Jenna Bednar

Tim Alberta named the James S. House and Wendy Fisher House Social Science Fellow ANN ARBOR—Tim Alberta, an award-winning journalist, author and staff writer for The Atlantic, has been named the James S. House and Wendy Fisher House Social Science Fellow.  This newly established fe...

We are lucky that Alberta will be a Fellow this year at Michigan, the inaugural joint fellowship with ISR and the Wallace House Center for Journalists, for journalists who want to build their analytical skills. isr.umich.edu/news-events/...

Tho the book came out in 2023, Alberta's writing offers clues about Trump's Epstein August. Many believe that Trump was born again as president, and so it is possible to forgive past sins. But freeing Ghislaine Maxwell, delaying, and blaming Democrats makes him look guilty and unrepentant.

Alberta is a brilliant writer and unassuming, curious, persistent interviewer. The gang's all here, from Jerry Falwell Sr & Jr, Robert Jeffress, Charlie Kirk, Ralph Reid; a wide range of hucksters; and decent people who don't know what to do. The interviews he gets are wild. www.bytimalberta.com

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory Instant New York Times Bestseller One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year An Economist and Air Mail Best Book of the Year \"Brave and abso...

⭐ Book rec to understand Trump's Epstein August: www.harpercollins.com/products/the.... There's no better guide to the evangelicals’ embrace of Trump. This is no outsider’s ethnography; he is a pastor’s son trying to understand how the church he loves has chosen earthly power over the Gospel.

The launch of an important new public resource.

The Anti-Corruption Tracker: Mapping the Erosion of Oversight and Accountability
www.justsecurity.org/117267/anti-...

The Tracker is a living document that will be continually updated.

A screenshot below gives you a sense of the Chart and its data.

"Fear is the tool of a tyrant."

Cutting the CPB devastates rural public radio. On a recent roadtrip w @scottepage.bsky.social we listened only to public radio. It was incredibly...local: hog sales, new biz, swaps, & in western KS, a book club of Verghese's Covenant of Water. We lose more than emergency alerts. We lose community.

Special Issue Captures Vibrant Moment in Complexity Economics An edition of the Journal of Economic Behavior co-edited by INET Oxford shows how complexity economics can answer the policy questions of the day

Special Issue Captures Vibrant Moment in #ComplexityEconomics

Editorial team:
@jennabednar.bsky.social @sfiscience.bsky.social @maria-drc.bsky.social @doynefarmer.bsky.social @francoislafond.bsky.social
+J.Kaszowska-Mojsa, P.Mealy, M.Pangallo & A.Pichler

#EconSky

www.inet.ox.ac.uk/news/vibrant...

I love *my country. (And I do!)

Missed the alt texts, sorry! Photos of handmade signs reading Save Our Libraries, Make America Think Again, I Love Amy Country Stop Ruining It, and Land of the Free (taped to a kid’s fishing pole!)

Over 1K rejected kings in Brighton, MI, a red town of 8k in the midst of a deep red county. The vibe: highly patriotic, pro people power, pro freedom. A rousing collective pledge of allegiance. Pro constitution signs on fishing poles and marshmallow sticks.

Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government.

That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.

When have presidents called in the National Guard to quell domestic unrest? The National Guard was also called during the 1992 L.A. riots and the unrest that followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968. Trump’s order was unlike any other.

Can federalism hold? Here's a decent review of recent federalization of national guard troops. Last time done over a gov's wishes was 60 years ago, to protect protesters. BTW the president's order can include all states, not just CA. Where are the R governors? D govs? Pritzker? wapo.st/3ZXocaZ

How to Dismantle a Democracy, One Job Posting at a Time OPM’s new hiring memo imports the authoritarian playbook—quietly, bureaucratically, and by design.

this @adambonica.bsky.social piece deserves to be read beside the yeoman work that @donmoyn.bsky.social and @pamherd.bsky.social have been doing. The dismantling of administrative expertise is one of those stories that is so big that pro journalists with beats find it hard to focus on or explain .

Billionaire DeVos family backs new effort to make Michigan a Republican stronghold The political organization will be led by former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel.

DeVos family creates a 501c4, headed by Ronna McDaniel, to promote R candidates in Michigan. Open seats in 2026 for gov, AG, SOS, and US Senate.

We're often confused with New Hampshire

On the flight to Amsterdam a rowdy group of septuagenarian women from New Orleans kept saying 86 this trash, 86 this movie, 86 this wine, it’s terrible. It’s true, they killed me.

Perfect observation! Now if only we knew how to conjure it up.

Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd from the balcony.

We Chicagoans do love to get out on our balconies in May, waving hello to all the neighbors.

Henry! I opened this because it was about my two loves, democracy and Brian Eno, bound by the magic word: theory. A few pars in, and I’m like, who wrote this excellent piece? Because we need to write together. Oh, of course, Henry did. And then, bam. Career peak: to be mentioned alongside Eno. 🥰

Master's programs Become the leader you've always wanted to be and work to create meaningful change in public policy and affairs that impact our communities and the world.

A lot has changed in the world, so my colleagues and I at the @fordschool are opening up a special emergency admissions cycle for folks who want to start a Masters of Public Policy this fall.

Deets are here: fordschool.umich.edu/masters-prog...

I hope to see you in class in September!

The change reflects the expanding Trump administration censorship across the Department of Defense aimed at erasing acknowledgment of those groups. It also follows a series of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump and internal policy shifts championed by Hegseth, who has made the erasure of those groups a core goal of his tenure so far.

The administration has labeled materials related to women, minorities and gay people as "diversity, equity and inclusion," or DEI, a term that once described efforts toward racial equality but has been repurposed under Trump as a catchall term used to conduct a government-wide purge.

Is it just me, or is <checks notes> military.com significantly more clear-eyed about this than most news sources? www.military.com/daily-news/2...

LOL your first reading works too, and is only amplified by the closer read!

Michigan is a party too. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Such a lovely name for a shop!

HAPPENING NOW: Following the Supreme Court's decision requiring the government to "facilitate" the release of Abrego Garcia, a hearing before Judge Paula Xinis is about to begin.

I'm in Greenbelt, Maryland for @lawfare.bsky.social

Follow along for updates

Todays umich report here: www.sca.isr.umich.edu

Consumer confidence is in free fall, across all segments of the population. www.sca.isr.umich.edu/files/featur...

Oh man

*UMICH PRELIM APRIL CONSUMER SENTIMENT FALLS TO 50.8; EST 53.8
*MICHIGAN 5-10 YR INFLATION EXPECTATIONS RISE TO 4.4% VS 4.1%
*UMICH YR-AHEAD EXPECTED INFLATION AT 6.7%, HIGHEST SINCE 1981

You mean undocumented, I’m sure. Publish or perish, Anna.