The hottest Governance Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

#51 - Two Detailed Approaches to Pilot-to-Prod In Enterprise AI

OSS.fund Newsletter • 56 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
đź•ą Technology Governance
  1. Fixing pilot-to-prod needs two bridges: engineering and risk controls to make pilots safe and evidence-backed, and org redesign of operating model, decision rights, and roles so AI actually changes outcomes.
  2. A focused human pod sprint with clear owners and cross-functional roles can rapidly triage pilots, create workflow-truth pages, and deliver repeatable production gates in weeks rather than months.
  3. A hugent model pairs humans for judgement with tightly constrained agent workers to automate inventory, evidence assembly, and continuous checks, giving higher throughput and a persistent triage pipeline but requiring strict safeguards and org changes.

Build the Rail! Save the Snails!

Comment is Freed • 125 implied HN points • 16 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Governance
  1. The core problem isn’t the environmental rules but an adversarial, litigation‑driven planning system that makes developers over‑engineer projects to avoid rare but ruinously expensive judicial reviews, driving up time and cost.
  2. Fix the process by having government set clear standards early and create a central Infrastructure Directorate to coordinate consultees and produce a full project specification, plus an early "Statement of Key Issues" so objections are raised and dealt with up front and money shifts from costly pre‑construction work into real mitigation and building.
  3. Change the culture by expanding state planning capacity (funded by an industry levy) and increasing secondments between industry, regulators and environmental bodies so professionals share incentives and focus on cooperative, long‑term problem solving rather than adversarial legal tactics.

Understanding Mamdani's Vision

Can We Still Govern? • 511 implied HN points • 02 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. He lays out an unapologetically left-wing, pro–big-government vision that rejects neoliberalism and promises City Hall will govern expansively and audaciously to restore public trust.
  2. His policy agenda is framed as expanding real freedom rather than just fixing pocketbook problems, with proposals like rent freezes and free childcare and a heavy focus on actually delivering results through strong implementation.
  3. He centers collective citizenship and the city’s diversity, calling for solidarity among residents and asking people to stay engaged and demand excellence from both public servants and themselves.

Why I'm nervous about what happens after Starmer

Odds and Ends of History • 1139 implied HN points • 21 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Keir Starmer seems to be losing influence and might not be effective in the long run. Many people feel he is like a 'lame duck' leader.
  2. There's concern about what will happen to the leadership and direction of the party after Starmer. This uncertainty raises questions for supporters.
  3. The future of political strategies and decisions is in doubt, which makes many people anxious about upcoming changes.

Why Has Iran Never Had a Female Ayatollah?

I Might Be Wrong • 21 implied HN points • 10 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Governance
  1. Iran still has no female ayatollah, which highlights a persistent glass ceiling keeping women out of top clerical roles.
  2. The clerical elite also lacks racial and cultural diversity, with senior ayatollahs coming from very similar backgrounds rather than reflecting the population.
  3. Recent leadership picks show nepotism and continued male dominance, which undermines claims of inclusion and could weaken the regime’s legitimacy.
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America’s Crisis of Meaning

Rob Henderson's Newsletter • 511 implied HN points • 04 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. A conversation with Congressman Dan Crenshaw is available on the Hold These Truths podcast and can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and as a full video.
  2. There’s a limited window to book one-on-one video calls—appointments are available Jan 5–Jan 9—and the meeting feature may be going away.
  3. The calls can cover writing, books, psychology, human nature, and general life advice, but they’re informal conversations and not medical counsel or therapy.

The Same Tool, The Same Week

Anima Mundi • 267 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Governance
  1. People are losing trust in old institutions and turning to friends and local networks, so we need new, transparent ways to build trust that can still coordinate at large scale.
  2. The same AI can be touted as a military asset and banned for abuse in the same week, which shows global norms for governing tech are fractured and risks an unconstrained arms race if not addressed.
  3. Climate data points to accelerating warming and the era of 'warnings' is ending, so we must shift to serious adaptation, systemic transformation, and holding the biggest emitters accountable.

