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Omar Wasow

@owasow.bsky.social
39K followers 4.2K following 4.3K posts

Asst Prof, Berkeley, Political Science: 1/ Agenda Seeding j.mp/agenda-seeding 2/ Race as a Bundle of Sticks j.mp/bundle-of 3/ Text as Behavior cup.org/4cUmoXi 4/ Plutopopulism cup.org/4cfm0Az

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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Interviewee at The Bulwark argued recently one of Vance’s most important projects is to signal to MAGA base that—despite being married to the daughter of immigrants and the father of mixed kids—he, too, is a true believer in the myth that immigration poses an existential threat to white America.
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Robb Willer @robbwiller.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🚨Come work with us! 🚨 We're hiring a postdoc for Stanford's AI for Public Benefit Lab (ai4pb.stanford.edu), in partnership with @stanfordhai.bsky.social Open to PhDs from psych, poli sci, sociology, CS, econ, HCI, data science, etc. Please share! Position: postdocs.stanford.edu/prospective/...
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Excellent piece notes “the fraternity lawsuit is a lucrative mini-segment of the personal-injury business.” Seems like there ought to be a national, mission-driven firm that specializes in suing universities and frats in cases of sexual assault.
theatlantic.com
The Dark Power of Fraternities
A yearlong investigation of Greek houses reveals their endemic, lurid, and sometimes tragic problems—and a sophisticated system for shifting the blame.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“It doesn’t help that X, the burnerverse’s platform of choice, is famously subject to little moderation. Since Musk’s acquisition, it‘s become the ideal petri dish for coordinated harassment. ‘They’re also financially incentivized by followers, by views, by clicks…they’re making money off this.‘”
wired.com
A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work
Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back.
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Cooper S. Beckett @coopersbeckett.com · 29/09/2026
Took me way longer than I'd like to admit to make this video of Eric Schmitt R-MO being utterly inept with Jack Smith as Katie Britt R-AL looks on
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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It would be a monumental improvement for America, but especially for the Republican Party, if we elected the President through a plurality vote.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“Polling by UMass Amherst found that over the 13 months from July 2025 to August 2026, the percentage of voters who ‘strongly disapprove’ of Trump rose to 54 percent from 49 percent, while the percentage saying they ‘strongly approve’ fell to 14 percent from 21 percent.”
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump’s Luck Is Finally Running Out (Gift Article)
Voters are showing a growing determination to repudiate his presidency.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Voters are seeing red www.natesilver.net/p/diesel-pri...
Alt text: U.S. map showing estimated year-over-year increases in fuel costs as of Sept. 22, 2026, combining each state’s change in regular gasoline prices with its relative consumption of gasoline and diesel, including heating oil. States are shaded from pale yellow to dark red, with larger increases generally concentrated in the Midwest and Great Lakes. Diagonal hatching marks states with competitive U.S. Senate races. Source: AAA and U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Am currently packing for a move and came across an old DSLR and its powerful, heavy lenses. Was reminded of how much of having a hobby not that long ago involved esoteric rabbit holes like cameras and lenses. Now, it feels like the smartphone has crowded out a lot of those healthy obsessions.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
“This election isn’t about who you want performing at your niece’s quinceañera,” Ms. De La Cruz had said in March. “Mr. Pulido responded by performing for free at more than 70 quinceañeras, weddings and other events in his district…” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/u...
nytimes.com
Bobby Pulido, a Texan Singer, Puts Republicans on Defense (Gift Article)
Bobby Pulido, a Tejano musician running as a Democrat for the House, has left his Republican opponent struggling to match his star power in a district that President Trump won easily in 2024.
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🌬Breeze @cool-summer-breeze.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is the Stolen Neighbors Quilt. Each of the 11,000 squares represents a person taken by ICE in Minnesota.
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Uncle Duke @uncleduke1969.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
i’m no hercule poirot but
“Outside” headline reads “She lived with 20 wild bears for 28 years. Then they found her clean-picked bones. What killed her is a mystery.”
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The whole point of calling this agency the Office of "Remigration" is to deliberately signal to the world that white nationalism is now the basis for US policy. Some thoughts on this whole worldview below. 5/ newrepublic.com/article/2157...
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Fielder has always had this slightly sociopathic quality of being able to create and sit through exceedingly uncomfortable situations. In this film, though, with these subjects, and this much tension, it might be something of a superpower.
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
