A new Heterodox Academy report shows that political science is less left-leaning in terms of faculty's personal political views than some other disciplines. I'm so sick of conservative activist academics in the humanities lying about us.

Your regular reminder that normal pro-democracy political parties do not make restricting suffrage the central pillar of their policy platform

I have spent the past several months studying the cutting-edge research on modern democracies that have defeated authoritarian leaders. I've learned that the conventional wisdom on the topic is wrong — in ways that have clear implications for the US going forward THREAD www.vox.com/politics/479...

Some additional context: Cities and villages have the same powers (towns are different because they’re created under a different series of laws). The only functional difference is how the governing board is arranged (number of legislators, name of the executive, wards or no wards, etc).

Utterly unacceptable in a democracy. In a sane world, House Republicans would be drafting impeachment articles today and Senate Republicans would be preparing for a trial to convict and remove him from office

On what can be done, see my @slate.com piece from last week: slate.com/news-and-pol...

I wrote my final book review column for the Washington Post a while back. (I didn't know it was the last one of course.) I was worried it might not even run since the book section is ending, but thanks to the heroic efforts of editor Jacob Brogan, here it is: www.washingtonpost.com/books/2026/0...

The most important thing to me about my review of this week's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is that I cite Tom Spurgeon in it by name. AKOTSK is a decency fantasy, a term Tom coined—a heroic narrative that puts kindness, cooperation, competence and fundamental humanity above all else. (Gift link)

In light of Trump’s post yesterday, some history: “On Memorial Day 1927, 1,000 white-robed Klansmen marched through the Jamaica neighborhood, eventually spurring an all-out brawl in which seven men were arrested. One of those arrested was Fred Trump.” www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix...

Here's @rickhasen.bsky.social detailing the scenario in which Trump uses search warrant to seize ballot boxes in a contested 2026 locale. This is more worrisome than ICE at the polls. Hasen also suggests ways to act against this now. It's harrowing stuff: newrepublic.com/article/2062...

very fun to think that there are at least four votes for "the president can unilaterally rewrite a constitutional amendment"

Alarmingly relevant new paper out in @apsrjournal.bsky.social by Turku Isiksel and @tompepinsky.com. They take on the question of whether citizens of authoritarian states should vote in their often unfair elections, & find reason to do so. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Wow: San Jose had zero market-rate multifamily starts in 2024. And this is a generally pretty pro-housing administration. Cities like San Jose urgently need the state to fix condominium presale and defect law to get more projects pencilling. www.mercurynews.com/2026/01/26/s...

I voted against the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and I was pleased to speak with Ta-Nehisi Coates @VanityFair about the mood surrounding that debate. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

“San Francisco taxes new housing at about the same rate that it taxes cigarettes.” www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open... by @dbroockman.bsky.social

add in there that the last time a Republican Senate majority confirmed a Democratic Supreme Court appointee was 1895

Former tech reporter Pranshu and I worked with his predecessor as India bureau chief, the fearless Gerry Shih, on a Pulitzer-finalist series about that country’s domination of US tech giants. Gerry now leads Israel coverage, and both of their jobs are at risk. #SavethePost, tell Jeff Bezos.

wrote about an apparent policy change in the payments industry www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

This is a really incredible piece. Share it widely 🎁https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/minneapolis-uprising/685755/?gift=C-rzmQ8PsUHt15odxTKJDn7xrpPNxSpotkNz_P27oI0

The DOJ demand for voter rolls is not about micro-targeting. That kind of voter data is already freely available between the public voter lists and data brokers. The difference in what they're demanding is more technical backend metadata so they can make spurious claims about list maintenance.

The Pohlad family, who own the Minnesota Twins, got asked at FanFest yesterday about what are doing to stop ICE violence in their community. After a wishy-washy 🤷 response, the fan suggested they call Trump because he listens to other billionaires. Worth watching!: www.reddit.com/r/minnesotat...

