JC
@jclarkresearch.bsky.social
They really think we are terribly stupid. They’re confident of it
Assume all the yes and no votes from Dem senators are strategic and not sincere votes. The party caucus made a decision. No way to know how many were in favor. Then the caucus decided who would vote yes and no based on what would protect each of them politically the most. That’s how this works.
November 10, 2025 at 4:15 AM
They really think we are terribly stupid. They’re confident of it
Reposted by JC
The coordinated nature of this—none are facing voters in 2026—means that either Schumer approved it or failed in his job as Senate Majority Leader to stop it.
Dems voting "no" get zero credit until they demand a change in leadership. Schumer out as Leader, Durbin out as Whip.
Dems voting "no" get zero credit until they demand a change in leadership. Schumer out as Leader, Durbin out as Whip.
so currently defectors are:
Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
November 10, 2025 at 2:43 AM
The coordinated nature of this—none are facing voters in 2026—means that either Schumer approved it or failed in his job as Senate Majority Leader to stop it.
Dems voting "no" get zero credit until they demand a change in leadership. Schumer out as Leader, Durbin out as Whip.
Dems voting "no" get zero credit until they demand a change in leadership. Schumer out as Leader, Durbin out as Whip.
Reposted by JC
The way all of these people convinced themselves that Mamdani is antisemitic is a subject far more worthy of media examination than any of the ‘groupthink on campuses!’ thinkpieces we’ve been subjected to
November 5, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The way all of these people convinced themselves that Mamdani is antisemitic is a subject far more worthy of media examination than any of the ‘groupthink on campuses!’ thinkpieces we’ve been subjected to
Reposted by JC
Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.
October 7, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.
Reposted by JC
Some critical context about Trump's troops to "war-ravaged Portland" that most folks don't know: Any conflicts there between protesters and ICE agents are happening because ICE agents ARE PROVOKING THEM
(From that "radical left-wing group," the Portland Police Department) bsky.app/profile/mock...
(From that "radical left-wing group," the Portland Police Department) bsky.app/profile/mock...
September 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Some critical context about Trump's troops to "war-ravaged Portland" that most folks don't know: Any conflicts there between protesters and ICE agents are happening because ICE agents ARE PROVOKING THEM
(From that "radical left-wing group," the Portland Police Department) bsky.app/profile/mock...
(From that "radical left-wing group," the Portland Police Department) bsky.app/profile/mock...
Reposted by JC
One problem is that we use the word “debate” to refer to both any sort of reasoned argument between opposed viewpoints and a very specific kind of stylized verbal performance art that is somewhere between useless for & actively hostile to truth or persuasion.
The key empty-headed fatuity to the Ezra Klein approach is that if you engage in a pantomime of "debate" by going places and taking questions, you're still "doing politics right" even if you are calling for people to be deported for speech or stoned for being gay. It's civic society cosplay.
“Charlie Kirk hated me, Charlie Kirk said I should be deported from the US – but obviously what happened to him was horrific, and we all condemn it.”
Mehdi Hasan, Zeteo's Editor-in-Chief, on the political violence present in the USA.
#Newsnight
Mehdi Hasan, Zeteo's Editor-in-Chief, on the political violence present in the USA.
#Newsnight
September 12, 2025 at 3:11 PM
One problem is that we use the word “debate” to refer to both any sort of reasoned argument between opposed viewpoints and a very specific kind of stylized verbal performance art that is somewhere between useless for & actively hostile to truth or persuasion.
Reposted by JC
The horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk was quickly condemned across the political spectrum - as it should be.
Most Americans do not support political violence, regardless of what some may claim or imply on social media.
home.dartmouth.edu/news/2024/02...
Most Americans do not support political violence, regardless of what some may claim or imply on social media.
home.dartmouth.edu/news/2024/02...
Study: Most Americans Do Not Support Partisan Violence | Dartmouth
home.dartmouth.edu
September 10, 2025 at 9:33 PM
The horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk was quickly condemned across the political spectrum - as it should be.
Most Americans do not support political violence, regardless of what some may claim or imply on social media.
home.dartmouth.edu/news/2024/02...
