Ames Grawert
@amescg.bsky.social
Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center, working on criminal justice policy and understanding the impact of federal funding cuts. Hopefully building a better world for everyone, especially two little girls. Views my own, dad jokes and sci-fi takes welcome.
Parenting brought me back in touch with our local library and it's been an invaluable resource. Daughter discovers a new book series she likes? Great, they're all there for her to flip through and take home, free of charge. One missing? There's somebody on hand to order it through interlibrary loan.
Take a risk on a new author. Check out that nonfiction you've had your eye on. Grab that documentary. Get that movie that's not on streaming.
Use your local library
Use your local library
Hey, as a librarian I need to tell you:
Our funding depends on usage.
So go ahead and check out that book even if you don't think you'll finish it. No one will know. Check out that DVD even though you might not like it. Get ambitious in your quest for knowledge.
Our funding depends on usage.
So go ahead and check out that book even if you don't think you'll finish it. No one will know. Check out that DVD even though you might not like it. Get ambitious in your quest for knowledge.
February 18, 2026 at 8:21 PM
Parenting brought me back in touch with our local library and it's been an invaluable resource. Daughter discovers a new book series she likes? Great, they're all there for her to flip through and take home, free of charge. One missing? There's somebody on hand to order it through interlibrary loan.
Reposted by Ames Grawert
The Trump administration has diverted law enforcement officers from across the government to help ICE, yet arrests have increased only among immigrants with no criminal convictions.
Despite Budget Surge, ICE Fails to Make the Country Safer
The administration has diverted law enforcement officers from across government to help ICE but has increased arrests only of immigrants with no criminal conviction.
www.brennancenter.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:44 PM
The Trump administration has diverted law enforcement officers from across the government to help ICE, yet arrests have increased only among immigrants with no criminal convictions.
Reposted by Ames Grawert
1. In an unusual press briefing today in AZ, Sec. Kristi Noem made the extraordinary (but vaguely delivered) claim that as head of DHS, she has authorities over elections, including to make sure that “the right people are voting and electing the right leaders to lead this country.” That is false.
February 13, 2026 at 8:46 PM
1. In an unusual press briefing today in AZ, Sec. Kristi Noem made the extraordinary (but vaguely delivered) claim that as head of DHS, she has authorities over elections, including to make sure that “the right people are voting and electing the right leaders to lead this country.” That is false.
Our toddler picked up and hid the Valentine’s Day card I bought for my wife. No idea where it is, and she can’t tell me. It’s the relationship equivalent of “dog ate my homework” except it actually happened.
February 14, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Our toddler picked up and hid the Valentine’s Day card I bought for my wife. No idea where it is, and she can’t tell me. It’s the relationship equivalent of “dog ate my homework” except it actually happened.
Amazing news. It's hard to overstate how important this period is and how few primary sources there are on it.
!!! a new manuscript was recently discovered written in the Syrian Monothelite community in the early 700s that describes the end of the Roman / Sassanian war *and the rise of Islam in the Levant!*
www.medievalists.net/2026/02/prev...
www.medievalists.net/2026/02/prev...
Previously Unknown Medieval Chronicle Discovered - Medievalists.net
A newly discovered chronicle from the early eighth century is giving medieval historians a rare new window onto the political shocks and religious debates that reshaped the eastern Mediterranean in th...
www.medievalists.net
February 13, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Amazing news. It's hard to overstate how important this period is and how few primary sources there are on it.
Reposted by Ames Grawert
Read my colleague @brennancenter.org @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social in today's @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
February 12, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Read my colleague @brennancenter.org @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social in today's @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...
Reposted by Ames Grawert
NEW: Another NIH institute director hasn't been renewed — the director of NIAMS (arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases institute).
That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.
That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.
February 12, 2026 at 5:16 PM
NEW: Another NIH institute director hasn't been renewed — the director of NIAMS (arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases institute).
That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.
That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.
Reposted by Ames Grawert
"Eliminate presidential immunity" needs to become as common a refrain as "eliminate Citizens United"
this case is maybe the single best example of one of the most destructive tendencies of this court: the tendency to treat their job as a collegiate legal seminar where they operate in hypotheticals rather than deal with the real world as it exists
February 9, 2026 at 3:48 PM
"Eliminate presidential immunity" needs to become as common a refrain as "eliminate Citizens United"
Great day for court historians, matched only by the birthday of Procopius, who secretly wrote an entire book about how his patron the emperor Justinian was a demon
Never forget the anniversary of King Taejong falling off his horse!
