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meliorist.bsky.social
Liberal, pragmatist, humanist, democrat, reformist, meliorist, American, cosmopolite. "To be ignorant of the past is to remain forever a child." -- Cicero
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Beyond vital political stakes, it also looks like admin misread the narrative, too. They tried to pitch “MS-13 illegal” and assumed story would end there. Instead it’s become a daily, episodic, human-interest and court drama about a wrongfully deported loving husband, union-member and caregiver.

submitted 9 hours ago • 27 comments

This is what I mean when I say Dems don’t have a messaging problem, the electorate has an Information Ecosystem problem. The media has converted entirely to chasing clicks, and anti-Dem articles get clicks.

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

Before the election, I warned that there is no safe haven under authoritarianism. If they can ship Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a foreign prison—accused of no crime, with no trial—they can do it to anyone. Americans of conscience must stand against this now.

submitted 1 day ago • 1845 comments

Let me try to explain everything that's happening in the macroeconomy—recession fears, inflation concerns, the bond market jitters and the dollar falling—in the framework we teach in econ classes. It's my attempt at helping smart econ students make sense of the current moment.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Sometimes you just have to set the poll numbers aside and fight for your core values: the rule of law and due process. Otherwise, you are losing your soul. In any case, general poll numbers on immigration are not good measures of public attitudes toward lawless deportations and imprisonments.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

If I wanted to consolidate authoritarian control, I would simply not deliberately wreck the economy within the first few months of taking office.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Wild story in the WSJ. It’s paywalled so I’ll screenshot some key excerpts below. But basically it’s about how Mark Zuckerberg spent millions trying to suck up to Trump so Meta only had to pay $450M (instead of $30B that the FTC wanted) to settle an antitrust case against them.

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

Biden: Why are these guys taking aim at social security now? They are following that old line from tech startups. The quote is move fast, break things. Well, they are certainly breaking things… They want to wreck it so they can rob it

submitted 2 days ago • 156 comments

Biden: One called it a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme? What the hell are they talking about? People earned these benefits. They paid into that benefit. They rely on that benefit.

submitted 2 days ago • 234 comments

It's worth reading the full list of Trump admin demands on Harvard. Some are ridiculous, e.g. reduce the power of jr. faculty! But most are chilling & antithetical to what a university is--basically they want to install commissar audit committees to oversee everything www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

submitted 3 days ago • 25 comments

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.

submitted 3 days ago • 1644 comments

1/4. On the White House’s theory, if they abduct you, get you on a helicopter, get to international waters, shoot you in the head, and drop your corpse into the ocean, that is legal, because it is the conduct of foreign affairs.

submitted 3 days ago • 717 comments

In most economic eras, I don't need to begin my commentary with "If the clown show continues..." But here we are.

submitted 3 days ago • 13 comments

“I don’t want to draw any firm conclusions myself, but I think what we’ve all been talking about highlights a lot of important questions,” I say thoughtfully when called on, having raised my hand but not done the reading, or any research, or attended any of the classes, or registered for the course

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

If there were a market demand for a liberal, Democrat-supporting Joe Rogan, they would already exist. The fact that no one is currently filling that niche strongly indicates that there is no such niche to be filled.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

every protest or march or action shows people that if they act, others will have their back. it may not be a 100% credible signal or guarantee, but it's a signal.

submitted 3 days ago • 5 comments

The Declaration of Independence lists 27 specific grievances against King George III, so I started highlighting the same offenses that Donald Trump has also committed. So far I count 10 in whole & 4 in part, while Trump is threatening/planning several more (items 5, 9, 11, 15, 20, & 23). Thoughts?

submitted 3 days ago • 7 comments

If the U.S. government is going to take the position that, once removed from the United States, folks can’t be brought back, then it sure seems to me that federal courts should be reflexively and categorically barring *all* removals until they’re 100 percent certain that the removals are lawful.

submitted 3 days ago • 1338 comments

aside: a stunning comment from David Baker, UW professor who won the Nobel Prize in 2024. Now 15 lab members are looking for positions overseas. “There’s so many amazing people who want to come in, & we can’t take them. The Nobel Prize was just a little blip. But things have gotten quite bleak.”

submitted 3 days ago • 41 comments

Lawyers, media, and politicians put off acknowledging the Constitutional crisis for as long as they could, with “close” and “could lead to” and “might cause” giving them excuses to proceed as if things are normal. Govt claiming it can deny rights on a whim in defiance of court orders is it. Crisis.

submitted 3 days ago • 4 comments

Here's Trump saying to Bukele that "homegrown criminals are next" and talking about how El Salvador will need to build "about five more places."

submitted 3 days ago • 276 comments

I had been doubtful that we were going to have a "this is the crisis moment" with Trump, as opposed to "everything about this is a destructive catastrophe." But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment. 1/

submitted 3 days ago • 104 comments

Democrats should be introducing sanctions legislation against Bukele as a signal of what to expect.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment