Daniel Schlozman

good piece on Waymo's self driving cars

we can reasonably begin to look at self driving as a potential public health breakthrough, Waymo cars are much better and safer drivers than people

the problem is the economics of the technology not the technology itself
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/o...

Boomer liberals imagining an alternative future to Reaganism--less hawkish than HHH; more in tune with the working class than Gene McCarthy--have spent decades pining for RFK. As his son points up unsavory continuities in the family legacy, time for a late-in-life reevaluation.

When I was in college, I served on a jury about a slip-and-fall in front of the International House of Pancakes, which has mostly provided decades of dinner-party fodder.

Makes me so happy, as Ben's friend, that we're on Day Three of discourse about the article where his photo makes him look like, as someone said, "IRA bomber turn negotiator."

The splash page to Roger Stone's tailoring collection. It says "The Roger Stone Collection. Exclusive pre-order release."

Yesterday, Roger Stone announced his partnership with a menswear company, where together they've released a collection of tailored clothing items.

Here is my review of those pieces. 🧵

Cranberry mold, slightly modified from the 1933 edition of The Settlement Cookbook.

"Why fill in the hollow parties when you can do much the same thing outside of them?" Not quite sure I buy everything here, but a smart, meaty analysis of Mamdani campaign's civic roots and possibilities.

And, I might add, exactly what an author wants to see with a book out in the world.

The Eric Schickler essay in Larry Bartel's symposium on "What Trump Has Taught Us About Political Science" is one of the most insightful pieces I've read in 2025.

US institutions turned out to be weak, and we have to rethink conventional wisdom.

open access: academic.oup.com/psq/advance-...

Guess what just went live? Our latest #ThisOldDemocracy podcast episode — streaming on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. @msifry.bsky.social and @daschloz.bsky.social dive into the structural weaknesses plaguing American politics. centerforballotfreedom.org/this-old-dem...

with Pelosi retiring from Congress, there goes the last direct descendant of the San Francisco Burton Machine. but in a sense, it was going the way of the dodo since the Gingrich Revolution of 94. felt this story with Phil Burton’s office chair captured the feeling of extinction well

I always miss Cambridge, Mass., the most on municipal election days. Tomato-basil at Noch's, nocciola and burnt caramel at Toscanini's, a climb up the tower at the Mount Auburn Cemetery.

And the chance to give my old friend @marcgov.bsky.social my #1 vote, and to support the @abciepac.org slate.

In a just world, Dick Cheney, war criminal and architect of the contemporary imperial presidency, would have died in a cell in The Hague, but in a just world, felons would vote, so he could have cast his ballot for Kamala Harris all the same.

Take: moderating in swing districts in 2026 highly likely to work; moderating partywide in 2026 has some evidence it will work; moderating partywide for the long term as a strategy to rid off Trumpism has way more perils and risks than proponents acknowledge.

Once the official DNC "please don't mention the senile president" autopsy is out, we'll have all the raw material for a proper take.

I'm also interested, as this stuff is and isn't social science, in what gets counted as evidence (polling; WAR; elite interviews) and doesn't.

Is there a write-up of that package somewhere? Totally agreed, and need to push back against a lot of Left Caesarism.

The royalty statements suggest that not everyone read The Hollow Parties, but the paperback edition is out on Tuesday, so you can change that: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

(Also, Jamelle is right.)

Schattschneider believed in parties as separate from, or at least larger than, interest groups, which all of the self-described neo-Schattschneiderians forget, and I will die on that hill.

APD as I learned it in grad school/APD as it's happening today

Good noodling here. A part of the Democrats' story, I think, is that the vaunted community organizing model from, in different ways, IAF and the New Left has had trouble adapting to class dealignment and big foundation funding, so it's hard to figure out what real civil society looks like.

Demagogic president seizes money to pay standing army, arrogating to himself legislative power, while his cronies keep Congress out of session is honestly more or less exactly how the Founders thought this would end

I'd rather the next Dem president + Congress put into place a bunch of Court-curbing mechanisms *and* far more strenuous presidency-curbing mechanisms.

I don't think left-Caesarism is the best response here.

I think Ezra Klein's take is that America is on the verge of a major step up in terms of sectarian violence, and he is afraid of that, and thinks very major compromises are worth it to avoid that outcome. Admittedly sometimes he says/suggest otherwise, but it's my overall impression.

Barney Frank liked to say that politics was all about working alongside people whom one finds morally repugnant, which seems, if one is going to be clear-eyed and also in the arena, the correct disposition.

Authentic Richard Nixon Agnew Campaign Buttons (Set of 7) - StoneZone These Nixon campaign buttons have been in Roger Stone's personal collection for decades.

Roger Stone is selling sets of Nixon-Agnew buttons (from his "personal collection" lol) that would have trouble commanding $5 on the open market for $45. stonezone.com/product/auth...

For the record, I think it was my colleague and Mair's longtime collaborator Dick Katz, but I remember and appreciate your early enthusiasm for our work.

Hong Kong’s Dim Sum Cart ‘Aunties’ Make Their Final Rounds

Wherever the dateline, "Regulars return once more to beloved local food place before it closes" is reliably the best genre of article. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/w...

I just want to say that it gives me great pleasure to answer questions about political buttons, so please send my way. Already this morning, I've replied to Ryan and, via text, identified a fake in a display on the wall at a prominent civic venue.

Almost certainly a "local" (a non-presidential item), could even be for something like state rep or selectman. You may learn more by seeing if there's any info on the curl, which laypeople would call the rim. Unlikely to have much value, not that you're looking to sell.

That's what I mean--get rid of Jay Jacobs and build a template for something way better.