Author | Lightnews

Paul Glastris @glastris.bsky.social · 6h

…of making the case for why policy matters in elections even when it’s not articulated in campaigns. /end open.substack.com/pub/matthewy...

There’s more to politics than what you “run on”

Voters rightly consider everything you and your party say and do.

open.substack.com

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Paul Glastris @glastris.bsky.social · 6h

Yesterday I argued @washingtonmonthly.com that the policies parties pursue play a bigger role in elections than most politically focused people think. Today, @mattyglesias.bsky.social does an excellent job…/1 washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/02/e...

How the Democrats Can Play Offense

The November/December issue of the Washington Monthly print magazine, "How the Democrats Can Go On Offense," is here.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Ian Masters @ianmastersmedia.bsky.social · 21h

We are joined by @glastris.bsky.social to discuss how Democrats can win back voters by creating their own response to Project 2025. We discuss this new series at The Washington Monthly, including his article, “How the Democrats Can Play Offense” soundcloud.com/user-8304426...

Trump Has Project 2025 But the Democrats Have No Plan and They Need to Go On the Offensive With One

November 3, 2025 - Paul Glastris backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

soundcloud.com

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Michael Grunwald @mikegrunwald.bsky.social · 6d

Since I’ve been whining about the left: It’s really dumb that Schumer and other Dem leaders haven’t endorsed Mamdani. He’s the nominee, it’s NYC, if you want a big tent you have to show you mean it.

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Paul Glastris @glastris.bsky.social · 7d

The new Trump policy of sinking suspected drug boats (rather than boarding them and arresting the traffickers) is illegal, risky, a cover for abandoning allies, and destined to fail in stopping the flow of narcotics. See this @washingtonmonthly.com Q&A. washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/27/t...

Sinking Boats Off Venezuela, Colombia. What Could Go Wrong?

U.S. forces are sinking drug boats off Venezuela and Colombia. A defense expert warns Trump’s new strikes won’t even stop the drug trade.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Paul Glastris @glastris.bsky.social · 7d

4 more alleged drug boats sunk by the US military today. If you're struggling to make sense of this apparent new undeclared Trump war @washingtonmonthly.com has you covered. /1 www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Trump Administration Live Updates: Military Destroys 4 More Boats U.S. Says Were Carrying Drugs

www.nytimes.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 8d

A Q&A on the unstated aims and unacknowledged risks of Trump’s air strikes –– @glastris.bsky.social

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/27/t...

Sinking Boats Off Venezuela, Colombia. What Could Go Wrong?

U.S. forces are sinking drug boats off Venezuela and Colombia. A defense expert warns Trump’s new strikes won’t even stop the drug trade.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Christian Caryl @ccaryl.bsky.social · 18d

In my latest piece for @foreignpolicy.com, I explain why the wave of youth-led protests around the world needs to be taken seriously foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/17/g...

Gen Z Is Taking to the Barricades

Here’s why you should be paying attention.

foreignpolicy.com

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POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 22d

Russia lost 281,550 soldiers in Ukraine in the first eight months of this year, according to a document that Ukrainian intelligence says contained leaked Russian data.

Russia bleeds troops for microscopic frontline gains

Both Ukraine and Russia are finding it difficult to recruit new soldiers.

www.politico.eu

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 22d

It's a really interesting question, whether data centers are going to keep bloating based on economies of scale or whether they will eventually start going modular & distributed like ... everything else.

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cortellessa.bsky.social @cortellessa.bsky.social · Sep 28

For TIME’s cover, my profile of @springsteen. Fifty years after his breakthrough Born to Run and ahead of a powerful new film on the most vulnerable stretch of his life, we met to discuss his life and legacy, and to walk the streets where it all began: Asbury Park.

Story: time.com/7319963/bruc...

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A Public Affair @apublicaffair.bsky.social · Sep 15

🎙️Higher education excellence is not catering to the wealthy but meeting the needs of the average student, says @glastris.bsky.social. He's the editor of @washingtonmonthly.com which just put out its 2025 college rankings.

Listen here: www.wortfm.org/a-successful...

A Successful College Should Not Look Like A Country Club - WORT-FM 89.9

Our guest, Paul Glastris, says that higher education excellence is not catering to the wealthy, but meeting the needs of the average student.

www.wortfm.org

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Paul Glastris @glastris.bsky.social · Sep 12

The American press consistently Undercovers the success of Ukraine’s war effort.

Tim Mak @timkmak.bsky.social · Sep 12

Here’s what we’re reading today:

Ukrainian drone strikes have increased internet blackouts across Russia, costing Moscow $557.1mn per hour in disruptions to businesses and public services.

