Reposted by David ScalesCarl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 29/09/2026"I believe that science derives its authority from something more than mastering the pipeline from data generation to publication. Rather, it comes from interactions within a community of people trained to interrogate evidence and answer for the conclusions they draw from it." 224567
Reposted by David ScalesCharles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Simply 🤯 story! In 2024, the FBI sought to launch a sweeping pay-to-play investigation examining interactions between Sen. Susan Collins and a top donor, records and emails show. After Donald Trump returned to office, the investigation died. www.propublica.org/article/fbi-... 38343
Reposted by David ScalesArrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA @arrianna-planey.bsky.social · 20/09/2026That just reads as moralistic and fatalistic. There are solutions. Policy solutions. We can't reduce the work of achieving a just and equitable system of public education to "parent choice" (which is her dominant frame). 1163
Reposted by David ScalesAmbassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 19/09/2026The accounting is in: In Oregon there are 111 data centers. The TOTAL number of people employed at data centers is just 2,630, or 0.1% of the labor force. Those 100 data centers consumer 23% of all electricity used in Oregon. Meanwhile, electricity rates skyrocket as more centers are built.opb.orgOregon data centers by the numbers: 111 facilities consume nearly one-quarter of state’s power, according to new reportA first-of-its-kind report details the footprint of the controversial facilities. 8030841810
Reposted by David ScalesMayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 17/09/2026Look outside. Do you see snow? No? Well, you will soon. You might also see $30/hr more in your pocket if you become an emergency snow shoveler. Registration begins Saturday, September 19th. Sign up by November 30th for access to paid orientation and expedited payment processing.on.nyc.govEmergency Snow Shovelers - DSNYEmergency Snow Shovelers are called on after heavy snowfalls to remove snow and ice citywide from public areas like bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants, and step streets. 245118802456
Reposted by David ScalesVictor Pickard @victorpickard.bsky.social · 14/09/2026The press has been woefully inadequate in covering how Trump is trying to subvert the midterms. @sulliview.bsky.social nails it here: margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/the-truth-...margaretsullivan.substack.comThe truth about the midterms — and the media’s failure to convey itPlus: the most distressing media news of the week and the most encouraging 04528
Reposted by David ScalesBrandy Zadrozny @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Anyway, I guess I have to watch this space until November. If you see something, say something! www.ms.now/news/russia-...ms.nowA Russian disinformation campaign is doctoring celebrity videos to meddle in the midtermsThe Kremlin-backed operation, known as Matryoshka, has Hollywood actors telling voters to disavow the Democratic Party and vote Republican. 722160
Reposted by David ScalesAlondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Yes. www.amacad.org/publication/...amacad.orgField Theory: AI as Social Science Question, Object & ToolUses of advanced artificial intelligence are changing how societies organize labor, govern, produce knowledge, and make meaning. In light of these developments, this essay argues that AI models, tools... 24316
Reposted by David ScalesJustin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 28/08/2026The word “Cambridge" appears 45 times in the $17 billion Meta child-harms settlement, notes Jason Kint. Buried inside: a $459,293,017.80 payment resolving Cambridge Analytica claims across at least 46 states and two territories.techpolicy.pressThe $459 Million Cambridge Analytica Reckoning Buried in Meta's Teen Safety SettlementTucked inside the landmark settlement is another settlement, writes Jason Kint. 37755
Reposted by David ScalesKate Klonick @klonick.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Louder for the people in the back 17024
Reposted by David ScalesBK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Happy Saturday! For the next 24h, drop any infectious disease and/or vaccine related questions in response to this post, and I will do my best to answer them. Answers are for information only, NOT medical advice. #AskAnIDDoc August 2026 edition. 197632
Reposted by David ScalesBjørn Ihler @bjornih.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Yesterday afternoon, a sword attack at a school in Fagersta, Sweden, killed one person and seriously injured two teenagers. Our thoughts are with the bereaved, the survivors, and the affected community. We began structured collection within hours. Observations at the 24h mark 🧵 1136
