Robert Richards
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rrichard09.bsky.social
Robert Richards
@rrichard09.bsky.social
3K followers 8.5K following 530 posts

I study how people talk about politics and law and participate in governing their communities. Opinions expressed here are mine alone, not those of my employers or institutions.
https://rcrjr.wordpress.com

Videos
Political science 19%
Environmental science 17%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Robert C. Richards, Dean Eckles , and 1 more

bgrueskin.bsky.social
Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 1h
Powell, showing more guts than almost any GOP legislators:

"The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Fed setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President."

www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

civilwarmemory.bsky.social
Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 2h
Getting ready to discuss @jgiesber.bsky.social's fantastic new book with my newsletter book group.

Reposted by Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, Karen O’Leary

annabower.bsky.social
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 2h
Here is the video message of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell regarding the Justice Department’s criminal investigation related to the Fed’s building renovations.

Watch it.

youtu.be/KckGHaBLSn4
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell
YouTube video by Federal Reserve
youtu.be

Reposted by Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, David Darmofal

annabower.bsky.social
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 2h
“Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank had been served grand jury subpoenas from the Justice Department threatening a criminal indictment related to his June congressional testimony on ongoing renovations of the Fed’s headquarters”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank had been served grand jury subpoenas from the Justice Department threatening a criminal indictment related to his June congressional testimony on ongoing renovations of the Fed's headquarters. In a statement released Sunday evening, Powell rejected the notion that the action was driven by his testimony or the renovation. "Those are pretexts," Powell said. "The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president." Powell added, "This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions - or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

lorak.bsky.social
Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · 3h
No, Canada is not considering banning X in the wake of the company's Grok decisions that led to widespread AI-generation of CSAM & NCII etc. (Elon Musk's xAI owns and operates X and developed and operates Grok.) ottawa.citynews.ca/2026/01/11/c...
Canada not considering a ban on X over deepfake controversy, AI minister says
OTTAWA — Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon says Canada isn’t considering a ban of the social media platform X, though his office says discussions about X’s deepfake controversy are underwa...
ottawa.citynews.ca

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 4h
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

The world we know is ending. Something new has begun. New York Times Opinion asked five thinkers where they believe we’re headed next.
Opinion | Trump Broke the World Order. Now What?
With the president’s actions in Venezuela, we’re entering a new era. Here’s what it could look like.
nyti.ms

rrichard09.bsky.social
Robert Richards @rrichard09.bsky.social · 4h
perhaps some clues here:
bsky.app/profile/augu...
augustafreepress.bsky.social The Notorious AFP @augustafreepress.bsky.social · 11h
Inside Higher Ed frames the controversy surrounding Scott C. Beardsley‘s appointment as the UVA president as follows: “Beardsley has solid academic credentials… But his résumé isn’t the problem for most critics; the hiring process is.”

#UVA

Story online: augustafreepress.com/news/vanishi...
How UVA’s presidential search missed what took us an hour to find
Inside Higher Ed frames the controversy surrounding Scott C. Beardsley's appointment as the University of Virginia's president.
augustafreepress.com

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 4h
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced on Sunday that she wants to prohibit campaigns from spreading A.I.-generated images of people, including opposing candidates, without their consent in the 90 days before an election.
New York Seeks Ban on A.I.-Generated Images of Candidates
Last year, the Cuomo campaign released a video created by artificial intelligence that depicted Zohran Mamdani eating rice with his hands. Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to ban such tactics.
nyti.ms

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

katzish.bsky.social
Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 5h
A long-lost newsreel of this march was discovered and restored quite recently and it is well worth watching—such a familiar route and It is extraordinary to see these brave people 108 years ago commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ne...

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Adam Bonica , and 2 more

hakeemjefferson.bsky.social
Hakeem Jefferson @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social · 8h
This beautifully written piece by my pal @adambonica.bsky.social is worth your time today.

