Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Evans

@mevanspolisci.bsky.social

340 followers 580 following 190 posts

I teach & conduct political science research, seeking a healthier democracy.

Videos

Communication & Media Studies 27%

Education 25%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Michael Evans

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 12h

To his great credit

Alex Wayne @aawayne.bsky.social · 21h

“Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”

The Republican chair of the National Governors Association breaks with Trump.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Criticizes National Guard Deployment in Chicago

www.nytimes.com

8 33 260

Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 21h

This will be a great discussion with my colleague, @jennifermccoy.bsky.social. Hope you can join us!

Scholars Strategy Network @scholars.org · 21h

Join Georgia SSN for the first webinar in their "Defending U.S. Democracy" webinar series with
@jennifermccoy.bsky.social, moderated by @bernardtamas.bsky.social!

📅 Tues, Oct. 14
🕓 4pm - 5:15pm

🔗 Register for the event now: scholars.my.salesforce-sites.com/event/home/d...

2 3

Reposted by Michael Evans

Scholars Strategy Network @scholars.org · 21h

1 2

Reposted by David R. Miller, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Michael Evans

🎃🪦 BLOODSUGARSETHMASKET 🪦🎃 @smotus.bsky.social · 2d

I wrote back in June that Trump is essentially attempting a Little Rock 1957 deployment only this time for white people, and he just tweeted it out
smotus.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

1 36 110

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Michael Evans

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2d

Who is going to pay for all this slop?

Sora 2 Has a Huge Financial Problem

How will OpenAI stop Sora 2 from burning through cash as users generate countless resource-intensive AI videos?

futurism.com

2 24 57

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Michael Evans

Julie Cohen ❌👑 @filmmakerjulie.bsky.social · 3d

Gifting this one: interesting, important read on how the USA shook off authoritarianism of 1920s. Yes cataclysm is part of it.
But bolstering the WEB Duboises & Sidney Hillmans of today?
Pushing Grand Experiments for democracy?
BRING IT ON.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/o...

Opinion | How to Save the American Experiment

www.nytimes.com

8 39 100

Reposted by Michael Evans

Andrew Rudalevige @rudalev.bsky.social · 8d

Back in 2016 I wrote a chapter called "The President as Minority Leader" in a volume on the just-concluded election (link in next post). Feeling pretty good about that early conclusion...

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 8d

all presidential administrations are partisan, but trump and the people in his white house are partisans bordering on sectarians, and one result is that they see nothing of actions that strain and weaken the union itself

Trump targets states that voted for Harris in shutdown fight

The Office of Management and Budget is withholding billions in energy and infrastructure money in more than a dozen states that voted against Trump.

www.politico.com

1 1 5

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, David R. Miller, Henry Jones , and 2 more Brendan Nyhan, David R. Miller, Henry Jones, Andrew Rudalevige, Michael Evans

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 8d

Trump targets states that voted for Harris in shutdown fight

The Office of Management and Budget is withholding billions in energy and infrastructure money in more than a dozen states that voted against Trump.

www.politico.com

120 740 3.6K

Reposted by Michael Evans

Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 8d

NEW: How fusion voting—an American tradition allowing candidates to appear on multiple party ballot lines—can bolster efforts to reform our broken politics. It's time to revive this pathway to better representation. Summary is threaded plus full report is 🔗: protectdemocracy.org/work/fusion-...

Fusion as a Pathway to Proportional Representation
Lessons from Global Experience and American Electoral Heritage

3 7 35

Reposted by Stacy D. VanDeveer, Dana R. Fisher, Henrik Skaug Sætra , and 1 more Stacy D. VanDeveer, Dana R. Fisher, Henrik Skaug Sætra, Michael Evans

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 9d

The president said, in a televised speech, that he's sending his new, less restrained, more violent military into US cities to practice their brutality on immigrants and minorities, to better train them to apply that brutality to other countries.

He said this out loud.

650 5.6K 15K

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Diane Ravitch, Eric Goldman , and 7 more Scott L. Greer, Diane Ravitch, Eric Goldman, Joseph Schafer, Anders Nilsson, David R. Miller, Erol Akçay, Anne Norton, Greg Linden, Michael Evans

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 9d

The president just gathered the highest ranking officers in the military to tell them that he may order them to kill American citizens -- and that they better follow his orders. All in response to a series of crises that have no basis in reality.