In an Uber. Driver having loud phone conversation with someone in Spanish. A little annoying, but it happens. He hangs up. Says, “Mi hermano. La Migra.” And starts weeping.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Starting to feel like Trump has managed things so badly that he’s putting up Bush-era 2008 financial collapse numbers…
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/09/2026
Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign. The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers. Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵
Martin Kao, CEO of defense contractor Navatek, poses next to Sen. Susan Collins for a photo. Collins is holding a model of a boat in her hands. Behind them is a large sign with the Navatek logo.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
”Stop talking about the South. Long as you south of the Canadian border, you are South.” — Malcolm X (1964)
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Chris Rywalt @crywalt.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New WTFA: Silence, like a cancer, grows wtfacomic.com/wtfa.2026092... Support me on Patreon! patreon.com/crywalt or ko-fi! ko-fi.com/crywalt @owasow.bsky.social #WhiteHousePressPool
Narrator: 
Look at him there. Gesticulating. Talking. Maybe even shouting. But we can't hear him.
 Narrator: 
He banned CNN, MSNOW, and Politco from the White House. Took away their journalists' passes. Refused to let them do their jobs. And, amazingly, the other TV outlets in the pool stopped showing up in solidarity with their colleagues.
 Narrator: 
People easily forget the President of the United States may be the most powerful office in the world, but only so long as other people go along with it.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🎶 curb your enthusiasm 🎶
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
FBI devises Groucho Marx’s Guide to Dating
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“We will revoke citizenship for anyone who defames IDF soldiers around the world—he will be deeply hurt in his pocket,” said Netanyahu.
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Waffle 🧇 @wafflecut.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
MLK would never tell people to vote for a less than perfect candidate in the name of progress and defeating the party running on open bigotry, he would… uh… what’s this
nytimes.com
DR. KING PLEDGES AID FOR JOHNSON; Says Negro Effort to Defeat Goldwater Will Be ‘All‐Out’ (Published 1964)
Rev Dr King says Negro regis in South has nearly doubled since '60; puts it at 2 million
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“Independent voters have especially soured on Mr. Trump. Just 10 percent of them said the economy was better today than a year ago and only 27 percent approve of Mr. Trump’s job performance overall.” 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/u...
nytimes.com
Democrats Gain Midterms Edge as Trump Drags Down Republicans, Per Times/Siena Poll (Gift Article)
Even some Republicans are losing faith in Trump’s economy, a New York Times/Siena poll found, and Democrats were favored on the top issues as the sprint to the midterms gets underway.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
South Texas dummymander anyone?
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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Sometimes, the content has even made national news, with aggregation websites like TheSportsGrail or Barstool Sports employees amplifying the victim’s humiliation."
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“It doesn’t help that X, the burnerverse’s platform of choice, is famously subject to little moderation. Since Musk’s acquisition, it‘s become the ideal petri dish for coordinated harassment. ‘They’re also financially incentivized by followers, by views, by clicks…they’re making money off this.‘”
wired.com
A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work
Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
These macro trends matter a lot for understanding contemporary politics and, at the same time, an important lesson of the last few presidential elections is that demographics is *not* destiny.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
“At its height, in the 2010s, more than 100 million American households had a cable subscription — more than three-quarters of the country. But today, nearly half of all TV watched in the United States comes via streaming services. Just 19 percent of television viewing comes via cable.” 🎁
nytimes.com
They Built a Shrine to Cable TV. Then Everyone Cut the Cord. (Gift Article)
They set out to celebrate the power and prestige of an industry that spanned MTV, HBO and Nickelodeon. Now, as cable’s fortunes have waned, the institution is changing, too.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Social Dominance Theory offers a useful lens on the subtext here. Not just “too many brown people,” but “too many brown *men*.” Racial threat narratives have long been gendered: outgroup men cast as a threat to ingroup women.
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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 12/09/2026
we tracked months of rent payments to an estimated 13,000 families. the expected cost of rehousing those families, had they entered eviction, would be north of $218 million dollars. keeping them housed cost around $38-40 million
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Twenty-five years ago this morning, I happened to be on a panel in lower Manhattan. We heard something like an explosion, but New York was full of strange sounds. The panel continued until someone came in and told us a plane had hit the World Trade Center, the event was over.
Alexia Henke 
 Subject: Alliance Presents "Will Consumers Ever Pay for Content?"