David Scales @tnfalpha.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Honored to be on this episode of The Information Animal with @lageneralista.ca where we also explore some of the origins of her bsky handle in exploring links between generalists in medicine and in (one day, hopefully) the social sciences. 120
Reposted by David ScalesChris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 10/08/2026In our latest @newlinesmag.bsky.social investigation, @baydoun.nl and I used site visits, spatial analysis, testimonies and interviews with military and legal experts to present an anatomy of five Israeli "precision strikes" in Lebanon.newlinesmag.comIsrael Called Its Beirut Strikes Precise. We Reconstructed Five of ThemNew Lines investigates attacks in and around Lebanon’s capital, from a single destroyed room to flattened residential buildings, testing Israeli claims about distinguishing targets from civilians 15130
Reposted by David ScalesMichela Wrong @michelawrong.bsky.social · 01/08/2026The Continent magazine has published an investigation I carried out alongside Kenyan journo James Okong'o exposing how Rwanda's government manipulates social media - secretly paying influencers - in support of the M23 occupation of DRC. Thank you @pulitzercenter.org for your support. 13925
Reposted by David ScalesPhilip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 22/06/2026sports coverage or war reporting? 4639
Reposted by David ScalesSophie Fullerton @sophiefullerton.bsky.social · 20/06/2026It should not be lost on anyone that collective punishment was actively used by the Nazis themselves as “atonement exercises.” In 1941, the Nazis killed around 4,000 Serbs as an atonement for attacks that killed German soldiers. 22222118
Reposted by David ScalesMichael Okun @michael-okun.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Over the last month I saw that human editors are now stripped of control. I could no longer stop the system from auto-inviting "reviewers" with zero relevant expertise. Even worse - the AI began actively revoking the invitations I manually sent out to actual, qualified experts. 141177272
Reposted by David ScalesHypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 18/06/2026😬wired.comHow to Watch the Knicks Parade on NYC Traffic Surveillance CamerasArtist Morry Kolman will be livestreaming feeds of the NBA champions’ ticker-tape parade from NYC’s traffic cameras—and this time, the city’s Department of Transportation isn’t demanding he stop. 2494
Reposted by David ScalesSwapnil Hiremath 🍁🇨🇦 @hswapnil.medsky.social · 07/06/202650,000 page views/PDF downloads and counting Full blown Streisand effect in play diabetesjournals.org/care/article... #ADAGate continues #ADA2026 09231
Reposted by David ScalesJoseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 03/06/2026New from 404 Media: companies are using Reddit manipulate ChatGPT and Google AI Search. The strategy is to systematically manipulate answers provided by chatbots by manipulating the underlying source material those chatbots scrape—in this case, a popular subreddit www.404media.co/companies-ar... 28505221
Reposted by David ScalesStephan Lewandowsky @lewan.uk · 07/06/2026🧵 NEW PREPRINT on AI risks: 272 AI experts (I was one of them) used a 3-round Delphi to answer: which AI risks are worst, who's most vulnerable, and who's responsible? Key findings below. 👇 arxiv.org/abs/2606.0... 1/8arxiv.orgPrioritization of Risks from Artificial Intelligence: A Delphi...Artificial intelligence poses many risks, ranging from familiar present-day harms to unprecedented and potentially catastrophic ones. Effective risk management requires prioritization: we must... 1168
Reposted by David ScalesRetraction Watch @retractionwatch.com · 06/06/2026"Founded in 2010, Retraction Watch has become a central institution in contemporary science watchdog journalism, conducting sustained investigative reporting on scientific retractions, paper mills, instances of image manipulation, and research misconduct."cogitatiopress.comShining Light on “Dark Science”: Mapping the Field of Science Watchdog Journalism | Article | Media and CommunicationAljosha Karim Schapals, Michelle Riedlinger, Silvia Montaña-Niño, Artem Rednikin 0116
Reposted by David ScalesDannagal Goldthwaite Young @dannagal.bsky.social · 05/06/2026👋You can take issue with Haidt’s methodology and still think that elevating the issue of social media/phones/kids so parents start to recognize their own agency and obligations as parents is a very good thing. The cell phone ban in my 16 yo’s high school has transformed her learning experience. 3111
Reposted by David ScalesSky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 04/06/2026has any man ever been more vindicated? x.com/stuartbuck1/... 4744201404
Reposted by David ScalesProf Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 03/06/2026Hey folks, I'm starting to think AI might be a tad problematic for the integrity of science publishing! A study published as Correspondence in @thelancet.com found 4,046 fabricated references across 2810 papers, presumably generated by AI By @bruceylee.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...forbes.comFabricated Citations Found In Over 2,800 Biomedical Journal ArticlesA Lancet correspondence described how over a three-year period, 4,046 references in 2,810 published scientific journal articles had been fabricated, many likely by AI. 37546
Reposted by David ScalesKate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 31/05/2026danah boyd recently argued that social media (as we knew it) is mostly dead; what we have now is parasocial media: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... I agree. Networked social media is disappearing, replaced by a new logic/structure of content creator, creator-centered community, & algorithm.journals.sagepub.comSocial Media Is Now Parasocial Media - danah boyd, 2026When practitioners used the term “social media” to describe the internet tools that emerged in the mid-aughts, they were giving a name to the kinds of platforms... 241229381
David Scales @tnfalpha.bsky.social · 26/05/2026“In a friend-of-the-court brief, two senior psychiatrists at Mount Sinai Medical Center with a combined 40 years’ experience in emergency psychiatric units identified “exactly one instance” in which they remembered police officers agreeing to remove a patient’s shackles.”nytimes.comDoctors Asked Officers to Unshackle a Patient. They Refused for 26 Days. 030
Reposted by David ScalesSherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 25/05/2026Again, please share. In every aspect of American history you will run smack dab into the critical contributions of Black people. It’s not Black history. It’s American history. Trying to erase it is a fool’s errand. We live it every day. time.com/5836444/blac...time.comThe Forgotten Black History of How Memorial Day StartedHistorians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers' graves in 1865 184126955870
Reposted by David ScalesTrish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 23/05/2026Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...slate.comDrowning Doesn’t Look Like DrowningDrowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect. 253133989738
David Scales @tnfalpha.bsky.social · 23/05/2026“the thing holding the coalition together is a base-line eco-fascist motherhood politics that merges libertarian individualism with consumer choice and frames keeping track of it all as women’s natural, right and proper societal role.”nytimes.comOpinion | The Moms Delivered for Trump. Now He’s Scamming Them. 100
Reposted by David ScalesJonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 23/05/2026"As the book goes on, it becomes clear it was more the second explanation rather than the first—DOGE’s destruction of the agency was driven primarily by animosity rather than ignorance." prospect.org/2026/05/22/w...prospect.orgWho Died When Elon Musk Killed USAID? - The American ProspectNicholas Enrich’s new memoir details the human toll of the agency’s dismantling. 04724
Reposted by David ScalesBrendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 23/05/2026"approximately 15% of churches in our sample engaged in direct political advocacy during the 2020 and 2024 presidential election cycles, and about 8.4% during the 2022 midterm" www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... 36625
Reposted by David ScalesProPublica @propublica.org · 21/05/2026Many of the babies’ autopsy reports were clear: Vitamin K deficiency was the immediate cause of death, or contributed to it. The reports also included details about parents refusing the vitamin K shot, a long-standard injection, for their newborns.propublica.orgWhat I Can’t Forget About the Babies Who Died After Not Receiving a Vitamin K ShotBabies have died after not receiving the vitamin K shot at birth. Their autopsy records underscore how preventable their deaths could have been. 411540481
Reposted by David ScalesThe New York Times @nytimes.com · 22/05/2026In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “I’ve seen Ebola up close. I got it while treating patients in West Africa in 2014,” Craig Spencer writes in a guest essay. “I know how destructive the disease can be — and how unprepared we are for its return.”nyti.msOpinion | Ebola Is a Terrible Disease. I Saw It Firsthand.The Trump administration cut the programs meant to coordinate an Ebola response. 921039
Reposted by David ScalesVictor Pickard @victorpickard.bsky.social · 21/05/2026My essay pairs nicely with @parkermolloy.com's recent piece in @damemagazine.bsky.social: www.damemagazine.com/2026/05/20/s...damemagazine.comCan Treating Journalism Like Public Infrastructure Fix Our Broken Media?States are experimenting with tax credits and public funding to keep local reporters employed as America’s news desert crisis worsens. 45121
Reposted by David ScalesKai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 19/05/2026The contrast between the number of media requests I got when rich people on a cruise were facing a deadly, but contained outbreak versus now that some of the poorest people in the world are facing a deadly and devastating epidemic is just so so stark and it just really annoys the hell out of me. 161300428
