This is a really good article about disinformation and propaganda and how it works and takes root -- specifically anti-trans propaganda, but many of the points are general. A nice complement to an article I wrote earlier this year, which some of you saw then.

I feel certain that bluesky could immediately compile a syllabus. Feel free to reply with it now in fact

In the grand tradition of American journalism, both sides must always be expressed. On the one side, there might be the moral courage of CECOT survivors who told us their story. On the other side, there might might be my service to oligarchical fascism in killing their story. by Bari Weiss

On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. But is still led to cuts that closed offices, canceled programs and deprived people of food, medicine and other aid. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

look at how little effort it takes for someone on the conservative grievance circuit to destroy a life millions of college kids have half assed an assignment at the last minute, you eat the F and move on but the effort to push trans people out of public life will use whatever it can get

The people who profited most from the cancel culture/free speech panic were less interested in actual freedom of speech than establishing their own control over public discourse. You don't even have to take my word for it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

I suppose my clothes DO locally resemble real n-dimensional Euclidean spaces 🤔

So reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) can't fly, but they are VERY MAGICAL. For example, their EYES CHANGE COLOR during the year & they're one of the few large mammals that can see UV. Golden brown in summer, deep blue in winter. Let's talk about the unique visual adaptations of Rudolph and company.

The Abundance movement often points to environmental groups as the obstacles to building. But who actually files the lawsuits blocking projects? It’s not environmental groups. It’s been lawyered-up HOAs protecting property values all along. Regulation by litigation is the problem.

I really do not care if the guy who has raped kids is from my political party. My moral philosophy is that you don't rape kids, and there is nothing you can do that earns you a get-out-of-raping-kids-free card.

DOJ broke the law today by refusing to produce all the Epstein files. It also broke the law by redacting information other than to protect victims. Yet, the corporate media is acting that DOJ did us a huge favor. Now, more than ever, help build independent, pro-democracy media. hubs.ly/Q03CbHTt0

Which so many trans people said was exactly what was going to happen

All research is exploratory if you’re confused enough

Have you got a PhD in Statistics (or related field) and experience in Statistical Consulting? A continuing position at the Australian National University is now open 🇦🇺🦘🐨. Would love to get an #rstats person if possible ☺️ Apply by 18 Jan 👉 jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/course-... #statssky #statsky

Funny animal videos no longer being trustworthy just fucking sucks all around. I love the wonder of animal behavior and what it says about the experience of being alive. It's because it happened in reality that it's so fun. It's not fun if it was just made up. There's no wonder there.

This is so true, and works both up and down -- it's taken me decades to get over my natural reticence, but I've realised that it's almost never a mistake to give honest compliments and tell someone when you notice something great about them. It's a cheat code for building good relationships.

This year's Reith lectures are a balm and a call to action. Highly recommended. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/a...

Very excited to share the first empirical paper from LEVANTE: we describe the LEVANTE core tasks, a set of nine open source tasks for measuring learning and development in kids ages 5-12 years. osf.io/preprints/ps... 🧵

The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality. And trans lives are grounded in reality. We see y'all. No matter what. www.popsci.com/science/tran...

So much solidarity here. 😢 I think she's exactly right about what to do, though. Every time you see something morally injurious, do something morally healing. It actually helps.

This is a good wrapped version! @mehr.nz apparently I annoy you the most of everyone, good to know www.madebyolof.com/bluesky-wrap...

17 Dec 2025 @rikiwilchins.bsky.social -- Altho a Feb Pew Research poll found strong public support for such bans (56-26%), showing surprisingly unanimity just _3_ Dems broke ranks to vote Yes, (Cuellar-TX Gonzalez-TX Davis-NC). 4 Rep also broke ranks to vote _against_ the ban.

It was literally focus grouped—cooked up in a lab to replace “gay marriage” as a culture war boogieman. The deeper creepiness is the consilience of motives and methods between ideological bigots and amoral power-seekers. (Remember Trump’s bemusement about the effectiveness of anti-trans rhetoric?)

I have been emailing with a student offering advice about navigating the post-PhD job market and it struck me that the advice was general enough that more people might benefit. So here you go! tl;dr: Figure out what you want your contribution to be, and make choices that can make that happen.