This comes as Russia’s war economy strains under energy attacks and Western sanctions.

Russians lose internet access as Ukrainian drones hit close to home

Consumers in Russia memorise bus schedules and revert to cash payments amid disruption to online services

www.ft.com

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Paul Glastris @glastris.bsky.social · Sep 3

Trump's personalist industrial policy is unlawful and courts disaster. But with the right democratic checks and balances, the next Democratic president can use the same tools to great effect, notes @joeldodge07.bsky.social @washingtonmonthly.com

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/03/t...

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Trump’s Industrial Policy: What’s Right and Wrong

Trump’s industrial policy includes equity stakes, profit-sharing, and golden shares in major corporations. The outcome could be disastrous.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · Sep 2

This is a sobering--and depressing statistic. Sizable layoffs in the federal government are likely contributing to the increase in unemployment among Black college graduates.

www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...

The unemployment rate for Black college graduates 25 years and older reached 5.3% in July, according to seasonally adjusted figures from Haver Analytics, based on Labor Department data. That was up from 3.9% in May and 2.7% in February. (Unlike the figures for overall unemployment, the Labor Department doesn’t adjust these figures for the typical seasonal swings that occur from month to month.)

The July rate was 1.7 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate for white workers with only a high-school diploma—the biggest gap since Labor Department records for this metric began 1992.

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Philip Bump @pbump.com · Aug 22

Worth remembering (and pointing out where necessary) that drawing equivalence between raiding Bolton’s house for documents and raiding Mar-a-Lago requires Bolton to have similarly dismissed and worked around demands for their return for months.

A timeline of what led to Trump’s classified documents indictment

Key moments in Donald Trump's classified documents indictment and investigation

www.washingtonpost.com

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Christian Caryl @ccaryl.bsky.social · Aug 19

My take on the pathetic Alaska summit and the White House meeting that followed.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/19/s...

Why Steve Witkoff Is Trump’s Master of Disaster

The helpless envoy embodies everything that is dysfunctional about current U.S. foreign policy.

foreignpolicy.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · Aug 16

A useful WaPo map of where Trump Storm Troops are actually operating in DC.

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

If you know DC, what this map tell you is: They're making the gaudy show of strength in areas where it matters least and will do least good. Except for sheer spectacle.

Map of DC showing federal troops mainly in tourist-heavy areas, not crime centers.

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Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · Aug 15

Washington's homicide rate is the 11th highest among large US cities, but eight of the 10 with higher rates are in red states — Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio and Louisiana. Trump has not sent National Guard to any of them. @russcontreras.bsky.social www.axios.com/2025/08/15/h...

Some blue cities in red states have the nation's highest homicide rates, FBI number show

Mississippi, Alabama and Missouri have cities with high homicide rates

www.axios.com

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Paul Glastris @glastris.bsky.social · Aug 14

If YIMBYs weren’t primarily focused on rezoning single family residential neighborhoods then the name of their movement would be “Yes In That Underutilized Commercial Area Over There.”

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · Aug 14

I'm so tired of these "YIMBYs only care about upzoning" pieces, man. Is there a single editor at @washingtonmonthly.com who cares to peruse the actual legislative track record of YIMBY groups? washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/14/c...

To Create Abundant Housing, Ignore the YIMBY Playbook | Washington Monthly

In the last 5 years, Washington DC experienced a housing boom. It took a lot more than passive deregulation.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · Aug 14

Washington DC, America’s bluest city, is building more homes per capita than Houston—not with bottom-up zoning reform but with top-down government action:

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/14/c...

To Create Abundant Housing, Ignore the YIMBY Playbook | Washington Monthly

In the last 5 years, Washington DC experienced a housing boom. It took a lot more than passive deregulation.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Eleni Kounalakis @eleniforca.bsky.social · Aug 12

I’m proud to have the endorsement of my friend and colleague, CA State Treasurer @fionamacpa.bsky.social!

Her leadership has strengthened California’s economy and invested in our future. I’m ready to build on that record as your next State Treasurer!

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Aug 12

the thing everyone is going to have to accept is that the post-trump period, whenever it comes, will not and cannot be a project of national unity, it must be a project of partisan project of renewal, in the same way that reconstruction and the new deal were partisan projects of renewal.

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Anne S Kim @anne-s-kim.bsky.social · Aug 6

Dems should go "all out on gerrymandering warfare," says @billscher.bsky.social @washingtonmonthly.com, and fight fire with fire in California and elsewhere.

From this week's politics roundtable: @glastris.bsky.social @mattizcoop.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/shorts/zDK_p...

Dems should go all out on gerrymandering warfare

YouTube video by Washington Monthly

www.youtube.com

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