Reposted by David ScalesCharles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 21/05/2026Wow, this story. Since 2013, Maricopa County officials have approved $226 million in sheriff’s office spending related to a settlement aimed at rooting out racial profiling. Auditors found that more than 70% of it was misattributed or misappropriated. W/ @azluminaria.orgpropublica.orgThis Sheriff’s Office Says Racial Profiling Reforms Are Too Costly. Auditors Found It Misused $163 Million.Since 2013, Maricopa County officials have approved $226 million in sheriff’s office spending related to a settlement aimed at rooting out racial profiling. Auditors found that more than 70% of it was... 43115
Reposted by David ScalesDamon Kiesow @kiesow.net · 21/05/2026Where’s your free market now, Moses? www.kcrg.com/2026/05/20/i...kcrg.comIowa lawmakers move to mandate students take Center for Intellectual Freedom classes amid low enrollmentA last minute Republican legislative push could force University of Iowa college students to take classes at the newly-created Center for Intellectual Freedom. It's exactly what a report highlighted w... 2216
David Scales @tnfalpha.bsky.social · 20/05/2026It's also important to see how this is covered across media. Hard to find on WaPo, non-existent on Fox. 49422
Reposted by David ScalesSherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 16/05/2026I have no words. Actually I do. Just not today. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...reuters.comAmerican Bar Association votes to eliminate DEI rule for law schoolsA longstanding diversity and inclusion requirement for U.S. law schools is teetering amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration and Republican states. 1011819531
Reposted by David ScalesJill Walker Rettberg @jilltxt.bsky.social · 20/05/2026New dataset published: this is the audio + transcripts of AI-generated podcasts using NotebookLM to analyse how it "translated" source documents from different times and cultures. My favourites are the 20 podcasts generated from an empty PDF. The paper about it is in press. doi.org/10.18710/RNT...doi.orgA dataset of AI-generated podcasts created using NotebookLMAudio files and transcripts of AI-generated podcasts created using Google's NotebookLM. Four podcasts were created by uploading specific PDFs. Twen... 16699243
Reposted by David ScalesLymeScience @lymescience.org · 19/05/2026Yale undergraduate Mateo Ramírez-Valentini writes about families who travel long distances for experimental treatments. He focuses on how some of these treatments are scams or over-hyped. One Argentinean family raised $350k after being enticed by notorious cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski.yaleglobalhealthreview.comMigrating for a Miracle: The Geographic Divide in Rare Cancer TreatmentsBY MATEO RAMÍREZ-VALENTINI Medical Migration in Rare Pediatric Cancers In 2021, an eight-year-old girl named Delfi Bollo traveled from Córdoba, Argentina to Houston, Texas, seeking a treatment that… 2106
Reposted by David ScalesPopehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 19/05/2026However appalled you are by this, it’s not enough. It’s a frank statement that Trump and Trumpists are above the law and need not even plausible excuses to loot your tax dollars. It’s a total failure of our civic institutions. 12432371134
Reposted by David ScalesBrendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 18/05/2026Extremely relevant today - our new report on the state of the rule of law in America brightlinewatch.org/erosion-of-t... Most notably, 91% of legal experts say Trump's DOJ provides favors or benefits to his allies, including 56% of legal conservatives. Findings thread below; please read & share. 4231112
David Scales @tnfalpha.bsky.social · 18/05/2026Initially, elected would-be autocrats often appoint “loyal losers” to important positions to rubber-stamp their power grabs, Ms. Frantz said. “The leader knows that people are going to be more likely to be loyal if they don’t have many other career options,”nytimes.comActually, Democracy Dies in H.R. 131
Reposted by David ScalesSol Messing @solmg.bsky.social · 13/05/2026New in Nature: LLMs give "the party line" in the languages of authoritarian regimes. This works when they control the media, which feeds pretraining data. We show more state control over the media means less critical LLMs. 6 studies spanning 38 languages & 13 models. Details ↓ 7243118
Reposted by David ScalesMatt Negrin still host of Hardball on MSNBC @mattnegrin.bsky.social · 18/05/2026The NYT removed the "um"s in Trump's answer on Taiwan, but put "um"s in AOC's answer on Taiwan to make her look dumb Trump said "Um, I would say 'like' is maybe too strong a word...um, no, I'm holding that in abeyance and it depends on China, depends, it's a, it's a.." L: Trump R: AOC Video below 7341061320