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Scott Althaus

@salthaus.bsky.social
569 followers 197 following 76 posts

Cline Center Director, professor of political science and communication at Illinois, current data scientist, former Tower Rat. www.clinecenter.illinois.edu

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Reposted by Scott Althaus
V-Dem Institute @vdeminstitute.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Today is the #InternationalDayOfDemocracy. But what is democracy? Most agree that democracy is some form of “rule by the people”. But it’s open to debate what that actually means in practice, and what should be considered fundamental parts of the definition of democracy.👇 v-dem.net/news/interna...
An abandoned building features a prominent democracy poster.
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Matthew Sag @matthewsag.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
My new textbook on Copyright Law in the Age of AI is now up on my website as a free pdf. I will move it to a dedicated website soon, but for now matthewsag.com/copyright-la...
matthewsag.com
Copyright Law in the Age of AI – Matthew Sag
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Alexandra Filindra @afilindra.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Who gets to be an armed citizen — and who gets to be a citizen at all? Race, Rights, and Rifles follows that question from the Revolution to now, and shows what believing the answer does to democratic commitments. Audiobook on sale through the end of August: www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...
audiobooks.com
60% OFF Race, Rights, and Rifles: The Origins of the NRA and Contemporary Gun Culture
An eye-opening examination of the ties between American gun culture and white male supremacy from the American Revolution to today. One-third of American adults—approximately 86 million p...
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Does your county have more/ fewer uses of lethal force by police than population size, pop density, and firearm violence levels would predict? See where your county lines up relative to national benchmarks in the new SPOTLITE Anomaly Detector dashboard: clinecenter.illinois.edu/spotlite/ano...
clinecenter.illinois.edu
The SPOTLITE Anomaly Detector  | Cline Center
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
So CBS and others invested in a pro trump audience that won’t arrive, alienating their actual audience, and trump propagandists are losing audience bc people are souring on Trump. Also helps explain the increased racist shrieking as they try to farm engagement www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/u...
nytimes.com
How the Pro-Trump Media Ecosystem Is Splintering Ahead of the Midterms
Once united in support of President Trump, right-wing influencers are embroiled in feuds and losing viewers, creating a problem for Republicans in the midterm elections.
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Houthis firing at Red Sea ships and Saudi Arabia. Iraqi groups fire drones at Saudi Arabia. US and Saudi Arabia bomb PMF/KH targets in Iraq; reportedly kill some IRGC too. Drone attack on a shipping hub in Egypt. Looks like Iran activated its network of militias, unlike in the pre-MOU fighting.
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Seen at Aldi just now. I knew inflation was up, but wow. Or maybe I’m missing the value proposition?
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Noam Ross @noamross.net · 27/05/2026
The National Science Foundation is terminating and suspending grants again, and at Grant Witness we need you to help to track them! 🧪 We can only identify research being suppressed by under-the-radar suspensions directly from researchers. Please report! grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0... #NSF
grant-witness.us
New Grant Disruptions at NSF - We Need Your Help to Report! – Grant Witness
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APSA @apsa.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Letter from APSA Presidents to Senate on FY2026 Federal Budget Appropriations This letter is not an official APSA statement. The is an independent letter issued by former and some current APSA leadership shared for members' awareness. We, Presidents of the American Political Science Association,…
politicalsciencenow.com
Letter from APSA Presidents to Senate on FY2026 Federal Budget Appropriations
This letter is not an official APSA statement. The is an independent letter issued by former and some current APSA leadership shared for members' awareness. We, Presidents of the American Political Science Association, write in our individual capacities to express our deep appreciation for your unwavering support of the United States’ science and technology enterprise in the FY2026 federal budget appropriations, including important, if reduced, support for the social and behavioral sciences.
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
With everything in the news I've been reflecting on V.O. Key's Southern Politics, which traces the history, implementation, and political implications of the South's Jim Crow legal regime. I learned a few things about that history that are relevant to today. 1/ archive.org/details/sout...
archive.org
Southern politics in State and Nation : Key, V. O. (Valdimer Orlando), 1908-1963 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
xxvi, 675, xiv pages 25 cm
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awkword @awkword.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Your iPhone tracks everything you do — and say. Here are three quick-fixes to tighten your security settings. P.S. No technology is safe.
