Ann Wainscott
@annmariewainscott.bsky.social
Political Scientist, interests in authoritarianism, religion and politics, institutions.
https://notes-from-a-political-scientist.ghost.io/
https://notes-from-a-political-scientist.ghost.io/
The morning of the Maduro raid I was in the middle of @rosabrooks.bsky.social 2016 book. The rest of the day I kept taking refuge in it, turning to chapters that discuss limits on violence and American hubris. I wanted someone to talk sense when the situation did not make sense. Then I struck gold.
Sunday Soul: Clarifying the vision
What world do you want to create?
notes-from-a-political-scientist.ghost.io
January 17, 2026 at 10:26 PM
The morning of the Maduro raid I was in the middle of @rosabrooks.bsky.social 2016 book. The rest of the day I kept taking refuge in it, turning to chapters that discuss limits on violence and American hubris. I wanted someone to talk sense when the situation did not make sense. Then I struck gold.
"The law is a servant of our society. Its enforcement administration can give more effective meaning to our common goals. Among these common goals are: domestic tranquility, the blessings of liberty, the establishment of justice. These goals do not bring themselves into being." Edward Levi, AG
Edward Levi’s Department of Justice
What a Difference a Half Century Makes
open.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 6:58 PM
"The law is a servant of our society. Its enforcement administration can give more effective meaning to our common goals. Among these common goals are: domestic tranquility, the blessings of liberty, the establishment of justice. These goals do not bring themselves into being." Edward Levi, AG
24,000 families. in hiding. in one city.
"In the first day, 2,000 families registered. Now, they have more than 24,000 families registered and there is a waitlist. Amezcua said less than one percent of the families they serve are part of the church.
“They need help,” said Amezcua. “We still have a lot to do.” "
“They need help,” said Amezcua. “We still have a lot to do.” "
Minneapolis church has delivered more than 12,000 boxes of groceries to families in hiding
DHH church has hundreds of volunteers packing and delivering groceries to families who have been too scared to leave their homes during the immigration operation.
www.mprnews.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:48 PM
24,000 families. in hiding. in one city.
This piece by competitive authoritarianism scholars Levitsky & Way + @dziblatt.bsky.social warns that we have entered "an authoritarian moment" but reminds us "The playing field might be uneven, but the game is still played." Keep playing.
January 16, 2026 at 6:27 PM
This piece by competitive authoritarianism scholars Levitsky & Way + @dziblatt.bsky.social warns that we have entered "an authoritarian moment" but reminds us "The playing field might be uneven, but the game is still played." Keep playing.
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
✋🏾 Hey, Gen Z,
if you are 18 years old by November 3, and register to vote, you can vote in the midterm election for Congress and for governors in 36 states. 🗳️👇🏾
if you are 18 years old by November 3, and register to vote, you can vote in the midterm election for Congress and for governors in 36 states. 🗳️👇🏾
The unemployment rate in December among people aged 20 to 24 was 8.2%. For Gen Z, that hit at the beginning of a career could go on to impact their whole life.
To be young and dreaming of a 9 to 5
The low-fire, low-hire job market is making it hard for young people to enter the workforce.
www.marketplace.org
January 16, 2026 at 4:24 PM
✋🏾 Hey, Gen Z,
if you are 18 years old by November 3, and register to vote, you can vote in the midterm election for Congress and for governors in 36 states. 🗳️👇🏾
if you are 18 years old by November 3, and register to vote, you can vote in the midterm election for Congress and for governors in 36 states. 🗳️👇🏾
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
So she had a pulse. That’s what the doctor on the scene wanted to check. She wasn’t breathing, but she had a pulse. He could have started CPR right away.
Instead ICE barred the doctor from attending her and waited 15 mins for EMT to get to her.
Instead ICE barred the doctor from attending her and waited 15 mins for EMT to get to her.
January 16, 2026 at 3:03 PM
So she had a pulse. That’s what the doctor on the scene wanted to check. She wasn’t breathing, but she had a pulse. He could have started CPR right away.
Instead ICE barred the doctor from attending her and waited 15 mins for EMT to get to her.
Instead ICE barred the doctor from attending her and waited 15 mins for EMT to get to her.
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
During a hearing about the detentions of pro-Palestinian students, a federal judge said President Trump and top officials have a “fearful approach” to freedom of speech that would seek to “exclude from participation everyone who doesn’t agree with them.”
Trump cabinet secretaries conspired to violate Constitution, judge says
“The cabinet secretaries and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment,” U.S. District Judge William Young declared.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 16, 2026 at 1:30 AM
During a hearing about the detentions of pro-Palestinian students, a federal judge said President Trump and top officials have a “fearful approach” to freedom of speech that would seek to “exclude from participation everyone who doesn’t agree with them.”
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
Opinion | They Were Ordinary Germans. We Are Ordinary Americans.
www.nytimes.com
January 16, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
My god, I did not expect from the headline (which was bad enough on its face) just *how* bad this situation actually was. You have to read the article to realize it.
Couple Says ICE Agents Gassed Them as They Drove With 6 Children
www.nytimes.com
January 16, 2026 at 4:10 AM
My god, I did not expect from the headline (which was bad enough on its face) just *how* bad this situation actually was. You have to read the article to realize it.
