Thomas Flores

Everyone needs to read this. There is just a massive pile of evidence that says that the Democratic Party as it exists today needs to be torn down and built anew.

I love this essay so much.

Trump fires commissioner of labor statistics after weaker-than-expected jobs figures slam markets Trump accused BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of being a political appointee who was manipulating jobs data.

www.cnbc.com/2025/08/01/t...

Part of the new authoritarian handbook is that anyone who can offer evidence the authoritarian is failing must be destroyed. Data are his enemy. What comes next is a crony who actually will fake the data.

Happy that @georgemasonu.bsky.social president @gmupres.bsky.social is staying. We had feared he'd be fired today.

@jenvictor.bsky.social, my brillliant colleague at @georgemasonu.bsky.social, documents the executive overrraxh and harassment of our university.

“I’m gobsmacked what happened in Logan Circle Last Night… This is insane” - PoPville A reader reports around 6:45pm last night (Tuesday) in Logan Circle: "The facts: Tonight, while walking my dog through Logan circle, three US Parks Police officers in bulletproof vests each armed with...

www.popville.com/2025/07/what...

The goal has never been lower crime. The goal has always been to destroy the lives of Brown and Black people.

Bar chart titled “Motivating Issues” showing how different Democratic policy priorities motivate voters to support Democrats in the 2026 elections. Top issues include affordable health insurance (62% very motivated), tax enforcement on wealthy cheats (62%), preventing tax hikes on working families (60%), and lowering prices by stopping price gouging (60%). Bars are color-coded by intensity: very, somewhat, not too, and not at all motivated.

Bar chart showing reasons Biden skippers cited for not voting in 2024. The top reason (16%) was that Kamala Harris lacked a strong plan to lower the cost of living, closely followed (15%) by concerns she didn’t address poverty and inequality. Other reasons include weak leadership, courting Republicans, and stances on Gaza, immigration, guns, and transgender rights. A note highlights that Republicans, Latinas, and middle-aged voters were most likely to cite these concerns.

Fascinating survey data on the missing Biden voters by Lake Research. The voters who sat out in '24 weren't looking for a centrist or turned off by trans rights. They want a genuine economic populist agenda: take on corporate greed, lower costs, and make the wealthy pay their fair share.

A new statistic reveals the startling privilege of white kids admitted to Harvard Ivy League admissions are far from a meritocracy.

"Nearly half of white students admitted to Harvard between 2009 and 2014 were legacy students or Dean’s Interest List—a list of applicants whose relatives have donated to Harvard, the existence of which only became public knowledge in 2018"

and 75% of them would not have been admitted otherwise

67% of Republicans are in support of GOP budget bill

This poll reminds me of something I've meant to post.

It's widely observed in authoritarianism studies that popular autocrats are the most dangerous because other powerful actors will comply rather than obstruct them. So Trump's unpopularity might seem to weaken him...but for US institutions...

Tons of people in Silver Spring, Maryland today! #nokings

“To Imagine, Without Restraint, the World We Actually Mean to Create”: A Conversation with Connie Razza Less than six months in power, the second Trump administration has taken a sledgehammer to the economy and the foundations of American democracy. Its targets have included not only core democratic institutions like the civil service or the federal judiciary, but also the cultural pillars of a free society—from higher education to public media.

What could it mean to imagine without restraint? Building toward a world that is inclusive, a country that is hospitable, and an economy organized around care and dignity for all?

@shahrzadshams.bsky.social‬ explores this with Connie Razza for #FiresideStacks🔥
www.firesidestacks.com/p/to-i...

Two density plots comparing age distributions. Top graph shows Republican senators (peak around age 70) vs. registered Republican voters (more evenly distributed, median age 57). Bottom graph shows Democratic senators (peak around age 70) vs. registered Democratic voters (more evenly distributed, median age 50). Vertical lines mark where half of each population falls. Democratic senators have a much larger age gap from their voters than Republicans do.

The Democratic Party’s age problem isn’t just bad, it’s much worse than Republicans’. Half of registered Democratic voters are under 50, yet half their senators are over 67. Despite claiming to represent the future, party leadership systematically blocks younger voices from gaining power.

Most Americans aren't used to taking big political risks – but building a movement that refuses to cooperate with authoritarianism means that more people must begin to conceive of ourselves as dissidents.