THE CAPITALIST HELLSCAPE
Privacy x Security
YOUR IPHONE IS LISTENING.
HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO
@awkwordisthisTHE IMPORTANT LOCATIONS
TRAP
Your iPhone keeps a hidden map of your most frequented places. It's used to analyze and predict behavioral patterns.
FIX: Settings > Privacy and Security >
Location Services > System Services >
Significant Locations & Routes > Disable
@awkwordisthisTHE INTER-APP TRACKING PIT
Apps talk to each other.
Search for something on Amazon or Target, and Instagram and Facebook know within an instant.
FIX: Settings > Privacy and Security >
Tracking > Deactivate "Allow Apps to Request to Track You"
@awkwordisthisTHE ADVERTISING ID FOOTPRINT
Your phone has a unique ID for advertisers. Think of it as a personalized digital profile of all your online habits.
FIX: Settings > Privacy and Security > Apple
Advertising > Disable
@awkwordisthis
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
The @cline-center.bsky.social report on Operation Midway Blitz for the Illinois Accountability Commission also analyzed ICE arrests in Illinois. Download our full report here: clinecenter.illinois.edu/project/fire...
clinecenter.illinois.edu
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Last week the @cline-center.bsky.social released a report for the Illinois Accountability Commission documenting 510 instability acts by federal actors during Operation Midway Blitz, including 63 uses of chemical weapons. Download our full report here: clinecenter.illinois.edu/project/fire...
clinecenter.illinois.edu
Firewatch Project | Cline Center
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
🚨 Now out in @bjpols.bsky.social w @busbyj2.bsky.social @jordantama.bsky.social @ckafura.bsky.social: Do American foreign policy elites know what the public wants? Partnering with @global-affairs.bsky.social, we show that elites systematically misread the room 🧵 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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Cline Center @cline-center.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
The Illinois Accountability Commission’s final report incorporates data and analysis from the Cline Center’s Firewatch project documenting societal instability events involving federal actors during Operation Midway Blitz. Our full report and methodology:
buff.ly
Overview of Societal Instability Events Involving Federal Government Actors in the Chicagoland Area from September 1, 2025 through January 30, 2026 | IDEALS
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/133156 Copy
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Nick Valentino @nickvalentino.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Dear ANES community, the link below introduces our new Board of Advisors, led by Jamie Druckman. Jamie follows John Aldrich, who deftly chaired the Board for nearly 2 decades. This new group will guide us through the 2028 election cycle. Our deepest thanks to outgoing and incoming Board members!
electionstudies.org
Current Board Members - ANES | American National Election Studies
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Curd Knüpfer @curdknupfer.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
✨Get yourself some FREE BOOK CHAPTERS!!! 🤩⤵️ (Temporarily open access)
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Ozan Kuru @ozankuru.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
"Instead of treating all individuals and groups equally with respect to their status, power, or ends, a group theory of political communication requires normative analysis of the positioning of groups vis-a-vis one another and liberal democracy."
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John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
"Prediction Markets? The Accuracy and Efficiency of $2.4 Billion in the 2024 Presidential Election" osf.io/preprints/so...
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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
“They won’t insure you,” Ms. Rojas said. “No one will buy from you. You’re kind of stuck where you are.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
A Climate ‘Shock’ Is Eroding Some Home Values. New Data Shows How Much. (Gift Article)
Changes in the insurance market have started to affect home prices in the most disaster-prone areas, new research finds, pushing some homeowners’ finances to the breaking point.
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Mike Wagner @prowag.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
New work examining how people’s use of multiple platforms is associated in being exposed to ideas they might not agree with.
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Reuters Institute @reutersinstitute.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
We've just published the most comprehensive study of news creators to date covering 24 countries. Authored by Nic Newman @amyrossarguedas.bsky.social @mitalilive.bsky.social @richardfletcher.bsky.social, it identifies the most mentioned in each country 📱Report buff.ly/bL6y8Hj 🧵6 findings in thread
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Jonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 29/10/2025
It is finally finished and released! I was proud to be a member of the Task Force on 2024 Pre-Election Polling, and to play just a small role in producing this report. Here is the report: aapor.org/wp-content/u... And here is the Executive Summary: aapor.org/wp-content/u...
aapor.org
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Cline Center @cline-center.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Join us on October 30th at 2:30 pm for the Annual Richard G. and Carol J. Cline Symposium. Experts will discuss “Accountable Policing after the SAFE-T Act” in a roundtable on Zoom. RSVP here: buff.ly/lKLRF2L
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David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
US soybean farmers have to be one of the strongest Trump-voting constituencies in the country.
