Danny Blinderman
@dannyblinderman.bsky.social
Post-doc at UVA: Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy. Ph.D. @ the University of Michigan. I study APD, constitutional change & democratization. Proud former member of GEO-3550. Semi-retired Jewish organizer. Thaddeus Stevens was right.
Pinned
I think the key source of tension for Trump's coalition, and one Democrats should try to exploit in a variety of ways, is that people voted for Trump to make it 2019 again, but he and his accomplices got elected to do all the evil stuff they couldn't do in 2019.
John Marshall in Fletcher v. Peck (1810):
cnn & ms now ad sales teams: well yeah it's STOLEN, but it's still MONEY
CNN and MS NOW are complicit in Trump’s illegal scheme to steal taxpayer money for political ads. Why are they accepting stolen money to run illegal ads?
October 1, 2026 at 9:53 PM
John Marshall in Fletcher v. Peck (1810):
After the elevation of a fan to the Papacy, White Sox pulling up to the divisional series like:
October 1, 2026 at 1:13 PM
After the elevation of a fan to the Papacy, White Sox pulling up to the divisional series like:
"make AI companies financially/criminally liable for what their models do" seems like an underrated way to get them to take safety seriously that doesn't require much regulatory oversight from a shrunken and corrupt US government.
September 24, 2026 at 12:21 AM
"make AI companies financially/criminally liable for what their models do" seems like an underrated way to get them to take safety seriously that doesn't require much regulatory oversight from a shrunken and corrupt US government.
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
NYT has now independently corroborated all the major allegations against Susan Collins in the ProPublica report, including that investigators were prepared to move against her and then Trump intervened to shut it down. This put Trump in a position of exceptional and extortionate leverage over her.
F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan Collins
The inquiry was closed last year because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of a campaign donor’s account, according to current and former officials.
www.nytimes.com
September 22, 2026 at 8:06 PM
NYT has now independently corroborated all the major allegations against Susan Collins in the ProPublica report, including that investigators were prepared to move against her and then Trump intervened to shut it down. This put Trump in a position of exceptional and extortionate leverage over her.
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
"The Mamdani administration also said it is developing software that would allow workers to directly submit complaints to the city and will require companies to self-report their data so that the city’s worker protection agency can find real-time discrepancies in pay."
DoorDash has ripped off more than 260,000 NYC delivery workers. We’re making them pay $131.5 million — the largest worker settlement in City history.
This is New York, where hard work pays and greed will cost you.
This is New York, where hard work pays and greed will cost you.
September 22, 2026 at 7:01 PM
"The Mamdani administration also said it is developing software that would allow workers to directly submit complaints to the city and will require companies to self-report their data so that the city’s worker protection agency can find real-time discrepancies in pay."
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
The State AGs were on pace to kill the Paramount/Warner Bros by litigation and delay until Gavin Newsom stepped in and turned the tide. Now the Trump loyalist Ellisons will control CNN and HBO. Don't ever, ever forget that Newsom stabbed us in the back
www.wsj.com/business/med...
www.wsj.com/business/med...
Exclusive | Newsom Expresses Concerns About State Antitrust Suit Against Paramount
The California governor has told people involved in the suit that blocking the $81 billion deal could harm Hollywood jobs.
www.wsj.com
September 21, 2026 at 3:19 PM
The State AGs were on pace to kill the Paramount/Warner Bros by litigation and delay until Gavin Newsom stepped in and turned the tide. Now the Trump loyalist Ellisons will control CNN and HBO. Don't ever, ever forget that Newsom stabbed us in the back
www.wsj.com/business/med...
www.wsj.com/business/med...
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
This will make it nearly impossible to file habeas petitions, because attorneys won’t even know what federal district their client has been moved to to stage for their removal.
Something like a third of all people in ICE custody.
apnews.com/article/ice-...
Something like a third of all people in ICE custody.
apnews.com/article/ice-...
AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...
apnews.com
September 21, 2026 at 5:06 PM
This will make it nearly impossible to file habeas petitions, because attorneys won’t even know what federal district their client has been moved to to stage for their removal.
Something like a third of all people in ICE custody.
apnews.com/article/ice-...
