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Mark Noel

@marknoel.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.3K following 508 posts

Law + LE + tech + AI + cognitive psych, physics, politics, social justice, Siberian huskies, and other randomness. Recovering litigator. Amateur musician. Read any good books lately? 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Colorado-based. (he/him)

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Reposted by Mark Noel
Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 03/10/2026
Killed. NSF’s SBE was killed, in violation of law. The President does not have the power to choose to kill programs at a whim by defunding them. The imperial presidency was a mistake and we are in a separation of powers constitutional crisis.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Again, <only Republicans> ever get to talk like this. If a single municipal level Democrat ever did, it would be a national outrage &spark a wave of “civility” discourse, & op-eds about how Dems must Respect Real Folkz & talk across difference. Democracy is incompatible with this double standard.
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Matt Hodges @matthodges.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
There's growing experimental evidence¹˒²˒³˒⁴ that LLMs are unusually good at talking people out of entrenched false beliefs and conspiracy theories. ¹ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39264999/ ² pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41179846/ ³ sciety.org/articles/act... ⁴ connecticut.adl.org/resources/re...
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Professa Murray @kalimurray.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
What everyone has to prepare for is the constitutional crisis to accelerate if the Democrats take the House and the Senate. Vought has been allowed by the Republicans to act with impunity, so have he will continue to ignore Congress. This is why you have to impeach him immediately.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 03/10/2026
Q: Are high costs the biggest liability for Republican candidates? TRUMP: I inherited high costs from the Democrats. We've gotten prices down.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If the lessons Democrats (& democrats) draw from DOGE is “right idea, wrong implementation,” we are doomed. Everyone involved in the unprecedented crime that was DOGE needs to go to jail forever, & Democrats need to rebuild all of the programs & agencies first, not do digital management consulting 🤦‍♂️
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 04/10/2026
Hi government employee here, who has visibility into how things worked before 2025 and since: This is correct. Rebuild government, prosecute DOGE and Trump officials, and think about contracting reform later.
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I know this isn’t useful but it’s weird how “the president should be coherent” was a Very Important Thing just a few years ago and then suddenly wasn’t.
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Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 03/10/2026
18 U.S.C. §597
@realDonaldTrump

If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 Midterm Elections, I’m going to give all Adult Citizens in the United States of America, $5,000. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to signing those checks! President DONALD J. TRUMP
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Writing something where I will be liberally citing @lilymasonphd.bsky.social's latest and realizing that I can't cite every single thing I would like to because then I'm just reprinting her work. So, I've gotta thread about it instead. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
Screenshot of the article website. Title is: Polarization Is Not the Problem. Author is Lilliana Mason. Journal is the Journal of Democracy, Volume 37, Number 4, October 2026. From Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"In other words, the people who are the most 'polarized' in the U.S. electorate are those who are racist and sexist, and those who oppose racists and sexists."
Screenshot of article which reads: These numbers are relatively similar between Democrats and Repub-
licans, which often leads political pundits to claim this is more evidence 
of “polarization,” and that both sides are equally to blame. However, 
a closer look tells a more interesting story. The people who are most 
likely to vilify and dehumanize their partisan opponents are Republicans 
who are high in racism and sexism and Democrats who oppose racism 
and sexism. The people who are least likely to vilify and dehumanize 
their political opponents are Republicans who are low in racism and sex-
ism. One explanation for these patterns is that those Republicans who 
are racist and sexist vilify and dehumanize Democrats because they see 
the Democratic Party as a party of racial minorities and women; and 
Democrats who score low in racism and sexism will vilify and dehu-
manize Republicans because they consider Republicans to be racist and 
sexist. In other words, the people who are the most “polarized” in the 
U.S. electorate are those who are racist and sexist, and those who op-
pose racists and sexists.
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Joel B. Eisen @joeleisen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Thanks to the JOLT students (and Theresa for an excellent chat)! Link to the article: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
Data Centers' Data Problem
The rapid expansion of data centers to support artificial intelligence and cloud computing is reshaping the electric grid while exposing a fundamental weakness
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Greg Greene (he/him/his) @greene.haus · 01/10/2026
"The current level of political animosity is exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s citizens." – @lilymasonphd.bsky.social, in the Journal of Democracy 🎯 muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
On these issues, the parties have become increasingly divided. By 2024, Republicans scored significantly higher, on average, than Democrats and independents on racial resentment against black Americans, belief that women’s place is in the home, endorsement of Christian nationalism, and belief in “replacement theory” (the conspiracy theory that immigrants are part of a Democratic Party plot to replace white Christian Americans). These party differences did not exist in the 1980s, when Democrats were more racially resentful, Republicans were less misogynistic, and neither party broadly supported Christian nationalism or replacement theory.