No, The Guardrails Are Not Holding

Phillips’s Newsletter • 211 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. The Constitution includes an emoluments clause and makes bribery an impeachable offense to prevent foreign influence on US officials.
  2. Recent behavior by the administration shows it is accepting gifts and payments from foreign actors and changing policy in ways that suggest pay-for-play influence.
  3. The legal and bureaucratic checks meant to stop this corruption are failing, so those constitutional guardrails are not doing their job.

The Incompetent Confidence Complex

Investing 101 • 106 implied HN points • 07 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Governance
  1. People shape their own realities through the stories they tell, so what someone believes often determines what they accept as true.
  2. Real competence is earned through repeated iteration, learning, and honest feedback — practice moves you past overconfidence to genuine skill.
  3. Society too often rewards confidence over competence, which produces harmful outcomes, so prioritize building and valuing real ability.

Let Cities Build Utopia—new drop!

The Novelleist • 86 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
🪑 Design Governance
  1. A long, deeply researched essay about the future of cities is being released as a print pamphlet, digital pamphlet, and audio essay and will be serialized across free and paid installments.
  2. Common models for “cities of the future”—autocratic, corporate, special zones, and charter projects—aren’t true utopias; the research shows companies, investors, island/counties, and tribes have sometimes built more humane, autonomous, and prosperous urban experiments.
  3. The central argument is that future cities should prioritize building utopia—focusing on quality of life, resident autonomy, and long-term resilience rather than only GDP and skyscrapers—and the project itself is an experiment in slow journalism with contributors credited and 10% of sales going back to the researchers and collaborators.

Are Insiders Making a Killing on Polymarket?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 282 implied HN points • 19 Jan 26
đź”® Crypto Governance
  1. A Polymarket user turned a $32,000 wager into about $400,000 by betting Nicolás Maduro would be out of power, then deleted their account, prompting questions about who knew what.
  2. Prediction markets can let people with access to sensitive information make large, fast profits, raising concerns that insiders may be emboldened to cash in.
  3. Prediction markets are not new: economists like Robin Hanson proposed them decades ago and even suggested using them for governance (a concept called futarchy), which makes their rise both influential and controversial.

How will the US political upheaval influence the Ukraine War?

Glenn’s Substack • 379 implied HN points • 27 Jul 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Kamala Harris is expected to continue Joe Biden's foreign policies, even though she has less experience in this area. This means the current strategy in Ukraine might not change much.
  2. If Trump were to win, he might push for quicker peace talks regarding Ukraine. His focus is on getting allies to pay for protection and recognizing the costs of the ongoing conflict.
  3. The outcome of the U.S. political situation could impact how the Ukraine war is managed. Both sides may have different approaches that could lead to either continued conflict or negotiations.

A Tax Proposal Against Progress And Democracy

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 30 implied HN points • 06 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Governance
  1. Taxing the rich and their wealth discourages saving, investment, and innovation, which lowers productivity and real wages and so harms ordinary and vulnerable workers.
  2. Large taxes on income and wealth expand state power and fuel rent-seeking, patronage, and corruption, which undermines equality before the law and weakens democracy.
  3. The proposed solution is low, simple taxes with no levies on savings or wealth, plus strong property rights, deregulation, and strict limits on public spending to protect prosperity and democratic health.

A Small Tip Jar for the Administrative State

Bet On It • 216 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Allow taxpayers to use a small part of their taxes to raise or lower the pay of specific government employees each year, with caps, limits on percentage changes, and a short written reason.
  2. The system acts like tipping to create individualized accountability, encouraging faster, kinder, and more responsive service from bureaucrats who currently face little personal feedback.
  3. It won’t fix major structural problems, but it’s a cheap, practical way to improve how government feels to citizens, increase everyday accountability, and reduce populist frustration.

Twenty-two observations about American politics

Matt’s Five Points • 419 implied HN points • 19 Jul 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. The Republican Party is likely to move away from a national abortion ban due to changing public opinions on the issue. This change could lead to policies that are more moderate and similar to those in other countries.
  2. Many voters are concerned about Biden's age and health, which could lead to significant political shifts. There are worries that his age might hurt the Democratic Party in upcoming elections.
  3. Getting involved in local politics can be very rewarding and impactful. Participating in community decisions can lead to real changes and is a more effective way to influence politics than just voting or donating.