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Center for Media Engagement - UT Austin @engagingnews.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
This shift is reshaping how we interact with information. Worth a read.
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Today is POW/MIA Remembrance Day in the US, a day set aside for remembering those who gave their lives for our country in wartime and are still Missing In Action. As most of you know, I'm a volunteer for Project Recover, a nonprofit that finds and repatriates the remains of American MIAs. (1/)
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
This coming Friday 9/19 is national POW/MIA Recognition Day in the US. One of my relatives was MIA from WW2 until earlier this year: this past May I and other relatives buried the remains of 2Lt. Thomas V. Kelly, Jr. in Livermore CA 81 years after his death. He is missing no longer. He is home.
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Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Important issue: when journalists’ visa are reduced in length it creates uncertainty, chilling effects, and ultimately worse reporting from within the US. That might be the purpose. But it is hugely problematic. wan-ifra.org/2025/09/dont...
wan-ifra.org
Global news media call on U.S. to scrap new visa proposal
2025-09-11. Dozens of major news and journalist organisations worldwide are urging the U.S. government to drop a proposal that would drastically shorten the time foreign correspondents can live and wo...
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Jerry Ratcliffe @jerryratcliffe.net · 24/08/2025
New Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent training to go from 18 weeks to 8 weeks, and dropping the degree requirement? If the plan is to make the FBI a laughing stock, this is the way to do it. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/u...
nytimes.com
F.B.I. Plans to Lower Recruiting Standards, Alarming Agents
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APSA @apsa.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Donald Kinder Receives the 2025 Ithiel de Sola Pool Award The Ithiel de Sola Pool Award and Lectureship is presented triennially by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor a scholar whose research explores a broad range of fields pursued by Ithiel de Sola Pool; including…
politicalsciencenow.com
Donald Kinder Receives the 2025 Ithiel de Sola Pool Award
The Ithiel de Sola Pool Award and Lectureship is presented triennially by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor a scholar whose research explores a broad range of fields pursued by Ithiel de Sola Pool; including political theory, political behavior, political communication, science and technology policy, and international affairs.  Professor Donald Kinder will deliver the Pool Lecture on Friday, September 12th at 2pm PDT as part of the 
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David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
More UChicago Ph.D. Programs Pause Admissions in Humanities, Social Sciences
insidehighered.com
More UChicago Ph.D. Programs Will Pause Admissions
The Arts and Humanities dean said “nearly all” faculty leaders preferred “a broader pause for the division.” Some social sciences programs also aren't accepting new students.
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 20/08/2025
Traffic for the world’s top-50 news websites swung sharply into the red in July, according to Press Gazette’s exclusive traffic ranking pressgazette.co.uk/media-audien...
pressgazette.co.uk
Top 50 English-language news sites in the world: All but four report traffic declines in July
Press Gazette lists the top 50 most popular news websites in the world. Monthly updated top 50 listing based on data provided by SimilarWeb.
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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Next week I'll begin my fifteenth year as a political communication professor. I wrote up some thoughts on what it's like trying to teach this subject while everything falls apart. open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...
open.substack.com
What it's like being a political communication professor right now
Misgivings, Grievances, and Thanks as I look ahead to my fifteenth year.
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Illinois political science has two TT faculty searches open, one in US political institutions and the other in political behavior. Come join our faculty! American Political Institutions: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... Political Behavior: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
illinois.csod.com
Assistant Professor- American Political Institution- Department of Political Science
Duties & Responsibilities
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Cline Center @cline-center.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Our latest release of SPOTLITE data offers for the first time a comprehensive picture of the demographic characteristics of civilians involved in police uses of lethal force on a national scale, including incidents without lethal outcomes.
