Pepe Weber

... all parties (government and opposition alike) vote for the reform together. That’s likely necessary anyway, since the opposition effectively co-governs via the Bundesrat and real reform might conflict with the interests of the Länder.

The pension crisis is fundamentally a problem of democracy. No party wants to raise the retirement age or cut pensions as they fear backlash from the largest voting bloc: seniors (rational choice at its best). 42% of voters are over 60. A real reform might only be possible if ... /1

U wouldnt believe how true that is

There are also donor organisations and clinics (like UKHS) that provide data on your blood (levels of iron and so on) via an app, which I have always found appealing.

CDU is definitely known as the party of postmaterialism.

... stronger support for climate protection, more openness to facilitating immigration, and less support for ending arms deliveries to Ukraine. [GLES, Post-Election Study 2025]

Is the economy really the universal remedy for societal acceptance, as the CDU wants us to believe? At least, data suggests that a positive assessment of the German economy (AES) is linked to...

Students who have only taken a statistics class without receiving a proper introduction to probability will look at 100 shots of vodka in front of them, thinking that only 40 will get them drunk. With that in mind, cheers!

If I hear someone referring to ChatGPT as "Chattie" one more time, I'm gonna snap and hit them with a bowling ball.

Gonna start sections in all the big conference that’s called “barely political science” about all the cool stuff that’s happening in our discipline that people don’t think is “Real Poli Sci”

ugh.

When will @unihannover.bsky.social offer asylum for all the foreign students of Harvard University? I’m sure the offer will be appreciated.

Googles I/O, especially their audio engine, made me think again about how personal relationships will and are starting to (!) be impacted by AI. Heard the likes of “I talked to ‘Chatty’ the other day” way too often in the last few weeks to not be concerned. What does Putnam have to say about this?

AI-written term papers wouldn't be a problem if lecturers encoded students' past term papers/essays into linguistic features. Then, conduct a principal component analysis. If the newly submitted term papers don't cluster with the student's earlier work, it likely wasn’t written by them.

Wer ist der Heide-Mörder?

Trump is averaging 4,149 words per week on TruthSocial and X since his inauguration. Meanwhile, undergraduates struggle with their 4000-word term papers all semester.

It’s interesting that those concerned about offence tend to say Jewish people rather than Jew. Because even though it’s the correct word, and not a slang word coined by racists, the deep burial of it in a bad place in the Christian unconscious means that it feels insulting anyway. [Jews Don’t Count]

That must be caused by the soon-to-be goverment of CDU/CSU and Social Democrats with their issue ownership on domestic security (due to the autolimitation by the criminals)

Even a blind robot sometimes finds a goal

As far as I understood the author, he argues only in geostrategic/geographical terms, neglecting current political relations. Thus, imo, the author would still stand by the quote.

And I’m pretty sure that the lorry never moves when I’m watching it.

I'd love to see this link take me to Rowan Atkinson's Instagram.

Democracy = negative-sum game? On key issues like inequality & climate change, there’s broad consensus on the problem – yet disagreement on the path forward. The result: stagnation (often the worst possible outcome). How problematic is this die the support of democracy?

Even the bylaws of my club will be resilient than the German constitution in this respect. (Majorities can only be changed by the same majority.)

How surprising that the CSU today still represents positions that were already popular in the last century.

@skaenner.bsky.social sounds good.

We should also start liking all the comments. This is called spillover effects, I think (IR is not my area of expertise).

Gesellschaftliche Relevanz in einer Nussschale.

But the neighbouring direct mandates have said that they will tAkE cArE of the election districts without a direct mandate. Everything's fine :)

* according to a simulation conducted by the New England Complex Systems Institute on behalf of President Reagan.