iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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ellie lockhart (she/they) @eleanor.lockhart.contact · 29/09/2026

I wish more people understood that the result of elections is that the winning party gets to do a lot of things that their party wants (regardless of what they claimed or didn't claim in the election) & that we're at the end of the Republicans' period of getting to do their thing bc they won

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Politically, our lifetimes will be defined by a global fascist-inspired movement that allies, at times, with authoritarian regimes to undermine liberal democracy in their home nations. These parties are the greatest threat to global peace and prosperity that has emerged since the fall of the USSR.

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Time is on Iran's side but it's not because of the midterms. The longer they hold out the more likely they end up negotiating with Vance instead of Trump.

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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Since everyone’s arguing about speed cameras, let’s keep a couple facts in mind: 1) Research show that camera enforcement is much more popular than the media implies – in suburbs as well as cities. Lesson: Don’t conflate a few angry car owners with “public opinion.” (cont'd)

bloomberg.com

Automated Traffic Enforcement Is More Popular Than You Think

Cameras that ticket drivers who run red lights and speed are effective and widely popular with city residents. So why are they banned in so many places?

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Trump II has profound consequences that will last a century: -destruction of administrative state & civil service -extreme wealth concentration, tech oligarchy -climate rollbacks -end of rule of law w/o pushback incentivizes future backsliding -Iran Pundits hate this because it sounds shrill

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Odyssey and Sheep Detectives, best movies this year: - Existential horror of sentient beings trapped in bodies of livestock - Mentor killed in violence - Hero learns about death - Inheriting the kingdom isn't so easy - Movies lightened up from grittier source text, dropping messy sex lives

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Still the best adaptation - the Australian sketch comedy bit I used to show Intro IR students in the warm-up before ancient Greece day. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs3S...

youtube.com

Trojan Horse - The Chaser

YouTube video by James Edwards

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 14/07/2026

An amazing quote from Lindsey Graham in this Atlantic story. It really captures an essential truth about politics that too few people ever really come to terms with. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Don't want to speak ill of the dead, so getting this Mitch McConnell take out now. He saw Trump with complete clarity, as a danger to America, but protected him anyway. Perhaps more than anyone, he had the power to end Trumpism, but chose party over country. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/jan-6-and-...

And yet…McConnell refused to vote to convict. Seven of his colleagues did, and with McConnell’s leadership, more would have done so, potentially enough to get to the supermajority needed. With conviction, the Senate could have also taken the vote to block Trump from running again. Doing so would have ended Trump as a political power. McConnell was clearly considering this option. In an oral history interview at the time the House was impeaching Trump, McConnell said

But apparently you can impeach somebody after they leave office, and if that happens, there’s a second vote in the Senate, which only has to pass by a simple majority, that prevents that person from seeking office again. So he could not only be impeached, but also eliminated from the possibility of a comeback for this office. So it is significant.

In the end, McConnell protected Trump from punishment. It was not just the refusal to vote to convict. After a swift House impeachment, he pushed to delay the Senate trial. He opposed the Senate joining in a Congressional investigation of Jan 6. He endorsed Trump in 2024, although this matters little except to further diminish McConnell’s dignity, as it was clear by this point that the Republican Party was Trump’s and McConnell’s time of influence was at an end.

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Joé McKen @joemcken.net · 02/07/2026

There’s a certain type of international commenter who seems to think Americans aren’t actually angry unless they personally rush the White House with a pitchfork or something. Never mind that the US has had the three most massive protests in its entire history back to back in just the last year.

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Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

a 6-3 ruling in defense of a plain-text constitutional right where one is a concurrence offering a roadmap for Congress to overturn the right isn't a victory it's a loaded gun pointed at the heart of multiracial democracy. Last democratic trifecta failed to unload the gun, maybe one more chance left

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Musicology Duck @musicologyduck.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

i don't know how to make it clearer that there are 5,000 soldiers + federal agents + the 30-odd police forces that are always here + like the oklahoma sheriff's department for some reason, in an area that is *68 square miles* and has lower crime than many of the places these folks come from

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

I used to support ending the electoral college. But the end of the Voting Rights Act makes that dicey. NPV and subnational autocracy don't mix: blue states would scrupulously count votes for Republicans while red states suppress Democratic voters without consequence.

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

We've reached the point where one party has so obliterated the rule of law that everyone else continuing to abide by it will only hasten the end of our democracy. That's a recipe for chaos and violence. It's terrifying, and I don't know what we do about it.

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Nick Fleisher @nickfleisher.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Canvas, the Strait of Hormuz for American education

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Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

To be clear about what just happened: The Trump administration sent armed FBI agents to abduct a 78-year-old doctor and former federal public health worker from his home and stripped him because the brainwashed right-wing base, hopped up on a literal conspiracy theory, wants scalps.

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Benjamin Balthaser @blbalthaser.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

one small point- we actually need our older tenured faculty to stay bc they won’t be replaced - and the place will fall apart w/o them. Adjuncts can’t run programs

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Starting a mid-decade redistricting war only to end up with -1 seats is the same fine strategic genius and subtle grasp of game theory that brough us the Strait of Hormuz.

