David Mislin

Say a prayer for me: I volunteered to *help* organize our street's block party this year to save the tradition.

It now appears I'm running it myself.

This all brought back memories of a dinner I sat through with a bunch of very liberal New Englanders who found Kay Hagan's Sunday School teacher ad offensive. They truly believed that a Democrat shouldn't talk about religion, even if said Democrat was, by all accounts, genuinely religious.

These Younger Democrats Are Sick of Their Party’s Status Quo

Some glimmers of hope from the Democratic Party. I'd be skeptical of the concept, except the people behind know what they're doing.

Nothing changes until Democrats start imagining themselves as a national party that can compete (and maybe even win) everywhere. This is a good first step.

To your original point, I'm regularly amazed by the number of smart people I know who are significantly to the left of me politically and imagine themselves to be quite independent in their thought, but who constantly invoke the NYT as gospel.

We're looking for a few more contributions to a volume I'm co-editing on the radical religious press in 19th c. Europe/North America. Any subject/geographic focus welcomed. More details from original CFP in link, but deadline for chapters extended to 3/1/26.

Feel free to DM questions.

Everything is terrible, which is why I'm especially grateful for the Rowhouse Cinema in Pittsburgh. I just enjoyed two hours of escapism with a showing of Singing in the Rain.

Got gossip from a managing editor pal of a journal that a few reviewers used ChatGPT to write their assessments for them, and didn't even conceal it. I'll say it again - it won't be the neoliberal administrators that take down the humanities. It'll be humanities professors who've stopped reading.

Thanks!

US environmental history/western history folks, please help: any recommendations of good histories about the California Water Wars and Owens Valley water diversion in the early 20th c.? Thanks!

It's amazing how much my productivity has improved now that my prime morning work time isn't punctuated by terrible SCOTUS decisions.

He doesn't want us to back down; he just wants to go to the beach.

Some gall to send a fundraising email the same hour this video is circulating.

He should resign immediately and let Shapiro replace him with someone who actually wants to do his job. Total embarrassment.

Yikes. Per the full article, everyone is okay, which is good news.

Just deleted my quippy post from earlier as the replies were getting to be a bit much. It was a good reminder why I usually steer clear of quippy posts.

I’d forgotten about this in my ever-expanding list of things from Star Trek that suddenly seem like they’re gonna be true

As someone who came of age politically following Clinton’s post-1994 triangulation, was in college during the run-up to the Iraq War, and saw Howard Dean pushed aside in favor of John Kerry, “craven,” “soulless,” and “hedging” is pretty much all I’ve ever known of liberal politics.

A liberal should be someone who does the right thing because it is right and stands up to bullies and abusers. The type of liberalism that America has suffered with for decades now has been a craven exercise in soulless hedging and cowardice

Beloved dog joined Minnesota lawmaker, husband as they lay in state When Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot this month, their golden retriever was grievously wounded and had to be euthanized.

Thousands of people lined up at the Minnesota Capitol to pay tribute to slain lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. Between the caskets was an urn containing the ashes of the family’s golden retriever, Gilbert.

Are you okay?!?! Sending good thoughts!

I’m not asking Mark to do this (he does plenty as it is!) but this post speaks to my wish for some knowledgeable advice on what the pressure points on SCOTUS might be. I recognize there might be few—but it’d be helpful to know where/how some public pressure might be exerted to mitigate this outcome.

Time to stop scrolling on here and go watch episode 1 of the new season of The Gilded Age, because I'm sure that will feel like total escapism. 😩

Queer educators unveil 10 new LGBTQ+ lessons for California public schools - LGBTQ Nation "It’s utterly transformative and truly history-making.”

Happy to talk about CA's LGBTQ-inclusive History-Social Science Framework. Check out the One Institute's new collaborative K-12 lesson plans--now more than ever. (Wish the journalist had mentioned my new book: Contested Curriculum: LGBTQ History Goes to School, but glad the word's getting out!)

I think some of the best messaging from Dems in the last few years has come from people like Pat Ryan from NY who have framed a whole constellation of GOP policies (inc. attacks on LGBTQ people) as an attack on personal freedom. Why the party hasn't been able to run with this totally baffles me.

By the time the 2028 Democratic Party presidential primaries start, expanding the Supreme Court by 30 new members will be the “conservative” position

Today would be a great day for Democratic Party elected officials to stand up and offer a plan to get us out of this mess.

Before SCOTUS ruins everything today, I'd like to brag that for the first time ever, I've succeeded in getting everything for an online course et up (all assignments created, videos recorded, links double-checked) in advance of the course starting.

This has been a goal for 6+ years

I have spent the last sixteen years defending Gillibrand — I was always sympathetic to her because she represented the House district I grew up in, which I thought a Dem could never win.

But I’m done. Tell me who’s primarying her and I’ll give them money.

(Same goes for Schumer while I’m at it.)

Yes, I am recording six weeks of lecture videos for an online course in one day.

And, no, I will not wear the same shirt in all of them, even if the hair is a giveaway.

A true *must* read article about how the lessons of Mamdani’s primary win are generalizable, and it’s not about left/right positioning. It’s about communication, organizing strategy, coalition building, and yes, polling methodology