Joshua G. Schraiber
jgschraiber.bsky.social
Joshua G. Schraiber
@jgschraiber.bsky.social
Evolutionary biologist, computational biologist, statistician. I like to develop mathematical models of evolutionary process and see how they fit to data. I also like cities where building apartments is legal.
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
If you have ever considered running for a seat held by a Republican, now is your time.
Final results in the Louisiana #HD60 (Trump+13) special election:

Chasity Martinez (D)- 62%
Brad Daigle (R)- 38%

Martinez holds this Trump+13 seat for the Democrats and puts in a nearly 40 point overperformance from 2024 in the process
February 8, 2026 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
hi does anybody here have $10M to place Prop 13 reform on the California ballot this fall?

I really think we could win!
If you have ever considered running for a seat held by a Republican, now is your time.
Final results in the Louisiana #HD60 (Trump+13) special election:

Chasity Martinez (D)- 62%
Brad Daigle (R)- 38%

Martinez holds this Trump+13 seat for the Democrats and puts in a nearly 40 point overperformance from 2024 in the process
February 8, 2026 at 6:01 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
every time I do a thread like this about a good election result I get a whole lot of “don’t get ahead of yourself, we still gotta make sure people are motivated for November” replies/quotes and while I understand the sentiment you know what gets people motivated?

winning! let yourself get excited!
Dems are now overperforming the 2024 lean of red districts by, uh, 30+ points in special elections

I’m not sure “apocalyptic” is sufficient to describe how the environment is starting to look for the GOP in November
RESULT: Democrat Chasity Martinez wins a special election for a legislative seat in Louisiana, 62% to 38%.

This was a district that Trump carried by 13% last year, so a big overperformance by Dems, but the seat was already Dem-held.
February 8, 2026 at 4:05 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
This prompted by visiting a MTL bookstore bar that would have been extremely My Shit and was indeed pretty nice, but half of the shelf space was taken up by this shit. The socially awkward young men of the western world must be forced to put down the controller and pick up the book, as god intended.
February 8, 2026 at 3:26 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
I have sort of vaguely reactionary cultural preferences in that I don’t really care for the more twee kind of tumblr-inflected turn that a lot of sci-fi/fantasy lit has taken of late, but this is entirely the market rationally responding to who buys books. Dudes need to be more literate.
February 8, 2026 at 3:17 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
If there's ever been a time to NOT be incrementalist, this is it. The most political capital you're gonna have is right now. And we got Gestapo death squads in MSP and TB spreading through concentration camps in Texas. If you can't find a win there, get out of politics. The Epstein Class, baby
“.. This is a 37 point shift left.”
February 8, 2026 at 4:29 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
February 8, 2026 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
Ossoff: We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It’s the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class. They are the elites they pretend to hate.
February 7, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
We’re looking at another very big Dem overperformance tonight—in a Trump+13 district. Dem Chasity Martinez is up 61-39 with more than half the vote in. Notably, like in TX last weekend, the e-day vote has been even *better* for her than the early vote. voterportal.sos.la.gov/graphical
February 8, 2026 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
Early returns in Louisiana’s special election:

The Dem candidate is leading 58.5% to 41.5%. That’s with a third of the vote in.

Context: this is a Dem-held seat but in a district TRUMP carried by 13%, so has been a big/obvious GOP target. Stay tuned.
February 8, 2026 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
kind of funny that an olympian said they are here to represent "compassion, respect, and love for others" and some people automatically knew that was a statement against them
February 7, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
WaPo editorial board when TX imposes a legislative gerrymander: don't freak out guys! Not a threat to democracy!

When VA responds to TX with *referendum* on their own gerrymander: brass-knuckled hypocrisy, anti-democratic gamesmanship.

There is hypocrisy here, all right, but not from VA.
February 8, 2026 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
“Across Mr. Trump’s administration, racist images and slogans have become common on government websites and accounts, with the White House, Labor Department and Homeland Security Department all having promoted posts that echo white supremacist messaging.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
‘I Didn’t Make a Mistake’: Trump Declines to Apologize for Racist Video of Obamas
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
“Renee was not the first person killed, and she was not the last,” Becca Good said. “You know my wife’s name and you know Alex’s name, but there are many others in this city being harmed that you don’t know — their families are hurting just like mine, even if they don’t look like mine.”
Renee Good's partner addresses Minneapolis immigration crackdown one month after killing
Becca Good has seldom spoken out since Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.
nbcnews.to
February 7, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
"Epstein class" is terrific not simply because several of them are directly tied to Epstein's crimes, but because it strikes at the corruption, immorality and impunity of that entire circle.
Ossoff: We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It’s the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class. They are the elites they pretend to hate.
February 7, 2026 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
Judge Kai N. Scott went a step further and compared her and her colleagues on the bench squaring off with the Justice Department in a manner similar to Heracles’ confrontation with Hydra, the serpentlike monster that grew two heads every time one was chopped off.
February 7, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
"Is 53 greater or less than 47" quickly becoming the defining political question of our time
Love to see people in the year 2026 spend all day talking about what the Dems can’t do and shouldn’t try
I mean, sure, Congress should, they never should have given the money in the first place and there's about a million things Congress should be doing to assert Art I powers

But this whole piece is written like Dems have a veto supermajority in both chambers
February 7, 2026 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
Members seem to be pretty lockstep when they think that they have a chance of sinking someone, including Fetterman.

But when they don't, they're making political decisions that voting for this person or that person is a better idea than not voting for them. Idk if they're right or wrong, tbh.
Still curious why Dems are voting for the nominees once they get a vote. Kaine, whitehouse, Kelly, etc. why?
February 7, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
I'm reading this decision more closely today, and Jones's opinion is extremely bad on the merits, but it's also just so cruel at points.
February 7, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
Your regular reminder that the Supreme Court’s ruling creating presidential immunity was an epochal dereliction of duty…
I have been musing about the hypothesis that the ultimate consequence of SCOTUS's opinion in Trump v. U.S. will be the destruction of the rule of law in the U.S. This gift article helps to explain why, in part by emphasizing the evisceration of the Dept. of Justice.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...
Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop.
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
Is this what Wyden was talking about? Because it’s pretty f’n bad.
NSA detected phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump
Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
This decision puts even more pressure on plaintiffs and district courts outside the 5th Circuit. Unless the habeas is filed before a person is transferred to the 5th Circuit, a person may remain locked in appalling conditions, never even allowed to ask for bond.
February 7, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
AWFUL news tonight. This blesses the “mandatory” detention in the 5th Circuit without bond (and little chance at habeas) of every undocumented immigrant who originally entered across the border, no matter how many decades in the past.

It will fuel ICE’s push to transfer people to Texas immediately.
BREAKING: A 5th Circuit panel has backed ICE's mass detention policy, a decision that clears the way for the administration to lock up people who are in immigration proceedings

It's a 2-1 ruling
Majority: Jones (Reagan), Duncan (Trump)
Minority: Douglas (Obama)

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 AM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
High treason.
SCOOP: The NSA detected a phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump last spring.

Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
NSA detected phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump
Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Joshua G. Schraiber
Just an extended Kavanaugh stop, after all.
February 7, 2026 at 6:01 PM