DML

They'll bring Obama out to repeat his "we tortured some folks," but "we have to look forward, not back."

Ashcroft *objected*

Of course, I also have to say nobody from the Bush administration was ever even tried for war crimes, much less convicted or punished...

I keep thinking of GW Bush's Atty Gen, John Ashcroft, who discovered his moral limit in a cabinet meeting where they were discussing torture and he injected, reportedly cautioning those present that "History will not be kind to us." Somebody on the inside is going to defect from Trump at some point.

Thx. Perfect way to put it. Carrying that into the classroom in a few minutes.

Q for any political scientists who might be listening: am I right in remembering that gerrymandering for maximum seats can backfire, because it also creates more districts vulnerable to wave elections? (Please forward if you know someone who studies this stuff, thanks.)

I’ve been interested in political speeches for as long as I can remember. I’ve listened to nearly every inaugural and major address, and I’ve given tons of public speeches myself.

Zohran’s talent in this arena ranks among the best. He’s damn good. Hella good. Remarkably good.

Crazy to watch.

These elections are, as the saying goes, a necessary but not sufficient condition for stopping Trump. They're a start but won't stop MAGA consolidation over the next 15 months. We have so much more work to do, starting tomorrow. But today voters in NYC, VA, NJ did their part and I'm grateful.

I keep thinking of Iowa Sen Tom Harkin: "You learned everything you need to know about elections in Driver's Ed: When you want to go forward, you put it in D. When you want to go backward, you put it in R."

Given the gerrymandering, it might take Ds +10 to get the House back. No idea what it would take to pick up any Senate seats at all...

Came here to say this, but Jamelle Bouie has this covered. 👇
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.

I'm a Dodger fan and can't help but be thrilled that they won. But those Blue Jays were something else and deserve all the kudos. As one wag said on BSky when they beat the Yankees "Any team that beats the Yankees is America's team.If that's the Toronto Blue Jays, so be it. I don't make the rules."

If the game hits 2am Eastern the score is reset to an hour before and everyone has to repeat exactly what they did to preserve the space time continuum, thems the rules

Sports suffering is the only noble kind of suffering.

Articles of Confederation - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article...

The Invented State: Policy Misperceptions in the American Public Abstract. Many Americans hold substantial misperceptions about what the government actually does. However, they get the facts wrong not because they are la

academic.oup.com/book/55770

What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters This book is the most comprehensive analysis ever written about the American public’s factual knowledge of politics. Drawing on extensive survey data, incl...

yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

bsky.app/profile/dml4...

Hi everyone. If you want to stand up to cancer, consider calling your Congressperson and ask them to restore research funding. My life was saved by research and doctors in the UC system and I’m incredibly lucky to be here today.

I have many thoughts about Charlie Kirk—and perhaps even more about the white elites, including some on the left, who insist we can’t hold multiple realities at once. We can. And we must.

A brief 🧵

more than a decade of public scholarship has taught me that the moments when it's most tempting to react strongly and quickly are the ones when it's most useful to step back, seek context, and force yourself to think slowly. i don't always follow it, but those are my guidelines for myself.

poster from 1987 movie "Throw Momma From The Train"

I wish this were true of Al Gore. Mostly when his name came up post-2000, ppl reflexively said he claimed to have invented the Internet. (Spoiler alert: he didn't claim that.)There was no public discussion of whether he would have prevented 9/11. And normies wouldn't touch climate change prevention.

"Gentlemen, let's get the thing straight, once and for all. The policeman isn't there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve disorder." Richard J Daley, 1968.

Ugh. I've got 9 in there...

Drafting the paperwork to prep for the 25th Amendment meeting.

You fight effectively by understanding the game that you are playing. We are not playing the game of regular Constitutional order anymore--it's over. Done.

Do politics differently. Meet the opponent where they are. This country needs new rules, and we need to write them.

/done

With the recently-passed budget of tens of billions of dollars, ICE now has the resources to do this in every Blue city every day until the end of Trump's term. I expect they will eventually learn to more effectively intimidate "opposition" civilian populations, while MAGA supporters cheer.

Quote with your favorite anti-fascist film

I am not feeling the 4th of July this year. It is hard to celebrate America while SCOTUS is honoring a convicted rapist as their king, letting him kidnap people, and build concentration camps. — Does anyone else feel this way?