Something like a third of all people in ICE custody.
apnews.com/article/ice-...
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
“.. officials said there have been at least 22 military fatalities — four more than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database ..”
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
September 18, 2026 at 7:46 PM
“.. officials said there have been at least 22 military fatalities — four more than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database ..”
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
#OpenAccess from @studiesapd.bsky.social -
Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: The Legacy of Southern Populism for Public Goods Provision - https://cup.org/4xZ3Mxw
- Daniel Blinderman (University of Virginia)
#FirstView
Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: The Legacy of Southern Populism for Public Goods Provision - https://cup.org/4xZ3Mxw
- Daniel Blinderman (University of Virginia)
#FirstView
September 15, 2026 at 1:20 PM
#OpenAccess from @studiesapd.bsky.social -
Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: The Legacy of Southern Populism for Public Goods Provision - https://cup.org/4xZ3Mxw
- Daniel Blinderman (University of Virginia)
#FirstView
Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: The Legacy of Southern Populism for Public Goods Provision - https://cup.org/4xZ3Mxw
- Daniel Blinderman (University of Virginia)
#FirstView
On the one hand its very odd the Republican Party remains so devoted to Trump given his very low approval rating and the dire midterm polling, on the other hand it makes more sense when you remember Republicans don't believe Trump has ever actually caused them to have a bad election.
September 16, 2026 at 6:37 PM
On the one hand its very odd the Republican Party remains so devoted to Trump given his very low approval rating and the dire midterm polling, on the other hand it makes more sense when you remember Republicans don't believe Trump has ever actually caused them to have a bad election.
As a matter of politics and to a much lesser extent policy I've been sympathetic to Mamadani's choice to allow continuity in how the NYPD operates since he won. But with street safety, deference to the police is beginning to seriously interfere with his other, core goals. A serious choice looms.
Mayor Mamdani’s handlers didn’t call on Streetsblog to ask a question at Tuesday’s “Vision Zero Reimagined” press conference ... but reporters who read Streetsblog got to ask theirs. buff.ly/oK659Le
Wednesday's Headlines: The Streetsblog Effect - Streetsblog New York City
The mayor faces heat from Streetsblog-reading reporters. Plus other news.
nyc.streetsblog.org
September 16, 2026 at 12:17 PM
As a matter of politics and to a much lesser extent policy I've been sympathetic to Mamadani's choice to allow continuity in how the NYPD operates since he won. But with street safety, deference to the police is beginning to seriously interfere with his other, core goals. A serious choice looms.
Excited that my job market paper officially published online at @studiesapd.bsky.social this morning.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: The Legacy of Southern Populism for Public Goods Provision | Studies in American Political Development | Cambridge Core
Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: The Legacy of Southern Populism for Public Goods Provision
www.cambridge.org
September 15, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Excited that my job market paper officially published online at @studiesapd.bsky.social this morning.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
I'm convinced that this is just a big a reason for the tariffs as any (misplaced) economic claims: Tariffs give Trump discretionary power, and he likes being the sort of guy who can use govt power on a whim to impress people (in this case), or in return for other favors.
Trump on his golf course announces he’s going to take tariffs off Irish whiskey. I guess our trade emergency is over!
September 13, 2026 at 6:01 PM
I'm convinced that this is just a big a reason for the tariffs as any (misplaced) economic claims: Tariffs give Trump discretionary power, and he likes being the sort of guy who can use govt power on a whim to impress people (in this case), or in return for other favors.
You sort of see from Johnson how pliant, rubber stamp legislatures like the Russian Duma come into existence. A total abandonment of madisonian conceptions of institutions jealously guarding their own power.
Tapper: Where would the money come from for Trump's $5,000 checks?
Speaker Johnson: "It's a new, creative idea…We applaud the president for thinking outside the box."
Speaker Johnson: "It's a new, creative idea…We applaud the president for thinking outside the box."
September 13, 2026 at 2:59 PM
You sort of see from Johnson how pliant, rubber stamp legislatures like the Russian Duma come into existence. A total abandonment of madisonian conceptions of institutions jealously guarding their own power.