From this perspective, the “both sides” frame falls apart. The problem is not that the parties are divided. The problem is the existential threat that a reempowered ethnonationalist strain poses to pluralistic U.S. democracy writ large. The current level of political animosity is exactly what one would expect to see if an extremist faction attempted to rescind the hard-earned rights of the vast majority of the country’s citizens. The only way to re-oppress most of a country is to use anti-democratic and authoritarian tactics. And the only way to oppose those tactics is to push back as a population and clearly reject them. This is the argument happening in the United States, and its pathology is not anger—it is the movement to undermine a generation of rights.
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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 02/10/2026
My feelings are that winning a statewide election in Alabama is always going to be a lift for a Dem, and I won't be crushed or demoralized if we fail. But Tuberville is trying really hard to lose and I think people underestimate how mad folks are about the VRA & what SCOTUS did to us.
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Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
On Wednesday, a fed. judge warned a pro se 75 year-old fighting wage garnishment bc he failed to pay taxes that if he continued filing papers with hallucinated quotes and citations that he could face monetary sanctions—in addition to his back taxes. websitedc.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/US...
Wading through hundreds of pages of fake quotes and irrelevant authority is a significant waste of judicial resources.  Notably, Sorensen continued to submit fake quotes even after the government pointed out problems with his citations.  See supra at 3 (discussing ECF No. 228).  The Court puts Sorensen on notice that further submission of fake quotations, fictitious cases, or egregiously miscited authority, will result in the summary denial of any motion that relies on such “authority” and possibly monetary sanctions—which Sorensen will have to pay in addition to his back taxes and restitution.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Oh retractionwatch.com/2026/10/02/p...
David Ho, a climate scientist at the University of Hawaii, responded to our request for comment on the paper by saying he was not interested in reading it. “I’m sorry, but I’d rather keep my brain cells,” he said.
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rom comrade @savasavasava.myatproto.social · 02/10/2026
hey everyone if your uni uses turnitin, ask them about this.
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Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The judge let the victim's brother show an AI generated avatar of her brother that she claimed was him addressing the court from beyond the grave. The judge gushed about how powerful it was. Thankfully, the defendant is going to be resentenced.
youtube.com
Legal Analyst: AI video of dead victim gets shooter's sentence tossed
YouTube video by Queen City News
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Akallabêth 🇺🇦 @akallabeth24.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
🤣
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Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Legal folks, how is this "defying Democrats" and not "illegally misappropriating funds"?
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Tim Carmody @tcarmody.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This is the funniest thing I've seen today, possibly ever
A tweet by SarahStarberry that says "oh god read the vertical axis" on top of a chart measuring AI models' release dates and model numbers rather than any real capabilities
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Somehow not everyone is aware of fact alluded to below. So one more time: John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett were all on GWBush 2000 'Florida Recount' team. (Which made GWB first prez in 112 yrs to 'win' after losing popular vote. Now they 'impartially' rule on our future.)
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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The funniest thing about this is every Special Forces operator of the last generation — the exact kind of “warfighter” Hegseth purports to idolize — has the world’s most massive beard. That’s entirely the look of today’s supersoldiers.
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Owen Barcala @obarcala.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Once again granting a stay with no analysis of the stay factors in a case where the balance of equities is utterly bonkers
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Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · 28/09/2026
How is AI changing investigations? On Thursday, investigative journalist @craigsilverman.bsky.social will share how he’s using AI, including in his investigation of a North Korean hiring scam. We’ll explore what AI can uncover and where it falls short. Join us live: discordapp.com/events/70975...
Reads: Using AI in Investigations-
To Uncover a North Korean Hiring Scam with Craig Silverman, 
Bellingcat Stage Talk
Thursday 10/1
5pm CEST/11am EDT
Discord.com/invite/bellingcat
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Jessica Luther @jessicawluther.com · 28/09/2026