February 8, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Great day for court historians, matched only by the birthday of Procopius, who secretly wrote an entire book about how his patron the emperor Justinian was a demon
Today as every day, the students, staff, and alums of Rice University are the real SuperbOwls 🦉
February 8, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Today as every day, the students, staff, and alums of Rice University are the real SuperbOwls 🦉
What a heartbreaking development. CIA's World Factbook was one of my first introductions to real policy and data work, decades ago, as a new member of the Model UN team.
Add the CIA World Factbook to the long and growing list of disappearing government datasets: www.cia.gov/stories/stor...
February 5, 2026 at 6:12 PM
What a heartbreaking development. CIA's World Factbook was one of my first introductions to real policy and data work, decades ago, as a new member of the Model UN team.
Reposted by Ames Grawert
February 4, 2026 at 12:39 PM
End of an era! I've had this ink bottle for longer than I've been married. So many notebook pages full of cerulean blue...
February 2, 2026 at 4:51 PM
End of an era! I've had this ink bottle for longer than I've been married. So many notebook pages full of cerulean blue...
Free product idea for local coffee shops and bakeries serving young families: KPop Demon Hunter Cake Pops
January 28, 2026 at 2:46 AM
Free product idea for local coffee shops and bakeries serving young families: KPop Demon Hunter Cake Pops
Reposted by Ames Grawert
Helpful context on the complicated and interconnected reasons violent crime has been declining since 2022 ⬇️
A new report from the @counciloncj.org shows a 21% decline in murder from 2024-25 and drops in other forms of violent crime. It provides strong evidence of continuing, nearly across-the-board declines in crime and especially violent crime. Some quick notes & context. counciloncj.org/crime-trends...
Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update - Council on Criminal Justice
With homicide down 21%, the 2025 homicide rate may reach the lowest level ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data going back to 1900, CCJ’s year-end analysis finds.
counciloncj.org
January 27, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Helpful context on the complicated and interconnected reasons violent crime has been declining since 2022 ⬇️
A new report from the @counciloncj.org shows a 21% decline in murder from 2024-25 and drops in other forms of violent crime. It provides strong evidence of continuing, nearly across-the-board declines in crime and especially violent crime. Some quick notes & context. counciloncj.org/crime-trends...
Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update - Council on Criminal Justice
With homicide down 21%, the 2025 homicide rate may reach the lowest level ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data going back to 1900, CCJ’s year-end analysis finds.
counciloncj.org
January 27, 2026 at 2:26 AM
A new report from the @counciloncj.org shows a 21% decline in murder from 2024-25 and drops in other forms of violent crime. It provides strong evidence of continuing, nearly across-the-board declines in crime and especially violent crime. Some quick notes & context. counciloncj.org/crime-trends...
Curious how other dads of girls see Calvin and Hobbes, which I also have loved since I was roughly six. I'd like to share it with my kids but I'm not sure how they'd interpret Calvin's longstanding fight with Suzy, GROSS...
Bill Watterson is my favorite cartoonist. I adored the relationship btw Calvin and Hobbes as a child. But as I've gotten older, these strips feel even more tender and insightful. My respect for him grew when I learned of his stance against merchandising. Such principles are almost unheard of today.
![Excerpt from Wikipedia reads: "Fight against merchandising his characters
For years, Watterson battled against pressure from publishers to merchandise his work, something that he felt would cheapen his comic through compromising the act of creation or reading.[21][22]
He refused to merchandise his creations on the grounds that displaying Calvin and Hobbes images on commercially sold mugs, stickers, and T-shirts would devalue the characters and their personalities. Watterson said that Universal kept putting pressure on him and that he had signed his contract without fully perusing it because, as a new artist, he was happy just to find a syndicate willing to give him a chance (two other syndicates had previously turned him down). He added that the contract was so one-sided that, if Universal really wanted to, they could license his characters against his will, and could even fire him and continue Calvin and Hobbes with a new artist. Watterson's position eventually won out, and he was able to renegotiate his contract so that he would receive all rights to his work. Later he said that the licensing fight exhausted him and contributed to the need for a nine-month sabbatical in 1991.[23]"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreihmgl3sxrmb5t6edpjnixyanj2rvcf43zdv46mbifhl7hdtmz5u6y@jpeg)
January 14, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Curious how other dads of girls see Calvin and Hobbes, which I also have loved since I was roughly six. I'd like to share it with my kids but I'm not sure how they'd interpret Calvin's longstanding fight with Suzy, GROSS...
