JS
@jsplaceholder.bsky.social
US foreign assistance, infectious disease epidemiology, & a more perfect union 🫠 Bonus Texas/books/backpacking
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JS
@jsplaceholder.bsky.social
· Feb 6
How much money will Americans lose if USAID is cut? Quite a lot, it turns out. I've made shareable graphics showing the ties betwen AID agriculture funding and each state. A public Google Drive repository is here: drive.google.com/drive/folder...
Reposted by JS
Note that these lines quite deliberately divide Black majority precincts among the districts. This map would never have passed scrutiny under the pre-Roberts Voting Rights Act.
If you ever wondered what GOP gerrymandering looks like in red states with blue cities, I present:
December 3, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Note that these lines quite deliberately divide Black majority precincts among the districts. This map would never have passed scrutiny under the pre-Roberts Voting Rights Act.
01 Arribada!
02 Iraan to Paris, Via Berlin
03 Down the Lloyd Bentsen Highway
04 From the Cusp of the Sierra Madera Astrobleme
05 Pedernales in Spring (Balmorhea, Fall)
06 To the Stars, Via Clear Lake
07 Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
(this draft @mcsweeneys.net submission has lived on my phone for years)
02 Iraan to Paris, Via Berlin
03 Down the Lloyd Bentsen Highway
04 From the Cusp of the Sierra Madera Astrobleme
05 Pedernales in Spring (Balmorhea, Fall)
06 To the Stars, Via Clear Lake
07 Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
(this draft @mcsweeneys.net submission has lived on my phone for years)
Question: if Sufjan Stevens did an album about your state, what would there be songs about? (sorry, Michigan and Illinois, you have to sit this one out.
I'll go first for Maryland:
1. Baltimore
2. Harriet Tubman
3. The Snallygaster
4. The pursuit of John Wilkes Booth
5. The Chesapeake
6. Crabs
I'll go first for Maryland:
1. Baltimore
2. Harriet Tubman
3. The Snallygaster
4. The pursuit of John Wilkes Booth
5. The Chesapeake
6. Crabs
December 2, 2025 at 2:25 AM
01 Arribada!
02 Iraan to Paris, Via Berlin
03 Down the Lloyd Bentsen Highway
04 From the Cusp of the Sierra Madera Astrobleme
05 Pedernales in Spring (Balmorhea, Fall)
06 To the Stars, Via Clear Lake
07 Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
(this draft @mcsweeneys.net submission has lived on my phone for years)
02 Iraan to Paris, Via Berlin
03 Down the Lloyd Bentsen Highway
04 From the Cusp of the Sierra Madera Astrobleme
05 Pedernales in Spring (Balmorhea, Fall)
06 To the Stars, Via Clear Lake
07 Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
(this draft @mcsweeneys.net submission has lived on my phone for years)
Reposted by JS
“…the decisions he has made…”
Disgraceful
Disgraceful
If Admiral Bradley didn’t realize before that these cowards were setting him up to take the fall, he knows it now. Time to hire a good lawyer.
December 2, 2025 at 2:12 AM
“…the decisions he has made…”
Disgraceful
Disgraceful
Reposted by JS
Today on the blog: Democrats should run weirder campaigns, and people with clever ideas should go run a long shot state legislative campaign
open.substack.com/pub/cauldron...
open.substack.com/pub/cauldron...
I need Democrats to try getting weird
We should be running creative, chaotic, and experimental state legislative campaigns
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Today on the blog: Democrats should run weirder campaigns, and people with clever ideas should go run a long shot state legislative campaign
open.substack.com/pub/cauldron...
open.substack.com/pub/cauldron...
We are now watching retrospective interviews with Marvin Zindler and I am so delighted to learn his toupee was actually torn off in a fight
November 30, 2025 at 6:54 AM
We are now watching retrospective interviews with Marvin Zindler and I am so delighted to learn his toupee was actually torn off in a fight
Time for my annual rewatch of the objectively best holiday movie
November 30, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Time for my annual rewatch of the objectively best holiday movie
Reposted by JS
My hot take is that in the era of easily-generated AI nonsense papers journals that want to ensure high quality will need to start hiring full-time professional editors and reviewers instead of relying on volunteer labor from overworked academics.