A bit of light amid the darkness.

open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...
The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls
On the optimism of preparation in a time of democratic decay.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Robert C. Richards, Rebecca Tushnet

timothysnyder.bsky.social
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 9h
We have cleaned up the crime scene and blocked a local investigation and hidden the perpetrator and invaded the state and that is how you know that we are acting in good faith and that everything was the victim’s fault.
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Trump Administration Live Updates: Noem Says ‘Hundreds More’ Agents Will Be Sent to Minnesota Over ‘Corruption’
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

augustafreepress.bsky.social
The Notorious AFP @augustafreepress.bsky.social · 11h
Inside Higher Ed frames the controversy surrounding Scott C. Beardsley‘s appointment as the UVA president as follows: “Beardsley has solid academic credentials… But his résumé isn’t the problem for most critics; the hiring process is.”

#UVA

Story online: augustafreepress.com/news/vanishi...
How UVA’s presidential search missed what took us an hour to find
Inside Higher Ed frames the controversy surrounding Scott C. Beardsley's appointment as the University of Virginia's president.
augustafreepress.com

Reposted by Megan L. Ranney, Robert C. Richards

phillewis.bsky.social
Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 11h
A fire heavily damaged Mississippi’s largest synagogue — the same one the Ku Klux Klan bombed in 1967 because the rabbi supported civil rights

A suspect has been arrested, authorities say
Predawn fire reduces parts of Mississippi's largest synagogue to charred ruins - Mississippi Today
A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil rights...
mississippitoday.org

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

weedenkim.bsky.social
Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 13h
Bouie: MAGA's vision of the world is one of the US as the neighborhood rapist (and proud of it).

He connects the dots between between the MAGA view that "international law is gay" and the acceptance, if not celebration, of sexual assailants in MAGA & WH.

Related: Cynthia Miller-Idriss, "Man Up."

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner, Robert C. Richards

reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 13h
As I mentioned yesterday, they’re trying to get around the limits which in Section 527 of the annual appropriations bill. That bill says it’s limited to funds “made available … by this act.”

What this memo says is we are going to deny access, but only using funds from OBBBA (so a different act).
SEC. 527. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens, or to make any temporary modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of Congress or such designated employee, compared to what would be observed in the absence of such modification: (1) A Member of Congress. (2) An employee of the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate designated by such a Member for the purposes of this section. (b) Nothing in this section may be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility described in subsection (a) for the purpose of conducting oversight.

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

unlawfulentries.bsky.social
Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 13h
On our nation's 250th birthday, please follow public historians to understand what is happening to the creation of "history." In addition to John, other public historians: @erinbartram.bsky.social @jeanettepatrick.bsky.social @tinashull.bsky.social @aadeleon.bsky.social @evalentin25.bsky.social
johngmarks.com John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 13h
It’s the last of these, this attempt to create anti-history slop, that concerns me the most. Ideologically motivated historically cherry picking has happened for ages and isn’t exclusive to the Right. This effort to make ostensibl create fake history feels both more novel and more nefarious.

Reposted by Robert C. Richards, Federico Finchelstein

gtconway.bsky.social
George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 14h
“The alarm was warranted. Everyone on the scene had witnessed the crossing of a crucial line in Donald Trump’s mass-deportation project: ICE had just killed an American citizen on American soil”

{gift link} www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Reposted by Daniel S. Goldberg, Robert C. Richards, Scott A. Imberman , and 2 more

bgrueskin.bsky.social
Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 23h
An arsonist hit a Mississippi synagogue Saturday. Seven Torahs were damaged or destroyed in the fire.

One Torah, from the Holocaust, was in a glass case and wasn't touched.

The same synagogue was bombed by the KKK in 1967.

mississippitoday.org/2026/01/10/f...
Predawn fire reduces parts of Mississippi's largest synagogue to charred ruins - Mississippi Today
A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil rights...
mississippitoday.org

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Robert C. Richards, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò , and 3 more

katzish.bsky.social
Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 23h
Horrible. Arson attack today at Mississippi’s largest synagogue, on Shabbat, destroyed multiple Torahs and left parts of the building in ruins
mississippitoday.org Mississippi Today @mississippitoday.org · 1d
Suspect arrested in predawn fire that left parts of Mississippi’s largest synagogue in charred ruins

A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil…
Suspect arrested in predawn fire that left parts of Mississippi’s largest synagogue in charred ruins
A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil rights.
mississippitoday.org