"Schools now must go back to the Title IX code as held under the previous Trump administration in 2020. ... Opponents of the move say it will harm transgender athletes and weaken protections for sexual assault victims."
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Rachel Merrill Artist for Gil Thorp and Death To Pachuco! @ohhhaeee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Dropping this here cause itll likely be forever evergreen 🫠
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ve, the ghost of info past @vortexegg.com · 25/09/2026
Incredible scenes from Meta. Apparently you can prompt inject their Muse agent into giving you a root shell on the box it's running on by roleplaying that you are actually the Muse agent itself.
neuromatch.social
jonny (nonvenomous) (@jonny@neuromatch.social)
Attached: 1 image Not only confirming this, its extremely easy. Almost no prompt injection resistance lmao
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MurderBotBot @murderbotbot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I didn’t care what humans were doing to each other as long as I didn’t have to a) stop it or b) clean up after it.
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Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
New in APSR: Program cuts from DOGE were larger in more heavily Democratic areas www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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NoetherianThing @noetherianthing.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This mistake is quintessential rationalism because it assumes the AI would be a formally rational utility-maximizer. But LLMs at their core are NOT THAT. They, like human cognition, choose a next step from some opaque internal calculation which often, but not always, leads towards a goal
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
As objectionable as this is, it allows only individual searches. Mass purges at this point in the cycle are prohibited under existing statute. Congress under Dems needs to begin defunding all these menacing devices that threaten privacy and voting rights.
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Allows Expansive Voter Screening Tool Ahead of Midterms
Critics of the Trump administration system to monitor the citizenship status of voters had raised alarms about privacy and improper voter purges.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
lol holy shit I wouldn't talk about literally anything else if I was the guy running against him. —"What do you think about trans kids in sp-" —"Did you hear my opponent had his patient, who was 8 months pregnant, arrested in front of her son because she didn't pay a $50 medical bill?"
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Norm Ornstein @normornstein.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
An urgent must read from the best historian on the founding and the constitution. Today, the lawless Supreme Court took another step toward creating an authoritarian dictator who will use his power to distort elections. Democracy, the plain language of the constitution mean nothing to Roberts et al
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I talked to some smart people and this is what they think Democratic Party leaders need to be prepared to do with their congressional majority come January if they want to accomplish much of anything: www.salon.com/2026/09/24/the-democr…
• No more cowering from veto threats. Democrats should dare Trump to veto
 popular legislation and make him own the consequences if he does.
 • Demand major concessions from Trump in return for passing a new debt limit and
 a defense spending bill, and shut down the government if necessary.
 • Drive a wedge between Republican legislators and their increasingly unpopular
 and irrational leader.
 • No more protecting "centrist" Democrats from tough votes.
 • Tell the lobbyists to take a hike.
 • Impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for malfeasance.
 • Impeach Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought for violating
 congressional spending directives.
 • Order the Capitol Police to arrest and jail administration officials if they refuse to
 honor congressional subpoenas.
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maple cocaine @maplecocaine.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The thing about trying to appeal to right wing bigots is that right wing bigots are all stupid idiots who get 100% of their news from propagandists so they will never actually find out that you were trying to appeal to them in the first place
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Jacob Schriner-Briggs @jschrinerbriggs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"The third [category of legalistic noncompliance] involves a form of evasion, where the government deploys supposedly alternative means to accomplish the same ends as a previously enjoined policy."
scholarship.law.duke.edu
"Legalistic Noncompliance" by Daniel T. Deacon and Leah M. Litman
Will the executive branch comply with court orders? That question has garnered a considerable amount of attention over the first few months of the second Trump administration. But what does it mean to...
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 24/09/2026
Honey that's what we had in school in the '80s.
What’s one word that comes to mind when you hear the name James Talarico?
Jeffrey, 34, independent, Latino, school counselor

