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Posts by Brian Highsmith

We're learning this over & over in the age of the internet: if you ask people what they want (in the "what will you click on?" sense) whether information or art, they will opt for the comforting squirt of dopamine. But on both counts, in the long term, pain & uncertainty & friction serve us better.

19 hours ago 259 24 15 4
Preview
The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

This is both

(1) some of the most important SCOTUS reporting ever, and

(2) far too generous to the Republican justices in framing of many pieces and omissions of Trump-era developments

22 hours ago 848 268 8 16

You can give me just one of those millions, I promise my viewpoint would bring some diversity to Harvard

3 days ago 690 78 24 3
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1,392 days to approve 91 units of housing in Seattle. This is just for the land use permit. Construction permit will take another ~300 days to approve. This was through “administrative” design review which is supposed to go faster. Took 6 correction cycles. We have to fix this stuff.

3 days ago 177 26 12 3
Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination. Discrimination based on sex is expressly prohibited under Montana’s unique Nondiscrimination Clause––“[n]either the state nor any person, firm, corporation, or institution shall discriminate on account of . . . sex . . . .” Thus, Article II, Section 4 is
unequivocal in its intolerance for discrimination based on sex. Because sex discrimination involves a fundamental right under Article II, the appropriate level of judicial review is strict scrutiny. Snetsinger, ¶ 17.

¶28 Being transgender is also a suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause of
Article II, Section 4,––“[n]o person shall be denied equal protection of the law.”

Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination. Discrimination based on sex is expressly prohibited under Montana’s unique Nondiscrimination Clause––“[n]either the state nor any person, firm, corporation, or institution shall discriminate on account of . . . sex . . . .” Thus, Article II, Section 4 is unequivocal in its intolerance for discrimination based on sex. Because sex discrimination involves a fundamental right under Article II, the appropriate level of judicial review is strict scrutiny. Snetsinger, ¶ 17. ¶28 Being transgender is also a suspect class under the Equal Protection Clause of Article II, Section 4,––“[n]o person shall be denied equal protection of the law.”

MONTANA SUPREME COURT: “Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination,” and is subject to strict scrutiny under the Montana Constitution.

3 days ago 6440 1518 47 153

It's remarkable how most of the world's English-speaking democracies seemed to have gotten together and decided "let's destroy the main thing that led us to unprecedented prosperity: our systems of higher education."

3 days ago 170 67 10 1

5

The transnational right-wing admiration for autocrats like Orbán is a crucial reminder that the struggle over democracy and multiracial pluralism is indeed playing out not just in the United States, and that the reactionary counter-mobilization is an international phenomenon.

4 days ago 58 7 1 0
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That’s the thing about competitive authoritarianism: The “authoritarianism” is serious – but so is the “competitive” part. Politics hasn’t ended in such regimes. The rules have been changed significantly, giving a massive advantage to the ruling regime; but the political conflict is not over.

4 days ago 54 7 1 0

One of the most consistently infuriating things about the criminal legal system is how little anyone in a position of authority cares about determining what does and does not work.

5 days ago 289 80 4 0

The Orbánist is deeply entrenched across the Hungarian government: courts, bureaucracy, regulators, tax agencies, even cultural organizations were all part of it.

If Magyar does not use his power to enact sweeping constitution changes, much of that system could survive.

6 days ago 1726 260 10 19

Hungary under Orbán was not a classic fascist or monarchical regime. It was a species of what political scientists call "competitive authoritarianism" — where elections are generally free, meaning not formally rigged, but held under extremely unfair conditions.

6 days ago 1545 207 5 19
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Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable If Viktor Orbán can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too.

Illiberalism is not Inevitable

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

6 days ago 2931 825 63 50

Viktor Orban accomplished so much of what the Trump movement wants to accomplish here

he ruled for 16 years and rewrote the rules in his favor

and still, they threw him out

and you know what? they did it by voting

don’t let anyone tell you voting doesn’t matter

6 days ago 7454 1945 19 65
Preview
Hungary’s Orban, Beacon to the Right, Concedes Election Defeat

Orban lost despite
“eliminating many checks and balances by stacking the judicial system…, and taking control of most news media outlets. He also worked to export his model of ‘illiberal democracy,’ promoting himself as an invincible guru…”

6 days ago 57 15 2 0
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Sketching a big book project (two volumes!) on the history and political dynamics of American constitutional federalism. Novel in focusing on both state and federal con law. Begins with the Voting Rights Act.

