#polisky the absolute decimation of the social sciences cc @professormusgrave.bsky.social @mcopelov.bsky.social

Negativity and Misinformation There are large and growing bodies of research highlighting inaccuracies in news coverage. In this paper, we suggest that negativity biases account for a substantial portion of longstanding inaccur...

I am excited about this new paper, Negativity & Misinformation, just out with @cbwlezien.bsky.social in @polcommjournal.bsky.social: "durable biases in information processing, by media organizations and humans more generally, can produce misinformation and misperceptions..." doi.org/10.1080/1058...

Pulaski Institution Project 26/250 At The Pulaski Institution, we want to defend and promote liberal democracy by focusing on heartland areas. But for us, heartland isn’t a narrow or geographically limited thing. It’s not rural vs. urb...

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DHS: Want affordable housing? Help report illegal aliens in your area. Call 866-DHS-2-ICE. If you are an illegal alien, you can take control of your departure using DHS.GOV/CBPHOME.

straight up Gestapo shit

This incident alone would have triggered hearings and probably a senior-level resignation in another administration.

Our BPP paper on government shutdowns, need for chaos, and prospect theory (w/ Erin Fitz, @stecula.bsky.social, Matt Hitt, and me). Here's the abstract and link for "Mindset to Gain? Framing Effects, Need for Chaos, and the Limits of 'Burning It All Down'." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This is a joke from a satirical website

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On Jan. 5, Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jim O’Neill signed a memorandum that reduced the number of diseases targeted in the childhood vaccine schedule for all children to 11, just one more than Denmark's schedule.

There was simply no way to predict that the guy who renamed the Department of Defense the Department of War will start a war

The dream of back to back FIFA Peace Prizes is fading away

Unfortunately, now is the time to circle back

You cannot reverse your car here without hitting something with Wexner's name on it. And if you're not hitting something, it's because the road itself is named after him or his wife

Pure, unmitigated hate.

Opinion | A sickening moral slum of an administration Regarding Venezuela, Ukraine and much more, Trump and his acolytes are worse than simply incompetent.

George Will: "Pete Hegseth seems to be a war criminal. Without a war. An interesting achievement. ... The killing of the survivors by this moral slum of an administration should nauseate Americans. A nation incapable of shame is dangerous, not least to itself" www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Oh please just fuck off

Postdoctoral Researcher Positions!

Chart showing that since 2016, a vast majority of U.S. adults have said healthy children should be required to get the vaccine to attend public school because of the potential risks for others when children are not vaccinated. But support for school MMR requirements dropped from 82% in 2019 to 69% in 2025. This decline is largely because of a steep slide in support among Republicans. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, 79% of Republicans said healthy children should be required to get the MMR vaccine to attend school. This share sunk to 57% in 2023, then to 52% in 2025. In contrast, Democrats’ views on school MMR requirements have remained stable, with solid majority support.

Republicans increasingly oppose requiring healthy kids to get MMR vaccines to attend public schools
2016 19%
2019 20%
2023 42%
2025 47%
www.pewresearch.org/science/2025... 🧪

Yes, Democrats broadly speaking consume all kinds of mainstream media, Republicans overwhelmingly consume just one (Fox)

Joe Rogan is also the second most trusted source of news among Republicans, after Fox News

More than twice as many Republicans report getting news regularly from the Joe Rogan Experience podcast than from Tucker Carlson. Also more Republicans get news on JRE than on Newsmax, Daily Wire, or Breitbart

new paper by Sean Westwood:

With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research

back to student subject pools

I just ran a survey (with @stecula.bsky.social and Alex Rivard) and we found that people have no idea what housing prices are like in their community. People simultaneously underestimate what homes cost in their metros and think that where they live is much more expensive than the rest of the US.

Our universities are truly a US superpower. Most states have at least one world class research university that is an engine of the local economy and a magnet for top talent from all over the world. Policies like this are not like stepping on a rake, its like blowing your own head off with a cannon.

in case you missed it when I posted the preprint on acceptance, here's the more aesthetically pleasing, actually formatted (and unfortunately timely) article for your reading pleasure! (cc: Fitz, @stecula.bsky.social, @matthewhitt.bsky.social):

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Old enough to remember when scenes like this would have been unthinkable in America. (It was 9 months ago)