Sumita Pahwa
@sumitapahwa.bsky.social
Social scientist, Bombayite, Californian, ex-Cairene. Mango maven. Cat lady. Teaches at Scripps College. Book: https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/5829/politics-as-worship/
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
New poll: In 2024, low-engagement voters went for Trump over Harris by 11 percentage points. But now they disapprove of the way he's handling the presidency by 13. They have moved 25 points against Trump — 2x as large as the shift for high-knowledge voters www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-lost...
Trump has lost the voters who weren’t paying attention in 2024
The least-engaged Americans have swung 25 points against him since 2024 — about twice the shift among everyone else. Trump has flattened the engagement gap.
www.gelliottmorris.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:01 PM
New poll: In 2024, low-engagement voters went for Trump over Harris by 11 percentage points. But now they disapprove of the way he's handling the presidency by 13. They have moved 25 points against Trump — 2x as large as the shift for high-knowledge voters www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-lost...
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
Fuentes, yesterday: “Our #1 political enemy is women because women constrain everything, every conversation, every man, everything. They have to be imprisoned. They are the ones that are hurting the fertility rate. They're the ones making us sympathetic to poor people, which are also brown people.”
Nick Fuentes: “The number one political enemy in America is women. … They have to be imprisoned.”
www.mediamatters.org
February 12, 2026 at 12:13 PM
Fuentes, yesterday: “Our #1 political enemy is women because women constrain everything, every conversation, every man, everything. They have to be imprisoned. They are the ones that are hurting the fertility rate. They're the ones making us sympathetic to poor people, which are also brown people.”
Why am I not surprised.
interesting posts 🥴 from a WSJ reporter who also wrote this piece www.wsj.com/health/healt... about the FDA refusal or Moderna flu vaccine under Vinay Prasad
February 12, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Why am I not surprised.
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
New at Can We Still Govern: One aspect of ICE that is not discussed much is how dependent it is on private supply chains, including foreign companies. That provides an opportunity to name-and-shame firms providing its services.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/private-ch...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/private-ch...
Private Chains, Public Harm
How Supply Networks Fuel ICE Operations
donmoynihan.substack.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:00 PM
New at Can We Still Govern: One aspect of ICE that is not discussed much is how dependent it is on private supply chains, including foreign companies. That provides an opportunity to name-and-shame firms providing its services.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/private-ch...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/private-ch...
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
“The number of billionaires grew, of course, roughly doubling between 2010 and 2024. But their political spending grew by more than 150 times.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/o...
Opinion | Affordability and the ‘Epstein Class’ Will Define American Politics
www.nytimes.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:52 AM
“The number of billionaires grew, of course, roughly doubling between 2010 and 2024. But their political spending grew by more than 150 times.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/o...
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
“When Citizens United was decided in 2010, billionaires had spent $18 million on the 2000 election, $13M 2004 and $16M in 2008. Then came the deluge. In 2012 it was $231M, and nearly doubled again in next three election cycles —to $682M in 2016, $1.2 billion in 2020 and $2.6 billion in 2024.” Gift:
Opinion | Affordability and the ‘Epstein Class’ Will Define American Politics
www.nytimes.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:57 AM
“When Citizens United was decided in 2010, billionaires had spent $18 million on the 2000 election, $13M 2004 and $16M in 2008. Then came the deluge. In 2012 it was $231M, and nearly doubled again in next three election cycles —to $682M in 2016, $1.2 billion in 2020 and $2.6 billion in 2024.” Gift:
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
Very excited about this new @knightcolumbia.org project, both because it gives us the chance to look beyond the current democratic crisis and because so many super people have already agreed to participate. knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...
New Knight Institute Initiative to Focus on “Reconstructing Free Expression” After Trump
knightcolumbia.org
February 11, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Very excited about this new @knightcolumbia.org project, both because it gives us the chance to look beyond the current democratic crisis and because so many super people have already agreed to participate. knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...
Now I'm craving sticky toffee pudding.
February 11, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Now I'm craving sticky toffee pudding.
