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albertsonb2.bsky.social
Associate Prof at UT Austin. I study political psych & public opinion. I also post about soccer and my cats.
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I just have to say, as a historian of the Reconstruction-era Klan, that masked paramilitaries are very bad and masked vigilantes are even worse and there are causal links between the two and none of this is good for democracy.

An MLS team *might* win a game in the Club World Cup.

Rog and Clint - let’s hope USMNT give them something to smile about tomorrow.

Contributing to the  lit on where to place moderators in an experiment (shoutouts 🧵), @tabithabonilla.bsky.social, Genni and I consider whether items measuring prejudice are subject to unique considerations. Does asking these questions pre-treatment affect the experiment? @psrm.bsky.social

Americans Are Going to Die’ -- Why Dr. Fiona Havers, an influential vaccine researcher, left the CDC. The wholesale dismissal of the agency’s scientific advisers crossed the line, she said (Gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...

🧵IR scholars, let's start a thread of what we know that's relevant for a US attack on Iran. Won't change any minds, but might help us teach this crisis and learn new angles. Please add (incl. your own work!), forgive/correct omissions. Nobody can cover everything and it's great to find new work. 1/?

Someone will ping me when smart well-resourced people are working on a Project 2029, I hope. But really, I just hope it exists.

I can’t be the only one who is surprised they used this photo.

🚨 New Cambridge Element! Glass Ceilings, Glass Cliffs, and Quicksands by Andrea S. Aldrich & @zeynsom.bsky.social uses original data from 11 democracies (1980–2020) to examine how gender shapes party leadership selection & survival. Free for 2 more days: cup.org/3HqJXty #gender #politics

"Movements are most effective when they remain nonviolent and build broad coalitions. And governments are most vulnerable when their use of force is perceived to be excessive or cruel." Nice article by @owasow.bsky.social & @robbwiller.bsky.social

Plenty of games in Canada and Mexico. So in soccer lingo, the US commits an own goal.

oh @meninblazers.bsky.social, do my steadfast efforts to make sports bluesky happen give me a possible in for the event in Austin I've been waitlisted for? Shameless ask for me and my 2 soccer fans.

Is there a team that’s going to prove me wrong? Please?

Club World Cup, aka your favorite MLS team is crap.

There's a good story to be written about older Americans who are pissed off about Trump and are newly politicized. Maybe before they were fairly reliable voters, but now they're protesters. They're retired and are looking for ways to engage.

I’m thrilled to announce that, after ten years of research, my book on the birth of democracy in South America is finally out! I'm especially excited to be publishing it #openaccess, which means you can download a PDF for free at: www.cambridge.org/core/books/b...

Kudos to @gelliottmorris.com for this work - you know who really ought to pay attention? Democrats in office who want to keep their jobs, and the people who want to unseat them.

I didn't see this from my angle. Other notable news from Austin FC - we scored in the first half (gasp), and actually won. Amazing.

A leader of the MN House Democrats is murdered by a Republican pro-life activist. Rather than condemning political murder of his opponents, Elon Musk spreads the conspiracy theory that it was done by Democrats. Journalists don’t need to use any social media site. But they really shouldn’t use X.

San Diego, not exactly known for liberal politics…

Austin

We have self-reports or news accounts from 320 of the 2,000 No Kings Day events across the US today. Up to an unofficial tally of about 575,000 people now. Extrpaolating from that, total would be around 4.5m people, or about 1.3% of the pop. Some error I'm sure. Thanks to everyone crowdsourcing!

The LA crowd is huge, but then you consider there's also Santa Monica, Long Beach, etc...

I just like to post these data from time to time to puncture the mythological aura of mid 20th c protests. They were less popular than pretty much any 21st c mass action & people criticizing them used the same lines. Protest is about people coming together, shaping narratives, & building power.