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
(🚨) MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: ICE Kills Another Person, This Time in Texas; White House Has Not Yet Said Whether Choking a Detainee to Death Is "Following [ICE] Training"
Medical examiner believes death of man in ICE custody was homicide, recording says
A fellow detainee says he witnessed Geraldo Lunas Campos being choked to death by guards at the ICE detention center in Texas on Jan. 3.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:03 AM
(🚨) MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: ICE Kills Another Person, This Time in Texas; White House Has Not Yet Said Whether Choking a Detainee to Death Is "Following [ICE] Training"
spectacular @nytimes.com "If Trump’s candidacy was a sustained attack on the idea of civic nationalism, his second presidency has very quickly become a clarification of what the alternative looks like... a masked federal agent shooting a woman in the face through the windshield of her own car."
Trump’s Fight With Minnesota Is About More Than Immigration
www.nytimes.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:22 AM
spectacular @nytimes.com "If Trump’s candidacy was a sustained attack on the idea of civic nationalism, his second presidency has very quickly become a clarification of what the alternative looks like... a masked federal agent shooting a woman in the face through the windshield of her own car."
Who would give up their holiday allowance?!
Rights Greenlanders would lose if they became Americans
It's a long list
On Friday evening, the leaders of five Greenlandic political parties released a joint statement asserting, “We do not wish to be Americans.” Their statement comes in the midst of inc...
notes-from-a-political-scientist.ghost.io
January 15, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Who would give up their holiday allowance?!
But we will do nothing when our Secretary of « War » discusses war plans on Signal with a journalist.
Bondi statement on FBI search at Washington Post reporter’s home:
January 14, 2026 at 4:25 PM
But we will do nothing when our Secretary of « War » discusses war plans on Signal with a journalist.
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
And here we are: the entire transatlantic alliance is now talking about Greenland, instead of talking about ending the war in Ukraine.
January 14, 2026 at 1:36 PM
And here we are: the entire transatlantic alliance is now talking about Greenland, instead of talking about ending the war in Ukraine.
Can government agencies be « victimized? »
F.B.I. Searches Home of Washington Post Journalist for Classified Material
www.nytimes.com
January 14, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Can government agencies be « victimized? »
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
this is what patriotism looks like
Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell
YouTube video by Federal Reserve
www.youtube.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:53 AM
this is what patriotism looks like
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this:
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
January 12, 2026 at 9:36 PM
If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this:
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
I love Episcopalians
Yes.
At last night’s candlelight vigil for Renee Nicole Good, Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire announced he had asked the clergy of the diocese to get their affairs in order and to make sure they have their wills written ...,
January 11, 2026 at 11:26 PM
I love Episcopalians
Spoiler alert: ICE isn’t about immigration; it’s about the militarization of our cities.
The transformation of ICE into a type of national police force, backed, in some cases, by soldiers from the National Guard, has been covered as immigration story—but these forces are reshaping democracy for all of us.
Listen to 'Autocracy in America' here:
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
Listen to 'Autocracy in America' here:
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
Federal Agents Are Violating the Rights of Americans
ICE and the National Guard are acting with impunity.
www.theatlantic.com
January 11, 2026 at 12:16 AM
Spoiler alert: ICE isn’t about immigration; it’s about the militarization of our cities.
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
AOC: “I understand that VP Vance believes shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, & I do not — That is a fundamental difference between VP Vance & I — I do not believe the American people should be assassinated in the street”
January 9, 2026 at 6:30 PM
AOC: “I understand that VP Vance believes shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, & I do not — That is a fundamental difference between VP Vance & I — I do not believe the American people should be assassinated in the street”
I can’t even.
so weak
On X, a senior U.S. Justice Department official is promoting a post that praises colonization as “one of the greatest things that ever happened to the backwards parts of the world.”👇
January 5, 2026 at 4:24 PM
I can’t even.
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
Let me be very clear: tomorrow morning and EVERY DAY THIS WEEK, call your Reps and Senators whether Dem, Republican or Independent. Express your outrage at Trump’s imperial and illegal actions against sovereign nations. TELL THEM to convene. To hold up everything. Hold up $.
202-224-3121
202-224-3121
January 5, 2026 at 5:19 AM
Let me be very clear: tomorrow morning and EVERY DAY THIS WEEK, call your Reps and Senators whether Dem, Republican or Independent. Express your outrage at Trump’s imperial and illegal actions against sovereign nations. TELL THEM to convene. To hold up everything. Hold up $.
202-224-3121
202-224-3121
Reposted by Ann Wainscott
A national disgrace.
January 3, 2026 at 7:11 PM
A national disgrace.
Perhaps it goes without saying that I did not get my Christmas wish
Lessons I hope we learned from the 2001 AUMF
AKA All I want for Christmas is a limited (or repealed) AUMF
As talk of war with Venezuela fills the airwaves, I find myself writing an unlikely Christmas list – the restrictions that a responsible A...
notes-from-a-political-scientist.ghost.io
January 3, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Perhaps it goes without saying that I did not get my Christmas wish
So, just to get this straight, when it’s guns, “people kill people,” but when it’s drugs, those who flood our streets are terrorists?
Trump ‘Determined’ the U.S. Is Now in a War With Drug Cartels, Congress Is Told
www.nytimes.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:59 PM
So, just to get this straight, when it’s guns, “people kill people,” but when it’s drugs, those who flood our streets are terrorists?