Zander Furnas
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alexanderfurnas.com
Zander Furnas
@alexanderfurnas.com
Research Assistant Professor | Politics & Computational Social Science | Northwestern University, Center for Science of Science and Innovation | Dad & Wife Guy | Not Ok | Sorry for the Swears | #goblue
Wow Ken Jennings from the rope
Whenever some sanctimonious Dem announces that America needs a functioning Republican Party, I always think “I’d settle for a functioning Democratic Party.”
November 11, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
November 10, 2025 at 9:58 PM
The democratic caucus has the leaders it deserves
November 11, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
I like how you all are asking all the other offices what they think but don't provide cover for them.

Schumer is there because he is doing exactly what they told him to do. If this aide has a problem, ask why their boss isn't calling for Schumer's resignation.
November 11, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Subprime car loans what could go wrong
November 10, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
Revisiting @phdemetri.bsky.social’s “What is Confounding?” blog this morning.

What a great way to:

1: help people understand what confounding is doing and
2: show why randomization gets rid of a lot of causal worries for you!

🔗: dpananos.github.io/posts/2024-0...
Demetri Pananos Ph.D - What Is Confounding?
dpananos.github.io
November 10, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
the president of the united states, for some reason apparently:
November 10, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
The light in my 5-year-old refrigerator has started strobing. "No problem," I thought, "I'll replace the bulb."

Nope! Instead of a $3 bulb, Whirlpool wants me to pay hundreds of dollars for a repair visit. Non-replaceable LEDs are the worst. A proper country would have regulations about this.
November 10, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
getting outplayed by god’s most dim witted soldier
In the most predictable development ever, Mike Johnson is not committing to hold a House vote on ACA subsidies
November 10, 2025 at 11:19 PM
bring back moral conservatives
ESPN's Michael Wilbon nonchalant about the federal indictments against two MLB players this morning:

"I don't care ... because at the highest levels of the pyramid in this country, of this culture, everybody's betting now."

😳
November 10, 2025 at 11:19 PM
God the Senate makes me want to vomit
November 10, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
I am glad that more people are talking about this

Been screaming for years that leftists biggest impact will come by getting involved in Democratic Party politics, but for the longest time all I got were arguments lol

But this is how to do it!
Taking over a party from within is a real thing that happens. There’s precedent for it at multiple points in American Trump JUST DID IT to the GOP.

Creating a new viable party hasn’t happened since 1856.
There’s a two party duopoly in this nation.

Is it great? No! Is it reality? Yes.

Creating a third party means building up an entirely new infrastructure from scratch and then fighting both R & D.

Taking over the Dem Party is an easier and more effective route. It’ll take time, but it’s worth it.
November 10, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
'is homemade mayonnaise ultra-processed' – the greatest thread in the history of forums, locked by a moderator after 12,239 pages of heated debate
November 10, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Constantly
do you all ever think about how howard dean got knocked out of a primary for being a lil too excited and now we have All This and people who will defend it because politics are sports to some people
November 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
Went back to the history of the Sicilian Mafia to illustrate something obvious but worth stating explicitly: The Trump administration behaves like an organized crime syndicate running a protection racket, not a representative government www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 8, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
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.
so currently defectors are:

Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
November 10, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.
November 10, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
When you've lost *checks notes again* Chris Cillizza
November 10, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
Christ, even Chait's against capitulation
"Democrats could have held the line on the shutdown, and spent weeks watching Trump’s approval ratings fall," writes @jonathanbchait.bsky.social
Instead, he argues, they're making a mistake by giving in:
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Senate Democrats Just Made a Huge Mistake
The shutdown was hurting Trump. Ending it helps him.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Tbh I thought Schumer would lose the caucus from the left before he lost it from the right
It shows Schumer no longer has the caucus.
It doesn't actually matter if Chuck Schumer votes for this or not.

If he can't keep his caucus unified to protect healthcare for over 10 million Americans, he should resign as leader.
November 10, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by Zander Furnas
so currently defectors are:

Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
November 10, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Evergreen
November 10, 2025 at 2:05 AM