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Darin Self

@darinself.com

21K followers 490 following 8.4K posts

Assistant Professor of Political Science -- Researching democratization, autocracies, the military, and political parties. Chair of Utah County Democratic Party -- working to make democracy work locally: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/utcountydems

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Darin Self @darinself.com · Sep 10

This year I became the chair of the Democratic Party in Utah's second largest county.

I'm working to build a real party from the neighborhood up, but we don't get support from the national party.

If you want to help, you can donate here:

secure.actblue.com/donate/utcou...

Donate to Utah County Democratic Party (UT)

Show your support with a contribution.

secure.actblue.com

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 15m

We cannot rescue American democracy without a wholesale reform of the judiciary.

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 33m

This entire argument by Louisiana and the conservatives questions are premised on an erasure of Congress’ enforcement power under the 14th & 15th Amendments.

Literally swinging for the fences to wipe out the premise for the legitimacy of Congress’ power to enact civil rights statutes.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 25m

Hey, if your institutions make it far more difficult for a racial class to access power its not "color blind" its just straight up racist.

Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 46m

11:28 AM ET: Edward Greim is now arguing on behalf of the "non-African American" plaintiffs in the case. He argued the Constitution is color-blind and the statutes enforcing it should be as well.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 1h

Huh, I wonder why the GOP is currently in full freakout mode trying to rebrand No Kings as being antithetical to core American values

Google Trends search showing that searches for No Kings is relatively high as it is not dwarfed by searches for "Life of Showgirl" -- Taylor Swift's latest album.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 1h

This distills the current GOP -- we don't care about immoral behavior so long as they're loyal to the party.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 1h

HOLY

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1h

Q: This has been reported for a while. Cory Mills was accused of beating a girlfriend in his DC apt. Are you concerned about these allegations?

JOHNSON: You have to ask Rep. Mills about that. He's been a faithful colleague. I don't know the details. Let's talk about things that are really serious

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 1h

Ok, I thought the previous time "No Kings equals no paychecks" was a just a fumbled sentence but he clearly thinks this is a winning argument.

"Give us unbridled power or you don't get a government"

Hate to break it to you, but we fought a war on this one buddy.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2h

Bessent: "This crazy No Kings rally this weekend, which is gonna be the farthest left, the hardest core, the most unhinged in the Democratic Party, which is a big title. No Kings equals no paychecks."

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 1h

These guys are really spooked by the rally because....

they're losing.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1h

Scalise refers to No Kings as the "Hate America Rally"

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 2h

Curiosity killed the cat but also spurred 20 half finished academic studies.

Darin Self @darinself.com · 3h

Biden got punished for good fiscal and monetary policy.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 4h

We were actually getting somewhere, too. 😞

@sbmitche.bsky.social
www.library.hbs.edu/working-know...

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Reposted by Darin Self

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 15h

"The tables will turn one day," @govpritzker.illinois.gov said. "These people should recognize that maybe they’re not gonna get prosecuted today, although we’re looking at doing that, but they may get prosecuted after the Trump admin because the statute of limitations would not have run out.”

'The tables will turn one day': Pritzker blasts ICE, CBP in Chicago

Governor Pritzker is speaking out about the federal immigration raids of the last few days.

www.fox32chicago.com

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 14h

This is not freedom and we must destroy the states ability to do this while holding everyone participating accountable

PritzkerPosting @pritzkerposting.bsky.social · 14h

Chicago: Zero Regard for Safety, ICE Escalation in Chicago Leaves Baby in Harm’s Way

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 18h

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 21h

Grandpa's brain is mush

Reposted by Darin Self

Constant Scream @ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 21h

While this clearly is a confabulated event that the President may or may not believe actually happened, he clearly believes turning the military into a privately funded mercenary force is not a bad thing.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Trump: "I had a very wealthy person who called -- a donor, a great gentleman -- and he said, 'if there's any money necessary, shortfall, for the paying of the troops, then I will pay it.' Meaning he will pay it. How about that?"

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 21h

The list of impeachable offenses by Trump in these first 9 months is longer than any CVS receipt.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Trump on Milei: "If he loses, we will not be generous with Argentina."

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 21h

If you want, you can access the syllabus here:

www.darinself.com/assets/files...

www.darinself.com

Darin Self @darinself.com · 21h

The core piece of work is taking some outcome in their work of fiction and articulating the theory the author(s) used and then - with a deeper understanding of ontology - adjusting it to be tested in our world.

Along the way we discuss how to write a good research paper

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 21h

Then on Wednesday, they come to class with another memo assessing the use of that ontology in a work of fiction they've selected for the course (ranges from the Last Airbender to Andor to Severence)

We then work as a group to assess whether the ontology can be applied appropriately in that fiction

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 21h

How I've structured the course:

Every Monday students read a piece in PoliSci on the ontology (structure, agency, identity) etc & write a memo on an applied piece of polisci using that ontology

In class, we then discuss the ontology + work through the pieces they selected for deeper understanding

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 21h

Awhile ago I mentioned for #polisky that I was doing an undergrad research seminar where we looked at the politics in fiction to understand Comparative/IR ontology.

Its been a success, IMO, as students appear to enjoy the class and are being pushed hard on an extremely high level of thinking.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 22h

This grand new technology is so profitable that the largest company in AI is now shifting to GenPorn

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 23h

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

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Reposted by Darin Self

Sam Brunson @smbrnsn.bsky.social · 22h

I teach at a Jesuit school and we don't have this.

Heck, I attended BYU undergrad, and I don't remember any depictions of the Ten Commandments anywhere on campus.

Christine Corcos @lpcprof.bsky.social · 22h

University of Arkansas installing Ten Commandments posters required by state law arkansasadvocate.com/2025/10/10/u...

University of Arkansas installing Ten Commandments posters required by state law | Arkansas Advocate

The University of Arkansas Fayetteville is preparing to hang hundreds of donated Ten Commandments displays in its buildings in compliance with a new state law.

arkansasadvocate.com

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 23h

I love that markets are like "WOOOO RATE CUTSSS" as the head of the Fed is saying "The economy is flashing critical signs of distress"

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23h

Powell on Trump's immigration policies: "Stronger policy than most people had expected. We've seen a very sharp decline in growth of the labor force and in and people entering the country ... new people that come into the workforce create supply but they also create their own demand."

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 23h

This past year the Utah legislature passed a law which makes it incredibly difficult for municipalities and school districts to raise taxes.

So I'm already getting emails about how my city and school district are facing budget constraints which means cut services.

We gotta vote these guys out.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 23h

Does anyone on here track church attendance for voters?

I'm curious if something I'm seeing is broader.

I've noticed that the most MAGA in my church network are attending less frequently.

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