1 week ago 13 3 3 0

Sounds amazing (and overdue!) — what a treat for us. Would love to chat sometime! Doing some similar work about an earlier period. I’ll shoot you a note!

6 days ago 1 0 0 0

I've studied so many concentration camps through history that held vulnerable people in just this kind of crowded squalor. You demonize people, you demand more arrests, this is what you get. It already has its own budget and its own momentum, and is on track to go much further, unless we stop it.

1 week ago 6155 2593 70 47

USPS shouldn't even calculate "profit."

It's an essential service that should be fully funded by the government.

1 week ago 25 8 2 0

"The central finding is clear: when these four states nearly doubled their minimum wage, restaurant employment largely stayed stable, even as pay grew substantially."

1 week ago 19 9 1 0

This is the truth. And everything about it explains basically all of America, Con Law, etc.

1 week ago 32 5 1 0
We believe Jefferson Davis to be the worst man in all history.

We believe Jefferson Davis to be the worst man in all history.

On Confederate Surrender Day, I give you the Liberator's take on Jefferson Davis: "We believe Jefferson Davis to be the worst man in all history. He was a repudiator and slaveholder. He has been a secessionist, a traitor and rebel....He has sedulously endeavored to subvert our free institutions."

1 year ago 878 298 18 28

Unprecedented corruption

1 week ago 3807 1192 88 24

Labor behind bars is usually mandatory, and workers earn just pennies per hour.

Nationwide, incarcerated people earn between $0.86 and $3.45 PER DAY for most prison jobs. And in some states, they earn nothing for their work.

1 week ago 18 6 1 0
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"Better choices instead of excuses."

1 week ago 110 30 0 0

Would like to again congratulate John Roberts & co. for making this lunatic immune to criminal prosecution, immune to (mandatory!) electoral disqualification, and immune to Congressional limitations on his control over executive branch agencies.

Going absolutely splendidly!

1 week ago 124 30 4 1
Families in Tehran are taping up their windows and sleeping together in rooms away from the glass. Their buildings have already been shaken by nightly explosions from the most sustained bombing in the capital since the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war. Some are rushing to buy
generators, concerned that new attacks could cause critical services like electricity and water to unravel.
The bombings and threats have left many Iranians living in fear not only of their own government, which killed thousands of people in a crackdown on protesters early this year, but their would-be American rescuers, who pledged at the beginning of the war to create the conditions for their government to fall.
A 43-year-old woman living in Tehran and undergoing treatment for breast cancer said she worried what intensified attacks on infrastructure could mean for her healthcare.

Families in Tehran are taping up their windows and sleeping together in rooms away from the glass. Their buildings have already been shaken by nightly explosions from the most sustained bombing in the capital since the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war. Some are rushing to buy generators, concerned that new attacks could cause critical services like electricity and water to unravel. The bombings and threats have left many Iranians living in fear not only of their own government, which killed thousands of people in a crackdown on protesters early this year, but their would-be American rescuers, who pledged at the beginning of the war to create the conditions for their government to fall. A 43-year-old woman living in Tehran and undergoing treatment for breast cancer said she worried what intensified attacks on infrastructure could mean for her healthcare.

We are terrorizing an entire country.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

1 week ago 1615 621 36 31

Ro Khanna (?!) is right

1 week ago 19 2 2 0
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Whatever happens, this is a deeply shameful episode in American history that will leave a permanent stain on the country.

Repeatedly vowing to commit war crimes against millions of innocent civilians is beyond the pale.

1 week ago 8116 1894 304 166

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1 week ago 62 28 1 1

Good to see a NYT opinion piece skewering Axios for whatever reason but this one is a doozy. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/o...

1 week ago 52 24 6 4
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