Phil Rocco
@philiprocco.bsky.social
politologue // yinzer // co-editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism // author of "Counting Like a State" https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700638758/counting-like-a-state/
Most posts are first drafts, comments welcome.
Most posts are first drafts, comments welcome.
Pinned
Phil Rocco
@philiprocco.bsky.social
· Mar 5
Counting Like a State
An inside look at the 2020 Census that shows the importance of state and local cooperation in the complex federal project of census taking.The census plays a...
kansaspress.ku.edu
Census 2030 will be the subject of a prolonged political assault. We can learn a lot from what state and local governments and NGOs did to save the 2020 Census. I document those strategies in my forthcoming @univpressofkansas.bsky.social book. kansaspress.ku.edu/978070063875...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
As we all wait for Callais to come down, our piece showing that Shelby County increased the racial turnout gap in most of the covered parts of the country has cleared the replication check and is incoming at JOP.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
November 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
As we all wait for Callais to come down, our piece showing that Shelby County increased the racial turnout gap in most of the covered parts of the country has cleared the replication check and is incoming at JOP.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
This is a story about how America’s world-leading cancer and dementia research system was destroyed by frauds and naifs who broke the law.
There must be consequences.
There must be consequences.
Some incredible details in this piece
*one DOGE faction was planning the future of the US government at a venture capital firm
*illegally communicating on Signal to avoid transparency laws was deeply embedded into organizational culture to be taken for granted
*one DOGE faction was planning the future of the US government at a venture capital firm
*illegally communicating on Signal to avoid transparency laws was deeply embedded into organizational culture to be taken for granted
November 22, 2025 at 10:12 PM
This is a story about how America’s world-leading cancer and dementia research system was destroyed by frauds and naifs who broke the law.
There must be consequences.
There must be consequences.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
All of healthtech, hundreds of billions of dollars, bundled up in making AI chatbots to misinterpret charts, or clunky apps for wearables that'll end up in a landfill in three years — wasted. A hundredth as effective as a Ford Transit with two PAs and a blood pressure cuff.
November 22, 2025 at 11:46 PM
All of healthtech, hundreds of billions of dollars, bundled up in making AI chatbots to misinterpret charts, or clunky apps for wearables that'll end up in a landfill in three years — wasted. A hundredth as effective as a Ford Transit with two PAs and a blood pressure cuff.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
This spring, Missouri adopted a law that ends St. Louis’ ability to run its own police, transferring control to the GOP-run state government. The law also requires St. Louis to commit 25% of its budget to policing.
Missouri Officials Seize Control of St. Louis Police, in Latest Bid to Shutter Local Reforms
The takeover returns St. Louis to a Civil War-era arrangement of state control. A local official calls the move "a clear gesture of white men wanting to control urban areas."
boltsmag.org
November 22, 2025 at 9:30 PM
This spring, Missouri adopted a law that ends St. Louis’ ability to run its own police, transferring control to the GOP-run state government. The law also requires St. Louis to commit 25% of its budget to policing.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
NEW from me: the proposed executive order to block states from regulating AI is indicative of the purchase of our government by tech overlords, & likely to spread to shield any business able to persuade Trump that because they use an algorithm or a computer, they're part of the AI revolution too.
Big Tech Poised to Win Immunity Shield From State AI Regulation - The American Prospect
The Trump administration is readying an executive order preempting constraints on AI. It could become a much more wide-ranging deregulatory tool.
prospect.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:21 PM
NEW from me: the proposed executive order to block states from regulating AI is indicative of the purchase of our government by tech overlords, & likely to spread to shield any business able to persuade Trump that because they use an algorithm or a computer, they're part of the AI revolution too.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
It's always hard to pick a worst day politically, but today the president called for the death of members of the opposition party, and the administration decided that people were being too hard on the swastika
November 21, 2025 at 4:15 AM
It's always hard to pick a worst day politically, but today the president called for the death of members of the opposition party, and the administration decided that people were being too hard on the swastika
Thread here on my new report for @cmmonwealth.bsky.social on what is to be done in the aftermath of Trump’s Medicaid cuts.
Our new brief on Medicaid and fight for Universal Health Care in the Trump Aftermath explains the program, Trump’s cuts and why we have unprecedented opportunities to organize a coalition of beneficiaries, healthcare workers and unions to expand Medicaid to universal healthcare.
November 21, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Thread here on my new report for @cmmonwealth.bsky.social on what is to be done in the aftermath of Trump’s Medicaid cuts.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
It is unfair to say that RFK Jr is massively ignorant and prone to spouting conspiracy theories about vaccines: he can do the same for safety net programs too. He has layers.
Secretary Kennedy, speaking to a bipartisan group of governors, has mixed up Medicare and Medicaid, and implied the people who will lose the latter are either unauthorized immigrants, dual eligible, or people who “don’t want to get a job.”