Refusing to cooperate with an unjust government gets easier if you aren't doing it alone.

What the heck is the Overton Window, and how can we use it to advance progressive goals? Hi everyone, before we get started, our friends at the National Council of Nonprofits are sounding the alarm about the...

Reading his list, and feeling the accompanying thrill of saying these things out loud, is a good start. nonprofitaf.com/2025/05/what...

I think the Nic Cage movie is worse. Was the pitch for it, "It's Falling Down, but with Nic Cage and on a beach!"

A chart titled “American Exceptionalism: Cross-National Policy Comparison” compares the United States with other advanced democracies across eight key economic indicators. Each indicator is represented as a dot plot showing the distribution among peer countries, with the U.S. highlighted in red and labeled. 1. Top 1% Share of Income – The U.S. has the highest at 20.2%, far above the median of 9.1%. 2. CEO to Worker Pay Ratio – The U.S. is the outlier with a ratio of 354, compared to a median of 89. 3. Share of Low Paying Jobs – The U.S. stands at 24.5%, higher than the median of 16.0%. 4. Working Age Poverty Rate – The U.S. is again among the highest at 15.4%, compared to a median of 10.2%. 5. Child Poverty Rate – The U.S. shows 21.2%, one of the highest, while the median is 12.3%. 6. Intergenerational Economic Mobility – The U.S. scores lowest with 0.5 (higher values indicate more mobility), while the median is 0.3. 7. Annual Hours Worked per Worker – The U.S. is near the top at 1,786 hours, above the median of 1,635. 8. Collective Bargaining Coverage – The U.S. has the lowest at 12.0%, far below the median of 51.2%. The chart visually emphasizes the U.S.’s position as an outlier in economic inequality, poverty, and labor protections among peer democracies.

House GOP just unveiled $4 Trillion in tax cuts - overwhelmingly for the wealthy - in a country that already leads the developed world in inequality. Look at where the US stands right now:

Top 1%: 20% of income
CEO pay: 354x workers
Child poverty: 21%

And they want to make it worse. On purpose.🧵⬇️

Trump's polling has already collapsed It took under 100 days for buyer's remorse to set in.

"Trump is increasingly unpopular, and there’s every reason to believe that Democrats can attack him successfully even on areas where he not long ago seemed to be strong. This is, in fact, a chance to tie fascist politics to a toxic presidency."

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2025 Democratic Party leadership!!!!

I don’t want this to be true and I don’t say stuff like this because it makes me sound like a scold but I do think there is a lot of truth here and reading both Plato and Milton it has been on my mind: lack of self control seems like freedom but it’s actually enslaving yourself to your worst parts.

This should be the top story in Axios’s morning read. But it isn’t. It’s the FIFTH top story.

@axios.com
www.axios.com/2025/04/23/t...

It's not too late @georgemasonu.bsky.social

This is the energy we need. We all need to be Odette Sansom right now.

www.facebook.com/share/p/15GA...

I had been doubtful that we were going to have a "this is the crisis moment" with Trump, as opposed to "everything about this is a destructive catastrophe."

But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.

1/

Europe and Canada brought Trump to his knees by standing up to him. Here’s why we will continue to cave in to his every demand.

by every major law firm and university administrator

SEVIS Terminations MEMORANDUM TO: Students with SEVIS terminationsFROM: Rajiv S. KhannaDATE: April 9, 2025, Memo Version 6 New Changes are HighlightedRE: Foreign Student SEVIS Terminations - Legal Analysis and Strate...

For anyone who needs it. Share widely!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

In MAGAworld, obsequiousness has replaced competence as the path to influence. You must compete with others for the most outlandish, sycophantic expressions of loyalty to gain notice, money, and power. It's all a race to the bottom, not born of idiocy, but calculation.

COMPARE: the results of fighting back to the results of not fighting back

Opinion | Trump’s Gulag Archipelago Trump is seeking to establish a truly chilling proposition: that no one can stop his administration from imprisoning anyone it wants, anywhere in the world.

Sotomayor: "Not only noncitizens but also United States citizens could be taken off the streets, forced onto planes and confined to foreign prisons with no opportunity for redress if judicial review is denied unlawfully before removal."