Brian Libgober
@blibgober.bsky.social
NU Political science professor and Chicago man. Visiting Fellow at Princeton CSDP.
I write about how law and special interest politics interact.
I write about how law and special interest politics interact.
Two thoughts. 1) The state treating leaders claims as facts with no care for their truth is the highway to dark places. Pretty much doin 90 to get to 1984. 2) the supremes should’ve seen this coming, in fact they were warned. Officials shouldn’t be above the law.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
Memo Blessing Boat Strikes Is Said to Rely on Trump’s Claims About Cartels
www.nytimes.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Two thoughts. 1) The state treating leaders claims as facts with no care for their truth is the highway to dark places. Pretty much doin 90 to get to 1984. 2) the supremes should’ve seen this coming, in fact they were warned. Officials shouldn’t be above the law.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
Where political science meets David Lynch
It feels like we are already moving on from the implications of the Epstein emails.
As Judith Herman observed:
“The knowledge of horrible events periodically intrudes into public awareness but is rarely retained for long. Denial…and dissociation operate on a social as well as an individual level.”
As Judith Herman observed:
“The knowledge of horrible events periodically intrudes into public awareness but is rarely retained for long. Denial…and dissociation operate on a social as well as an individual level.”
November 14, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Where political science meets David Lynch
Reposted by Brian Libgober
Summers Lovin'
Epstein emails reveal that Harvard prez Larry was hopelessly devoted to grease ball Jeff. Did some of Summers' nights involve a hand jive from a beauty school dropout? And did he lose interest after girls went through those magic changes?
by Maureen Dowd
Epstein emails reveal that Harvard prez Larry was hopelessly devoted to grease ball Jeff. Did some of Summers' nights involve a hand jive from a beauty school dropout? And did he lose interest after girls went through those magic changes?
by Maureen Dowd
November 14, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Summers Lovin'
Epstein emails reveal that Harvard prez Larry was hopelessly devoted to grease ball Jeff. Did some of Summers' nights involve a hand jive from a beauty school dropout? And did he lose interest after girls went through those magic changes?
by Maureen Dowd
Epstein emails reveal that Harvard prez Larry was hopelessly devoted to grease ball Jeff. Did some of Summers' nights involve a hand jive from a beauty school dropout? And did he lose interest after girls went through those magic changes?
by Maureen Dowd
Reposted by Brian Libgober
For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files:
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
Epstein Document Search
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
November 13, 2025 at 1:12 AM
For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files:
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app
Why is Michael Wolff advising Jeff Epstein in this way? I guess I haven’t really followed the issue closely enough to get what’s going on there
MORE DOCUMENTS obtained by Oversight’s subpoena of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate include communications between Epstein and Steve Bannon, Larry Summers, and others. Take a look: oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
🚨BREAKING: Oversight Dems have received new emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate that raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes.
Read them for yourself. It’s time to end this cover-up and RELEASE THE FILES.
Read them for yourself. It’s time to end this cover-up and RELEASE THE FILES.
November 12, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Why is Michael Wolff advising Jeff Epstein in this way? I guess I haven’t really followed the issue closely enough to get what’s going on there
Reposted by Brian Libgober
Really looking forward to the first annual Workshop on Organizational and Political Economics in Chicago (OPEC!) this coming Saturday.
@luozhaotian.bsky.social has done fabulous work pulling this together.
@luozhaotian.bsky.social has done fabulous work pulling this together.
1st Workshop on Organizational and Political Economics in Chicago | Becker Friedman Institute
bfi.uchicago.edu
November 11, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Really looking forward to the first annual Workshop on Organizational and Political Economics in Chicago (OPEC!) this coming Saturday.
@luozhaotian.bsky.social has done fabulous work pulling this together.
@luozhaotian.bsky.social has done fabulous work pulling this together.
Will people who this happens to blame the Democrats or the Republicans?
My ACA current plan is going from $385/mo to $821/mo.
November 11, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Will people who this happens to blame the Democrats or the Republicans?
Reposted by Brian Libgober
Assume all the yes and no votes from Dem senators are strategic and not sincere votes. The party caucus made a decision. No way to know how many were in favor. Then the caucus decided who would vote yes and no based on what would protect each of them politically the most. That’s how this works.
November 10, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Assume all the yes and no votes from Dem senators are strategic and not sincere votes. The party caucus made a decision. No way to know how many were in favor. Then the caucus decided who would vote yes and no based on what would protect each of them politically the most. That’s how this works.
An extension until Jan 30 is not much of an extension, really. If the Republicans were not going to cave until after January, which seems a reasonable belief, it is not really obvious to me how the Ds are worse off through the deal. Let’s blow up the holidays for ACA tax credits is not a great sell.
November 10, 2025 at 12:59 PM
An extension until Jan 30 is not much of an extension, really. If the Republicans were not going to cave until after January, which seems a reasonable belief, it is not really obvious to me how the Ds are worse off through the deal. Let’s blow up the holidays for ACA tax credits is not a great sell.
Is it just me or does Thomas Paine look like a NYT columnist?
Coming in 2026 from the Postal Service, a series of stamps honoring key figures from the American Revolution.
November 9, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Is it just me or does Thomas Paine look like a NYT columnist?
The budget negotiation is much like a strange production of Waiting for Godot, where Godot is played by Donald Trump
November 7, 2025 at 9:28 PM
The budget negotiation is much like a strange production of Waiting for Godot, where Godot is played by Donald Trump
Reposted by Brian Libgober
@himself.bsky.social nails it. People have so much pent up energy to be organized/to help. So enough with the text messages for $ and let’s get the Party started doing stuff for everyday people.