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
One thing that really worries me about the future is that the US national debt might actually become a real problem, and while Trump is blowing a hole in the budget a lot of Dems are telling us they can build a Nordic welfare state while cutting all our taxes.
>~2 trillion dollar annual deficit
>GDP of ~$30t
>ergo deficit >6.5% of GDP
country is fucking cooked, those are nearing greece 2009 numbers
>GDP of ~$30t
>ergo deficit >6.5% of GDP
country is fucking cooked, those are nearing greece 2009 numbers
US BUDGET DEFICIT AT $1.97T FOR FIRST 11 MONTHS OF FISCAL YEAR
September 11, 2026 at 6:28 PM
One thing that really worries me about the future is that the US national debt might actually become a real problem, and while Trump is blowing a hole in the budget a lot of Dems are telling us they can build a Nordic welfare state while cutting all our taxes.
Zohran, like AOC, living the left wing millennial dream: getting to chat with Bernie regularly.
Another notable reoccurring entry on Mamdani's first month of schedules: A weekly call with Bernie Sanders.
Mamdani's office confirms the weekly check-ins with Sanders continue to this day, speaking to how close the two have become. www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Mamdani's office confirms the weekly check-ins with Sanders continue to this day, speaking to how close the two have become. www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Mamdani’s first month: ‘Private’ meetings, weekly calls with Bernie and long nights
www.politico.com
September 10, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Zohran, like AOC, living the left wing millennial dream: getting to chat with Bernie regularly.
Zohran really needs to get moving on this. It feels like his street safety agenda has stalled out some in the last few months.
Canal Street should have received major safety upgrades years ago. Abject failure of city government.
NEW: A truck driver killed a pedestrian and injured two others on Canal Street, a notoriously deadly intersection where two people were killed last year and the city has delayed long-promised safety improvements. buff.ly/buAGbZW
September 10, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Zohran really needs to get moving on this. It feels like his street safety agenda has stalled out some in the last few months.
What did she know?
September 10, 2026 at 1:50 AM
What did she know?
As the news from AI development gets scarier what is congress doing? Well the House is basically on recess because the speaker can't win a rule vote consistently. The senate gets back in a week, when it will likely resume its main function of rubber stamping Trump nominees for district court judges.
I'm not a doomer about AI per se, but I am a doomer about congress's ability to regulate or constrain the industry in any way.
September 9, 2026 at 1:30 PM
As the news from AI development gets scarier what is congress doing? Well the House is basically on recess because the speaker can't win a rule vote consistently. The senate gets back in a week, when it will likely resume its main function of rubber stamping Trump nominees for district court judges.
Telling the unvarnished truth about potential voters is not the highest calling of politicians. AOC is pandering to these voters because she wants their votes. That involves a certain amount of...flattery.
I like AOC, but this is an incredibly bad analysis of the MAHA movement.
September 8, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Telling the unvarnished truth about potential voters is not the highest calling of politicians. AOC is pandering to these voters because she wants their votes. That involves a certain amount of...flattery.
One downstream advantage of running strong candidates everywhere is it shines a light on incumbents who've escaped scrutiny, making them weaker.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas sued 700 of his patients for their debts to him, got 81 arrested, and routinely charged them 18 percent interest.
Roger Marshall Sued 700 Patients for Debts; 81 Were Arrested. Now He’s a Senator. (Gift Article)
Patients sued by Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas were routinely charged 18 percent interest, The Times found. Some had bank accounts garnished.
www.nytimes.com
September 8, 2026 at 11:44 AM
One downstream advantage of running strong candidates everywhere is it shines a light on incumbents who've escaped scrutiny, making them weaker.
Reposted by Danny Blinderman
all this money of ours went to trump's oil industry and saudi masters
"The war in Iran has now cost U.S. consumers $100 billion in higher energy prices, and the bill is rising another $1 million about every two minutes, per a real-time estimate from Brown University."
via @berkowitzbt.bsky.social
via @berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Iran war drives $100 billion in extra energy costs for U.S. consumers
The average cost burden is more than $760 per household.
www.axios.com
September 7, 2026 at 7:19 PM
all this money of ours went to trump's oil industry and saudi masters