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
“I’ve reviewed over 50 sticky toffee puddings” is an incredibly powerful way to begin a video
February 11, 2026 at 5:15 PM
“I’ve reviewed over 50 sticky toffee puddings” is an incredibly powerful way to begin a video
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
Likely-historic photo by NBC News of all the Epstein victims asked to raise their hands if they've not yet been asked to meet with the DOJ as Bondi testifies in foreground
February 11, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Likely-historic photo by NBC News of all the Epstein victims asked to raise their hands if they've not yet been asked to meet with the DOJ as Bondi testifies in foreground
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
"I beg of you, please commemorate my birthday with mattress sales. Downy, tufted, even memory foam: none shall be exempt from the wholesale slashing of prices."
I’m Abraham Lincoln and I Beg of You, Please Commemorate My Birthday with Mattress Sales
Dear citizens, I know that I am not well. Amid this evening at Ford’s Theatre, my body has borne within it an abominable manifestation of political...
buff.ly
February 11, 2026 at 2:00 AM
"I beg of you, please commemorate my birthday with mattress sales. Downy, tufted, even memory foam: none shall be exempt from the wholesale slashing of prices."
This guy rose to fame by being a 'just asking questions' Covid skeptic on twitter. Many people I know nodded along to his arguments, and those of Monica Gandhi. He was always disingenuous and posturing.
Scoop: Top FDA official Vinay Prasad overruled the agency’s reviewers when he refused to accept Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine, STAT has learned.
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
Prasad overruled FDA staff to reject Moderna's flu vaccine application
The rejection is the latest instance of Vinay Prasad overruling career FDA scientists to place vaccines under harsher scrutiny.
www.statnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:43 PM
This guy rose to fame by being a 'just asking questions' Covid skeptic on twitter. Many people I know nodded along to his arguments, and those of Monica Gandhi. He was always disingenuous and posturing.
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
ICYMI: Officials at the U.S. Forest Service knew gear worn by wildland firefighters contained potentially dangerous “forever chemicals” years before the agency publicly acknowledged the issue, according to internal correspondence obtained by @propublica. @abestreep.bsky.social
Firefighters Wore Gear Containing “Forever Chemicals.” The Forest Service Knew and Stayed Silent for Years.
As early as 2021, government officials were alerted to the presence of potentially dangerous chemicals known as PFAS in pants used by wildland firefighters, according to emails obtained by ProPublica.
www.propublica.org
February 11, 2026 at 3:07 PM
ICYMI: Officials at the U.S. Forest Service knew gear worn by wildland firefighters contained potentially dangerous “forever chemicals” years before the agency publicly acknowledged the issue, according to internal correspondence obtained by @propublica. @abestreep.bsky.social
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
I find this question about whether chatbots are “alive” to be truly, truly boring. You can torture a definition of “life” so that it includes chatbots or you can listen to actual, unequivocal flesh-and-blood people talking about harm it does them *right now*.
Experiments conducted with the A.I. system Claude are producing fascinating results—and raising questions about the nature of selfhood. Gideon Lewis-Kraus reports from inside the company that designed it, Anthropic. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/rOfXjg
February 11, 2026 at 3:13 PM
I find this question about whether chatbots are “alive” to be truly, truly boring. You can torture a definition of “life” so that it includes chatbots or you can listen to actual, unequivocal flesh-and-blood people talking about harm it does them *right now*.
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
Every year the BLS does a benchmark revision which incorporates new and more detailed information. This year's revision suggests that 2025 was a far worse year than earlier estimates suggested, and total job growth was less than half that suggested by the initial estimates.
February 11, 2026 at 2:37 PM
Every year the BLS does a benchmark revision which incorporates new and more detailed information. This year's revision suggests that 2025 was a far worse year than earlier estimates suggested, and total job growth was less than half that suggested by the initial estimates.
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
The home healthcare workforce is disproportionately comprised of immigrants, and it's certainly not because they take jobs US-born folks want. As a result, "a 25% increase in the steady state flow of immigrants to the US would result in 5,000 fewer deaths nationwide."
