Billy Robb

The state law needs to change one way or another because it is no longer operable as written.

The concept of tying the state civics test to the federal government is more complicated than it used to be, because the naturalization test has become a political football.

Arizona law says that public school students need to correctly answer "seventy out of the one hundred" questions on a civics test that is "identical" to the citizenship naturalization test used by the US government.

The naturalization test is now 128 questions.

This, but without the sarcasm.

Ezra Klein is right. Very thoughtful essay in the NYT.

The populists are lost on education policy Plus: Can broken norms ever be restored?

In this post, I try to decipher a coherent policy stance on education from the populist right. My conclusion is that they don’t really have one. If they did, they might look to the framework of Freddie deBoer, who wants to dismantle the “cult of smart.”
chollaexpress.substack.com/p/the-populi...

Tales from the Light Rail Buy the ticket, take the ride ... Show us your scrapbook … And y’all are dirty.

South Phoenix just got its new light rail extension. Billy Robb rode it to dinner, a D-backs game and straight into the messy politics of public transit.
www.arizonaagenda.com/p/tales-from...

The news diet pyramid How to keep your wits about you when the country seems to be falling apart.

chollaexpress.substack.com/p/the-news-d...

July 13, 1925: The Roosevelt Dam in the valley of the Salt River in Arizona.

Why not Ruben? Arizona's junior senator goes to Iowa.

Why not Ruben?
chollaexpress.substack.com/p/why-not-ru...

If Cornyn loses the primary, Dems could win in Texas, writes George Will. "Of course, this assumes what cannot be assumed: that prudence will conquer the national Democratic Party’s impulse to incessantly annoy the electorate’s temperate center." wapo.st/40BhtUw

Join Offer The Next 250 We’re publishing substantive coverage that actually moves the conversation forward. The American experiment isn’t something that happened—it’s something that’s still happening. And The Dispatch will…

The Dispatch is launching The Next 250, a yearlong project. We’ll spend the year talking about how we can take that baton and build towards a future our Founding Fathers can be proud of.

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The Judiciary Will Become Virtually Powerless in Protecting Your Rights if the Current Budget Bill Becomes Law Senate Republicans have proposed an even worse version of a House provision that will require citizens suing the government to post enormous sums in bonds

Important, from Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, on how the power to hold the federal government accountable in court for unlawful rights violations is now under even worse threat than before from language in the budget bill.

🟡 Semafor Principals: Tariff truce | Semafor In today’s edition: The US and China agree to slash tariffs for 90 days.

Sen. Gallego to @daveweigel.bsky.social on his immigration moonshot: What AZ voters "wanted was a secure border and a sane pathway to citizenship or stabilization. If we make that policy, and we communicate that, I think that’s the winning argument"

www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...

This is my gut reaction. Would be interested in what others think. I could see arguments in favor of consistency & speed when grading with a rubric. But I don't know how you emphasize the importance of human writing if no humans are going to read the writing that students do in school.

This is especially true for state exams or other high stakes tests. If A.I. is used to grade these tests, then students will be trained to write in a way that will earn points based on A.I. grading tendencies. In other words, they will be trained to write poorly.

Teachers Worry About Students Using A.I. But They Love It for Themselves. Educators are increasingly using generative A.I. in their own work, even as they express profound hesitation about the ethics of student use.

I think A.I. can be useful for helping teachers write lessons or assessments, but I strongly disagree with using it for grading student writing. If we are going to ask students to write, their writing should be evaluated by a human being.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/u...

It is pretty wild that the Founders put this series of things back-to-back-to-back-to-back all those years ago...

Chris Krebs is America’s next profile in courage. The entire nation should support this honorable and courageous fellow citizen.

April 16, 1775: Tipped off by Paul Revere about the looming British threat, Isaiah Thomas smuggles the printing presses of his patriotic newspaper Massachusetts Spy out of Boston. Thomas will relocate to Worcester, Mass., and publish there after the Battle of Lexington.

Lanterns launched a revolution in 1775. 250 years later, let's light them again | Opinion Two lanterns lit the steeple of a Boston church in 1775, a rallying cry that gave us a new nation. On April 18, Arizona will light that fire again.

"America is turning 250, kicking off a series of events in Arizona to honor our past and protect democracy for the future." - Adrian Fontes
www.azcentral.com/story/opinio...

Go big on civics education Beyond the American Civics Act

Go big on civics education. Why the American Civics Acts is inadequate, and five ideas for how Arizona and other states can move the needle.
chollaexpress.substack.com/p/go-big-on-...

Congress Must Assert Itself on Tariffs | National Review My bill would require Congress to approve any presidential proposal to impose tariffs before they are put into effect.

Republican Senator Rand Paul: "Our Founders would be appalled at a tax levied without a vote of their representatives."
@nationalreview.bsky.social
www.nationalreview.com/2025/04/cong...

Among some Ariz. retirees, views on Trump tariffs split along party lines Democrats fear an economic downturn and rising prices, while Republicans trust Trump’s tariffs will benefit the economy.

Among some Ariz. retirees, views on Trump tariffs split along party lines www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Rep. Greg Stanton: Trump tariffs can be stopped in Congress President Donald Trump announced historic sweeping tariffs on all countries and Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton is among those in opposition.

We don’t have to let Trump’s tariffs wreck our economy. The Constitution gave Congress trade authority, not the President.

That's why I'm backing legislation to end this overreach.
ktar.com/arizona-poli...

The president's tariffs aren’t just economically reckless—they betray the principles that gave birth to the US.

They sidestep Congress, defy the Constitution, & abandon our commitment to free exchange & consent of the governed.

My latest at Persuasion: www.persuasion.community/p/these-tari...

All of my advisors say, please sir, don't touch the stove sir. You'll burn yourself. But if I'm not supposed to touch it, why is it so red and glowing and, frankly, attractive?

So we're gonna touch it. We're gonna touch stove maybe harder than anyone's ever touched it.

A 2019 photo of Sen. Cory Booker in his U.S. Senate office, standing next to a photo of Mahatma Gandhi.

A thing about Booker: he's one of the most consistently on-message politicians I've ever met.

He told me this in 2018:

"Every speech I give, I will not yield from talking about that revival of civic grace. Talking about revival of the civic gospels. Talking about the need to love one another."

"Spoiler alert: the tariffs don’t just cause short-term and long-term pain for the U.S. economy — they also cause problems for American foreign policy." danieldrezner.substack.com/p/the-exorbi...

Substack says it’ll legally defend writers ‘targeted by the government’ Substack cites recent attacks on free speech.

Substack says it’ll legally defend writers ‘targeted by the government’

An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison The Trump administration says it mistakenly deported an immigrant with protected status but that courts are powerless to order his return.

BREAKING: Trump admin says it mistakenly deported a Maryland father who had *withholding of removal* back to El Salvador on March 15. Govt told court Monday it won't bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back. "What.The.Fuck..." one govt attorney told me. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc... @theatlantic.com

A Republican enters the Arizona Secretary of State race