November 21, 2025 at 12:10 AM
It is unfair to say that RFK Jr is massively ignorant and prone to spouting conspiracy theories about vaccines: he can do the same for safety net programs too. He has layers.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
![II. Credibility
The Court next addresses the credibility of the parties’ evidence and witnesses. After reviewing all the evidence submitted to the Court and listening to the testimony elicited at the preliminary injunction hearing, during depositions, and in other court proceedings, the Court finds Defendants’ evidence simply not credible. [FN 6]
Plaintiffs submitted a mountain of evidence, providing the Court with over eighty declarations, numerous videos and articles, and other evidence. Defendants did not rebut anything that Plaintiffs set forth in their declarations or testimony, even with BWC footage.
[FN 6] In another case considering some of the same evidence presented to this Court, another court in this district also found that the perceptions of certain of Defendants’ declarants, such as Hott and Parra, were not reliable. See Illinois v. Trump, No. 25-cv-12174, 2025 WL 2886645, at *5 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 10, 2025) (noting a “troubling trend of Defendants’ declarants equating protests with riots and a lack of appreciation for the wide spectrum that exists between citizens who are observing, questioning, and criticizing their government, and those who are obstructing, assaulting, or doing violence”), motion to stay denied in part, 155 F.4th 929 (7th Cir. 2025).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/bafkreifpyry2il5toxbr3iejgrsxs6kmnwve75qwnhebfp44ieyjrfpsdu@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 PM
THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
Misconstrued by Riley/Brenner -- career achievement unlocked
November 19, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Misconstrued by Riley/Brenner -- career achievement unlocked
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Way back in 1947, Alan Turing had thoughts on how AI would influence the demand for skilled labor.
(via Matteo Pasquinelli 2023 _The Eye of the Master_)
(via Matteo Pasquinelli 2023 _The Eye of the Master_)
![Roughly speaking those who work in connection with the [automatic computing engine] will be divided into its masters and its servants. Its masters will plan out instruction tables for it, thinking up deeper and deeper ways of using it...The masters are liable to get replaced because as soon as any technique becomes at all stereotyped it becomes possible to devise a system of instruction tables which will enable the electronic computer to do it for itself. It may happen however that the masters will refuse to do this. They may be unwilling to let their jobs be stolen from them in this way. In that case they would surround the whole of their work with mystery and make excuses, couched in well chosen gibberish, whenever any dangerous suggestions were made.
— Alan Turing (1947) Lecture on the Automatic Computing Engine](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tbqqvyv6pjjww44glrmycaxl/bafkreiajgzfaixqslnz2oftyxfcz2htgwbfisxfeyoospb5o6f3arqwfgu@jpeg)
November 18, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Way back in 1947, Alan Turing had thoughts on how AI would influence the demand for skilled labor.
(via Matteo Pasquinelli 2023 _The Eye of the Master_)
(via Matteo Pasquinelli 2023 _The Eye of the Master_)
Sorry how is Lizza writing something called Telos News? There’s only one Telos and it was edited by Paul Piccone darling.
November 18, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Sorry how is Lizza writing something called Telos News? There’s only one Telos and it was edited by Paul Piccone darling.
New @cmmonwealth.bsky.social paper from me on Medicaid’s political economy and the battle ahead.
Millions are to be kicked off of Medicaid.
Millions will see healthcare costs skyrocket as ACA subsidies expire.
In 2028, we must fight for universal healthcare.
Where should we concentrate efforts to build up working class power to advance this cause?
shorturl.at/1kQG4
Millions will see healthcare costs skyrocket as ACA subsidies expire.
In 2028, we must fight for universal healthcare.
Where should we concentrate efforts to build up working class power to advance this cause?
shorturl.at/1kQG4
Medicaid and the Struggle for Universal Health Care in the Trump Aftermath
How can organizers leverage the contradictions of Medicaid to build a movement for Universal Healthcare?
shorturl.at
November 18, 2025 at 12:32 AM
New @cmmonwealth.bsky.social paper from me on Medicaid’s political economy and the battle ahead.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
It's universal public provision of healthcare in 2028 or bust...but where to start politically? We're really proud to publish @philiprocco.bsky.social 's answer to this question today!
Millions are to be kicked off of Medicaid.
Millions will see healthcare costs skyrocket as ACA subsidies expire.
In 2028, we must fight for universal healthcare.
Where should we concentrate efforts to build up working class power to advance this cause?
shorturl.at/1kQG4
Millions will see healthcare costs skyrocket as ACA subsidies expire.
In 2028, we must fight for universal healthcare.
Where should we concentrate efforts to build up working class power to advance this cause?
shorturl.at/1kQG4
Medicaid and the Struggle for Universal Health Care in the Trump Aftermath
How can organizers leverage the contradictions of Medicaid to build a movement for Universal Healthcare?
shorturl.at
November 17, 2025 at 1:10 PM
It's universal public provision of healthcare in 2028 or bust...but where to start politically? We're really proud to publish @philiprocco.bsky.social 's answer to this question today!
Once again, if you aren’t already an @aaup.org member and you work at a university, please join. Our orgs are leading the way at safeguarding higher education from assault.
I should have started even earlier with the caption of the case: not UC, but AAUP, v Trump et al.
