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Janet D. Stemwedel

@docfreeride.bsky.social
13K followers 1.9K following 4.9K posts

Academic philosopher, lapsed chemist, occasional science writer, perpetual ethics booster. All views my own. (she/her)

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Janet D. Stemwedel
I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 7h
What the Laquan McDonald cover-up guy advocating against holding people accountable for doing things like wantonly killing people under the auspices of public safety?!
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Janet D. Stemwedel @docfreeride.bsky.social · 2h
Remembering to pack a lunch is insufficient unless I also remember to eat it.
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Janet D. Stemwedel @docfreeride.bsky.social · 2h
In philosophy, it can be paragraph by paragraph or sentence by sentence. Hard copies. Sometimes the whole class together, sometimes groups of 3-4. Much of the discussion about interpretative strategies (what could this mean? what clues do we have to go on?)
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Andrew Thrasher @tituslegaldesign.com · 7h
Maybe something like "when an elected official is caught in a major police cover-up of the murder of a teenager, we hold them accountable."
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Andrew Thrasher @tituslegaldesign.com · 8h
Ok Rahm, I'll bite. What would an ethics reform package look like when the people running our government are fine with operating outside the bounds of existing ethical constraints?
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Have you seen @ghostdoc2026.bsky.social yet? If not, you are in for a treat --- a thoughtful, wry deep dive into the history, present, and ideology of "AI". Streaming for free on PBS's YouTube channel in the US & Korea, rentable on Kinema elsewhere. notaidoc.com
notaidoc.com
Ghost in the Machine
Not AI | Ghost in the Machine - A Documentary by Valerie Veatch | Premiering at Sundance 2026
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Sarah Kelly @sarahkelly.bsky.social · 7h
I’m just trying to live my life such that “disgraced” does not appear in the headline of my obituary
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 7h
Are you a postdoc or new faculty member who would benefit from an invited talk? My department is looking to bring someone for spring. Due to budgetary reasons, you must be either: 1. In driving distance to Orono, ME OR 2. Working on alpine or Arctic plants
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Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 7h
Econ 101
Person one: Taught my kids how socialism works. Let them trick or treat while I stayed home. Then took all their candy. Socialism 101.

Person two : The socialism part is where the community came together and fed your kids for free. The capitalism part is where you made them do all the work and stole from them.
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The Evil Dr. Joanna and Her Two Giant Demon Dogs @jlphistory.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This year I said to my students "doing the readings is like going to the gym. Just showing up isn't enough, you have to challenge yourself to do things in order to get better at them. If you do the readings, I will go the gym. At the end of term we'll see how it turns out." Y'all, I am not clever.
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David Lebo @leboism.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
For those not following NJ politics, please know that the Lt Gov resigned a few days ago because a report came out saying he did serial harassment, and yesterday he went on TV to say "i put that report through multiple AIs and they told me it wasn't sexual harassment." Former university president
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Minnesota Reformer @minnesotareformer.com · 8h
Election administrators often plan for natural disasters, bomb threats and other possible problems, but this year many are also thinking about possible disruptions driven by the federal government.
minnesotareformer.com
Anxiety is growing Trump may try to disrupt the midterm elections. States are prepping. • Minnesota Reformer
This story was originally published on NewsFromTheStates.com, part of States Newsroom.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 7h
‘We do not want a society where people are concerned about hidden audio recordings, photography and filming in places and situations where they are used to being without being monitored.’ www.ft.com/content/a352...
ft.com
Norway is first to propose temporary ban on AI glasses in public places
Law would prohibit use of the technology in parks, beaches, schools and kindergartens
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Jonathan Dresner @jondresner.bsky.social · 7h
I've been staying away from the "have lunch with your enemies" discourse, because I feel like I spent the first 10 years of this century doing that in blogspace and ... somehow, 'our enemies' never give us the same consideration, despite their flagrant inhumanity and illogics.
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 7h
Hastert’s death offers one last chance for Republicans to at long last account for his empowerment and reckon with some of their demons; not betting on it happening tho.
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molly conger @socialistdogmom.bsky.social · 7h
not to go full gen x hose drinker on you, but we walked to school on our own & were allowed to go to the library by ourselves when i was 5 & my sister was 8. the norfolk public library in our neighborhood was the one on hampton blvd. we loved it! it’s sad kids aren’t free to roam anymore.
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Janet D. Stemwedel @docfreeride.bsky.social · 7h
Make them read the texts together in class. This reduces the amount of reading that is possible, but what it does for engagement (& students’ recognition that interpretation is work) is totally worth it. (At least in a Philosophy classroom.)
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Padraig2112 @isomorphism.net · 7h
All right I will offer a nuanced comment on this. If your friendship with someone who actively supports and campaigns for this administration is more important to you than what this administration is doing, you're who Dr. King was writing that letter about.
