Research shows SNAP's harsh work requirement does not increase employment or earnings. It just cuts people off SNAP — including people like Mara, the mom of two profiled in this piece, who is now at risk of losing her food assistance while she's between jobs & desperately looking for work.
-53% oppose the attacks
-74% oppose sending ground troops
-55% do not think Iran posed an imminent military threat
-62% think the Trump administration has not provided a clear explanation
-71% thinks the conflict will last months or more
First the jokes about illegally killing people on boats allegedly carrying drugs, now a comedy routine about torpedoing an unarmed ship in an undeclared war
Dow is down, gas is way up (up 50 cents here from yesterday). Gulf allies are under attack. This was clearly foreseeable by any student in any Introduction to International Relations class but somehow a huge surprise to the people running this country.
The sky is not falling; high-quality platforms (Prolific, Verasight, CR Connect) have low rates of apparent bots. osf.io/preprints/ps... But also not zero; vigilance is very much needed!
Really important.
Trump Executive Order Protected Weedkiller Roundup and a Munition, White Phosphorus www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/c...
Multiple news outlets are reporting a US attack on an Iranian #desalination plant.
If verified, this violates international law protecting #water systems during wars, and it sets a dangerous precedent, given intense dependence of Gulf countries on desalination.
timesofoman.com/article/1691...
Detainee says guards bet on suicide Like other detainees, Ramsingh said that between cleanings the rooms, restrooms and showers were often filthy and infested with insects. He said detainees stole others’ food because everyone was hungry due to the small and sometimes inedible meals, which led to fights, and the conditions took a toll on his mental health. At one point he said he overheard a security guard talking about bets made among the staff over which detainee would be next to die by suicide. The guard said he had paid $500 into a pool, with the total pot riding on the outcome. The talk was particularly jarring, he said, because he had contemplated suicide himself.
This is a sign of the complete moral failure of our society. AP report. apnews.com/article/suic...
When you collect data online, are the results from humans or AI? In a project led by Booth PhD student Grace Zhang, we estimate the prevalence of AI agents on commonly used survey platforms:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧵
This is Albie. He was so touched by his family singing happy birthday in his native language that he didn't notice the cupcakes with his face on them. 13/10 hbd Albie #SeniorPupSaturday (TT: _sallyv)
Newly released footage shows an ICE agent killing Rubin Ray Martinez, 23, in his car in Texas.
"He was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger."
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Get ready for some "warflation": higher prices for oil, gas, food (lots of fertilizer passes through Hormuz), goods made with petrochemicals (umbrellas, shampoo, toys, etc.), and pretty much anything that needs to be transported anywhere.
Affordability! open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
All the polls on the U.S. war in Iran so far
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/polls-us-i...
If you ignore people who say they “don’t know” how they feel about the war, disapproval of Trump’s actions is already at 56%. That is higher than the resistance to Vietnam in 1971.
![This figure shows the percentage of respondents in 35 countries across the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and the Integrated Values Survey (IVS) who rate “hard work” as more important than structural factors for getting ahead in life. Dark blue diamonds (IVS) and dark green circles (ISSP) represent survey year averages. Light blue and light green lines plot the trend in meritocratic beliefs across the five-year cohorts, on the basis of locally weighted least squares regressions on the cohort-country means (light blue diamonds [IVS] and light green circles [ISSP]). IVS data show whether respondents rate hard work (1) or luck and connections (0) as the more important factor for achieving a better life. ISSP data show the share of respondents who rate hard work as more important than “knowing the right people” and “coming from a wealthy family” for getting ahead in life.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ndvutufhi4t2mbjmmod2xe4e/bafkreie5twmfrtznixh33w3b567m5s5kk22wzdrlxycmjifnnplcb3rosi)
This figure shows the percentage of respondents in 35 countries across the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and the Integrated Values Survey (IVS) who rate “hard work” as more important than structural factors for getting ahead in life. Dark blue diamonds (IVS) and dark green circles (ISSP) represent survey year averages. Light blue and light green lines plot the trend in meritocratic beliefs across the five-year cohorts, on the basis of locally weighted least squares regressions on the cohort-country means (light blue diamonds [IVS] and light green circles [ISSP]). IVS data show whether respondents rate hard work (1) or luck and connections (0) as the more important factor for achieving a better life. ISSP data show the share of respondents who rate hard work as more important than “knowing the right people” and “coming from a wealthy family” for getting ahead in life.
The figure shows annualized change scores (subtracting the earliest from the latest value and standardizing by the number of years/cohorts). This figure is only included in the supplementary material.
How has the public belief in meritocracy changed over time? We address this question in our new Data Viz (@sociusjournal.bsky.social) by examining trends in popular beliefs across cohorts and periods in 35 countries, based on two datasets.
🔗 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23780231261425841
Finally got to @gelliottmorris.com's piece this week on how poll question wording dramatically affects responses. It's excellent. This is classic stuff in the political behavior subfield of poli sci, but we don't hear enough about it in punditry.
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/many-ameri...
This country apparently can't afford to feed children abroad but can afford to bomb them.
NEW: Four federal judges have formed a firewall against ICE in West Virginia — and say they’ll punish state and federal officials of they continue detaining people in ways they have ruled illegal and unconstitutional.
www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”
James Baldwin
This should be a front-page scandal.
This slow-motion public health crisis in our drinking water happened for a reason. The EPA’s rulemaking process privileges corporate lobbyists over the public, and those lobbyists ran the same playbook Big Tobacco once did—obfuscate the science and delay regulation.
More from @bmorons.bsky.social ⬇️
TikTok investor Jeff Yass avoided paying $1 billion in taxes while largely escaping public scrutiny.
He then poured that money into campaigns to cut taxes and support election deniers.
(Published 2022)
Two points:
*Neither getting on a plan, nor buying beer is a constitutional right
*You don't need to prove citizenship to buy a beer or get on a plane - that is what the SAVE Act calls for, which will clearly disenfranchise lots of people
I can't get over this number: in 2007, there were 360,000 newspaper jobs. Now, there are 80,000. "My local paper sucked!" Sure. What sucks even more? The void. "I get all my news from the Guardian!" No, the Guardian doesn't report on your town council, your school board, local cops.
Getting shown up in the arena of elite impunity by *the British monarchy* is an incredible “America at 250!” achievement
A bar graph showing billionaire political contributions as a percent of total contributions from 2000 to 2024.
As typical, @pkrugman.bsky.social gets at the crux of the problem with concentrated wealth and rising illiberalism. He lays it out so clearly here.
"any project to save American democracy must include a push to reduce the extreme concentration of wealth at the top."
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
In 2026, nearly 2/3rds of Americans expect prices to keep rising and more than half lack confidence their income will keep up. Yet 73% believe their own personal finances will improve in the year ahead, including nearly nine in ten adults under 30.
https://www.verasight.io/reports/america-in-2026
Good report here on how very little TANF funds actually go to supporting low income families. It has become a slush fund for states to spend on things that have little to do with program’s mission.
“How a $30 Billion Welfare Program Became a ‘Slush Fund’ for States”
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
“When less than 1% of farm employers are investigated every year, they can act with impunity, knowing that there is a very low likelihood that they will ever be investigated,” one expert said.
Some jawdropping CBP crime statistics here...
