the police arrived, the police gave chase, and they ended up hitting him from behind in a tactical maneuver. Only thing that makes that non-sensical statement make sense.

Yes, Newsom’s a power-seeking vessel who’s willing to do or become whatever’s politically expedient. (And, someone who’d throw one marginalized community under the bus would do the same to another.) But, I don’t get too caught up in the voting for him debate. (Btw, always vote against fascists.. 1/2

Ahem… Democratic leadership. Turns out you’re not entirely beholden to what the polls say—you can also lead public opinion. In this case, by providing the needed context and facts about a matter that people don’t know much about. Wild stuff, I know!!

‪Very happy to share that, as of this week, @ethanvporter.bsky.social and I have taken the reins as co-directors of GW's Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics. You can read the full statement here, ‬https://iddp.gwu.edu/about.

Slightly diminish a band: Passable Middle-aged Cannibals.

Taps the sign

I never want to go back to the system we had before, though I’ll happily cherrypick the still-useful parts. 🍒 Imagining the what-next is how we stay hopeful and inspired during these dark days. But before we build the future, it’s high time we reckon with the past. For real this time. Listen…

@davekarpf.bsky.social, I didn’t know there was a song!?!

Yes, Trump’s freaking out because he knows what is in the files is damning. But, he’s also freaking out because he is well aware of how deeply this issue matters to a not-insignificant portion of the MAGA base.

long term we don't want Hunter Biden filling the leadership vacuum but it is a substantial vacuum

Now THIS has legs.

MERKLEY: How do you feel about being responsible for hundreds of thousands of kids dying because of your sudden interruption in these key programs? VOUGHT: I reject the assertion MERKLEY: I find your response both ignorant & callous. Few Americans have had a more devastating & disastrous impact

The fires may have uniquely prepared LA for this moment. Coming together to help each other, a strengthened sense of community, building connections that expand & strengthen networks. None of this bolds well for Miller/Trump in trying to make LA a test-case for their attempted fascist takeover.

(I would appreciate it if you shared this because it feels weird to write something like this and then have no one read it)

LA’s very sad attempt to get in on the action?

Missed call from the CDC, voicemail said they were conducting a nat’l poll about childhood immunization and asked if we have any children in the house between 6mo and 17yr. Couldn’t have imagined even a few months ago that a simple message from the CDC would feel so menacing.

I see a merch opportunity here, "I told you so" or "We saw this coming" T-shirts and mugs, with proceeds going to opposition organizers.

Lots of good stuff here, especially the point that although we need a popular front, people who were sneeringly wrong about the threat should not lead it. Trumpism was fascist from the start, and those who stated this plainly were often derided. www.liberalcurrents.com/trump-alarmi...

"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters." -Frederick Douglass, 1857

There is no excuse to still be on that platform at this point. None.

When trying to make sense of Trump, I keep coming back to this 🔥🔥🔥 historical take on Napoleon’s guiding motivation: “European statesmen of all kinds believed—wanted and needed to believe—that Napoleon, though an extraordinarily powerful and effective leader, was nonetheless a normal statesman…

Another visceral reminder that I am living in DC through yet another Trump administration--the return of the involuntary cringe whenever I hear a helicopter or military jet flying closely over the neighborhood.

A big part of the problem is stupid people have been convinced by rich people that AI is God, when AI is closer to an automatic dog food dispenser.

I am a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. Earlier today, the president attempted to illegally fire me. This is corruption, plain and simple. I will see the president in court. My full statement:

The diametrical opposite of what imposter syndrome looks like.

MUST-WATCH: This is the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil from the perspective of his wife, who is 8 months pregnant. This is federal agents in plain clothes dragging a man from his home as punishment for his speech. @nyclu.org @ccrjustice.org @theimeu.bsky.social

The Democratic Party’s problems are not about being moderate or left. That’s a consultant and pundit red herring The problems are in party organization, the culture of “it’s their turn” nominations, candidate recruitment, gerontocracy, inability to shape media topics, and coming off hella lame

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy on Mahmoud Khalil.

Not at all surprising when you consider the multiple studies showing, of the Big-5 personality traits, neuroticism most strongly correlated with being liberal/Democratic. (Actually helps explain a lot of why the Dems are where they are today.)

Big deal—after correcting, it turns out that moderate candidates do not perform better than extreme candidates in general elections. Kudos to Andy, Dan, and Adam for updating a key question in political science

Interesting discussion w/my pub opinion class led to a useful reframing: It’s less that America’s been in a “culture war” & more that we’ve been living through decades of the weaponization of pub opinion by elites to serve moneyed interests. The kids deserve so much better than what we’re leaving.

🔥🔥🔥 “Try rejecting modern medicine in the Horn of Africa. Or dabbling with lunatic ideas in the Soviet Union… The point is almost never appreciated by the fanatics but they owe their health and freedom to the sanity of the society they affect to despise.”

I am genuinely beginning to believe this is my manifesto. This maybe the most important thing I’ve ever written. in-the-pines.ghost.io/cold-dark-co...

A really important email from my friend Senator @chrismurphyct.bsky.social . As he says "this is a 5 alarm fire." America is under attack right now.

I’ve been trying not to be alarmist in talking to my students, but still accurately convey what historical/comp. studies suggest might be one end result of our current trajectory. What tips would you give to DC college students, living in the heart of the city, to prepare to keep themselves safe?