Greg Linden

@glinden.bsky.social

1.6K followers 290 following 1.2K posts

an internet relic, linkedin.com/in/glinden

Videos

Business 56%

Economics 33%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Greg Linden, Ryan Goodman, David Darmofal

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 2h

Reporter: If there were a second strike that killed wounded people, would that be legal?

Trump: I don’t know that happened and Pete said he did not even know what people were talking about. I wouldn’t have wanted a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine.

Greg Linden @glinden.bsky.social · 10h

Executives have an incentive to focus on clicks. They can temporarily boost quarterly revenue, grab a bonus and promotion, and get out of the company before the wreckage hits. But optimizing for clicks isn't the best thing for the company. It drives customers away eventually.

Greg Linden @glinden.bsky.social · 10h

There is a short term versus long term problem here. Optimizing for clicks promotes sensationalism, increasing short term revenue. But customers tire of all the noise and crap. They eventually abandon and unsubscribe, hurting long term revenue. So optimizing for clicks doesn't work in the long run.

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 1d

George Lakoff and I pushed this simple and reasonable idea years ago. When I returned to journalism, I realized the problem. Editors care more about SEO and controversy (=clicks) than about whether the headline is destroying truth. Incentive is to bait engagement at all cost.

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner, David R. Miller, Greg Linden , and 1 more Daniel W. Drezner, David R. Miller, Greg Linden, Aviel Roshwald

Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 23h

Now Senate Armed Services Committee and House Armed Services Committee - vow "vigorous oversight" and "full accounting" of Secretary Hegseth's alleged "kill them all" order and double-strike operation.

Rare joint statements by GOP Chairman and Ranking Member on both committees

Reposted by Greg Linden

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 1d

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Dorothy Bishop, Karen Benjamin Guzzo , and 6 more Kim L. Scheppele, Dorothy Bishop, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, James Goodwin, Kate Starbird, Greg Linden, Élisabeth Vallet

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

How it started / How it’s going

The WHITE HOUSE
45
47
K PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS
RESTORING FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ENDING FEDERAL
CENSORSHIP
The White House
January 20, 2025

The WHITE HOUSE
Offender Hall of Shame
A record of the media's false and misleading stories flagged by The White House. Scroll for the Truth.
The Washington Post
EXPOSED
OCBS
NEWS
EXPOSED
EXPOSED
i msnbc

Reposted by Greg Linden

Conspirador Norteño @conspirator0.bsky.social · 1d

In recent years, Facebook has been flooded with AI-generated images of houses posted by spammy content farm pages. Many of these pages are run by Vacarino LLC, allegedly based in Oklahoma City. Further digging, however, indicates the LLC owner is based in Kosovo. www.conspirator0.com/p/this-barnd...

This barndominium does not exist, part V

None of these houses are real, and Oklahoma City is not in Kosovo

www.conspirator0.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Kori Schake, Marc Lynch , and 12 more Stephen M. Walt, Kori Schake, Marc Lynch, Kim L. Scheppele, Elizabeth Saunders, Matthew Bunn, Nancy Kanwisher, Brendan Nyhan, John Horgan, Rosemary A. Joyce, David R. Miller, Ann Bartow, Greg Linden, Christina Pagel, Dan Immergluck

Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 1d

Former US military lawyers speak out:

"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."

Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes

1/2

• If the U.S. military operation to interdict and destroy suspected narcotraFicking vessels is a “non-international armed conflict,” as the Trump Administration suggests, orders to “kill everybody,” which can reasonably be regarded as an order to give “no quarter,” and
to “double-tap” a target in order to kill survivors, are clearly illegal under international law. In short, they are war crimes.
• If the U.S. military operation is not an armed conflict of any kind, these orders to kill helpless civilians clinging to the wreckage of a vessel our military destroyed would subject everyone from SECDEF down to the individual who pulled the trigger to prosecution under U.S. law for murder.

Highlighted sentence at the end of the document reads:

Again, the bottom line is that, since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are “patently illegal,” anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 1d

Dimon on why JPMorgan Chase is not funding WH Ballroom:
We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Ann Bartow, Greg Linden , and 1 more Lisa W. Fazio, Ann Bartow, Greg Linden, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 1d

Still haven't read the full agreement because I deserve nice things occasionally. But there's really a need for a propublica-type investigation into the social network of these boards, presidents, & donors with the admin. At the same time, exploring the similarities and differences across deals.

Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 1d

I would love to see detailed reporting about how these deals come together. This one looks like an inside job even more than Columbia’s.

Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 2d

I’ll look at it in more depth later but Northwestern’s agreement seems more campus-specific than previous deals and imposes restrictions on campus conduct beyond what others ave agreed to. Northwestern seems to have surrendered autonomy to a shocking extent. www.northwestern.edu/president/do...

Reposted by Will Jennings, Juan Cole, Gerald Friedman , and 1 more Will Jennings, Juan Cole, Gerald Friedman, Greg Linden

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 1d

The president is about to start a war for no real reason. All of the things he has blamed on the country he’s targeting — fentanyl distribution, “emptying the asylums” and sending patients to the U.S., alignment with Tren de Aragua— are provably, obviously false.

Lots of people are going to die.

Reposted by Menzie Chinn, Joseph Schafer, Gernot Wagner , and 7 more Menzie Chinn, Joseph Schafer, Gernot Wagner, Sanford F. Schram, Gerald Friedman, William A. Allen, Bessma Momani, Mark Rice, Greg Linden, David Darmofal

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 1d

Demolishing the East Wing of the White House before finalizing plans for what will be built above its ruins is a near-perfect metaphor for Trump's approach to economic policy. The only difference is the wrecking crew doesn’t claim the rubble is evidence of unprecedented growth.

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Juan Cole, Greg Linden , and 4 more Rosemary A. Joyce, Juan Cole, Greg Linden, Kathleen Kennedy, Manisha Sinha, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Candida R. Moss

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 1d

Hitler was bad.

An essay that, you know, I didn’t think I’d need to write.

Perry: The pro-Hitler problem with the American right

"We need to get back to the basics: Hitler was bad. The people who suggest otherwise are also bad," David M. Perry writes.

www.startribune.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Alan Richardson, Greg Linden

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 1d

Time to ask: In whose interests is American foreign policy being conducted?

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 1d

"By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies"

Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations

www.wsj.com/world/russia...

Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine

The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.

www.wsj.com

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Elizabeth Saunders, Will Jennings , and 5 more Kim L. Scheppele, Elizabeth Saunders, Will Jennings, Michael Kevane, Robert C. Richards, Greg Linden, Aviel Roshwald, David Darmofal

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

> @andrewdesiderio.bsky.social

Reposted by Safiya U. Noble, Marc Lynch, Laurent Pech , and 5 more Safiya U. Noble, Marc Lynch, Laurent Pech, Caroline T. Schroeder, Anne Norton, Brian Keegan, Alfie Kohn, Greg Linden

Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 1d

So apparently the administrators at Northwestern have caved to the extortionist demands of the Feds. Faculty voted 595-4 AGAINST this measure.

Reposted by Robert W. Wallace, Greg Linden

David Rothschild @davmicrot.bsky.social · 2d

A note on SaneWashing: I read part of this post to family (all liberal Democrats who consume a lot of news, but not social media), and it blew their mind. They all thought it was parody: if Corporate Media did not SaneWash, it would shock US, his approval would plummet from low (30s) to lower(20s).

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump calls Tim Walz “seriously retarded”

migrant earning $30,000 with a green card will get roughly $50,000 in yearly benefits for their family. The real migrant population is much higher. This refugee burden is the leading cause of social dysfunction in America, something that did not exist after World War II (Failed schools, high crime, urban decay, overcrowded hospitals, housing shortages, and large deficits, etc.). As an example, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota. Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for “prey” as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone. The seriously retarded Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both, while the worst “Congressman/woman” in our Country, Ilhan Omar, always wrapped in her swaddling hijab, and who probably came into the U.S.A. illegally in that you are not allowed to marry your brother, does nothing but hatefully complain about our Country, its Constitution, and how “badly” she is treated, when her place of origin is a decadent, backward, and crime ridden nation…

Reposted by Rebecca Solnit, Robert W. Wallace, Aaron Sojourner , and 2 more Rebecca Solnit, Robert W. Wallace, Aaron Sojourner, Greg Linden, Kristina McElheran

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 2d

Official data is in this week, and US solar continues to grow rapidly, with generation up 30% compared to last year!