Most Americans do not support political violence, regardless of what some may claim or imply on social media.
home.dartmouth.edu/news/2024/02...
Reposted by JC
Teachers in @npi.ucanr.edu study report that free school meals for all students helps to improve academics (84% of teachers surveyed), attentiveness (80%) and behavior (69%), and improves students’ feelings of inclusiveness and social-emotional well-being publications.csba.org/issue/summer...
California’s School Meals for All Program: Evaluation reveals a host of benefits
From March 2020 through the 2021–22 school year, Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture enabled schools to provide free meals daily to all students to help relieve hunger during the COVID-19 ...
publications.csba.org
September 8, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Teachers in @npi.ucanr.edu study report that free school meals for all students helps to improve academics (84% of teachers surveyed), attentiveness (80%) and behavior (69%), and improves students’ feelings of inclusiveness and social-emotional well-being publications.csba.org/issue/summer...
Reposted by JC
Let’s remember: What CBS cut were vicious unproven slander and uncharged allegations by a Cabinet secretary targeting a private person. If we can’t draw the line against such hideous lies, is there no line left?
CBS News is giving up the power it has to hold “Face the Nation” interviewees to account. Following pressure from Trump, it has agreed not to edit interviews, even to remove false statements or propaganda uttered by political operatives and officials, or add explanatory context.
CBS News Agrees Not to Edit ‘Face The Nation’ Interviews Following Homeland Security Backlash
CBS News said it would cede its power to hold "Face the Nation" interviewees to account after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem complained
variety.com
September 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Let’s remember: What CBS cut were vicious unproven slander and uncharged allegations by a Cabinet secretary targeting a private person. If we can’t draw the line against such hideous lies, is there no line left?
Reposted by JC
You won't hear this anywhere else but in The Guardian:
'Ábrego addressed a crowd of well-wishers in Spanish. “Regardless of what happens here today in my Ice check-in,” he said, “Promise me this: that you will keep fighting, praying, believing in dignity and freedom. Not only for me; for everyone.”
'Ábrego addressed a crowd of well-wishers in Spanish. “Regardless of what happens here today in my Ice check-in,” he said, “Promise me this: that you will keep fighting, praying, believing in dignity and freedom. Not only for me; for everyone.”
August 26, 2025 at 3:17 PM
You won't hear this anywhere else but in The Guardian:
'Ábrego addressed a crowd of well-wishers in Spanish. “Regardless of what happens here today in my Ice check-in,” he said, “Promise me this: that you will keep fighting, praying, believing in dignity and freedom. Not only for me; for everyone.”
'Ábrego addressed a crowd of well-wishers in Spanish. “Regardless of what happens here today in my Ice check-in,” he said, “Promise me this: that you will keep fighting, praying, believing in dignity and freedom. Not only for me; for everyone.”
Good thread. Nailed it completely
I want to do a 🧵 about the Sidney Sweeney thing, because it's *extremely* revealing & educational.
First, to be clear: I could not give less of a shit about the details -- the ad, the rhetoric, the jeans, her boobs, whatever. Good lord, who cares.
Let's look at the *structure* of the episode.
First, to be clear: I could not give less of a shit about the details -- the ad, the rhetoric, the jeans, her boobs, whatever. Good lord, who cares.
Let's look at the *structure* of the episode.
August 7, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Good thread. Nailed it completely
Reposted by JC
This is a demand for unconstitutional, arbitrary power. There is no offense against the United States here. The FBI has no role to assist the State of Texas in becoming an authoritarian enclave.
F.B.I. Is Asked to Arrest Texas Democrats in Battle Over House Seats www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/u...
F.B.I. Is Asked to Arrest Texas Democrats in Battle Over House Seats www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/u...
F.B.I. Is Asked to Arrest Texas Democrats in Battle Over House Seats
www.nytimes.com
August 5, 2025 at 5:56 PM
This is a demand for unconstitutional, arbitrary power. There is no offense against the United States here. The FBI has no role to assist the State of Texas in becoming an authoritarian enclave.
F.B.I. Is Asked to Arrest Texas Democrats in Battle Over House Seats www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/u...
F.B.I. Is Asked to Arrest Texas Democrats in Battle Over House Seats www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/u...
