Peter Gregory

@pgregory.bsky.social

130

Posts

PhD in Public Affairs. I write and paint. I like ramen, horror movies, and gun violence prevention. Super into birds atm.

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Peter Gregory

the incumbency advantage largely disappeared as an important factor in election outcomes for US House & Senate as partisanship grew in importance. But candidate quality differentials still can matter, particularly in the Senate, as they did in 2022 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Do Quality Candidates and Incumbents Still Matter in the Partisan World? Comparing Trends and Relationship Between Candidate Differentials and Congressional Election Outcomes, 1900–2022www.tandfonline.com The increase in elite-level polarization and the changing partisan nature of elections to the U.S. House led scholars to posit that candidate characteristics are minor considerations in determining...

I have liked every post of this modified meme I’ve seen, and my partner (who is completely unfamiliar with the original) just pointed out the moon in this version is a croissant. 😂 🥐

seeing the news out of France about Macron's win

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Peter Gregory

If it makes your soul happy, do more of it.

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Peter Gregory

When the France election results are good

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Peter Gregory

Fight against daunting odds, because it’s the right thing to do, and because sometimes you win.

BREAKING NEWS: Voters turned out in numbers not seen in decades to stop the far-right National Rally from taking power in the French National Assembly. Polls predicted a first-place finish for National Rally, which instead came in third in initial results as polling stations closed.

Projections in France's election show voters rejecting the far rightwww.npr.org Voters turned out in numbers not seen in decades to stop the far-right National Rally from taking power in the French National Assembly. Polls predicted a first-place finish for National Rally, which ...

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Peter Gregory

One striking detail in this story: The Pastor at Lake Church, where Mark Robinson gave this speech, told me he and Robinson expected these remarks to be "scrutinized." Then the Pastor defended them! (also worth noting Christian Nationalist overtones in rest of speech cc @sarahposner.bsky.social)

NEWS --> Mark Robinson, the MAGA extremist GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, appeared to endorse political violence against unnamed foes in a recent speech. "Some folks need killing!" he shouted. "It's a matter of necessity!" Video and story here: newrepublic.com/article/1834...

MAGA Gov Candidate’s Ugly, Hateful Rant: “Some Folks Need Killing!”newrepublic.com Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, has a long history of incendiary comments. But he may have topped himself this time.

Do something good.

Feeling despair at the world and something that no bullshit made me feel a little better was giving ten bucks to support someone’s work on Patreon. Not that it’s a big deal but being able to go “oh I like this, I want more of this in the world” made me feel like I had .00000001% control of things.

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Peter Gregory

just watched 74 people speaking at least a dozen different languages become american citizens in a ceremony at monticello, where the speakers were themselves children of immigrants. inspiring stuff and a vivid illustration of what reactionaries want to snuff out

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Peter Gregory

This is only true until the check clears and the Federalist Society Six announce that the President is entitled to “prima nocta” sexual activities due to the established precedent of Mel Gibson v Longshanks

Yes, Trump has been legally determined to be a rapist. Because too many people somehow don’t seem to know this. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Analysis | Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carrollwww.washingtonpost.com What the jury found Donald Trump did to E. Jean Carroll was in fact rape, as commonly understood, even if it didn't fit New York law's narrow definition, says Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

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Peter Gregory

“The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.” couldn’t be clearer!

if only Federalist 69 were just, in its entirely, Hamilton saying super clearly “sure, this constitution has one executive leader, but I can’t stress enough that it’s different from a king because a President is accountable, including to criminal law” avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century...

The Avalon Project : Federalist No 69avalon.law.yale.edu

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Peter Gregory

BREAKING: Advocates submit double the amount of signatures needed to put a constitutional right to abortion on the ballot in Arizona.

Abortion-rights advocates in Arizona submit needed signatures to put the issue on November ballotapnews.com Abortion-rights advocates in Arizona have submitted more than enough signatures to put the issue on November’s ballot in the key swing state.

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Peter Gregory

"Politics would be interesting again" Oh, jeez, I'm sorry that SCOTUS Team 6 waterboarding democracy to pave the way for a felon-messiah-king who's vowing to use the presidency to deport millions and imprison his foes for treason hasn't been INTERESTING enough for you. Let me jangle some car keys.

Wild to watch horserace journalists suggest the most politically suicidal shit and pretend it's savvy. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

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Peter Gregory

I don't know how you lose running against a Court that wants to prosecute the pregnant and preemptively pardon that perpetrator.