Reposted by Greg Linden

Matthew Facciani @matthewfacciani.bsky.social · 2d

New study finds that down-ranking hostile political content in people’s social media feeds decreases political polarization.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Reranking partisan animosity in algorithmic social media feeds alters affective polarization

Today, social media platforms hold the sole power to study the effects of feed-ranking algorithms. We developed a platform-independent method that reranks participants’ feeds in real time and used thi...

www.science.org

Reposted by Steven S. Smith, Greg Linden

Michael McFaul @mcfaulmike.bsky.social · 2d

The United States did not start the war in Ukraine. We owe Putin nothing. Giving him concessions now, like recognizing territories he annexed, would make the US look so weak.

Greg Linden @glinden.bsky.social · 2d

This, by the way, is why specialized algorithms are necessary for high quality recommendations. Recommendations should be surprising but relevant to be helpful and useful. Specialized recommender algorithms can do that, but LLMs will just pick obvious bestsellers.

Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 2d

The fed all the world's money and data into AI so it could suggest...a cozy bathrobe for mom, maybe from Victoria's Secret.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Bloomberg asked several AI bots — including Amazon’s Rufus, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Walmart Inc.’s Sparky — what to buy mom for Christmas. The top suggestion: a cozy bathrobe. Sparky recommended a pink hooded number emblazoned with “Mama Bear,” and ChatGPT suggested buying the robe from Victoria’s Secret. Perplexity Inc.’s AI bot proffered another option found on many gift guides: a $20 wooden photo frame from Etsy.

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Greg Linden, Daxton R. Stewart

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 2d

Here's a note I sent to our members about what we did with their money, and why we expect the Onion to outgrow the Washington Post.

We keep doing weird, hard shit — taunting ICE, yelling at Congress for not taunting ICE, buying bad websites — when nobody else does.

Our members keep getting papers.

Hey there Onion members,

This is Ben Collins, CEO of America’s Finest News Source™.

I am writing today, as we have arrived at a precipice in American life, to thank you.

Our government is employing masked oafs to kidnap our neighbors, ziptie our children, and play Call of Duty: Burger King Edition in several American cities. The White House, otherwise occupied with taping an episode of HGTV’s “Help I Wrecked My House,” is hellbent on politically mandated starvation of the indigent. Worst of all, America’s airwaves have been taken over by dull throbbing moans only recently identified by scientists as something known as “Morgan Wallen.”

In short, it is not a good time out there, and our captured media has been too scared to call that out.

But, because of you, none of that is true at The Onion. For reasons we don’t like or understand, our work has become increasingly important.

You and your contribution over the last year have allowed The Onion to thrive in this precarious moment — to take risks and to say sentences mere moments before those thoughts become criminalized.

We need your help in the next year to bolster that fight as things get precipitously worse.

Because of your support, The Onion is now the 11th-most distributed newspaper in the United States, sandwiched between The Boston Globe and The Chicago Tribune. In the next year, our goal is to crack the top 10, and to surpass the circulation of the propaganda project of a notorious space pervert, Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post.

We’re confident we can reach this goal with your help. Unlike other publications, which all appear to have a fetish for caving to an increasingly maniacal and unpopular authoritarian government, The Onion remains unafraid to print the truth, straightforwardly and without favor.

Due to your patronage in the last year, we have:
Published 13 newspapers since the relaunch of our print edition in September of 2024. Over the summer, by popular demand, we increased the size of the paper by half.
Took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times “calling upon lawmakers in Congress to sit back and do absolutely nothing,” then sent this op-ed to every member of the House and Senate and all 54,000 of our subscribers. Thankfully, they took our advice, and now people are starving.
Drove the Onion Newsvan in front of protests and ICE detention centers, blaring headlines about ICE’s one true love: teargassing elementary schools.
Released Jeffrey Epstein: Bad Pedophile in over 40 cities across North America and later on YouTube, and let independent theatres keep the ticket sales. It’s still unclear if we can write this off.

And, a year ago this week, we successfully bid on InfoWars at a bankruptcy auction, before the judgment was overturned by a judge for — and I’m paraphrasing here — being too cool.

Yes, despite a legal bill that rivals the GDP of West Virginia, we are continuing work to acquire InfoWars and evolve it into an galactically sized depot of lies, scams, and miracle cures for all of the world’s awesome new and untracked illnesses. The Supreme Court — yes, this Supreme Court — denied Alex Jones’ appeal just last month, a last gasp at evading justice, and we’re hoping this clears a path to reinventing the dumbest site on the internet very soon.

So ahead of this holiday season, please consider subscribing to The Onion for yourself, your friends, your parents, or your infant. People love getting something great in the mail every month amidst their requisite bills and death threats.