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BeJohnSay 🖤🤎✡️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @bejohnsay.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

In Korea, when the president declared martial law after midnight and erected barricades in Seoul, congressional reps from all parties ran into the streets, yanked ak47s from the army at the barricades, broke down the locked door to Congress, repealed the martial law order, and arrested the president

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

By 2028 you won’t be able to find a single mention of Donald Trump at CPAC anywhere. Mark it.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 28/03/2026

thoughts on today: 1) the protests are good, actually 2) you should go to one of you can 3) it will do you good to see how many other people also hate this guy 4) you might meet people who you can organize with 5) there are more of us than there are of them 6) we are going to win

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Max Bergmann @maxbergmann.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

The war in Iran is giving me pre-Covid shut down vibes. It's like February 2020. Life is proceeding fairly normally, we're joking about using hand sanitizer. Everyone assumes this will just be a blip. It's really just a few pandemic-nerds that are freaking out because they know what's coming.

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Maybe perceptions of Trump's declining health contributed to the war. Vance is less inclined to help Israel or start wars. So if Bibi thought Trump might not last, he saw his window to attack Iran with US support about to slam shut, possibly forever. Same logic with Rubio/Cuba - it's now or never.

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

We wrote a book about this kind of US-China bargaining over global public goods. Yes China has at times stepped up in order to head off the US flying off the handle - e.g. organizing the 6 party talks re North Korea, since that time they were more sensitive to risks than the US. But...

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12/03/2026

Cumulative total issuances of F-1 student visas to the United States for each calendar year, by month. August 2025 is the latest month available. A wall against the brightest young people from around the world harms all Conservative & Liberal Americans, impoverishing our shared future.

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

This is my concern about Neo-Royalism as a systemic theory: Trump doesn't *stay* bought - each "successful" bribe just establishes the floor for the bidding war in the next round. Pure transactionalism is unstable; you need an institution that engenders loyalty.

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Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. But right now, they’re under attack. Several Republican-controlled states have redrawn their congressional maps to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterm elections.

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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

The US Justice Department withheld testimony that Donald Trump sexually abused a girl when she was 13 or 14 - according to a source who viewed unredacted Epstein files. This is the worst scandal in US history and should be the biggest news story on the planet right now. www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...

npr.org

Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump

An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump.

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Greg Greene (he/him/his) @greene.haus · 19/02/2026

John Roberts has somehow created a regal impunity, in a republic nonetheless influenced by British common law, stronger than that enjoyed by the British royals themselves. In-f’ing-credible.

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Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

you know, it still seems like it should be an even bigger issue that the president has been sending armed forces to kidnap and assault people in an ethnic cleansing campaign, with a specific geographic focus on regions that didn't vote for him in the last election

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

On the weakness of state terror: once ppl internalize the regime's lawless brutality, that they are no safer in their homes than in the streets (& vice versa), and that their unwavering defiance is what confounds & disempowers the regime, they also realize they have nothing to lose but their fear.

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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Judge William Young, who invalidated Trump's policy of arresting & deporting students for their pro-Palestinian advocacy, is 85-years old and was appointed to the bench by President Reagan 41 years ago. Here's how he concluded his "annotated judgment" in the case. knightcolumbia.org/documents/k4...

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22/01/2026

Jack Smith: "My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted. The rule of law is not self-executing. It depends on our collective commitment to apply it."

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Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 18/01/2026

This is what clown time in Washington has produced. I agree with this read. Americans need to get ready for a world in which we are poorer, more isolated, and weaker than in any of our lives. And we need to think seriously about how to repair relations with our closest allies. The need is urgent.

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Common Sense, published 250 years ago today.

Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Theory: GOP insiders think odds are rising of a sudden Vance presidency this year. - No major bills: negotiations take months, and the final veto player might shift - SCOTUS stalling in hopes Vance might moot issues (also: delayed retirements, preferring Vance pick successor)

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Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

16 hours in, my guess this was all intended basically as a coup to put VP Delcy Rodriguez in power (likely without her knowledge but 🤷). At least for democracy & human rights, that might be even worse than the "opening shots in a war" scenario. All speculation, but let me explain:

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Zach Rabiroff @zachrabiroff.com · 23/12/2025

52% disapproval among white people seems like a notable problem for a party with a one-issue platform of white supremacy.

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

We tell our kids that they have to get each other a Christmas present. So they've started going to the store together. They each pick out something they want of equal price, and each one pays for the other's. They think they are getting away with something but actually I couldn't be prouder.

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Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Just so we are all on the same page, when Trump says that 11 months ago he inherited a ‘mess,’ this is the mess he inherited.

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

25 years ago today, SCOTUS elected George W Bush president of the United States by blocking completion of a voting canvass in Florida. A subsequent canvass by the Associated Press showed that Bush's rival, Al Gore, had won the race in Florida—and thus the contest for the presidency—by 700 votes.

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Chad Rector @chadrector.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

A $12 billion bailout for farmers sounds like a lot, but / 3 million farmers = $4,000 each. The tariffs cost the avg family $4,900 each (Yale budget Lab) so they don't even cover tariffs alone (farmers still have to buy food, unless their families just eat mountains of raw, unpurchased soybeans).

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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/12/2025

I really can't emphasize enough that if you care about local politics, all you gotta do is show up. Just a regular schmegular person showing up. Literally just show up consistently in person and within a remarkably short amount of time, you will have a shocking amount of influence.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Social scientists spent the last 50 years arguing that racism is still prevalent in US even if it's covert (racism w/ a veneer), unconscious (racism w/out intent), or systemic (racism w/out racists). Along comes MAGA, which embraces gutter racism while claiming that teaching about racism is racist.

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