CBS News staffers might want to check into how things are going at their boss’s anti-woke “university” in Austin. Via @ngluckman.bsky.social www.chronicle.com/article/at-t...

Here's a starter pack of verified news outlets that swear off generative AI. @propublica.org could be on the list... if management listens to the Guild: go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT

here we fucking go www.npr.org/2025/12/15/n...

This is my cyclical reminder that there's really only one consistently reliable source of info in the public record that isn't owned by right wing billionaires, who really want to put an end to it. Please give at least the $2.75 minimum they request if you can. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

My 10yo's teacher has inadvertently taught all of the students in the class not to trust AI by using ChatGPT to design a lesson plan (a series of puzzles) that just didn't work. At all. The kids quickly realised it was AI-generated and now my son likes to go on ChatGPT to "make it be stupid." 😂

The purpose of blaming any and every tragedy on trans people is convincing each other "wouldn't life be so much better if we just got rid of all the trans people"

When I was on CNN's northeast desk, the first job at 6a every morning was to read the local papers. That guided some of what the massive CNN machine followed every day. When those papers die, CNN doesn't hire new regional reporters. What you get instead is more panel shows, more punditry.

There *are* legitimate use cases for this kind of stuff! Simulation studies! Synthetic data for a preregistered analysis plan prior to an actual study! But this isn't being marketed as that. It's advertised as a cheaper, faster alternative to humans. Temu we-have-results-at-home survey results.

Nature would do well to publish more content like this thoughtful piece from @kevinbaker.bsky.social and fewer Buzzfeed listicles gussied up as career advice "Five productivity hacks for using AI in your scientific workflow"

You can’t “fix” X, The Everything App by going back and posting there because the owner has this thumb on the scale of the algorithm to promote the worst ideas and people. It’s not a viable solution, you have to let it go.

This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites. The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.

12 dead at a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.💔 A 43-year-old father of two, Ahmed al Ahmed, snuck up & tackled a gunman to disarm him. Ahmed was shot twice. Both Jewish & Muslim faiths teach that “to save one life is to save all humanity.” Let us hold fast to our humanity.❤️

As I go to sleep thinking about the horrific events in Bondi, I take solace in the absolutely heroic actions of the dude who tackled one of the gunmen -- and the less visible heroism of the many first responders and other members of the public that we'll no doubt hear about in the coming days.

I do think a decent proportion of terrible current events are traceable to the fact that over the past few decades, pundits and politicians went online and got unfiltered pushback for the first time. This then caused them to double down over and over and echo chamber themselves into extremism

We’re not even *close* to running out of good ideas. The issue is smart people’s ideas being systematically persecuted, under-resourced, and blocked from opportunity by fascists. Do not believe propaganda in the “Future Perfect” section of Vox that’s underwritten by Effective Altruism extremists.

Posting this take on Bluesky feels like dousing myself in gasoline and getting ready to walk through the spark plug testing lab, but fuck it, we ball: The assumption that in any abuse of power involving a man and a woman, the woman is an innocent victim is wildly misogynistic.

Absolutely amazing chart from @peterkellner.bsky.social's piece in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social today: www.thenewworld.co.uk/peter-kellne...

The Harper's Letter test almost never misses...

I hope all of us university instructors in humanities fields can find the energy and the joy to take students‘ education seriously. Don’t give up. Do what you can to set frameworks which enable rigorous study and which disincentivize dishonest work. Hold onto the students who appreciate the effort.

There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom

this thread has a wealth of useful references in the replies

Hey #rstats and #stats people, does anyone know of any references that explain the hazards of trying to run or interpret models with all combinations of many predictors? (i.e., including multiple 2-way and 3-way interactions)

Delighted this piece is now live on @theverge.com: I've spent months investigating how a supposed war against the "censorship-industrial complex" has been used by the US right to wage war against misinformation research – and free speech itself – across the world. Please do give it a read.

we all got cowed into avoiding "virtue signaling" as if the public affirmation of socially agreed upon ethical principles was somehow cringey instead of a significant part of what a "society" even is. now all there's left is vice signaling, and it's reshaping society.

This is very cool. The manipulation-busters of the future will be hacks like this one: reengineering the system to expose the algorithms beneath and how they trick us...