American biomedical science in 2026

Can We Still Govern? • 190 implied HN points • 27 Jan 26
🔬 Science Governance
  1. NIH is being run more from the White House than by Congress and independent scientists, which undermines stable, long-term peer review and research planning.
  2. Chronic underfunding and falling grant success rates have overloaded researchers and damaged the biomedical workforce; the fix is steady public funding or fewer applicants, not relying on billionaire philanthropy.
  3. Scientists must stop staying silent and organize publicly and politically to defend scientific independence, free speech, and trustworthy journalism.

Issue #15 – The Data Quality Conundrum (Part 1 – Root Causes)

The Data Ecosystem • 399 implied HN points • 21 Jul 24
đź’Ľ Business Governance
  1. Poor data quality is a big problem for organizations, but it's often misunderstood. It's not just about fixing bad data; you need to figure out what's causing the issues.
  2. Data quality has many aspects, like accuracy and completeness. Good data helps businesses make better decisions, while bad data can cost a lot of money.
  3. To solve data quality issues, you need a complete approach that looks at different root causes. Simply fixing one part won't fix everything, and different sources might create new problems.

Public Choice Links, 12/29/2025

In My Tribe • 334 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Governance
  1. Nonprofits can operate with less public scrutiny and often rely on government subsidies to preserve affordable housing, which effectively shifts costs onto taxpayers.
  2. India’s pre-1991 policy reserving many consumer goods for small firms blocked large-scale manufacturing and stunted growth, and the 1991 liberalization was a major turning point for the economy.
  3. If the public is disarmed, policing becomes the primary means of protection and that tends to expand government power, a risk that many libertarians find especially worrying.

Mamdani’s Revolution Is in Plain Sight

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 728 implied HN points • 27 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. The mayor-elect is appointing dozens of activists and organizers — including police abolitionists, DSA members, and an anti‑Zionist rabbi — to his transition and administration teams.
  2. These appointments suggest he plans to pursue bold progressive and socialist policies on policing, immigrant justice, and worker rights rather than moving to the center.
  3. Ideas once confined to academia and activist circles, like calls to 'end policing,' are now directly shaping city policy through advisory roles.

Why Gavin Newsom Will Never Be President

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 3514 implied HN points • 11 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Gavin Newsom is trying to elevate his political status, especially during conflicts with President Trump. He used a recent speech to push his narrative as a leader against Trump's policies.
  2. In his speech, Newsom made several statements that were criticized as dishonest or misleading. These claims were seen as attempts to manipulate public opinion about immigration enforcement.
  3. The reaction to Newsom's messages indicates that many voters are skeptical of his claims. People are looking closely at the truth behind political narratives.

What Does the Public Actually Think About the Access-Fraud Tradeoff?

Can We Still Govern? • 215 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Most Americans prefer preserving access to benefits even if it allows some fraud — on average they accept about 192 ineligible recipients for every 1,000 eligible people helped (roughly a 1-to-5 ratio).
  2. How a program is described strongly changes opinions: calling it abstract 'welfare' makes people (especially Republicans) much less tolerant of fraud, while naming specific programs like SNAP or unemployment raises willingness to accept some mistakes.
  3. Policymakers often respond to fraud scares by adding verification burdens that shut out eligible people, so officials should discuss tradeoffs openly and emphasize concrete programs and beneficiaries when defending access.

Mailbags (and movies) need writers

Slow Boring • 3164 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Movies rely on a variety of roles, including writers, for their success.
  2. Positive trends in the labor market include record enrollment in ACA exchanges, booming construction jobs, and falling greenhouse gas emissions.
  3. The outcome of historical events, like the American Revolution, can have a significant impact on future developments and trajectories.

Freighthopping

Doomberg • 7015 implied HN points • 03 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Colorado has shifted from a swing state leaning Republican to strongly Democratic in recent elections. This change reflects a broader trend of leftward political movement in the state.
  2. Governor Jared Polis is promoting renewable energy, especially wind power, which now generates a significant portion of Colorado's electricity. He seems to be inspired by policies from other progressive leaders.
  3. An interesting proposal called SunTrain aims to transport renewable energy using trains instead of traditional power lines. This could provide a new way to move excess energy while utilizing existing rail infrastructure.