Reposted by Steven Heydemann, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Brendan Nyhan , and 8 more

mississippitoday.org
Mississippi Today @mississippitoday.org · 1d
Suspect arrested in predawn fire that left parts of Mississippi’s largest synagogue in charred ruins

A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil…
Suspect arrested in predawn fire that left parts of Mississippi’s largest synagogue in charred ruins
A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil rights.
mississippitoday.org

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Rebecca Solnit, Dorothy Bishop , and 18 more

chrismurphyct.bsky.social
Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 1d
I can't believe I'm posting this video - but we actually have to have a conversation about the real world implications of America going to war over Greenland.

Let me walk you through it. It doesn't turn out well for us.

Reposted by Robert C. Richards, Jeannette Sutton

kyledcheney.bsky.social
Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 1d
NEWS: A day after the Minneapolis shooting, Secretary Noem quietly signed a new policy barring congressional visits to ICE facilities without a week's advance notice. That policy change led to three MN Dems being blocked from accessing an ICE facility today. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

Reposted by Steve Peers, Robert C. Richards

whitehouse.senate.gov
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse @whitehouse.senate.gov · 1d
Like I said.
A quote from Senator Whitehouse: “One of the symptoms of Trumpism, frankly, of authoritarianism generally, is the obligation to lie. You’re not on the team, you’re not in the club, you’re not part of the movement if you’re not willing to lie for it.”

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

reptedlieu.bsky.social
Rep. Ted Lieu @reptedlieu.bsky.social · 1d
It is shameful and unconscionable that ICE agents let Renee Good die and reportedly blocked a doctor from trying to help.

Will be a hard no on this month’s Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill unless significant reforms are made to what ICE has been doing.

Reposted by Jonathan A. Foley, Robert C. Richards, David Darmofal

nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 1d
Crowds of protesters across the U.S. mobilized against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on Saturday, three days after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. trib.al/RXQlxWj
Protesters in winter clothes in a large crowd. They carry signs that say things like "ABOLISH ICE," "Winter is the time to DE-ICE" and "Justice for Renee Good." A headline reads: "Anti-ICE Protests Spread Nationwide." Photo by Jordan Gale for The New York Times

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

lorak.bsky.social
Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · 1d
Waymo would not say how many of its SF Bay Area robotaxis stalled out and contributed to or caused gridlock during the massive PG&E blackouts recently because their lawyer claimed that...is considered a trade secret www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/w... <-- by SF Chronicle's Rachel Swan
Waymo scolded by judge after robotaxi company refuses to discuss details from power outage
A judge scolded Waymo during an administrative rules proceeding after the company refused to disclose how many of its robotaxis had stalled during a power outage in San Francisco.
www.sfchronicle.com

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 1d
In exile for nearly 50 years, Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has issued calls urging Iranians to join protests sweeping the country. But support for him may not be clear cut. n.pr/4qjqAUO
Who is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Crown Prince encouraging demonstrations across Iran?
In exile for nearly 50 years, Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has issued calls urging Iranians to join protests sweeping the country. But support for him may not be clear cut.
n.pr

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

jbf1755.bsky.social
Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 1d
The old series “Smash”—
Season one.

Thoughts?

Just watched it.

As someone who LOVES Broadway theater (esp. musical theater), I enjoyed it.

I remember that it was really popular with theater folk.

But don’t remember how it was received.

Reposted by Robert C. Richards

jnklz.bsky.social
Jennifer Elsea @jnklz.bsky.social · 1d
For a run-down of applicable legal issues re congressional oversight visits, here’s a thing
www.congress.gov

Reposted by Kori Schake, David H. Kaye, Fabrizio Coticchia , and 4 more

shashj.bsky.social
Shashank Joshi @shashj.bsky.social · 1d
"A medic at one Tehran hospital said there were "direct shots to the heads of the young people, to their hearts as well", while a doctor said an eye hospital in the capital had gone into crisis mode"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Iran medics describe hospitals overwhelmed with dead and injured protesters
Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed and injured by the security forces, with more than 70 bodies brought to one hospital.
www.bbc.co.uk