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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Examine this chart from @niemanlab.org. It ranks the top 50 LOCAL news sites by number of monthly visits. You'd expect LA Times to be high on the list. But The Post-Standard in Syracuse, NY? Let @joshuabenton.com explain. And see where your local newspaper falls. www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/how-...
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Curd Knüpfer @curdknupfer.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
So the UN Global Risks Report is out... & it lists Mis- and Disinformation as the biggest risk we face. unglobalriskreport.org Listen... I'm a mis- and Disinformation kinda guy, meaning I worry about this professionally. But there is no way this issue should be all the way up there! Plus...
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Curd Knüpfer @curdknupfer.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Hooray! The 31st Issue of the #PolComm Report is out! What a fantastic lineup @igoncalves.com was able to assemble for the topic of "Teaching PolComm" 🤩 Khadijah Costley White, @kcoe.bsky.social & Diana Zulli, Regina Cazzamatta, Matthew Powers, & @sangjung-kim.bsky.social (& her students).
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Residents of every county in the United States can explore SPOTLITE incident records from their own communities to better understand local trends in police uses of lethal force. clinecenter.illinois.edu/spotlite
clinecenter.illinois.edu
SPOTLITE Dashboard | Cline Center
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Big news from the @cline-center.bsky.social: police uses of lethal force in the US dropped 24% from 2021 to 2023, with 2023 having the smallest number of lethal force incidents involving police since 2015. news.illinois.edu/research-pol...
news.illinois.edu
Research: Police uses of lethal force dropped dramatically in US from 2021-23 – News Bureau
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Dannagal Goldthwaite Young @dannagal.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Tomorrow marks the 19 year anniversary of Mike‘s death. It never gets easier, but the messages I’ve received in response to this essay tell me that his life and his story continue to matter, and that helps me so much. Love you always, Mike Young.
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Columbia University Press @columbiaup.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
We are pleased to announce that Benjamin Toff, Ruth Palmer, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen's AVOIDING THE NEW is the Winner of the 2025 Hazel Gaudet-Erskine Best Book Award from the International Journal of Press/Politics. buff.ly/KzI2QdM @polcomm.bsky.social #IJPP
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Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Are you: ✅ A young scholar in econ, poli sci, or law ✅ Working on institutions, broadly defined ✅ Interested in spending a week in Italy with amazing faculty If so, please apply to this year’s Coase Institute Workshop! It’s a transformative experience for many, and always fun. I’ll be there.
coase.org
Ronald Coase Institute: What's New
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
This Memorial Day, 81 years after the death and disappearance of my relative 2Lt. Thomas V. Kelly, I'll be gathering with family and friends to bury his remains. Grateful for all those who remembered the fallen in ways that brought us to this place of closure. news.illinois.edu/because-amer...
news.illinois.edu
Because America never forgot – News Bureau
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Rebekah Tromble @rebekahtromble.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
We also just launched Expert Voices Together (expertvoicestogether.org), a rapid response crisis support system for US-based researchers and journalists facing harassment due to their work. We’ll have an official roll out starting next week. But feel free to share with anyone who might be in need.
expertvoicestogether.org
© 2025 Expert Voices Together
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Scott Althaus @salthaus.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Policing is one of the most difficult jobs imaginable. It is taking a toll. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/m...
nytimes.com
Why Do More Police Officers Die by Suicide Than in the Line of Duty?
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Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
🚨 Practical URGENT tip for NSF grantees: Out of an abundance of caution, I would right now go into Research.gov and… 1. Download your NSF award letters. 2. Print PDF your annual reports. 3. Screenshot the status table for annual reports. NSF is planning maintenance tomorrow to Research.gov
Due to maintenance, Research.gov (including access to NSF-PAR, GRFP, PES, and ETAP) will be unavailable from Fri., 4/25 at 10:00 PM ET to Sat., 4/26 at 1:00 PM ET. NSF apologizes for any inconvenience.
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 23/04/2025
I’m speaking from very local, very recent experience, but I can attest that bringing in a skilled & visionary leader doesn’t *immediately* solve deep, painful, largely self-inflicted crises But holy shit can things get a lot, lot better super quickly
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Congrats to the new poli sci members of the American Academy! www.amacad.org/new-members-...
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