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Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · 7h
Replication as a rhetorical device is a terrible use of scientific resources. We need more curiosity, better methodology, and sounder theoretical grounding in metascience. This shtick of trying to have the last word on everything with poor methodology is going to turn it into a degenerate literature
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 9h
NEW: Remember when John Oliver opened a church to expose how easy it was to get tax exemptions? This year, ProPublica reporters set out to establish private schools to test if, truly, anyone could open one. We founded two. Here’s how.
propublica.org
How ProPublica Reporters Became Private School Owners in 24 Hours
The reporting experiment demonstrates how easy it can be to open private schools that might then access public money. No credentials or background checks required.
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 22h
In one week! Reception for my solo show at Harmony Hall www.pgparks.com/event_list/m... #sciart
pgparks.com
Michele Banks: Forces of Nature - Public Reception - Park and Recreation - Prince Georges County MD
Artist Michele Banks' ink and watercolor paintings on yupo explore the invisible forces that shape our world.
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Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
In her last hours as DHS Secy, Noem's agency bought 5 planes from a donor at markups. In all, DHS gave $900M in contracts to that donor’s companies during her term. One plane had electronic bidets, 2 bedrooms, bar, wine chiller, a manta-ray skin table. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/u...
nytimes.com
Kristi Noem’s Agency Gave Her Donor a Lucrative Contract Just Before She Left (Gift Article)
The Homeland Security Department signed a multi-million dollar agreement to buy five aircraft from a company owned by a political contributor of the secretary on her last day, documents show.
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Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 8h
There is no way to reduce deportations without a substantial defunding of law enforcement in rural areas, who have long operated like a baronial class unto themselves.
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Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · 8h
New Bellingcat challenges are up on the website. This month, Bellingcat’s investigative technologist @msramalho.bsky.social has designed some puzzles that test your online archiving skills, taking you deeper into the internet of the past. challenge.bellingcat.com?utm_source=b...
challenge.bellingcat.com
The Bellingcat Challenge
Sharpen your open source research skills.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 17h
apropos of nothing: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
medrxiv.org
Frequent introductions and climate suitability drive increasing dengue risk in Florida
In recent years, detection of local dengue cases in Florida have increased in both frequency and geographical extent. From 2022 to 2024, consecutive outbreaks in Miami-Dade County were mainly caused b...
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Kori Schake 🎃 @kschake.bsky.social · 8h
"Federal troops can only visit polling sites when casting their personal ballot or repelling “armed enemies of the United States.” There are no other exceptions." Great piece of work on legal restraints on use of the military during elections www.justsecurity.org/153281/boots...
justsecurity.org
Boots Off Ballots: The Law
Federal law and the Constitution are abundantly clear: efforts to involve troops in U.S. elections are anti-constitutional and illegal.
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Citizen.Coping @propcazhpm.bsky.social · 9h
I remember what Talib Kwali did to Res. Who knows how many careers he ruined. I'm still angry about the Res albums I don't have. alt-text: birthday wishes and photo of an arrogant predator
rollingstone.com
Talib Kweli Faces Sexual Harassment Accusations From Former Protégé Res
Talib Kweli is facing accusations of sexual harassment from Res, who claims that the rapper held her career "hostage" after she rejected his advances.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 9h
Reports out of the Irkutsk region of Russia reveal a potential public health crisis developing in the area after a lab accident released a “particularly dangerous infection” to a researcher, who later passed away.
motherjones.com
Reports of a plague outbreak in Russia follow the death of a researcher
Several hospitals in the Irkutsk region have been shut down and up to 200 workers have been quarantined.
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CBS Philadelphia @cbsphiladelphia.bsky.social · 9h
Dennis Hastert — the former House speaker who was later sentenced to prison time over hush money payments made to cover up sexual abuse of teen boys — has died at age 84.
cbsnews.com
Dennis Hastert, disgraced former House speaker, dies at 84
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who represented Illinois for two decades in Congress and was later jailed for violating banking laws, has died.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 19h
i’m not accusing the atlantic reporter of malice, but i do think these posts bring up questions that are pretty foundational to the framing of the story and ones that deserve answers.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 19h
sure, i guess it’s possible that jack buhring voted for biden on november 3, 2020 and by january 11, 2021 he was posting support for trump’s insurrection contesting the results of the election. but even if that were true, it belies some pretty complicated politics not articulated in the story.