UPDATE: The publisher intends to retract the paper, but insists it went through two rounds of review from two independent peer reviewers: nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/riding-the... by @jacksonwryan.com. No word on how they will make sure this sort of thing never happens again.
Riding the Autism Bicycle to Retraction Town
Does anyone *really* know their Factor Fexcectorn?
nobreakthroughs.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:23 PM
My hot take is that in the era of easily-generated AI nonsense papers journals that want to ensure high quality will need to start hiring full-time professional editors and reviewers instead of relying on volunteer labor from overworked academics.
Okay I've decided to actively follow the Spurs for the first time since 2007, let's do this
Look at this stat sheet. The Spurs are a well coached and deep team. 5 guys in double figures and none of em named Wemby.
November 29, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Okay I've decided to actively follow the Spurs for the first time since 2007, let's do this
I am aging myself but this has got to be up there with when Dubya flew out to Nebraska to save a congressional seat two days before the election in 2006
Trump and Mike Johnson plan to hold a Monday evening tele-rally to boost Matt Van Epps in the #TN07 special election. www.axios.com/2025/11/28/t...
November 29, 2025 at 3:53 AM
I am aging myself but this has got to be up there with when Dubya flew out to Nebraska to save a congressional seat two days before the election in 2006
I have succeeded in getting overly involved in a local congressional campaign & am beyond psyched. On previous campaigns I've applied what are essentially best practices from field epidemiology to voter contact/targeting/data management within my assign turf. This is an opportunity to test at scale.
November 29, 2025 at 3:22 AM
I have succeeded in getting overly involved in a local congressional campaign & am beyond psyched. On previous campaigns I've applied what are essentially best practices from field epidemiology to voter contact/targeting/data management within my assign turf. This is an opportunity to test at scale.
Reposted by JS
This is murder. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
November 28, 2025 at 6:16 PM
This is murder. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reposted by JS
Pete Hegseth is Secretary of Defense *because* he championed war criminals. Literal war criminals convicted of heinous offenses in US courts martial. Got Trump to pardon some in term 1.
Not in spite of, because.
That's what Trump appointed, and what 50 GOP Senators (plus Vance) voted to confirm.
Not in spite of, because.
That's what Trump appointed, and what 50 GOP Senators (plus Vance) voted to confirm.
November 28, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Pete Hegseth is Secretary of Defense *because* he championed war criminals. Literal war criminals convicted of heinous offenses in US courts martial. Got Trump to pardon some in term 1.
Not in spite of, because.
That's what Trump appointed, and what 50 GOP Senators (plus Vance) voted to confirm.
Not in spite of, because.
That's what Trump appointed, and what 50 GOP Senators (plus Vance) voted to confirm.
Reposted by JS
So now they’re going to be doing individualized re-review of tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees’ cases on TOP of the re-review of 200,000+ refugees who entered under Biden?
November 27, 2025 at 3:24 AM
So now they’re going to be doing individualized re-review of tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees’ cases on TOP of the re-review of 200,000+ refugees who entered under Biden?
Reposted by JS
Dear foreign nationals in war-torn countries, terrorism hot-spots, and amidst our enemies:
If you help the United States, we’ll fuck you over and abandon you. Not the individual servicepeople or intelligence officers — they’ll fight for you. I mean the depraved, soulless leadership of the nation.
If you help the United States, we’ll fuck you over and abandon you. Not the individual servicepeople or intelligence officers — they’ll fight for you. I mean the depraved, soulless leadership of the nation.
So now they’re going to be doing individualized re-review of tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees’ cases on TOP of the re-review of 200,000+ refugees who entered under Biden?
November 27, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Dear foreign nationals in war-torn countries, terrorism hot-spots, and amidst our enemies:
If you help the United States, we’ll fuck you over and abandon you. Not the individual servicepeople or intelligence officers — they’ll fight for you. I mean the depraved, soulless leadership of the nation.
