Dave Vanness
@djvanness.bsky.social
Economist; professor; health policy and decision science. Advocate for high quality, affordable #HigherEd. Georgetown and UW-Madison alum. Personal views only. #EduSky #EconSky #Bayesian
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9790-2988
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9790-2988
Reposted by Dave Vanness
The officer who shot Alex worked for DHS for 8 years. The officer who shot Renee worked for DHS for over 10 years. Both are considered “highly trained.”
The problem isn’t "training." DHS was built to violate our rights and has been empowered to act with impunity. We must MELT ICE and dismantle DHS.
The problem isn’t "training." DHS was built to violate our rights and has been empowered to act with impunity. We must MELT ICE and dismantle DHS.
January 26, 2026 at 7:28 PM
The officer who shot Alex worked for DHS for 8 years. The officer who shot Renee worked for DHS for over 10 years. Both are considered “highly trained.”
The problem isn’t "training." DHS was built to violate our rights and has been empowered to act with impunity. We must MELT ICE and dismantle DHS.
The problem isn’t "training." DHS was built to violate our rights and has been empowered to act with impunity. We must MELT ICE and dismantle DHS.
1000x this.
The murder of Alex Pretti might prove to be a political turning point for the GOP. It should be a turning point for Dems, too. For the current leadership, and the consultant-industrial complex, which just fatally endangered the careers of seven members who chose to put morality last.
A Failure In Plain Sight
Who, if anyone, will acknowledge the obvious, and do something about it?
www.offmessage.net
January 26, 2026 at 5:09 PM
1000x this.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Standing with 65 of my UMN Law colleagues (and counting) to condemn ICE’s lawless conduct towards Minnesotans: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Open Letter to Minnesota Law CommunityJanuary 25
January 25, 2026 To the Minnesota Law Community: We, the undersigned faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School, write in our individual capacities to address the federal government's ongoin...
docs.google.com
January 25, 2026 at 11:53 PM
Standing with 65 of my UMN Law colleagues (and counting) to condemn ICE’s lawless conduct towards Minnesotans: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Dave Vanness
This is one of the things that I find is most shocking to people outside Minnesota who don’t realize it yet—the scale at which everyone who isn’t white has been forced into a spectrum of hiding.
Very good article drawing out the Tahrir Square comparison.
Very good article drawing out the Tahrir Square comparison.
January 26, 2026 at 4:01 AM
This is one of the things that I find is most shocking to people outside Minnesota who don’t realize it yet—the scale at which everyone who isn’t white has been forced into a spectrum of hiding.
Very good article drawing out the Tahrir Square comparison.
Very good article drawing out the Tahrir Square comparison.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
“He was a calm presence amid hospital chaos. A mentor who taught kindness and patience to younger friends and colleagues. A singer with a knack for dancing. A bicyclist who treasured the beauty of Minnesota… He was the kind of nurse patients remembered, colleagues said, and he was a beloved mentor”
Alex Pretti’s Friends and Family Denounce ‘Sickening Lies’ About His Life
www.nytimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 12:56 PM
“He was a calm presence amid hospital chaos. A mentor who taught kindness and patience to younger friends and colleagues. A singer with a knack for dancing. A bicyclist who treasured the beauty of Minnesota… He was the kind of nurse patients remembered, colleagues said, and he was a beloved mentor”
They ran out of endless breadsticks, didn't they...
Oh my God, what an incredibly real and incredibly terrifying story. These grown men were locked inside a restaurant? Wow.
It's hard to say where that ranks next to the state-sanctioned murders and the kidnapping of children, but gosh, they were briefly locked inside a restaurant? Heaven forfend.
It's hard to say where that ranks next to the state-sanctioned murders and the kidnapping of children, but gosh, they were briefly locked inside a restaurant? Heaven forfend.
January 26, 2026 at 12:42 PM
They ran out of endless breadsticks, didn't they...
Reposted by Dave Vanness
There are about 100 protesters outside Schumer’s building in the middle of the blizzard urging him to whip Dem votes against any more ICE/CBP funding.
January 25, 2026 at 6:00 PM
There are about 100 protesters outside Schumer’s building in the middle of the blizzard urging him to whip Dem votes against any more ICE/CBP funding.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Bovino, as required for a Trump Administration job, is a shameless liar. What’s scarier than that is perhaps 25 to 35% of the nation are totalitarian-souled bootlickers eager to believe him. How do you make a nation out of people like that?
BOVINO: He was in the scene actively impeding and assaulting law enforceme--
BASH: But he wasn't impeding. He was filming, which is a legal thing to do in the United States
BOVINO: Dana, let's not free frame adjudicate this now
BASH: But he wasn't impeding. He was filming, which is a legal thing to do in the United States
BOVINO: Dana, let's not free frame adjudicate this now
January 25, 2026 at 3:19 PM
Bovino, as required for a Trump Administration job, is a shameless liar. What’s scarier than that is perhaps 25 to 35% of the nation are totalitarian-souled bootlickers eager to believe him. How do you make a nation out of people like that?
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Strange take. It doesn't require a sophisticated effort - it requires lawlessness and audacity, and they have both.
strange to me that a lot of people on this website simultaneously agree that the administration is run by incompetents who struggle to carry out their agenda without major political blowback AND that they’ll pull off a complex and sophisticated effort to rig elections and prevent defeat in November
January 25, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Strange take. It doesn't require a sophisticated effort - it requires lawlessness and audacity, and they have both.