Let’s be clear about what the Trump regime is saying to Minnesota: “We will continue murdering your citizens unless you help us rig your election.”

Another thing I learned in the town hall is that the events in Minneapolis are being well-documented because of the thousands of people who trained to become legal observers after the murder of George Floyd

Reading the new Claude Constitution feels like an important moment. blog.mattglassman.net/immediate-br...

Two things to remember about Jack Smith’s testimony: 1. The only people who question his objectivity are GOP politicians and members of the Trump-obeisant media. 2. No one has as complete a picture of the evidence as does Smith and his team. His critics, in fact, have usually willfully ignored it.

"This is why Judge Menendez’s ruling is so critical: it may be the last opportunity a federal judge has to intervene before matters spiral completely out of control."

London Breed has kept a low profile since leaving the mayor’s office a year ago. Here’s what she has been up to — and what she thinks of the praise being heaped on her successor, Daniel Lurie. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/u...

Really enjoyed appearing on the UCL Uncovering Politics podcast with the brilliant @alanrenwick.bsky.social to discuss my recent paper in Electoral Studies! ucl-uncovering-politics.simplecast.com/episodes/doe...

Here's a link to the paper www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Okay, I've read all of the 2028 primary calendar dispatches ahead of today's deadline for state parties to apply to go early in the Democratic presidential nomination process. This piece from The Washington Post is the best of them. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

This posted late and is not surprising, as such, but it is sort of my uniform theory of how racism undergirds Trump’s coalition so perhaps you’ll find it interesting. www.ms.now/opinion/trum...

So, important note. In MN, this is not the police union, but a separate state-level lobbying group. In some places (like Philly), the FOP IS the union. Not here. The joys of localism: every place does things differently.

Good overview but I've seen the word thrown around, and I think it's both unhelpful and untrue to say this has anything to do with "secession," even rhetorically. It's nothing of the sort. This is federalism and states trying to uphold the Union, not leave it. Trump is the one trying to destroy it.

Some more thoughts on ICE protests and the tools described in this 404 article: www.404media.co/inside-ices-...

Which groups win policy under each party? Whites under Republicans, minorities under Democrats New #ScienceOfPolitics podcast/transcript with Agustin Markarian www.niskanencenter.org/which-groups...

A heck of a chart: in every single one of the 10 major US cities that built the most housing between 2017 and 2023, rents for older, existing units fell—often by quite a bit.

We have 3 polls now on Trump’s seizure of Maduro (% approve): 40% - Washington Post 34% - YouGov 33% - Ipsos/Reuters All at or below Trump's overall approval rating ... Americans are not rallying behind his Imperial flag, as they didn’t w/ other recent strongman actions - @simonwdc.bsky.social 5/

In case you're wondering, the NYU law school has been running the War Powers Resolution Reporting Project at the Reiss Center on Law and Security, since February 2020. Researchers created the first publicly searchable database tracking all presidential 48-hour reports to Congress. 1/4

The most disturbing presidential press conference I have ever seen. fallows.substack.com/p/blind-into... (First 3/4ths before paywall.)

Another downside of spending ungodly amounts on the military is that you become prone to doing the things like this. It’s the international equivalent of leaving loaded assault rifles scattered around your house.

Just going by some of the reaction, it seems Republicans are not unified on even characterizing what Trump has done here. Some are treating like it's just a law enforcement operation, contrary to everything Trump said in his press conference about running Venezuela and selling the oil.

This please. What matters from Dems right now is choosing the correct side, which almost all are doing, not the quality of their statements. (Also there's a range from pretty good and inept; marinating in the worst ones rather than amplifying the good ones is a choice.)

On Jack Smith deposition, now released: 100% obvious why GOP refused to allow this as open testimony, aired live. It's damning. Testimony from John Dean or Alex ("wiretaps") Butterfield in Watergate days would have 1/10th the impact if just in print. What Smith says is far more incriminating.