DML

Election law question: wouldn't requiring a driver's license to register or vote violate the 24th Amendment ban on poll taxes? Driver's licenses aren't free. (Please forward if you know someone who would know! I have to teach about this.)

Opinion | Trump Is a Backlash President

Such an insightful interview with @juliaazari.bsky.social in the NYT. She notes getting out of this fix may require building anti-racist factions in both parties. I think there are lessons in the bipartisan "Progressive" anti-corruption movements of early 20th century www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/o...

Here to recommend rereading old books for perspective in this moment. I just started re-reading my old copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The underlining and comments by 21-year-old me from my December 1979 reading of it is are ... interesting.

@adityasood.bsky.social It's true tho

German soccer leader adds to calls for boycott of World Cup matches in United States Calls for boycotting U.S. World Cup matches are surging after two ICE fatal shootings, aggressive immigration tactics and international hostility.

www.latimes.com/sports/socce...

Would you support or oppose abolishing ICE? | Daily Question Would you support or oppose abolishing ICE?

today.yougov.com/topics/polit...

I've watched lefties, libertarians, and anti-federal govt types all 50 years of my adult life. As I read current public opinion today, I've gotta say Trump and MAGA have done more than any of those ppl to undermine public support for policing and law enforcement agencies. Impressive in its own way.

I'm remembering that Nixon and Agnew slandered the victims of Kent State and Jackson State in 1970, ran for re-election on "law and order" and won in a landslide in '72. We're in a dangerous place.

This random online comment from 2018 remains one of the last half-century's most important works of political commentary. crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...

Any historians here who know what Dem elected officials said after the Kent State and Jackson State killings in May 1970? @kevinmkruse.bsky.social

And what are they learning? Experts on the formation of internal security services in authoritarian regimes point to a sense of impunity as a warning sign. Regime officials abuse their power when they know they will be protected, and even praised, for doing so. Over the course of weeks and months, we have seen images of DHS officials abusing American citizens and immigrants alike, including killing them. What we do not hear is regime officials calling for credible investigations into such abuses, or even expressing any concerns. Renee Good’s killer was announced innocent, and both Good and her wife was instead the subject of an investigation, a perversion of justice so obvious that an FBI agent and half-dozen career Department of Justice prosecutors assigned to Minnesota resigned.

What we are watching is a paramilitary force learning that they can kill with impunity, that the regime will smear the victim and defend them. Unless politicians and the legal system exerts accountability, it will not stop. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...

I am trying not to post on these events in this state of mind but: I hope people understand what the observers are doing is brave and dangerous.

Settings > Content and Media > Autoplay Video and GIFs

Turn it off, now.

German soccer federation official wants World Cup boycott considered because of Trump A German soccer federation executive committee member says it’s time to consider a World Cup boycott because of the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump.

A German soccer federation executive committee member says it's time to consider a World Cup boycott because of the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump.

As a teacher, I'm pulling together readings that can give college students alternative ways of thinking about this moment. Havercroft's "Just Riot Theory" piece will def be one of them. "This article considers justifiable reasons to resist..." Here's open access: doi.org/10.1017/S000...

Welp

a close up of a man 's face with a woman behind him . Alt: Photo of a man realizing maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be hit by an astroid.

Just did the latest Brightline survey on the state and future of democracy in the United States.

Legit possibility for '26: no Republican can win a contested primary *without* a Trump endorsement, then no Republican nominee can win a contested general election *with* a Trump endorsement.

a man with a mustache says his name is inigo montonya Alt: Inigo Montoya identifiés himself in The Princess Bride

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

two men in suits are standing next to each other and one of them is asking the other if he looks tired . Alt: Animated gif of Dr Who asking the Prime Minister's aide if he thinks she looks tired.

I keep thinking of that Dr. Who episode where he sabotaged a destructive Prime Minister just by whispering to an aide "Don't you think she looks tired?"

almost no one, anywhere on the political spectrum, appreciates how much of everything in our society is dependent on the silent work of experts, most of whom are not white men

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."