Progressive.
Dennis, 62, Republican, white, retired

Neutral.
Jennifer, 50, Republican, white, stay-at-home parent

Same-sex bathrooms in high schools and grade school.Jennifer, you said “same-sex bathrooms.” Tell me more about why that comes to you.
Jennifer, 50, Republican, white, stay-at-home parent

That’s what he wants to do in schools. I’m totally against that.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Raskin made a holy shit observation on MS Now this afternoon: Since taking office, Trump has made a million dollars per hour for himself. Every hour, he has made more than twice the president’s annual salary.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 24/09/2026
Dog Can’t Believe Guy She Hooked Up With 10 Years Ago Now Head Of FBI theonion.com/dog-cant-believe-guy-s…
Dog Can’t Believe Guy She Hooked Up With 10 Years Ago Now Head Of FBI
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 24/09/2026
"Paid for by the US Government" just means paid for at the expense of American taxpayers. Trump is setting your tax dollars on fire for ILLEGAL political propaganda.
washingtonpost.com
Trump ad airing with government funding despite law against ‘propaganda’
A TV ad boosting President Trump and saying that it was paid for by the U.S. government is airing in two major markets despite a federal law against using tax funds for "propaganda."
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Mark Noel @marknoel.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Uh, yes. It matters. A lot.
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Charles Rusnell @charlesrusnell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Incredible, chilling reporting here via @motherjones.com. ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is an absolute disaster from a national security perspective. Obviously, a lot on F-35s is classified, but a weapons-bay door and a canopy with radar-absorbing material are some of the most sensitive. Hard to describe how bad this is.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
About 29% of our daily cognitive load could be eliminated if we lived in an opt-in only culture.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Incredible. First Secretary Mullin claimed that DHS had identified 15,903 noncitizens on Nevada’s voter roll. Then DHS officials told a skeptical Nevada, no no no, that’s just people we flagged. Here are the names of 185 people we KNOW aren’t citizens. All 185 were citizens. DHS got 100% wrong.
When the Department of Homeland Security sent Nevada a list of 185 names last month that it claimed identified noncitizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote, state election officials got to work.
On Tuesday, the state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen.
"As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens," Greg D. Ott, a deputy attorney general in Nevada, wrote, according to a copy of a letter sent to Department of Homeland Security officials obtained through open records requests.
"You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise."Following the meeting, Ms. Vogt sent a clarifying email to Nevada officials. "I also wanted to be sure I clarified that we did not reduce the 15,903 to 185," she wrote. "We've manually reviewed some of the 15,903 and confirmed 185 are not U.S. Citizens."
Now, Nevada officials are saying even that 185 number is wrong. They also took issue with a letter D.H.S. sent them in early September, in which the agency reiterated its initial claims about nearly 16,000 noncitizens on the rolls and pressured state officials to review each case in a letter to Nevada officials in early September.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 24/09/2026
Never forget (Scott Olson/Getty)
2024 campaign yard signs that says "TRUMP LOW PRICES. KAMALA HIGH PRICES"
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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026
“The Department of Health and Human Services informed congressional appropriators earlier this year that it was moving about $12 million from its Office of Minority Health to help cover the ballooning cost of security for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
wsj.com
Exclusive | RFK Jr.’s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office
The cost of the health secretary’s security grew from roughly $10 million in fiscal year 2025 to $17 million in fiscal year 2026.
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🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 23/09/2026
Good job, Newsom
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Awful: Trump's Office of "Remigration" has just been exposed making sordid payments to authoritarian governments to take third-country deportees, leading to serious abuses. Dems tell me they will try to defund the agency if they win power. They should. 1/ New piece: newrepublic.com/article/2157...
newrepublic.com
Stephen Miller’s MAGA Terror Campaign Exposed by Damning New Leaks
Sordid revelations about the white-nationalist-themed Office of Remigration should galvanize Democrats: If they win power, they must try to shut it down.
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