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Peter Gregory

idk it just seems to me that laws, like tech, should be created with the question "what would the worst person i know be able to do with this power" in mind and it's truly incredible how much this opinion fails at that basic task

John Roberts must be the most neurotypical person in existence because the immunity ruling reads like someone who has never had a single “but what if…???” anxiety spiral in his life

As Trump and a corrupt SCOTUS continue their attempts to break democracy, I’ve seen increasing calls for democrats to “take off the gloves” and fight fire with fire. Democrats can do more, and I’m not sure where to draw the line, but using the weapon of the enemy seems inevitably self-destructive.

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Peter Gregory

Reminder from a Pittsburgher who was at one point Mr. Rogers neighbor: “Look for the helpers” was intended to be advice for his usual audience, children. We’re grown ups now. We’re supposed to be the helpers.

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Peter Gregory

Keeping Trump out of the White House isn’t the only thing that needs doing and it isn’t enough to solve all problems facing the country & world but if it isn’t done then all those problems get exponentially worse in ways I don’t even know how to express and it scares me when people pretend otherwise

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Peter Gregory

NEW: Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in New York www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad1/c...

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Peter Gregory

strong speech from Biden tonight

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Peter Gregory

Easy to lose sight of the significance here, but the sitting president just gave a speech condemning the Supreme Court for a ruling that expands presidential power. It’s also a president who stands to benefit from this ruling, given that his opponent is vowing to imprison him and his family.

Just signed up to write and send 200 of these.

I just signed up to write postcards to get out the vote in swing states. You can, too! www.turnoutpac.org/postcards/

Postcards to Swing States - Progressive Turnout Projectwww.turnoutpac.org Voters who receive handwritten postcards are significantly more likely to vote. We proved it in 2020.

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Peter Gregory

While I’m sure some of this “we’re doomed” is spoken earnestly, I think a lot of people ascribe to doomerism because they feel like it’s the only way to get people motivated, when in reality it has the opposite effect.

I really have lost my former tolerance for "we're doomed/fucked/it's all over/they've won" takes at this point, in that they're the most dangerous attitudes one could possibly have when confronted with a truly existential political threat (which we still DO have levers to address).

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Peter Gregory

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration at all to say the decision threatens the Republic. I might not have said so in 2015, before I saw how triumphantly lawless and autocratic the President could be, and how so many people would applaud it or at least shrug.

My friend and colleague Ken White has written a great thread describing some (but far from all) of the enormous problems with today's decision by Chief Justice Roberts granting Donald Trump criminal immunity on grounds never before accepted by any court. Today's decision threatens the Republic.

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Peter Gregory

This is the ball game folks, the authoritarian green light laid out in advance. Congress will not impeach Trump. And SCOTUS now blesses him with extraordinary latitude to do whatever he wants in power. A second administration will not be constrained by Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy or law.

Trump, who tried to overthrow an election, campaigned persistently for his fellow party members to grant him absolute immunity for his misdeeds in office. And they did. If you can't distinguish between "energy in the executive" and a constitutional crime spree, you've given up on US democracy.

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Peter Gregory

No shame in feeling scared, overwhelmed and not knowing what to do. To me feeling one's feelings doesn't preclude taking action. These are confusing times. Give yourself some grace.

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Peter Gregory

The Court ruling today is terrible but expected. I will just gently remind everyone that the election hasn’t happened yet. We shouldn’t assume the worst outcome as a foregone conclusion. That only encourages more apathy than many are already feeling.

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Peter Gregory

Reply to

Chris Hayes

Hope, faith, and optimism create the possibility of a good outcome, while cynicism and despair close that off. You can't guarantee success, but you *can* guarantee failure.

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Peter Gregory

Things are bad but all the more reason for optimism of the will and rejection of doomerism and nihilism. Only way out is through.

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Peter Gregory

The 14th Amendment says if you were involved in an insurrection you can't be president. SCOTUS said they won't allow anyone to enforce that because of reasons they made up. The Constitution doesn't say the president is immune from criminal law. SCOTUS decided he is because of reasons they made up.

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Peter Gregory

a thing to remember, in all of this horror, is that these are not the actions of a political party that is confident it represents the will of the people, and who is currently out of power and enslaved to a deeply flawed avatar. the struggle is not over and they have not won