November 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
@himself.bsky.social nails it. People have so much pent up energy to be organized/to help. So enough with the text messages for $ and let’s get the Party started doing stuff for everyday people.
Reposted by Brian Libgober
The question to sort out is how much of the impressive Dem sweep was a result of differential voter turnout that might not carry as strongly into 2026 and 2028 and how much of it signals a sustainable repudiation of Trump in the form of the mobilization of new voters and voters changing sides.
November 5, 2025 at 10:42 AM
The question to sort out is how much of the impressive Dem sweep was a result of differential voter turnout that might not carry as strongly into 2026 and 2028 and how much of it signals a sustainable repudiation of Trump in the form of the mobilization of new voters and voters changing sides.
Reposted by Brian Libgober
Cuomo was drummed out of office 4 years ago for sexual harassment. He then lost the mayoral Dem primary. He then employed rank gutter racism to win as an independent -- winning Trump's endorsement! -- and that didn't work either. Few modern politicians so richly deserve obscurity and exile.
November 5, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Cuomo was drummed out of office 4 years ago for sexual harassment. He then lost the mayoral Dem primary. He then employed rank gutter racism to win as an independent -- winning Trump's endorsement! -- and that didn't work either. Few modern politicians so richly deserve obscurity and exile.
This is a good idea
Here's what Democrats should do - as a minimum - to help fix the media ecosystem:
Start a newspaper in every single congressional district - yes, all 435 of them - called "The <name of geographic area> Democrat." It can literally be the district number if there's nothing better to hand. (1/7)
Start a newspaper in every single congressional district - yes, all 435 of them - called "The <name of geographic area> Democrat." It can literally be the district number if there's nothing better to hand. (1/7)
November 4, 2025 at 11:52 PM
This is a good idea
Reposted by Brian Libgober
🚨More scholarship! In 'Noisy Politics, Quiet Technocrats' @benbraun.bsky.social & Maximilian Düsterhöft comb more than 11,000 speeches by 18 central banks to explore whether CBs discuss politically controversial topics, shedding light on how CBs strategically interact within their social context.🏦🌐
Current ScholarshipNoisy Politics, Quiet Technocrats: Strategic Silence by Central Banks
Benjamin Braun & Maximilian Düsterhöft
justmoney.org
November 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
🚨More scholarship! In 'Noisy Politics, Quiet Technocrats' @benbraun.bsky.social & Maximilian Düsterhöft comb more than 11,000 speeches by 18 central banks to explore whether CBs discuss politically controversial topics, shedding light on how CBs strategically interact within their social context.🏦🌐
Poor Biden. Back in the basement I guess.
November 4, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Poor Biden. Back in the basement I guess.
This is pretty cool.
ANES Data Release! electionstudies.org/data-center/...
The 3-wave ANES panel is now available. It merges data from 3 election studies (2016-2020-2024), the first time the ANES has collected interviews of the same respondents across 3 presidential elections.
The 3-wave ANES panel is now available. It merges data from 3 election studies (2016-2020-2024), the first time the ANES has collected interviews of the same respondents across 3 presidential elections.
2016-2020-2024-panel-merged-study - ANES | American National Election Studies
electionstudies.org
November 1, 2025 at 11:26 PM
This is pretty cool.
Reposted by Brian Libgober
Get the hell out of Evanston.
October 31, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Get the hell out of Evanston.
He’s asking the right questions.
Why would someone pay $20k for a robot controlled by a human in a remote location to do things more slowly and clumsily when the median wage for a maid or housekeeper is $33k per year, which is typically spread across 10-20 households?
October 30, 2025 at 10:29 AM
He’s asking the right questions.
The Working Class Has Shifted Left on ‘Virtually Everything’ www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...
Wow Jared!
Wow Jared!
Video: Opinion | The Working Class Has Shifted Left on ‘Virtually Everything’
Jared Abbott, the director of the Center for Working-Class Politics, explains why working-class voters feel a “representation gap” from the Democratic Party despite shifting left on most issues over t...
www.nytimes.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:55 AM
The Working Class Has Shifted Left on ‘Virtually Everything’ www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...
Wow Jared!
Wow Jared!
Versailles on the Potomac
October 26, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Versailles on the Potomac
My six year old, on the Simpsons: “all the important people are bad.”
October 21, 2025 at 1:27 AM
My six year old, on the Simpsons: “all the important people are bad.”
Reposted by Brian Libgober
they are too lazy, incompetent, and detached from reality to do full-blown IRL fascism; they visit gratuitous state violence on people at the margins and attempt to sell the rest of us a Videodrome simulacrum of authoritarianism but not enough of us wish to buy to make it work
Some folks were worried that they'd sic thugs on the protestors or declare martial law. Instead they posted AI videos and complained.
These people have no juice. Their supporters are cowards. They are are all bark and no bite. They collapse when we push back. Remember that.
These people have no juice. Their supporters are cowards. They are are all bark and no bite. They collapse when we push back. Remember that.
October 19, 2025 at 1:54 PM
they are too lazy, incompetent, and detached from reality to do full-blown IRL fascism; they visit gratuitous state violence on people at the margins and attempt to sell the rest of us a Videodrome simulacrum of authoritarianism but not enough of us wish to buy to make it work
Why Argentina Needs Bailout After Bailout After Bailout
open.spotify.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:02 PM