Reposted by Ames Grawert
It gives me no pleasure to report that Bill O'Reilly doesn't know how crime stats are calculated. Non-prosecution plays virtually no role in what crimes get counted by police.
www.facebook.com/watch/?v=228...
www.facebook.com/watch/?v=228...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:46 PM
It gives me no pleasure to report that Bill O'Reilly doesn't know how crime stats are calculated. Non-prosecution plays virtually no role in what crimes get counted by police.
www.facebook.com/watch/?v=228...
www.facebook.com/watch/?v=228...
HHS recently moved to freeze funding for daycares nationwide, affecting hundreds of millions of dollars that families depend on.
What you might not know: It's the second time this has happened in a year. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
What you might not know: It's the second time this has happened in a year. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
How a Presidential Power Grab Disrupted Federally Funded Child Care
As the Trump administration’s attempt to pause trillions of dollars in federal grants is being challenged in the courts, providers and families are left hanging.
www.brennancenter.org
January 6, 2026 at 2:41 PM
HHS recently moved to freeze funding for daycares nationwide, affecting hundreds of millions of dollars that families depend on.
What you might not know: It's the second time this has happened in a year. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
What you might not know: It's the second time this has happened in a year. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
My daughter says I’m so good at making grilled cheeses that I should work at a restaurant making them, so yeah, I’d say my winter break is going ok
January 4, 2026 at 6:10 PM
My daughter says I’m so good at making grilled cheeses that I should work at a restaurant making them, so yeah, I’d say my winter break is going ok
Reposted by Ames Grawert
'The president’s capricious intrusion on congressional authority can be felt viscerally, whether by a small business owner whose livelihood is suddenly threatened or by a working parent who deserves to know whether they will be able to keep their young kids in daycare.'
From July: How a mass federal funding freeze threw daycares into chaos
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
How a Presidential Power Grab Disrupted Federally Funded Child Care
As the Trump administration’s attempt to pause trillions of dollars in federal grants is being challenged in the courts, providers and families are left hanging.
www.brennancenter.org
January 1, 2026 at 12:57 PM
'The president’s capricious intrusion on congressional authority can be felt viscerally, whether by a small business owner whose livelihood is suddenly threatened or by a working parent who deserves to know whether they will be able to keep their young kids in daycare.'
From July: How a mass federal funding freeze threw daycares into chaos
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
How a Presidential Power Grab Disrupted Federally Funded Child Care
As the Trump administration’s attempt to pause trillions of dollars in federal grants is being challenged in the courts, providers and families are left hanging.
www.brennancenter.org
December 31, 2025 at 10:33 PM
From July: How a mass federal funding freeze threw daycares into chaos
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...
Federal funding for criminal justice research helps equip state and local leaders with the best strategies for keeping our communities safe. DOJ's decision to cut those investments undermines years of progress.
New from the @brennancenter.org:
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
New from the @brennancenter.org:
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Rollback of Federal Investment in Research and Data Collection Jeopardizes Public Safety
The Trump administration’s abrupt termination of funding for criminal justice data and research will upend years of progress toward building safer communities.
www.brennancenter.org
December 23, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Federal funding for criminal justice research helps equip state and local leaders with the best strategies for keeping our communities safe. DOJ's decision to cut those investments undermines years of progress.
New from the @brennancenter.org:
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
New from the @brennancenter.org:
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Folks cleaning menorahs tonight, remember: Wax melts above 200°, then drips cleanly off most surfaces or can be wiped away. If you can safely heat your menorah, it's by far the fastest way to clean it!
December 23, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Folks cleaning menorahs tonight, remember: Wax melts above 200°, then drips cleanly off most surfaces or can be wiped away. If you can safely heat your menorah, it's by far the fastest way to clean it!
Reposted by Ames Grawert
A fantastic NYT report: Donors to Trump get pardons, jobs, & access - and benefited from regulatory decisions the Trump admin has made.
SUPER timely as SCOTUS is about to kill agency independence & give POTUS more control over agencies (likely to donors' benefit)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
SUPER timely as SCOTUS is about to kill agency independence & give POTUS more control over agencies (likely to donors' benefit)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Hundreds of Big Post-Election Donors Have Benefited From Trump’s Return to Office
Well into his second term, the president and his allies have continued aggressively raising money. Many donors have interests before his administration, The Times found.
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:40 PM
A fantastic NYT report: Donors to Trump get pardons, jobs, & access - and benefited from regulatory decisions the Trump admin has made.
SUPER timely as SCOTUS is about to kill agency independence & give POTUS more control over agencies (likely to donors' benefit)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
SUPER timely as SCOTUS is about to kill agency independence & give POTUS more control over agencies (likely to donors' benefit)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...