Two Cheers for the Democratic Establishment?

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 3706 implied HN points • 28 May 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Biden's leadership has faced criticism due to his declining health, but it’s important to compare how the Democratic establishment handles challenges versus the Republican side. The Dems seem to prioritize accountability and ethics more.
  2. Even when Democrats make mistakes, the ethical standards they follow make them different from leaders like Trump. They seem to genuinely care about the rule of law, unlike some in the Republican party.
  3. It's crucial to recognize that while both sides have flaws, the Democratic establishment has dealt with its issues more honestly. We shouldn’t ignore their mistakes, but we also shouldn't pretend they're as severe as the problems on the other side.

Niall Ferguson: Milei’s Manmade Miracle

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 2457 implied HN points • 22 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Argentina's president, Javier Milei, is working to fix a deeply troubled economy, which struggled for many years. His efforts are showing promise and could lead to real change.
  2. Milei has made significant progress in just over a year, turning around the country's financial situation, which had been in decline for over a decade. His leadership is inspiring hope among economists and politicians.
  3. Despite his unusual personality and style, Milei's bold strategies resonate with those who believe in free-market principles. His approach stands out in a world where many leaders take a different path.

Friday Funnies: "I Speak Jive"

Who is Robert Malone • 40 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. A stream of jokes, cartoons, and images lampoons Governor Newsom and treats him as an easy target for humor.
  2. The central criticism is that he prioritizes staged appearances and media optics over solving real problems like wildfires, water systems, and rolling blackouts.
  3. The piece is presented as light entertainment with an embedded video, and it encourages readers to watch, share, and subscribe.

What's Wrong With College Sports?

Points And Figures • 532 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🎾 Sports Governance
  1. The messy controversies in college sports are largely the free market playing out, not a failure caused by NIL, and a lightly regulated market will likely produce better outcomes over time.
  2. Treating players like professionals with enforceable contracts, agents, and insurance gives them real choice and financial safety nets, and it fixes many problems of the old scholarship system where coaches could lock or cut players.
  3. Dismantling centralized NCAA control in favor of conference- and sport-specific market solutions will let schools and TV demand shape schedules and playoff systems, preserving rivalries and creating formats fans actually want.

Chartbook 394 "A City we can afford": capitalism and democracy in New York

Chartbook • 2718 implied HN points • 29 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. New York City is a very exciting and diverse place, full of contrasts between rich and poor. It has a unique mix of cultures and a reputation as a hub of innovation and debate.
  2. Socio-economic inequality is a major issue in New York, with a significant divide between high earners and those struggling to make ends meet. This gap has only gotten wider in recent years, especially after COVID.
  3. The recent political shift towards progressive leadership, like that of Zohran Mamdani, shows hope for addressing issues of affordability and inequality. However, there are strong forces that want to maintain the status quo.

Factory Settings

Anima Mundi • 164 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Governance
  1. Our attention is being systemically captured by surface-level distractions and entertainment. This extraction of time and focus prevents people from noticing and addressing deeper systemic harms.
  2. Key institutions like healthcare, governance, and the economy are often structured around incentives that serve profit, process, or power rather than genuine human flourishing, and colonial extraction still shapes who controls land and resources.
  3. Decolonization means reclaiming internal sovereignty by questioning inherited beliefs and deliberately choosing the values and systems you live by, not trying to return to an imagined pure origin.

Trump Has Completely Dropped His "Populist" Act

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 2426 implied HN points • 17 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Trump has stopped pretending to care about ordinary people and is acting more like a typical Republican. This change came right after he was re-elected.
  2. He is pushing back against issues his supporters used to care about, like the Jeffrey Epstein case, and is now backing controversial foreign policies.
  3. Despite his shift away from populism, many supporters still seem ready to follow the next political figure that promises a similar message, showing a cycle of repeated beliefs.

