Andrew J. Taylor

@tylercoward Spain are current Euro champions, but I am proud to say England successfully defended as runner-up.

The third straight World Cup without Italy, 4 time champions and current European champions. Soccer is brutal.

This just seems performative, almost as if the Governor has binders of them.

@Avik UConn has done it before, Tate George v. Clemson in 1990.

This is right up there with the Christian Laettner - Jamal Mashburn Duke-Kentucky game, but with Duke losing this time.

Social science under attack from the left.

1/2 Here are some recently published and upcoming works by @FreeConTalk signatories and key allies: @ajtfosp (pictured nearby), a #FreeCon signatory and political scientist at North Carolina State University, is the author of “A Tolerance for Inequality: American Public Opinion and Economic Policy,” published last November by the University of Chicago Press. Taylor’s book “breaks new ground and makes a significant intellectual contribution by focusing on those areas where the connections between economic and political inequality are least established,” said Matt Grossman. • FreeCon signatory @bradleybirzer, Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and Professor of History at Hillsdale College, is the author of ‘The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Experiment in Liberty,” due out in May from the American Institute for Economic Research. “Influenced by classical learning, the English constitutional tradition, Protestant political culture, and the philosophy of natural rights,” this book “presents the Declaration of Independence as both radical and deeply rooted in inherited traditions.” Birzer‘s previous books include “Russell Kirk: American Conservative” (2015), “Neil Peart: Cultural (Re)Percussions” (2015), and “J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth” (2003). • @StephenKentX, a FreeCon signatory and principal of Better Media LLC, is the author of “Great Escape: How Stoicism and Timeless Stories Can Change Your Life, If You’ll Let Them,” due out later this year from Post Hill Press. His prior work includes “How the Force Can Fix the World: Lessons on Life, Liberty, and Happiness from a Galaxy Far, Far Away.” • @sladesr, a senior editor at Reason, is the author of “Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right,” which will be published in September by the University of Notre Dame Press. Slade “brilliantly illuminates the truth that the free society is made possible by the creative tension between liberty and virtue,” raved Yuval Levin of the American Enterprise Institute. “This book is essential reading for conservatives of all parties.” • @HelloFrankLavin, a FreeCon signatory and former federal official and ambassador, is the author of “Inside the Reagan White House: A Front-Row Seat to Presidential Leadership with Lessons for Today,” published last year by Post Hill Press. • @CalebFranz, a FreeCon signatory and program manager at Young Voices, is writing “Becoming Ulysses: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of Young Ulysses S. Grant.” His first book was “The Conductor: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism’s Essential Founding Father.” • @LexiOHudson, a FreeCon signatory and author of “The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves,” is currently working on a follow-up book for young readers entitled “Heroes and Villains: The Soul of Civility for Young Citizens.”

The thesis here is oil companies shouldn't be sponsoring the Winter Olympics because of climate change and no snow = no Winter Olympics. But an alternative thesis is they should because no oil = no Winter Olympics. Great even-handed political reporting from @BBCSport

Two former @NCState @PopeFoundation Lecturers!

@JohnHoodNC Happy 60th John! It’s been a full & productive working life. I hope it still has many more years in it. I’m not far behind you, 12 days & counting!

On this date in 1966, John Hood was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, preceding his twin brother David by four critical minutes. From then on, he was always four minutes older, four minutes wiser, four minutes ahead of the game. The experience changed him. It marked him. As he walked down the street, people would stop, stare, and whisper: "That's him. That's the guy with the extra 240 seconds." Co-workers took note of his quadra-minutial qualities and responded with either envy or admiration. Reporters unknowingly jotted down the number "four" whenever they spoke to him. Barbershop quartets broke into song whenever he passed by. Horsemen of the Apocalypse nervously tried to steady their restless mounts. Then he woke up. "That's all rather silly," he mumbled, and went back to sleep. The clock struck 4 am.

@JohnHoodNC To clarify, John is on the money 99.99% of the time. But as English-born (and proud naturalized American) the date is inculcated in me.

@ajtfosp Thanks. Jumped the gun a bit, oops. I took down the X post but there were too many reactions on other platforms to do that gracefully so I added a correction

This is a great piece with some mind-boggling statistics. - At Brown and Harvard, more than 20% of undergraduates are registered as disabled - At Amherst: more than 30 percent - At Stanford: nearly 40 percent Soon, many of these schools "may have more students receiving [disability] accommodations than not, a scenario that would have seemed absurd just a decade ago." As students and their parents have recognized the benefits of claiming disability—extended time on tests, housing accommodations, etc—the rates of disability at colleges, and especially at elite colleges, has exploded. America used to stigmatize disability too severely. Now elite institutions reward it too liberally. It simply does not make any sense to have a policy that declares half of the students at Stanford cognitively disabled and in need of accommodations.

Economic populism isn’t as appealing to Americans as progressive Democrats believe writes @ajtfosp of @NCState blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2025…

@LSEUSAblog has posted my piece on economic populism, a broad summary of the argument in my new @UChicagoPress book out today! blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2025…

Blue-Collar Voters Don’t Want Blue-Collar Politicians. Today on the Gist, we talk with NC State political scientist Andrew J. Taylor about his new book, A Tolerance for Inequality: American Public Opinion and Economic Policy, probing why voters often prefer public goods and tax cuts over classic redistribution—and how policy frequently tracks aggregate opinion more than pundits admit. Taylor also explores why blue-collar districts don’t reliably elect blue-collar representatives and what that says about representation... Plus: the Spiel on the James Comey indictment—why prosecutors previously declined the case, how the McCabe leak finding undercuts the charge, and why this looks like executive retribution rather than justice.

Check out @ajtfosp 's book here: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/auth…

@chriscooperwcu @JudgeBobOrr If that's the definition of "improper" government interference, then just about all NC government interference is "improper"--ballot access rules, regulating party nomination processes, regulating the times and means by which people can cast a ballot, etc.

Read & decide for yourself: . @JudgeBobOrr's brief: ncappellatecourts.org/show-file.php?… & all of the other documents/filings, etc. :ncappellatecourts.org/search-results… (8/8)

As the threats of tit-for-tat arms race redistricting continue (TX, IL, CA, etc.), it's worth looking at a case in #ncpol that attempts to look at redistricting not as a partisan issue, but rather as a free & fair elections issue. a #redistricting #elections 🧵 (1/8)

1/3 At @RCPolitics, I described the committee process that resulted in last week’s revision of the @FreeConTalk statement to highlight property rights and the indispensable role played by families, congregations, and other institutions of civil society in inculcating virtue and fostering community. #FreeCon

For those interested in a take on @ZohranKMamdani and his win in the NYC Dem primary, check out my new book from @UChicagoPress. Pre-order for September release! It's definitely NOT a TLDR, but the short of it is his economic vision isn't going far. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…

Been distracted and off X for a while. But passing along John Hood's recent CJ piece on Jackson & tariffs is worth getting back on. carolinajournal.com/opinion/andrew…

@JohnHoodNC with gooey buttery centers

On this date in 1240, the city of Kiev fell to the invading Mongols. While Mongol leader Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis, was an impressive military commander, the real problem was that the leaders of Kiev proved to be chicken.