Reposted by JC
this reminds me of the period in american politics when pundits would demand that any black politician of note — really, any black person in politics with a national audience — “condemn farrakhan”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro chides Zohran Mamdani for not condemning other people’s antisemitism:
“He left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things.”
“He left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things.”
Shapiro rebukes Mamdani for failing to condemn ‘blatantly antisemitic’ extremists
The Pennsylvania governor told JI: ‘When supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can't leave room for that to just sit there’
jewishinsider.com
July 24, 2025 at 1:01 AM
this reminds me of the period in american politics when pundits would demand that any black politician of note — really, any black person in politics with a national audience — “condemn farrakhan”
Reposted by JC
Turns out that NPR and PBS' pandering to the right still didn't save their funding. Maybe there's a lesson here for media that think that tilting to the right will spare them from accusations of "liberal bias."
The rescission bill has passed the Senate. Once it passes the House, as expected, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's budget will be zeroed out for the first time since 1967, back when TV stations still broadcast in black and white.
July 17, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Turns out that NPR and PBS' pandering to the right still didn't save their funding. Maybe there's a lesson here for media that think that tilting to the right will spare them from accusations of "liberal bias."
Reposted by JC
“The New York Times collaborated with a white nationalist eugenicist hacker and agreed to keep his identity a secret to publish a Zohran Mamdani hit piece” is a way bigger story than “18 year old Zohran Mamdani ticked ‘African American’ on his Columbia application because he was a citizen of Uganda”
July 4, 2025 at 1:40 AM
“The New York Times collaborated with a white nationalist eugenicist hacker and agreed to keep his identity a secret to publish a Zohran Mamdani hit piece” is a way bigger story than “18 year old Zohran Mamdani ticked ‘African American’ on his Columbia application because he was a citizen of Uganda”
Reposted by JC
The entire establishment from both sides is aiming all of its money and firepower against Zohran Mamdani. Very telling. This is what they're threatened by and who they are willing to crush.
June 21, 2025 at 4:29 PM
The entire establishment from both sides is aiming all of its money and firepower against Zohran Mamdani. Very telling. This is what they're threatened by and who they are willing to crush.
Reposted by JC
This framing is beneath contempt. The Christian right and MAGA launched an unprecedented assault on the civil rights of a tiny minority and successfully weaponized the pseudoliberal establishment - led by the NYT - to provide it with a medical controversy pretext that doesn’t actually exist.
June 19, 2025 at 12:32 PM
This framing is beneath contempt. The Christian right and MAGA launched an unprecedented assault on the civil rights of a tiny minority and successfully weaponized the pseudoliberal establishment - led by the NYT - to provide it with a medical controversy pretext that doesn’t actually exist.
Reposted by JC
Elon’s own AI bot is calling this illegal ⚰️
March 28, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Elon’s own AI bot is calling this illegal ⚰️
Reposted by JC
1/🧵 Judges across ideological lines are ruling against Trump at strikingly similar rates (84% liberal, 86% centrist, 82% conservative). This isn't partisan opposition to Trump—it's the judiciary functioning as intended by cutting across partisan lines to uphold the Constitution.
March 18, 2025 at 9:32 PM
1/🧵 Judges across ideological lines are ruling against Trump at strikingly similar rates (84% liberal, 86% centrist, 82% conservative). This isn't partisan opposition to Trump—it's the judiciary functioning as intended by cutting across partisan lines to uphold the Constitution.
Based on focus groups we have run, IRS enforcement of high earners and corporations paying their taxes might be the most straightforward way to increase low and middle-earners’ trust in government. Probably another reason Trump/Musk want to defund it
Just one example of how breaking the government can be the opposite of efficiency: Trump’s push to layoff half of the IRS workforce would cost the govt $350B over 10 years, as the revenue lost from unpaid taxes is about 9x the amount saved from layoffs.
cc: @budgetlab.bsky.social
cc: @budgetlab.bsky.social
March 14, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Based on focus groups we have run, IRS enforcement of high earners and corporations paying their taxes might be the most straightforward way to increase low and middle-earners’ trust in government. Probably another reason Trump/Musk want to defund it
Reposted by JC
The news media gave more coverage to the idea Tim Walz retiring from the National Guard after 20 years was scandalous than to Trump's promise to destroy the department of education
This guy could have been our Vice President
NEW from me -
Tim Walz is headed back out on the road – this time, for a tour of House districts represented by Republicans who have stopped holding in-person town halls amid the raucous receptions some of their colleagues have gotten across the country. www.cnn.com/2025/03/12/p...
