Psyched to talk to @vanjones.bsky.social about big tech and American politics @4pm ET. In Obama days, most tech moguls were aligned with the Democrats. Now, some very big ones are aligned with Trump and MAGA. Should progressives ally w/ big tech, or fight them?
ash.harvard.edu/events/how-d...
This Friday don’t miss the opportunity to hear from @raskin.house.gov, @davidhogg.bsky.social, @cornellbrooks.bsky.social, Marshall Ganz, Theda Skopcol, @politicsprof.bsky.social, @alexkeyssar.bsky.social and more at the Teach-In (at Harvard & livestreamed) Register: www.students4freedom.org/events
Thank you for including me. I look forward to the discussion!
Terrific explainer of Orban’s dummymander result this weekend…
Failure to appreciate soft power is especially ironic as the head of a movement whose intellectuals point out (correctly) that “culture is upstream of politics” and that is held together by such a potent political culture.
Inspired by Henry David Thoreau's observation that some ostensibly labor-saving inventions actually require more work than they save, on the blog today, I ask whether the need to correct AI's errors renders its current manifestations a net negative for legal research and writing.
My colleague Stephen Richer, former Maricopa County Recorder, has some reactions to Trump's new mail voting E.O. from the standpoint of an experienced administrator in Arizona, a state whose permitted vote-by-mail timeline Trump seems to imagine he can block.
Pro-AI group to spend $100mn on US midterm elections as backlash grows @financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/6a3f...
US publication date is today for the Billionaire Backlash! If you’re in the Cambridge (MA) area, come to Harvard Book Store tomorrow night to hear us chat about the book with the inimitable @politicsprof.bsky.social
Tune in to today's episode of Terms of Engagement, live on YouTube at 12pm ET.
Watch here ⤵️
www.youtube.com/live/BgMn70uUVHQ
Tune in at noon ET to hear Director Nancy Gibbs in conversation with @politicsprof.bsky.social & Stephen Richer about the current state of the media on @harvardash.bsky.social's Terms of Engagement podcast. Join live or watch/listen later.
That tracker is very informative and quite damning of the charging decisions of Midway Blitz. Thank you for helping us understand.
Civil society fights back
Nine Law Firms Surrendered. Four Law Firms Won. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/o...
What's higher ed to do when it loves viewpoint diversity, but viewpoint diversity doesn't love it back?
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...
Many of us in the democracy community tried to persuade the Obama folks that small-d democracy should be more of a priority than they made it. My sense then was that they nodded politely, but didn't really get the point.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/u...
“The largest number of people to vote for anything in the history of Maine have said they don’t want super PACs. ... It demonstrates that this is a deeply purple issue; there was no difference in the results in red districts or blue districts."
https://bit.ly/4tHG86G
This Culpepper and Thelen article on how consumer identity supports platform power is a stone-cold classic. "Focusing on the critical role played by consumers in explaining the powers platform firms wield in the rich democracies lends insight as well into their distinctive vulnerabilities"
Brilliant, from the Colbert show the other night: Ian McKellen recites a speech, “The Stranger’s Case,” thought to be by Shakespeare in which Sir Thomas More addresses an unruly London crowd that has rioted demanding that strangers from abroad be sent back. “What would you think, to be thus used?”
Join me and @stevelevitsky.bsky.social at our next session of The Breakdown, this Thursday 2/18 at 4pm ET. Register here: ash.harvard.edu/events/the-b...
The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering
The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory
Important report from @bcburden.bsky.social who runs the @electionscenter.bsky.social on this point. electionlab.mit.edu/articles/opt...
This @bostonreview.bsky.social piece by @adambonica.bsky.social and @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social is an absolute must-read, as are many of the responses to it.
Spread this one far and wide.
"I demand the sum of one bm̶illion dollars"
We'll dig into Jonathan's Atlantic article "Yes, It's Fascism." If you get a chance, read it and ask some questions on the live stream.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Join Jonathan Rauch, @stephenrich.bsky.social and me to talk about whether the Trump admin is "fascist," what that means, and whether the name matters on the @harvardash.bsky.social Terms of Engagement (Tuesday noon ET).
www.youtube.com/live/vGghrgX...
Huge Billy Bragg fan, too.
Like many men of a certain age, I’m a huge Springstein fan. Here’s a new track with some Dylanesque notes.
Normal thing for a major urban American newspaper to have to post.
so long as the violence is directed against Marxist left ANTIFA radicals, those who are uncivil to federal officials, and AWFUL (Affluent White Female Urban Liberals), who have it coming. If you just stay home, don't protest, and obey law enforcement, you're safe.
Interesting observation. The "few bad apples" response sez: you think we're in a systemically violent and repressive state, but we're not - it's just a few bad apples. The current argument seems to be that we want a systemically violent state..