Dru Stevenson

The dogs

Turnout in Israel has been over 6% per hour so far, with 15 total hours of voting - could turnout reach 90% by the end? Oh, and in Brazil, voter turnout in the second round was 81%. In Hungary, 80%. In Serbia, 69%. Meanwhile, in the US, will turnout for the midterms even hit 45%? WTF, America?

I know there's a lot going on but I feel it should probably be more of an above-the-fold story that members of Congress released a thoroughly documented report directly accusing the president of the United States of being a serial rapist.

I'm very old, so old that I remember how Vance Packard told us our TV's were doing this back in the 1970's, at least the always-on mics and other spying devices.

6 days left! #AcademicSky Enter the Best Personal Academic Websites Contest 2025, hosted by Jennifer van Alstyne, Dr. Brittany Trinh, and Dr. Ian Li (@owlstown.com). The entry form is quick to fill out for you theacademicdesigner.com/2026/best-pe...

3.7 million Texans have already voted, and the electorate looks nothing like 2022

As turnout in Texas nears 3 million votes, Hispanic turnout is now exceeding presidential levels. More Hispanics have voted than did at this point in the 2024 presidential election. What's driving this huge increase? Young voters.

Now we're sitting in front of our tv waiting for Amazing Race to start

A 2-year-old child found a loaded gun in a Virginia daycare administrator’s unzipped fanny pack and put it in their mouth. The daycare has been temporarily closed and the administrator is facing charges.

Democrats really need to prepare for every scenario of the GOP stripping powers after they flip any statewide office. Republicans play hardball, time for the other side to do the same

An Oregon school shooting comes weeks before midterms, when young voters could break turnout records. A generational fear of mass shootings doesn’t mean shared views on guns.

Just finished early voting. I have never seen a crowd this large or such a turnout for early voting in my town. Deep red Kingwood, TX. Not sure how to interpret it.

SCOTUS denied cert in Beckwith v. Frey, leaving in place a first circuit ruling that upheld a statutory waiting period for firearm purchases. #2A #GVP

This morning, the Court denied cert in 2 firearms-law-related cases. Plus, 17 cases listed for the upcoming conference on 11/6, and 7 new cert petitions filed this week (all challenges to 922(g)(1) under Second Amendment and Commerce Clause theories). firearmslaw.duke.edu/2026/10/scot...

Houston & Texas friends, any recommendations about the candidates at the bottom of the ballot in Harris County who don't have their party designated on the ballot? I'm not familiar with these candidates.

The new Academia.edu AI feature is really blowing my mind. It emails me every day with unsolicited but very smart little suggestions for the project I'm working on. Really impressed so far.

A few years ago, Tommy showed up showed up in the pouring rain at a religious rally. “I realized that not a single drop had touched me,” he recalled, “and so that's when it clicked for me that wow, God is real.” @marisakabas.bsky.social FTW, again

While I was getting my immunotherapy infusion today, Lucy had a day at the groomer, getting a shampoo and a trim

A large study finds no link between colorectal cancer and ultra-processed food, raising questions about what role these foods play, if any, in rising rates of the cancer among younger people.

Merriam Webster out here fighting for its life

Maybe the new law school opening at University of Austin could offer her a faculty position

This is legitimately like one of *the* most important questions in those three circuits that allow as-applied challenges. The 5th Cir took a case en banc a few weeks ago to clean up confusion in its circuit about this question & here the 3rd Cir just lets confusion continue…

Check out the latest regional wrap armedwithreason.substack.com/p/regional-w...

Almost half (48%) of Brits would not fight for their country under any circumstances, according to an Ipsos poll of 1,090 adults. Just over a third (35%) said they would, while the rest were unsure.

Bachelor's degrees awarded in Precision production correlates with The number of parking enforcement workers in New Jersey (r=0.907)

New version of Gemini just dropped! Looks promising so far.

#fascism

Oof

Five buyers. 146+ guns. One store. The Smoking Gun’s latest investigation shines a light on IV Guns and Ammo, a licensed gun dealer in Oregon that ignored glaring red flags of gun trafficking to sell more guns.

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854

This didn't even come up as a headline on my Google News feed, but there was a mass shooting last night in PA, killing 10 people (shooter included). These tragedies are PREVENTABLE if we 1) expand Community Violence Intervention programs and 2) have more sensible regulations about who has guns.

Disturbing 🧵

Have any #lawsky friends watched the new lawyer show Cupertino yet? Thoughts?

Supreme Court justices who served prior to 1966 stayed for a median of 15.3 years. But for the justices who served after 1966, that number jumped to 25.7 years (not including the current justices). bit.ly/3VmxQ7X

It's official: silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns are no longer required to be registered with the federal government, according to new ATF guidance. The change comes after a district court struck down the requirement because Congress eliminated the $200 fee

Judge James Ho seems very upset that the Supreme Court, in a ruling written by Justice Kavanaugh that upheld bans on transgender athletes participating in women's and girls sports, used a female pronoun in the case caption (as it was in lower courts)

never under-estimate advantages of name recognition www.bbc.com/news/article...

Check out this amazing new tool for summarizing SCOTUS oral arguments www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?u...

JUST IN: Bureau of Prisons argues its housing of immigration detainees gives the agency a national security mission permitting it to terminate guards' union contract. Doc: www.afge.org/globalassets...

Breaking News: Curtis Flowers, a Black man whose six trials in the same Mississippi murder case became a symbol of racial bias in jury selection, leading the Supreme Court to reverse his capital conviction in 2019, has died. He was 56.

Happy World Octopus Day 2026! As the ROV approached this deep-sea Granelodone octopus, it inflated its tentacles, assuming a shape reminiscent of a pile of ripe plums! Maybe a threat display or defensive posture? 🚢🧪🌊🐙 Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, Dive J2-1787, V26; ed. by O. Parsons & M. White (UW)

📚 Read the latest substack: GAO Report on Firearms Trafficking to Mexico Exposes Key Gaps in Enforcement jonathanlowy.substack.com/p/gao-report...

Divide and concur — this radical plan from 1920, for "lasting peace" after WW1, proposed uniting central Europe into 24 wedge-shaped cantons which would radiate out from Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/unionization-of-central-europe/

oh my GOD

🚨BREAKING: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the past year investigated hundreds of nonprofits across the U.S. that help people register to vote, according to new records analyzed by Democracy Docket. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...