She’s the third-most right wing member of the House, by some ratings and seems to suck at Secret Congress, at least for three-term rep, judging just by her bill sponsorship and leadership scores. One take-away: Gerrymandering like this hurts *conservative* voters. www.govtrack.us/congress/mem...
Miller’s bill’s just chum for Blue Sky and X. But I am curious how Miller (from District 15 — basically, a carve-out around Champagne and Springfield) behaves in “Secret Congress,” the only Congress that matters. Is this stunt just to ward off primary challengers? www.slowboring.com/p/the-rise-a...
@mattyglesias.bsky.social explains how valuable (but also difficult) it is for members to reduce public transparency: www.slowboring.com/p/the-rise-a... Members face a collective action problem: Each is tempted to grandstand for likes on X and BlueSky. Keeping negotiations private’s a civic value.
Members wisely safeguard precious resource of Secret Congress: “[Rep.] Gottheimer declined to answer questions [about negotiations w/ Sen. Mullin over ICE enforcement]. ‘As a rule…I won’t discuss any ongoing negotiations with my colleagues, he said in a statement.’” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/u...
Here’s a proposal, worth considering IMHO, to defuse passions over immigration with federalism: Let each state adopt their own visa policies. (Lest you think that idea mad, read Cristina Rodriguez, “The Significance of the Local in Immigration Regulation” (2008)). open.substack.com/pub/daviddfr...
To bad there’s not a simple way for DHS to avoid this sort of criminal fraud by masked imposters. 🤔 www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...
A fine thread from @richardprimus.bsky.social on Judge Immergut’s opinion barring use of the National Guard in Portland. As SCOTUS observed in Dep’t of Commerce v NY, “Our review is deferential, but we are ‘not required to exhibit a naiveté from which ordinary citizens are free.’”
Just to give you you an idea of what sorts of cards states have to play, consider this chart — and realize that a giant % of federal spending is tied up in defense, interest on debt, and non-discretionary entitlements. taxpolicycenter.org/sites/defaul...
Maybe the first time ever I’ve agreed 100% with Mother Jones. It’s time to unhook the Federalism fire escape. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I strongly recommend this fine essay by Caleb Nelson evaluating the originalist basis of the theory that all executive officers must serve at the President’s pleasure. Nelson, committed to originalism, sees nothing in Art II requiring such a presidential power. democracyproject.org/posts/must-a...
Good morning, Brooklyn!
Isn’t the most logical explanation for the ICAO decision to include a sex field in Doc 9303 that they needed the form to be standard across nations to be machine-readable? Some nations had a sex field for passports, some didn’t, so the ICAO included the field for ease of adoption across both?
Sure, but I don’t get a lot of land-use and local gov’t news, data, or analysis here. Elmendorf posts his 🧵s on X so far as I can tell. The zoning news items from smaller jurisdictions or latest NBER papers mostly don’t show up here as they did in the twitter days. Maybe I need to curate better…
Another essay explaining what’s wrong with Blue Sky. (TL;DR: Too many keyboard warriors competing for Fiercest Invective against The Bad Guys Award). Posting it in hopes that my tiny little corner of this place might get better. open.substack.com/pub/conspicu...
True, Greer’s writing from the Right. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t hear a lot of vitriol from Tanner against “the Left” in this piece—certainly not the sort of invective that writers from the Right typically use to blame Kirk’s murder on progressives or liberals.
Tanner Greer’s analysis of Kirk’s significance to young people on the Right. The viewpoint here is alien to BlueSky. If you react with as little vitriol as this essay contains, then — congrats! — you’ll have shown a level of empathy atypical of social media. scholarstage.substack.com/p/bullets-an...
A clip of my mom in 1976 touting (1) federal subsidies for housing and (2) this new fangled thing called “solar energy.” She’s a Republican, folks. youtube.com/watch?v=Tptf...
“‘They’re dragging your ass on Bluesky’ is a statement that strikes fear into the heart of practically no one.” open.substack.com/pub/noahpini...
A question for immigration law profs like @adambcox.bsky.social : Has there been litigation on the meaning of DHS rule (287.8(c)(2)(iii)) requiring officers to identify themselves as soon as it is practical and safe to do so? Masking seems to be in tension w/ the rule. www.ecfr.gov/current/titl...
“Humorless, scoldy neuroticism, often rationalized by the view that one must be on ‘war footing‘ because the world is self-evidently in crisis.” open.substack.com/pub/natesilv...
Sam Kriss on ChatGPT 5.0: “still essentially just a weighted average of all the fanfiction ever posted online.” substack.com/@samkriss/no...
Palmer’s Pigweed didn’t just defeat me: It has evolved a genetic resistance to glyphosate (aka Round-Up), costing millions in lost cotton and soybean crops that it swamps. So, yes, it is noxious (albeit edible!) But still it deserves some respect for sheer toughness. cen.acs.org/business/spe...
Having spent dozens of hours digging up a rogues’ gallery of weeds (Russian Thistle, tumble weeds the size of beach balls, globemallow, punture weed loaded with goats’ heads, etc), I am sparing this 6’ Palmer’s Pigweed growing out of a cement block out of sheer respect for its tenacity.
As @zhangtaisu.bsky.social @bridgetfahey.bsky.social and Lin note, there are many areas in which states can provide a check on federal manipulation of data. Jobs and inflation, however, are two areas where this safeguard fails, because states lack the state capacity to generate reliable numbers.
Because the BLS provides information that political appointees can review and reject, Noah and I argue that Congress can always insulate BLS staff from serving at the Prez’s pleasure. But, as Abbe Gluck notes, loose language in Braidwood puts that position at risk. www.scotusblog.com/2025/07/expe...
bsky.app/profile/rick...
McEntarfer is the epitome of the apolitical civil servant. She started at the Census Bureau 20 years ago as a labor economist and has worked at calculating jobs numbers ever since. She was confirmed by the Senate 86-8 in 2024, at the height of partisan polarization. www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...
