When you're on the Amtrak from DC to NY

Highly recommend this book by the incredibly talented Haley Cohen on the gripping, harrowing, but ultimately inspiring story of the grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Flow...

Finally got around to reading this excellent novel (You Dream of Empires in English).

Highly recommended!

"AI is a mass delusion event"

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Have I got the report for you!
www.newamerica.org/political-re...

Proportional representation could help narrow the age divide: young people can create new parties, parties have incentives to diversify their candidate lists, incumbents have some advantage but not as much as in winner-take-all elections.

Some graphs from our report on the age divide that really struck me: Almost 40% of US representatives are above retirement age and that is a uniquely American problem.

It also doesn't seem like term limits would help much: new members of Congress are...not that young!

“An uncommon animal, called by naturalists a GERRYMANDER,” Ohio State Journal, August 31, 1842.

From @leedrutman.bsky.social's essay on previous gerrymandering wars and how to fix the problem once and for all (proportional representation!)

leedrutman.substack.com/p/what-the-a...

Excited to go to New Orleans this week for @netrootsnation.bsky.social.

I'm on a panel making the case for proportional representation in the US. Come check it out if you're around!

This reminds me of this recent paper that came out on how rare it is for democracies to come back after backsliding.

Though quite the sobering read, it is also an invitation to imagine and work towards better institutions to future-proof democracy.

www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the...

Instant run-off results from last week's election are out. Mamdani wins 56% of the votes in the third round, 12 points ahead of Cuomo.