Steven S Smith

@housedemocrats.bsky.social @democrats.senate.gov Cams, masks, agent IDs, judicial warrants, sensitive locations, code of conduct, training. OK, but NOT ENOUGH.

Can student evaluations be made more representative? Testing alternative strategies Student evaluations are regularly used to assess the quality of faculty teaching. However, low response rates and unrepresentative student samples can bias the conclusions drawn from them. We condu...

New article, w/ my colleagues in Econ! We randomized the type of instrument and timing at which student evaluations are solicited to see if either could make the feedback we got more representative of the student body. In one important way, we find that it can 👇
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

It’s hard to put into perspective how truly massive the warehouse is that was recently sold by the Rockefeller Group to the Department of Homeland Security for $70 million to build a concentration camp in Surprise, AZ. Across the street is a huge neighborhood and a school. It’s 400,000-square-feet.

@housedemocrats.bsky.social @democrats.senate.gov Cams, masks, agent IDs, judicial warrants, sensitive locations, code of conduct, training. OK, but NOT ENOUGH.

Masked thugs on the streets.
Measles outbreaks across the nation.
Blatant government corruption.
Coverup of group of elite sex offenders.
Ruling party trying to rig elections.
Leader building grandiose monuments to himself.
Collapse of remnants of nonpartisan civil service.

Third world America.

Support Ukraine!

Bipartisan group of senators meeting again tonight on the expired ACA subsidies

Trump Drops Demand for Cash From Harvard After Stiff Resistance

Trump Drops Demand for Cash From Harvard After Stiff Resistance
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...

I want to let you know about something that happened at Pizza Luce and encourage you to thank and patronize them. One of the drivers at Parkway Pizza who is a friend of mine told me tonight about something that happened at the downtown Mpls Pizza Lucé where his wife works. A kitchen manager has been giving rides to workers afraid to take public transportation to work. Last week, two ICE SUVs pulled her over. There was a young Latina women in the car and ICE grabbed her. She is here legally, but apparently, if you are not white, you need to carry a passport or other documents with you. Despite the fact that she is here legally, ICE flew her to their detention facility outside of El Paso, TX. Fortunately, the owner of the Pizza Lucé chain paid for a lawyer to expedite her release. Unfortunately, when ICE is forced to release people they have unlawfully detained and flown to Texas, they do not fly them back. They just dump them on the streets of El Paso. But again, fortunately, the owner of Pizza Lucé paid for a plane ticket to fly her home. So please thank the folks at Pizza Lucé if you have the chance. Dozens of Minnesotans have not been so lucky as this woman and are trying to find their way back from Texas. Today's NY Times has a story about "Selamawit Mehari, an Eritrean single mother of three.... federal agents showed up at her apartment in St. Paul...(even though) her older daughter produced paperwork proving her mother was in the United States lawfully, the agents shackled Ms. Mehari and took her away." The story cites many like her who "were eventually released in Texas, leaving them to find their own way home."

From FB regarding Pizza Luce in Minnesota.

I like it when I can do something to help people displaced by ICE and then after I do that thing I get to eat a pizza.

Kyrsten Sinema Terminated Her Campaign Committee — But Not Before It Made More Curious Payments New records show security guard Matthew Ammel received nearly $9,000 in October from the Sinema for Arizona committee, weeks after his wife accused Sinema of destroying their marriage.

Senator Sinema’s spare change. www.notus.org/senate/kyrst...

Post from the other site, by Eleanor Mueller @Eleanor_Mueller, Semafor NEW: Tillis says no way GOP leaders get the 60 votes they need to bring Warsh’s nomination to the Senate floor without Tillis’ support in committee. “They wouldn’t get 51,” he told me this PM. Trump says he’ll just wait till Tillis is gone; Tillis warns “that Congress may or may not be with the Senate Republican majority”: “Do the math.” Until then, Powell stays. https://www.semafor.com/article/01/30/2026/president-donald-trump-has-a-thom-tillis-problem

"Tillis says no way [Repubs] get the 60 votes they need to bring Warsh’s nomination to the Senate floor w/o Tillis’ support in committee."

60? Oh, okay. While only a simple majority is needed for cloture on a nomination, if the cmte won't report it, 60 are ~needed to get it to the floor.*

1/

Minneapolis. Let's all say it. Minneapolis.

YouTube video by Bring Me The News Bruce Springsteen revealed as special guest at Tom Morello's First Avenue benefit show

Bruce. Freedom, justice. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNw4...

Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Minneapolis in protest of federal immigration enforcement for the second consecutive Friday.

📷️: Aaron Lavinsky

Now: Bruce Springsteen sings “Streets of Minneapolis” in Minneapolis

Minnesota schools in ‘crisis mode’ scramble to support students amid ICE surge Across Minnesota, school staff who were already overwhelmed are mobilizing to help families affected by immigration enforcement.

The long-term crisis in Minneapolis reaches deep into the schools and suburbs. www.startribune.com/minnesota-sc...

Federal agents arrest Don Lemon over Minnesota church protest The former CNN anchor has said he was not demonstrating, but reporting as a journalist, during the interruption of a service inside a St. Paul church earlier this month.

JUST IN: The former CNN anchor has said he was not demonstrating, but reporting as a journalist, during the interruption of a service inside a St. Paul church earlier this month.

Federal immigration raids put ‘fear’ into many Minnesota United players The Loons also have had foreign players say no to contracts because of the current situation.

“People are scared; we are, too.”

Article: Federal immigration raids in Minnesota has put 'fear' into #MNUFC players; and the situation has curtailed #Loons signings of foreigners this winter. Argentine midfielder Joaquin Pereyra shares his experiences and views.
www.twincities.com/2026/01/29/l...

For nearly a century, the @washingtonpost’s foreign correspondents have been on the ground for the world’s most pressing stories. Now, our desk is facing potential steep cuts. Washington needs us. The world needs us. If you read us and need us, please watch this video and share.

A remarkable number of serious conversations occurring on the Senate floor at the moment.

@schumer.senate.gov please insist on 1-2 weeks.

YouTube video by Jonathan Pie Terror in America.

Jonathan Pie, naturally. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU7L...

Homan's statements are not enough. Where's the president's statement to undue the harm *he* has done? Trump and the people populating DHS agencies cannot be trusted. Senate Ds must proceed with meaningful reforms and constraints on DHS.

Since we published this, Pam Bondi's X account has started posting mugshots of Minnesotans arrested for impeding ICE/CBP. Sharing a defendant's photo publicly in this way is forbidden under DOJ rules

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

Collins should help her party--insist on separating DHS approps from the other five bills.

Support Ukraine!

Homan to MN, Trump speaks with Walz, Leavitt marginally distances Trump from Noem—all show Trump’s feeling a little heat. But these gestures mean as much as Putin suggesting he’s changed and wants peace with Ukraine.

Don’t fall for it.

Insist: ICE and CBP off the streets of Minnesota.

On a press call, @gallego.senate.gov says that he's heard ICE escalation in Phoenix is "going to happen"