Don't Panic

Freddie deBoer • 7982 implied HN points • 14 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Things may seem really bad right now, but we've seen tough times before, and life keeps going. It's important to remember that this is just a part of life, not an end.
  2. Trump's first term showed that he wasn't great at getting his policies passed, even with a Republican majority. His second term might not be as effective as people fear.
  3. Doomsaying often comes from a place of self-importance, and we should be careful not to exaggerate the current situation. It's okay to be concerned, but let's not panic.

TBM 395: Words! Damned Words!

The Beautiful Mess • 476 implied HN points • 14 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Governance
  1. Terms like “initiative” naturally mean different things to different people and at different zoom levels, so don’t force one single definition; use a thin base meaning and allow different shapes or scales with clear rules and interfaces.
  2. Abstract labels become harmful when they harden into rigid governance or accounting rules, so anchor decisions on concrete events (milestones, releases) or intentionally work around or rewire those constraints to protect learning and impact.
  3. Use practical lenses — interaction, constraint, governance, and relational — and tactics like event storming, naming exceptions, fractal artifacts, and designing for many frames to see how things actually behave and keep the system resilient.

TGIF: Hellfire

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 5824 implied HN points • 10 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. California is facing major wildfires, causing devastation in Los Angeles and forcing evacuations for nearly 180,000 people. The situation is worsened by a shortage of resources and rising crime.
  2. The city government has been criticized for neglecting infrastructure improvements that could help in emergencies, like building water storage facilities. Years of red tape have delayed these critical projects.
  3. Environmental regulations are impacting water availability for firefighting efforts, with a small fish called the delta smelt blocking water releases. This situation highlights the tension between environmental concerns and urgent resource needs.

Office hours—register now for February dates

The Novelleist • 43 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. February office hours are open for registration, including a session this afternoon and meetings on the next two Fridays at 1pm MT and Wednesday Feb 25 at 1pm MT.
  2. Only paid subscribers can sign up to join these sessions.
  3. The format is conversational — bring a short intro and something you're reading to kick off discussion; past topics have included revolution and secession, new technologies (like BYD), city design, and governance movements.

Eight is Enough

Doomberg • 6392 implied HN points • 26 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, is a strong political figure and is positioning himself for future opportunities as he cannot serve another term as governor. He has a powerful background and significant financial support.
  2. California has special rules that allow it to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than the rest of the U.S., which has major impacts on the auto industry across the country.
  3. The Biden administration has been slow to approve California's recent emissions waiver applications, and this could give California a lot more power in setting its own environmental rules, especially after Trump's election.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, THE STATE OF OUR HEARTS

TRANSFORM with Marianne Williamson • 2044 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is asserting his right to block border patrol agents from saving drowning migrants, which is supported by other Republican figures.
  2. Addressing the root causes of the border crisis is essential, including stabilizing Latin American economies and decriminalizing drugs.
  3. It is important to prioritize humanitarian values as a nation and not let innocent people die at the border.

Public Choice Links, 12/11/2025

In My Tribe • 334 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🌍 World Politics Governance
  1. Having many veto points makes it easy for projects to be blocked and reduces building. Eliminating even one veto point can meaningfully increase development and deliver more affordable housing.
  2. Rent control tends to help a lucky few but shrinks the overall housing supply and doesn’t make housing more affordable for society as a whole. Policies that restrict supply while subsidizing demand push prices up.
  3. EU institutions and incentives reward making laws, so bureaucrats and politicians are pushed to produce lots of regulation regardless of social costs. That creates agenda control, opaque deal‑making, and weak accountability, pointing to fixes like unanimity rules, sunset clauses, cost‑benefit tests, and greater transparency.

What Happened When DEI Came to the Military?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 4975 implied HN points • 28 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Governance
  1. The military is focusing more on diversity, but some believe it shouldn't come before readiness and effectiveness. Keeping skills and qualifications at the forefront is really important.
  2. Retired Brigadier General Christopher Walker worked in the Air Force’s diversity office but had a different view than many expected. His experiences highlight a divide in opinions about DEI in the armed forces.
  3. The ongoing debate about DEI initiatives in the military shows there are strong feelings on both sides. Finding a balance between diversity and maintaining high standards is a key concern.