Is Immigration Good for Health? The Effect of Immigration on Older Adult Mortality in the United States
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
February 11, 2026 at 2:13 AM
The home healthcare workforce is disproportionately comprised of immigrants, and it's certainly not because they take jobs US-born folks want. As a result, "a 25% increase in the steady state flow of immigrants to the US would result in 5,000 fewer deaths nationwide."
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
This is the second time an ICE employee has been arrested in in a Bloomington, MN underage sex trafficking sting www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
Police in Bloomington, MN just announced that one of the guys they arrested in an underage sex trafficking sting was a **background checker for ICE agents.**
He had a high security clearance in the Trump administration... and he was caught trying to abuse children. Sickening.
He had a high security clearance in the Trump administration... and he was caught trying to abuse children. Sickening.
February 10, 2026 at 9:26 PM
This is the second time an ICE employee has been arrested in in a Bloomington, MN underage sex trafficking sting www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
One of every thousand American residents has been taken into custody by ICE in the last year.
A stunning detail the ICE chief shared in this hearing that was supposed to be a brag, except it isn't: ICE has arrested 379,000 people between Jan. 2025-Jan. 2026 -- but only 8,700 were suspected gang members or known suspected terrorists.
That's 2%! www.huffpost.com/entry/latest...
That's 2%! www.huffpost.com/entry/latest...
Congresswoman Uses Simple Math To Show How Broken ICE Is
www.huffpost.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:11 PM
One of every thousand American residents has been taken into custody by ICE in the last year.
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
the most important thing to understand about the Ring Cam ad that says they help find dogs is: we are all dogs
! @weratedogs.com com goes beyond what you've already heard about the Ring Cam ads and includes excellent reporting about ICE and, less surprisingly, about finding lost dogs
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
February 10, 2026 at 8:30 PM
the most important thing to understand about the Ring Cam ad that says they help find dogs is: we are all dogs
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
The choice to frame this rhetorically as a negotiation *with ICE and DHS* rather than, you know, a decision about their future made by their rightful superiors in the popularly elected legislature is, to me, incredibly grating.
Our DHS reform demands are exceedingly reasonable.
We're asking ICE to do nothing more than follow the standards that the vast majority of law enforcement agencies already follow.
Republicans, the ball is in your court. The clock is ticking.
We're asking ICE to do nothing more than follow the standards that the vast majority of law enforcement agencies already follow.
Republicans, the ball is in your court. The clock is ticking.
February 10, 2026 at 4:55 AM
The choice to frame this rhetorically as a negotiation *with ICE and DHS* rather than, you know, a decision about their future made by their rightful superiors in the popularly elected legislature is, to me, incredibly grating.
😅
February 10, 2026 at 4:36 AM
😅
Nods in California housing prices & food costs.
If a new car is too pricey, you can take a nicer vacation instead. But if, say, child care is more expensive, you can't just buy more groceries, or vice versa. In that sense a rise in the price of essentials effectively reduces your real income more than a rise in the price of non-essentials.
February 10, 2026 at 4:16 AM
Nods in California housing prices & food costs.
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
A more subtle point is that demand for essential is less elastic than demand for non-essentials (food away from home, leisure & entertainment, durables, etc). So when the price of essential rises, people spend more of their income on them, rather than substituting to relatively less expensive goods.
February 10, 2026 at 3:59 AM
A more subtle point is that demand for essential is less elastic than demand for non-essentials (food away from home, leisure & entertainment, durables, etc). So when the price of essential rises, people spend more of their income on them, rather than substituting to relatively less expensive goods.
Reposted by Sumita Pahwa
Another very smart data post from @mtkonczal.bsky.social on inflation and affordability. Conventional calculations of real income or wages miss the fact that prices of "essentials" - food, shelter, utilities, transport - rose faster than overall prices. newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/why-afford...
February 10, 2026 at 3:51 AM
Another very smart data post from @mtkonczal.bsky.social on inflation and affordability. Conventional calculations of real income or wages miss the fact that prices of "essentials" - food, shelter, utilities, transport - rose faster than overall prices. newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/why-afford...