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FanOfWalt @fanofwalt.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is pretty freaking amazing, just six years or so from the start of #Covid to this breakthrough. Not a vaccine but a decoy that delivers up to 99% protection against Covid infection! May this make it to US shores unscathed by our “helpful health secretary.” www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office...
swansea.ac.uk
Lab-made sugar-coated particle blocks Covid-19 infection — Possible new treatment on the horizon
Groundbreaking research led by a Swansea University academic has revealed a synthetic glycosystem — a sugar-coated polymer nanoparticle — that can block Covid-19 from infecting human cells, reducing i...
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shauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
i especially love all the dopes saying “when the internet first went mainstream everyone hated it too” like it happened in the pioneer days so no one can dispute it, like mf’ers we were THERE
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Fun fact: When I went to speak at Broadview while I was still under federal indictment, 3 VERY obvious Feds kept following me, trying to copy these people. They had riot shields that said “WE PROTECT US” and asked me conspiratorially if I “knew about the plan” which was totally real. Bro. (1/4)
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Tony Stark @tonystark.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
“Some of you may die, and that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
"I think there's a lot of daylight," Altman told Decoded co-author and POLITICO senior tech reporter Brendan Bordelon.
Asked specifically where he diverges from Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei, Altman said, "We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency."
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Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
And then he took risks to use his platform to be an ally. And again, I don’t think anything was going to come out that he wanted to get ahead of. He just realized he had helped normalize and enable rape, in a very ordinary everyday way, and prioritized trying to change that over ego protection.
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Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A man he knew and liked raped a woman he knew and liked, and Sloss suddenly caught a glimpse of himself as part of a system that was enabling monstrous things, and he reacted like a human being, not a man. That is, he empathized more with the person harmed than the man doing the harm.
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Elizabeth Picciuto @epicciuto.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Incredibly moving, infuriating, tragic piece. There’s a lot I could say about this guy. But I notice that unlike the radical centrists of the world, he is not telling himself he was right at the time. bsky.app/profile/mrda...
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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It's a teenager's god-given right to be grumpy, as I think any parent of a teen (or anyone who has been a teen) realizes. This is both ridiculous and a violation of someone's basic right to present themselves as they wish.
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 19/06/2024
Guys like russell brand deliberately look at audiences who have already protected other sexual predators. They seek out those audiences. Is it any wonder at all which audience they end up with?
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James Stout @jamesstout.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I am increasingly convinced that so many people have built their entire careers on plagiarism, and they do not know what real journalism is.
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🎃 Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 04/10/2026
He’s a standard Republican man and standard Republican women understand that which is why Republican men and women are going to vote for him. By our standards it’s bananas, but think about who you have to be to vote for Republicans in Texas. 🤷🏾‍♀️
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Part of why I don't like the AI-or-bust economy is the constant flopsweat of people on the news who say this HAS to work. Quit making everyone so anxious. Goddamn. If this is the next Google then why are you acting like this? I don't remember being told to buy an iPhone at gunpoint.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
If you're in these 3 states, *TODAY* is deadline to register to vote. Alaska Rhode Island South Carolina Even if you think you've registered: doesn't hurt to check everything is in order. Do it now. And there's a lot to vote for across them. A thread with stakes on each. ⬇️
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
one thing I remember thinking about during the NYT's wall to wall coverage of Claudine Gay's fake plagiarism scandal is how regularly the NYT denies credit to the work of local, independent, and/or student journalists
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Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Something I didn't appreciate about the Maryland Renaissance Faire until today is that they've been running a 30+ year real time performance of the life and wives of Henry VIII. They started with 1509 and every year the Faire bumps up another year.
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Katie Croonenberghs Art @kamakru.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Time to get ye olde flu shot scheduled! (Already did the covid vax a couple weeks ago). Stuff's going around big time right now, especially on the West Coast. I recommend a mask if you're exhibiting at or attending conventions, and please especially do so if you even think you might be feeling off.
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#1 Lifelong Houston Cougs Fan Brandi 😾 @itsthebrandi.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
*grabs mic* NAOMI CAMPBELL HAD TO TESTIFY AT THE HAGUE BECAUSE CHARLES TAYLOR SHOT HIS SHOT WITH A BLOOD DIAMOND AT A PARTY AT NELSON MANDELA'S HOUSE AND TOLD MIA FARROW ABOUT IT. YES, QUINCY JONES WAS THERE TOO.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Voter registration deadlines are SUNDAY in Alaska, Rhode Island, South Carolina. And MONDAY in: Arizona, Arkansas Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and *Texas*. If you live in these states, verify your registration now, literally.
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 03/10/2026
"No one understands" You say a whole bunch of things like they are facts. Which they are not. Just because you don't understand doesn't mean "no one understands." www.techpolicy.press/the-black-bo...
techpolicy.press
The Black Box Myth: What the Industry Pretends Not to Know About AI
Tech Policy Press fellow Eryk Salvaggio says it's a problem is that those of us outside of the AI industry don’t know what rules they are following.
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