When: Tuesday, September 11, 8:00 am - 10:00 am
Where: Global Community Digital Sandbox, 55 Broad Street, 4th Floor
Speakers: Bob Ponce, Silicon Alley Station (http://www.siliconalley.net);
Omar Wasow, Blackplanet.com (http://www.blackplanet.com);
Sarah Bunting, Tomato Nation (http://www.tomatonation.com)

Sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Today I’m thinking about two kids. Gopal Varadhan and I grew up in the same apartment bldgs. We played handball, loved ska, and math. storysouth.com/stories/hono... Greg Richards and I were friends in HS and served together in student government at Stuyvesant. glsmemorialfund.com/biographies/
storysouth.com
Honoring 9-11 Victim Gopal Varadhan - storySouth
In memory of the September 11th attacks, storySouth is taking part in a massive blogger initiative to honor all 2,996 victims. Several thousand bloggers have each agreed to honor one of these people. ...
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Interviewee at The Bulwark today argued one of Vance’s most important projects is to countersignal to MAGA base that—despite being married to the daughter of immigrants and the father of mixed kids—he, too, is a true believer in the myth that immigration poses an existential threat to white America.
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
He should just stay here and give the same speech every night. Make it like a Vegas residency
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“Civil libertarians urged Americans to imagine those powers in the hands not of an altruistic and conscientious president, but one with little respect for norms, institutions or democratic principles. Well, welcome to the worst-case scenario.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...
Well, welcome to the worst-case scenario. We now have a president who is using the post-9/11 counterterrorism powers for his own ends. He is declaring national emergencies where none exist and is targeting his political enemies as if they were terrorists. He is carrying out reckless, extrajudicial executions on the high seas, while members of his administration joke about the possibility that some of those killed were innocent. He and his administration have encouraged officers from the Department of Homeland Security, created after the 2001 terrorism to stop attacks by foreigners, to engage in racial profiling and harassment of Americans. In the name of national security, he conflates criticism with treason, protest with terrorism, dissent with sedition.
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Anna Grzymala-Busse @annagbusse.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The essence of strategic voting isn't holding out for the choice that perfectly matches your preferences, but voting for the one less likely to harm the people and policies you want to protect.
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
New study finds the social cost of driving a car 1 km—including pollution, crashes, infrastructure, and noise—is more than *triple* the private cost paid by the car owner. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
“The Prairieland activists failed” to transform tactics into strategy as “the material action—shooting a cop—combined with the aesthetics (vandalism, graffiti, disorder, guys in ski masks shouting about smashing the state)—meant that it was easy for the government to paint them as terrorists…”
liberalcurrents.com
Prairieland: A Tactical and Strategic Analysis
Great evils require effective remedies.
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Kim Novak - The Reading Rx @cfpharmd.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History by Vanessa S. Williamson is necessary and fascinating #history. #Politics #BookSky 💙📚 @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Book cover of The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History by Vanessa S. Williamson. Tax return superimposed on an American flag.
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Gary Dauphin @ebogjonson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Pierre Damas Bel was 20 years old. He came to the United States from Haiti to join his parents and pursue an education. He graduated from high school with honors, participated in JROTC, played soccer and dreamed of becoming a doctor.
ms.now
Opinion | Pierre Damas Bel embodied all the traits America says it values. He got treated like a criminal.
Garry Pierre-Pierre: America should want more immigrants like Pierre Damas Bel
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JRho @jrho.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The most absolutely massive flex from the state fair exhibit. This quilt is made of 40 years of prize ribbons from various categories at the New Mexico State Fair won by Carol St. Clair Johnson. She also won a prize for this quilt.
Massive quilt made of prize ribbons in blue, red, yellow, and whiteCenter square of quilt made of yellow and red ribbons and yellow rosettesBlock of quilt made of blue, yellow, red, and white ribbons. Ribbons state the year. Some have the prize winning object written on in markerCarol St. Clair Johnson
born 1954; resides Albuquerque, NM

O Fair New Mexico-41 Fair Years
2023
satin ribbons

After unexpectedly winning her first blue ribbon for a sewn cape in 1981, Carol St. Clair Johnson developed an enduring love for the New Mexico State Fair. The quilt Fair New Mexico-41 Fair Years incorporates more than six hundred of the ribbons she won at the fair every subsequent year except 2020 (when the fair was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson earned ribbons for needlework, knitting, crochet, pies, cookies, cakes, canning, jewelry, flowers, vegetables, and potted plants. The title of the quilt is a reference to the state song, and the design places the state's Zia sun symbol at the center. The quilt earned Johnson yet another ribbon: Best in Category (miscellaneous quilt) at the 2023 New Mexico State Fair.

Courtesy of Carol St. Clair Johnson
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Daniel Ziblatt @dziblatt.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Stay tuned. A big day in German politics. These are "only" regional elections, but as an indicator of how things stand nationally and, in a federal system, they are hugely consequential. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Far-right AfD predicted to win big in crucial German state election
Polling stations open in Saxony-Anhalt with anti-immigration party AfD predicted to gain 41% vote share
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JS @jsplaceholder.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
It's been a long time since I've felt my mind react to an academic paper in this way. Extremely cool.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
“Thiamine (vitamin B1) is available in common foods such as the outer husk of rice and is necessary for cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic processes. Thiamine deficiency is common in many parts of Asia and Africa, affecting up to a third or more of children and women of child-bearing age.”
tandfonline.com
Thiamine deficiency disorders in women and children
Thiamine (vitamin B1) is available in common foods such as the outer husk of rice and is necessary for normal cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic processes. Thiamine deficiency is common in ...
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Also see civil rights, vaccines, democracy
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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Cleaner Air, Smarter Toddlers By Claire Brown New research links climate policies to improved early-childhood development. @hclairebrown.bsky.social
nytimes.com
Cleaner Air, Smarter Toddlers (Gift Article)
New research links climate policies to improved early-childhood development.
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
For 2 yrs
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Closing sentence of my last paper pays homage to a great quip. RIP
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