Tim Walz is headed back out on the road – this time, for a tour of House districts represented by Republicans who have stopped holding in-person town halls amid the raucous receptions some of their colleagues have gotten across the country. www.cnn.com/2025/03/12/p...
March 13, 2025 at 2:28 AM
The news media gave more coverage to the idea Tim Walz retiring from the National Guard after 20 years was scandalous than to Trump's promise to destroy the department of education
Reposted by JC
My only contribution to the endless "what role should public opinion play in strategy" arguments is that folks who want to make a case based on public opinion should be looking a lot more at a) issue salience and b) solidity of opinion in addition to the basic support/oppose dynamics.
March 6, 2025 at 3:58 PM
My only contribution to the endless "what role should public opinion play in strategy" arguments is that folks who want to make a case based on public opinion should be looking a lot more at a) issue salience and b) solidity of opinion in addition to the basic support/oppose dynamics.
Reposted by JC
When I heard Musk say this on Tuesday, my assumption was that it was a programming issue. Because I can code and have written to databases and because I am familiar with other examples of default values being misinterpreted.
Yet somehow Musk isn't.
Yet somehow Musk isn't.
February 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM
When I heard Musk say this on Tuesday, my assumption was that it was a programming issue. Because I can code and have written to databases and because I am familiar with other examples of default values being misinterpreted.
Yet somehow Musk isn't.
Yet somehow Musk isn't.
Reposted by JC
NEW: Trump says he's letting "lifesaving" foreign aid continue, but sources tell WIRED that DOGE is still blocking HIV/AIDS relief.
Musk brags he's "feeding USAID into the wood chipper."
A USAID worker tell us: “At a minimum, 300 babies that wouldn’t have had HIV now do."
By @knibbs.bsky.social
Musk brags he's "feeding USAID into the wood chipper."
A USAID worker tell us: “At a minimum, 300 babies that wouldn’t have had HIV now do."
By @knibbs.bsky.social
Elon Musk's DOGE Is Still Blocking HIV/AIDS Relief Exempted From Foreign Aid Cuts
The Trump Administration claims it is allowing "lifesaving" foreign aid to continue, but in reality, DOGE is preventing vital work on HIV and AIDS from saving lives.
www.wired.com
February 4, 2025 at 2:11 AM
NEW: Trump says he's letting "lifesaving" foreign aid continue, but sources tell WIRED that DOGE is still blocking HIV/AIDS relief.
Musk brags he's "feeding USAID into the wood chipper."
A USAID worker tell us: “At a minimum, 300 babies that wouldn’t have had HIV now do."
By @knibbs.bsky.social
Musk brags he's "feeding USAID into the wood chipper."
A USAID worker tell us: “At a minimum, 300 babies that wouldn’t have had HIV now do."
By @knibbs.bsky.social
Reposted by JC
The rules, if you are keeping track:
If a single left activist anywhere in the world says "defund the police," it becomes the official position of the Democratic Party, now and forever.
If the president's top surrogate repeatedly sieg-heils on stage, it's ambiguous, impossible to interpret.
If a single left activist anywhere in the world says "defund the police," it becomes the official position of the Democratic Party, now and forever.
If the president's top surrogate repeatedly sieg-heils on stage, it's ambiguous, impossible to interpret.
January 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
The rules, if you are keeping track:
If a single left activist anywhere in the world says "defund the police," it becomes the official position of the Democratic Party, now and forever.
If the president's top surrogate repeatedly sieg-heils on stage, it's ambiguous, impossible to interpret.
If a single left activist anywhere in the world says "defund the police," it becomes the official position of the Democratic Party, now and forever.
If the president's top surrogate repeatedly sieg-heils on stage, it's ambiguous, impossible to interpret.