The VP says: POTUS "may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president." An arresting statement given the context and the stakes, but one supported in executive branch precedents. See lawfaremedia.org/article/the-mi…

Useful thread for those listening in on the jus ad bellum debate re: Israel and Iran

ODC Summer Showcase, San Francisco

Just published on APSR First View: Causal Panel Analysis under Parallel Trends: Lessons from a Large Reanalysis Study by ALBERT CHIU, XINGCHEN LAN, ZIYI LIU, and YIQING XU cambridge.org/core/journals/…

Intriguing nature HB paper with implications for political economy and law. Plenty of validity concerns, but nevertheless a solid data point.

July fog, Northern California

The Black Divide region of the High Sierra Nevada in June 2025

Ascent of the Class III NW Ridge of The Citadel: 3,700 feet of gain, detouring from LeConte Canyon on the North Lake to South Lake loop via Kings Canyon NP. Fording the Middle Fork in high June flow was memorable. True wilderness. Big views of the Palisades and Black Divide.

The AI infrastructure build-out is so gigantic that in the past 6 months, it contributed more to the growth of the U.S. economy than /all of consumer spending/ The 'magnificent 7' spent more than $100 billion on data centers and the like in the past three months *alone* 1/🧵

Please load this in 4K!

Timely piece in the current JEP

New political science grad students, a piece of unsolicited advice: Take the full formal theory sequence; if it's not offered, go to the econ department (that's what I did). Formal logic is also a great option! Why? You never know what will happen during grad school. 1/8

Bedtime story of 1990s political science journal articles

Eastern Crest of the Mono Recesses, High Sierra Nevada, summer 2025

Big marine layer