I don't know how to yell any louder.

540 6.9K 19K

Reposted by Ann Bartow, Peter Gratton, Michael Evans

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 10d

I’m opening a movie theater in which I show recently released films that I ripped from the internet but the studios are welcome to opt out if they wish.

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 10d

Exclusive: OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator, which creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear.

OpenAI’s New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out

Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week.

on.wsj.com

93 1.6K 6.6K

Reposted by Mark D. White, Ian Hall, Gillian Rose , and 11 more Mark D. White, Ian Hall, Gillian Rose, Brian Kelly, Melanie C. Green, Carlos Nunes Silva, Tama Leaver, Aija Leiponen, Jeremy J. Schmidt, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Michael Evans, Mary James, Hilary Bussell, Elisa Freschi

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 10d

Exclusive: OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator, which creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear.

OpenAI’s New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out

Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week.

on.wsj.com

330 160 290

Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 11d

Awesome. Can't wait to read it!

Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 11d

This seems really relevant. Have you looked at which podcasts are being cited?

1 1

Reposted by Michael Evans

Miranda Yaver @mirandayaver.bsky.social · 14d

This is really fucking bad.

2 4 12

Reposted by Michael Evans

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 21d

That’s what makes this so scary: Any assumption of democratic resilience was predicated on the idea that civil society actors with enormous resources at their disposal and the law on their side – universities, law firms, media companies… – would push back. But so many simply won’t, or not anymore.

5 45 150

Reposted by Erich Fromm, Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Joseph Schafer , and 4 more Erich Fromm, Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Joseph Schafer, Gerald Friedman, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Michael Evans, Dunlap

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 23d

This is why they’re deleting studies

370 6.5K 14K

Reposted by Michael Evans

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 23d

BREAKING: Touching the stove is bad

3 28 160

Reposted by Michael Evans

Midlands LikeMinded @midlandslikeminded.bsky.social · 27d

More independent media please

6 68 190

Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 27d

If only I could have that much influence — malevolent or otherwise.

Reposted by Michael Evans

Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 27d

One thing that’s different now is there’s virtually no shared foundation of reality, at least not online.

And that’s largely purposeful.

It’s all a bunch of engines to produce emotional reactivity, and we’re all parts of those engines—consciously or not—while also being subjected to their effects.

14 99 430

Reposted by Michael Evans

Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 28d

I had an interesting conversation with my undergrad students yesterday about Charlie Kirk's death. These kids grew up in conservativism and many felt they knew Kirk, they had a parasocial relationship with him. They, of course, felt like they lost a friend, and worse, they saw it happen.

10 9 77

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · Aug 30

🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics.

The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.

65 730 1.7K

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 25

Trump signs an executive order: "If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail."

1.1K 300 1.3K

Reposted by Michael Evans

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · Aug 25

*HASSETT: POSSIBLE THAT GOVT TAKES MORE EQUITY STAKE FROM FIRMS

13 22 74

Reposted by W. Andy Knight, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Michael Evans

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · Aug 19

All of the legacy media outlets that told us last year that Trump and the GOP really loved voting by mail and criticized me for saying it wasn't true were wrong. Now Trump is trying to ban VBM and he also wants to take over vote counting and certification. I hope they listen to me this time.

130 1.7K 4.6K

Reposted by Greg Linden, Jr, Michael Evans

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Aug 17

So if a group of men -- all of them wearing masks, with no uniforms or badges visible, driving unmarked cars -- approach anyone on the streets of DC, they're just supposed to submit?

580 2.8K 11K

Reposted by Mark A. Lemley, David R. Miller, Caroline T. Schroeder , and 1 more Mark A. Lemley, David R. Miller, Caroline T. Schroeder, Michael Evans

Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · Aug 13

The President cannot commandeer any local law enforcement.
The President does not run the Smithsonian.
The monthly BLS jobs report is required by law.
Release the Epstein files.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

970 11K 33K