If you help the United States, we’ll fuck you over and abandon you. Not the individual servicepeople or intelligence officers — they’ll fight for you. I mean the depraved, soulless leadership of the nation.
Reposted by JS
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Reposted by JS
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 AM
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Reposted by JS
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
Reposted by JS
This would be a massive, historic crime even if no one died — a rich guy is not permitted to arbitrarily close a government agency in a law-based society — but the massive body count turns it into an atrocity, the kind of thing we put people on trial for at The Hague.
The numbers vary from study to study but hundreds of thousands of people have died because of Elon Musk and Marco Rubio illegally disbanding USAID — a body count on par with the first eight years of the Syrian civil war — In just seven months. It’s mass death that is simply unfathomable in scale.
USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The Trump administration’s decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition, accord...
hsph.harvard.edu
November 25, 2025 at 2:07 PM
This would be a massive, historic crime even if no one died — a rich guy is not permitted to arbitrarily close a government agency in a law-based society — but the massive body count turns it into an atrocity, the kind of thing we put people on trial for at The Hague.
Reposted by JS
every single thing hegseth says in public reveals a bottomless pit of insecurity
When you draw a platoon leader like Hegseth, it’s your worst nightmare. You just ride it out until he’s gone and gets replaced by someone who isn’t a complete jackass. Only a fool like Trump would put one of them in charge of the entire defense department.
November 25, 2025 at 1:08 PM
every single thing hegseth says in public reveals a bottomless pit of insecurity
Reposted by JS
The sampling gaps do tell an important story, though: we know catastrophically little about the infectious diseases of endangered and critically endangered wildlife. That's a blindspot for spillover risk, but it's also a blindspot for conservation - think canine distemper, chytrid, or white nose.
November 25, 2025 at 1:35 PM
The sampling gaps do tell an important story, though: we know catastrophically little about the infectious diseases of endangered and critically endangered wildlife. That's a blindspot for spillover risk, but it's also a blindspot for conservation - think canine distemper, chytrid, or white nose.
Reposted by JS
Using just a little bit of statistics, we show that this is a story about sampling: It turns out we just know a lot less about the viruses of endangered species - zoonotic or otherwise! Once you account for those data gaps, there's really no story here about anthropogenic pressure and spillover.
November 25, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Using just a little bit of statistics, we show that this is a story about sampling: It turns out we just know a lot less about the viruses of endangered species - zoonotic or otherwise! Once you account for those data gaps, there's really no story here about anthropogenic pressure and spillover.
Reposted by JS
NEW! 🦠🦧 We revisited a perplexing paradox: do wildlife really pose less of a risk to human health as they become more endangered? Turns out, it's sampling bias all the way down: conservation risks correlate with disease surveillance blindspots. 🔓 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Viral diversity and zoonotic risk in endangered species
A growing body of evidence links zoonotic disease risk, including pandemic threats, to biodiversity loss and other upstream anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem health. However, there is little current...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:25 PM
NEW! 🦠🦧 We revisited a perplexing paradox: do wildlife really pose less of a risk to human health as they become more endangered? Turns out, it's sampling bias all the way down: conservation risks correlate with disease surveillance blindspots. 🔓 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by JS
Culture. Fascinating thread by @brasidas.bsky.social
These schmucks are approaching what I like to call a "reverse Afghanistan" sexuality here:
November 24, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Culture. Fascinating thread by @brasidas.bsky.social
A fun part of interviewing prospective students as my alma mater gets more and more competitive is that I just had an extremely in-depth conversation with a teenager about diplomatic approaches low-income countries can take to mitigate exploitation in cobalt mining
November 24, 2025 at 3:42 AM
A fun part of interviewing prospective students as my alma mater gets more and more competitive is that I just had an extremely in-depth conversation with a teenager about diplomatic approaches low-income countries can take to mitigate exploitation in cobalt mining