The @aaup.org and UC faculty associations, unions etc representing huge numbers of UC employees brought this suit.
The UC itself maintains its mysterious strategy of standing very, very still & quiet.
The @aaup.org and UC faculty associations, unions etc representing huge numbers of UC employees brought this suit.
The UC itself maintains its mysterious strategy of standing very, very still & quiet.
November 15, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Once again, if you aren’t already an @aaup.org member and you work at a university, please join. Our orgs are leading the way at safeguarding higher education from assault.
Reposted by Phil Rocco
If signed into law, the bill would cap energy costs for Wisconsinites at 2 percent of their household income.
Reporter Whittaker Peters has more.
www.wortfm.org/state-democr...
Reporter Whittaker Peters has more.
www.wortfm.org/state-democr...
State Democrats propose cap on utility rates - WORT-FM 89.9
If signed into law, the bill would cap energy costs for Wisconsinites at 2 percent of their household income.
www.wortfm.org
November 12, 2025 at 12:09 AM
If signed into law, the bill would cap energy costs for Wisconsinites at 2 percent of their household income.
Reporter Whittaker Peters has more.
www.wortfm.org/state-democr...
Reporter Whittaker Peters has more.
www.wortfm.org/state-democr...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Why would the Supreme Court's conservative majority defer to the timeline of a political conflict in Congress?
Hmmm.... 🤔
Hmmm.... 🤔
NEW: Supreme Court extends temporary block on judge's ruling that would require full funding of SNAP payments, with deal to end shutdown (which would fully fund SNAP) on the horizon:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
Supreme Court extends temporary pause on $4 billion in SNAP payments for November
A deal in Congress to end the government shutdown includes full SNAP funding through September and could mean the Supreme Court does not have to issue a ruling later.
www.nbcnews.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Why would the Supreme Court's conservative majority defer to the timeline of a political conflict in Congress?
Hmmm.... 🤔
Hmmm.... 🤔
To add on, a smart take here by @ericblanc.bsky.social on the weaknesses on the labor side of the Dem coalition that made the caving more likely. jacobin.com/2025/11/demo...
November 11, 2025 at 3:52 AM
To add on, a smart take here by @ericblanc.bsky.social on the weaknesses on the labor side of the Dem coalition that made the caving more likely. jacobin.com/2025/11/demo...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
As the ~discourse~ seems to bend interminably towards Republicans trying to figure out how they can (further) HDHP-ify ACA coverage, it's worth revisiting what is probably our best (most rigorous) study on the effect of deductibles in health insurance.
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
November 10, 2025 at 9:51 PM
As the ~discourse~ seems to bend interminably towards Republicans trying to figure out how they can (further) HDHP-ify ACA coverage, it's worth revisiting what is probably our best (most rigorous) study on the effect of deductibles in health insurance.
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
academic.oup.com/qje/article-...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Anyway the eight Dem senators were too lazy to do this
November 11, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Anyway the eight Dem senators were too lazy to do this
Reposted by Phil Rocco
CMS sent out a notice that GA's Section 1115 waiver for its Medicaid work requirements ("The Georgia Pathways to Coverage® Program") will be extended until 31 Dec 2026 (when HR-1's mandated work req's for all state Medicaid programs begins)
Link to the application www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
Link to the application www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
September 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
CMS sent out a notice that GA's Section 1115 waiver for its Medicaid work requirements ("The Georgia Pathways to Coverage® Program") will be extended until 31 Dec 2026 (when HR-1's mandated work req's for all state Medicaid programs begins)
Link to the application www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
Link to the application www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
Reposted by Phil Rocco
Ah, creating a legal entitlement for $500K for some elderly millionaires because they being investigated for their role in an insurrection *in exchange for* a show vote to make health care affordable.
Look at this new outrage. To open govt, we're retroactively letting 8 Senators sue for $500K each over having had their J6 phone toll records looked at. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
Spending Bill Would Pave Way for Senators to Sue Over Phone Searches
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Ah, creating a legal entitlement for $500K for some elderly millionaires because they being investigated for their role in an insurrection *in exchange for* a show vote to make health care affordable.
Key context for last night’s vote was reported by the Prospect on Saturday —>
This is consistent with what we reported on Saturday, though the framing is (preposterously) positive.
-Schumer was getting regular updates from the Cave Caucus
-He didn't want to be seen as pro-caving but was fine with them negotiating to cave
-Shaheen wouldn't say Schumer was working against her
-Schumer was getting regular updates from the Cave Caucus
-He didn't want to be seen as pro-caving but was fine with them negotiating to cave
-Shaheen wouldn't say Schumer was working against her
SCOOP: Schumer privately fought to extend government shutdown
November 11, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Key context for last night’s vote was reported by the Prospect on Saturday —>
Reposted by Phil Rocco
I wrote here about Trump’s limited understanding of health insurance and how relying on direct payments to people for payment toward health care costs is a terrible idea. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
November 11, 2025 at 12:53 AM
I wrote here about Trump’s limited understanding of health insurance and how relying on direct payments to people for payment toward health care costs is a terrible idea. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...