Look, we’re an independent company, we don’t use AI to write headlines and make art, and we’re one of roughly three publications who are up for the fight. Unlike other places, The Onion is quadrupling down on being a pain in the ass, politically.

Are you?

If so, I hope you’ll continue to be an Onion member, get the paper, and help us deliver ulcers to those who deserve it.

Thank you, and Tu Stultus Es,
Ben Collins
CEO | The Onion

Reposted by Jesse H. Kroll, American Library Association, Melanie C. Green , and 2 more Jesse H. Kroll, American Library Association, Melanie C. Green, Paul Fisher, Greg Linden

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 2d

Hi everybody,

It's Black Friday, a big day for us at The Onion, since we rely almost entirely on your memberships.

Our goal for 2026? More print subscribers than the Washington Post.

This is, somehow, feasible.

So sign up! A year of print is $75 for the year today. Help us do a very funny thing.

Join The Onion

Don’t just read the news. Feel it. Be among the first to feel the news.

membership.theonion.com

Reposted by Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Rosemary A. Joyce, Roopika Risam , and 5 more Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Rosemary A. Joyce, Roopika Risam, Julia M. Wright, Ann Bartow, Greg Linden, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Annalee Newitz

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 2d

I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.

Reposted by Justin Lewis, Greg Linden

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 2d

Honestly "Don't Engage, Just Block" has transformed my social media experience so profoundly that it's hard for me to describe. It's just so much better to be online now.

Nick The Time Miser @nscottg.bsky.social · 2d

i also liked the fact that most of us who had come from the other site had the mentality of not giving "bad actors" the benefit of the doubt on here , and told all to block, not mute, an move on

Reposted by Greg Linden

Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 2d

The fed all the world's money and data into AI so it could suggest...a cozy bathrobe for mom, maybe from Victoria's Secret.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Dustin Mulvaney, Alan Richardson , and 7 more Cas Mudde, Dustin Mulvaney, Alan Richardson, McKenzie Wark, Michael H. Whitworth, Aurélien Mondon, Greg Linden, Stephen A. Meserve, Manisha Sinha, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 2d

A study by Dayforce shows 87% of executives use AI for work, compared to 57% of managers and just 27% of employees.

I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?

Execs are embracing AI more than their employees are, new research suggests

Research from HR software company Dayforce suggests that executives are leaning into AI far more than their employees.

www.businessinsider.com

Reposted by Greg Linden

ProPublica @propublica.org · 3d

Few patients appeal a health insurance denial, but a little-known process that requires insurers and plans to seek an independent opinion can force insurers to pay for what can be lifesaving treatment.

Here’s what experts say you need to know.

This Little-Known Appeal Could Force Your Insurer to Pay for Lifesaving Care. Here’s How to File It.

When a health insurer refuses to pay for your treatment, you may have the right to have the denial reviewed — and potentially overturned — by an independent provider. Here are six steps experts sugges...

www.propublica.org

Reposted by Greg Linden

SMBC Comics @smbccomics.bsky.social · 3d

I like to think when healthcare economists are mad they should, I'LL ADJUST THE QUALITY OF *YOUR* LIFE-YEARS!

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/quality
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com

Part 1/2 of an 8-panel SMBC comic update. A doctor is speaking to a patient, explaining that the healthcare system won't pay for his therapy because the QALYS don't justify it. The doctor explains that the QALYS is a formula where they take the years of life the intervention would get the patient, then they multiply it by the quality of those years. For this patient, the total for this therapy is negative 4821 years. The patient asks how that is possible, and the doctor adds that modern methods account for the decrement to other people's QALYS resulting from your continued existence.

Part 2/2 of an 8-panel SMBC comic update. The doctor continues his explanation, stating that the patient's life will result in at least a 0.01 per-year decrease in quality for thousands of people, especially for the patient's children. This revelation prompts the patient to conclude that minority groups are the cause of this negative calculation. Responding to this horrible behavior, the doctor excuses himself to go adjust the QALYS Excel sheet.

Reposted by Tim Bale, Charles West, Martin Tomko , and 9 more Tim Bale, Charles West, Martin Tomko, Peter Campbell, Anders Nilsson, Lilian Edwards, Holger Nehring, Fiona Moore, Urška Demšar, Greg Linden, Prokla Redaktion, Pádua Fernandes

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d

Your universe is a photocopy of a photocopy of a…
on.ft.com/4ahkNKa

Al-generated content has surpassed human-written articles
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