Strange take. It doesn't require a sophisticated effort - it requires lawlessness and audacity, and they have both.
strange to me that a lot of people on this website simultaneously agree that the administration is run by incompetents who struggle to carry out their agenda without major political blowback AND that they’ll pull off a complex and sophisticated effort to rig elections and prevent defeat in November
January 25, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Strange take. It doesn't require a sophisticated effort - it requires lawlessness and audacity, and they have both.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
imagine if all that money had gone to teachers instead
January 25, 2026 at 2:37 PM
imagine if all that money had gone to teachers instead
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Putin pioneered this. No opposition is legitimate. Regular, decent, “ordinary” people cannot possibly be against us because only we represent “the real people.”
Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.
Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.
January 25, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Putin pioneered this. No opposition is legitimate. Regular, decent, “ordinary” people cannot possibly be against us because only we represent “the real people.”
Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.
Tell-tale sign of authoritarianism.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
This week’s budget fight needs to be about more than just the extra funding for ICE/DHS. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...
January 25, 2026 at 12:53 PM
This week’s budget fight needs to be about more than just the extra funding for ICE/DHS. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Really hard to look at this and all the other examples of bravery and kindness from ordinary people in this moment not think also of the tremendous cowardice exhibited over the past year by some of the richest, most well-protected people in business, media and politics
Let us all have the courage displayed by the residents of Minneapolis.
January 25, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Really hard to look at this and all the other examples of bravery and kindness from ordinary people in this moment not think also of the tremendous cowardice exhibited over the past year by some of the richest, most well-protected people in business, media and politics
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Yes, the GOP controls Congress. That's why it's key to show Congress COULD stop the madness. And it's not just the DHS bill. Congress could repeal the prior multi-year $75b for DHS; set up a special investigative committee (cf. Watergate); amend the Insurrection Act; etc.
January 25, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Yes, the GOP controls Congress. That's why it's key to show Congress COULD stop the madness. And it's not just the DHS bill. Congress could repeal the prior multi-year $75b for DHS; set up a special investigative committee (cf. Watergate); amend the Insurrection Act; etc.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Alex Pretti grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he played football, baseball and ran track for Preble High School. He was a Boy Scout and sang in the Green Bay Boy Choir.
apnews.com/article/immi...
apnews.com/article/immi...
The man killed by a US Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis was an ICU nurse, family says
Family members say the man who was killed by a federal officer in Minneapolis was an intensive care nurse at a U.S.
apnews.com
January 25, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Alex Pretti grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he played football, baseball and ran track for Preble High School. He was a Boy Scout and sang in the Green Bay Boy Choir.
apnews.com/article/immi...
apnews.com/article/immi...
Reposted by Dave Vanness
The term “law enforcement” should not be used by media, except perhaps in quotations. It has sadly become an Orwellian term that is used to magically sanctify violence. Language matters. Be specific. Describe individuals with names and ranks. Say exactly what they did. Don’t repeat fascist hocum.
January 24, 2026 at 10:59 PM
The term “law enforcement” should not be used by media, except perhaps in quotations. It has sadly become an Orwellian term that is used to magically sanctify violence. Language matters. Be specific. Describe individuals with names and ranks. Say exactly what they did. Don’t repeat fascist hocum.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
The terrorism is coming from inside the White House
Sayre: "My background is in international humanitarian response in conflict zones in Yemen, Haiti, Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. What I've seen here is what I've seen there. A powerful entity violently and intentionally terrorizing people."
January 24, 2026 at 10:17 PM
The terrorism is coming from inside the White House
Reposted by Dave Vanness
🧵Any Member of Congress can introduce the case that Donald Trump is levying war on the US in violation of the Treason Clause, and that treason is self-impeaching conduct. Every member should. The critical audience for this argument, now, is not their GOP colleagues but the public and the military 1/
January 23, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Dave Vanness
This is fucking gross
January 24, 2026 at 9:16 PM
This is fucking gross
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Remembering how cops tossed Kyle Rittenhouse - who was open carrying a semiautomatic rifle - a bottle of water and told him, “We appreciate you… we really do”
January 24, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Remembering how cops tossed Kyle Rittenhouse - who was open carrying a semiautomatic rifle - a bottle of water and told him, “We appreciate you… we really do”
Reposted by Dave Vanness
We have been told for nearly 30 years that America needed to tolerate mass shootings because the broad availability of guns would help us defend ourselves from an overreaching federal government. That day has come. The people who said this are supporting the federal agents. Many have joined them.
January 24, 2026 at 6:02 PM
We have been told for nearly 30 years that America needed to tolerate mass shootings because the broad availability of guns would help us defend ourselves from an overreaching federal government. That day has come. The people who said this are supporting the federal agents. Many have joined them.
Reposted by Dave Vanness
Pritzker: "An American president should be standing up, calling for calm. That's not what this president ever does. In fact, he wants the temperature to go up. Why? Because what he's looking for is an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act, to bring actual troops into American cities."
January 24, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Pritzker: "An American president should be standing up, calling for calm. That's not what this president ever does. In fact, he wants the temperature to go up. Why? Because what he's looking for is an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act, to bring actual troops into American cities."
How many more have to be executed by the secret police before there is a real response from Dem leadership? Two? Ten? Twenty? A thousand? How many more have to die for our leaders to get the damn point? www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
January 24, 2026 at 4:28 PM
How many more have to be executed by the secret police before there is a real response from Dem leadership? Two? Ten? Twenty? A thousand? How many more have to die for our leaders to get the damn point? www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
When Bill Kristol is to the left of Dem leadership, it's time for new leadership.
To repeat: Abolish ICE.
January 24, 2026 at 4:26 PM
When Bill Kristol is to the left of Dem leadership, it's time for new leadership.