Tom
@alttag.bsky.social
Not that kind of doctor. (PhD, Computer Information Systems) Reformed software developer. Job: Data policy, AI, research. Interests: Org behavior, education, law, economics. Opinions are my own.
Reposted by Tom
Reposted by Tom
Man breaks into house of married couple to make a citizen's arrest for their making pornographic films, which he thinks violated federal obscenity law. Brawl follows, & he's charged w/kidnapping, burglary.
Nev SCT: There's no citizen's arrest defense here.
storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2025/11/...
Nev SCT: There's no citizen's arrest defense here.
storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2025/11/...
November 20, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Man breaks into house of married couple to make a citizen's arrest for their making pornographic films, which he thinks violated federal obscenity law. Brawl follows, & he's charged w/kidnapping, burglary.
Nev SCT: There's no citizen's arrest defense here.
storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2025/11/...
Nev SCT: There's no citizen's arrest defense here.
storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2025/11/...
Reposted by Tom
This is such cool work
When women face violence from a partner, the common advice is to leave. But for many, leaving isn't possible.
We asked: Can we reduce violence and improve mental health by creating a supportive structure within the family?
Sharing our RCT protocol for this innovative approach.
We asked: Can we reduce violence and improve mental health by creating a supportive structure within the family?
Sharing our RCT protocol for this innovative approach.
November 19, 2025 at 7:28 PM
This is such cool work
Reposted by Tom
I've written about "disordered counterpublics" groups that reinforce shared delusions Here, the LLM becomes a 1 person counterpublic. It mirrors assumptions, absorbs contradictions, & provides the sense of a responsive, confirming audience.
It is the architecture of disordered discourse, automated.
It is the architecture of disordered discourse, automated.
November 19, 2025 at 2:23 PM
I've written about "disordered counterpublics" groups that reinforce shared delusions Here, the LLM becomes a 1 person counterpublic. It mirrors assumptions, absorbs contradictions, & provides the sense of a responsive, confirming audience.
It is the architecture of disordered discourse, automated.
It is the architecture of disordered discourse, automated.
Reposted by Tom
Can someone please explain what this means?
"A Cloudflare spokesperson said the "root cause" of the outage was an automatically generated configuration file used to manage threat traffic that "grew beyond an expected size of entries," which triggered a crash in the software system that handles […]
"A Cloudflare spokesperson said the "root cause" of the outage was an automatically generated configuration file used to manage threat traffic that "grew beyond an expected size of entries," which triggered a crash in the software system that handles […]
Original post on infosec.exchange
infosec.exchange
November 18, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Can someone please explain what this means?
"A Cloudflare spokesperson said the "root cause" of the outage was an automatically generated configuration file used to manage threat traffic that "grew beyond an expected size of entries," which triggered a crash in the software system that handles […]
"A Cloudflare spokesperson said the "root cause" of the outage was an automatically generated configuration file used to manage threat traffic that "grew beyond an expected size of entries," which triggered a crash in the software system that handles […]
Reposted by Tom
Well this is disturbing. A report from UC San Diego finds that CA high schools are systematically turning out students who think they've passed AP math courses with As but effectively have middle school math skills. substack.com/home/post/p-...
When grades stop meaning anything
The UC San Diego math scandal is a warning
substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Well this is disturbing. A report from UC San Diego finds that CA high schools are systematically turning out students who think they've passed AP math courses with As but effectively have middle school math skills. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Bloomington, Minnesota has figured out a way to arrest ICE agents.
ICE employee among 16 men arrested in Bloomington sex trafficking sting, police say.
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
ICE employee among 16 men arrested in Bloomington sex trafficking sting, police say
According to Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges, officers started the three-day sting on Nov. 5. They used several methods to find people who were attempting to solicit a 17-year-old girl for sex.
www.cbsnews.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Bloomington, Minnesota has figured out a way to arrest ICE agents.
Reposted by Tom
President Donald Trump's administration is close to implementing a rule that would end long-standing legal protections for whistleblowers among senior career federal employees, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.
US federal employees would lose whistleblower safeguards under Trump rule
President Donald Trump's administration is close to implementing a rule that would end long-standing legal protections for whistleblowers among senior career federal employees, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.
reut.rs
November 19, 2025 at 12:00 AM
President Donald Trump's administration is close to implementing a rule that would end long-standing legal protections for whistleblowers among senior career federal employees, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.
Reposted by Tom
Trump continues to dismantle Department of Education
Labor will now administer K12 education grants including Title I
(bc of course education is for the purpose of labor)
www.ed.gov/about/news/p...
Labor will now administer K12 education grants including Title I
(bc of course education is for the purpose of labor)
www.ed.gov/about/news/p...
U.S. Department of Education Announces Six New Agency Partnerships to Break Up Federal Bureaucracy
ED announced six new interagency agreements to break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, activities, and move closer to fulfilling the President Trump's...
www.ed.gov
November 19, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Trump continues to dismantle Department of Education
Labor will now administer K12 education grants including Title I
(bc of course education is for the purpose of labor)
www.ed.gov/about/news/p...
Labor will now administer K12 education grants including Title I
(bc of course education is for the purpose of labor)
www.ed.gov/about/news/p...
Reposted by Tom
If you haven’t read this book I strongly recommend it. It’s about the working poor, and the struggles they face to make it through each day. Beautifully written, and quite moving. It’ll make you want to do something.
Speechless and deeply grateful: There Is No Place for Us has been named one of three finalists for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
If you haven’t read this book I strongly recommend it. It’s about the working poor, and the struggles they face to make it through each day. Beautifully written, and quite moving. It’ll make you want to do something.
Reposted by Tom
The United States Can't Afford the Opportunity Cost of Stephen Miller's Bigotry
www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/18/t...
www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/18/t...
The United States Can't Afford the Opportunity Cost of Stephen Miller's Bigotry - emptywheel
Americans can't have nice things -- the nice things they used to have -- because Republicans in Congress gave much of money spent on government employees who give you nice things and instead gave it t...
www.emptywheel.net
November 18, 2025 at 6:13 PM
The United States Can't Afford the Opportunity Cost of Stephen Miller's Bigotry
www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/18/t...
www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/18/t...
Reposted by Tom
Reposted by Tom
The Pentagon's missions and personnel are increasingly vulnerable to "malicious actors" who can disrupt operations by aggregating digital information from data brokers, websites and other sources, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report. (from @wyattwolson.bsky.social)
Pentagon vulnerable to malicious use of publicly available info, GAO finds
An audit of 10 Defense Department commponents revealed that all but one had inadequate training on the risks of digital information in the public.
www.stripes.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:18 AM
The Pentagon's missions and personnel are increasingly vulnerable to "malicious actors" who can disrupt operations by aggregating digital information from data brokers, websites and other sources, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report. (from @wyattwolson.bsky.social)
Reposted by Tom
Great news. This is what an ICE agent looks like in a mugshot. Meet Gerardo Rodriguez, 45, of Temecula, courtesy of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. Arrested for "illegally detaining a minor at gunpoint while off duty last week." 🧵
November 17, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Great news. This is what an ICE agent looks like in a mugshot. Meet Gerardo Rodriguez, 45, of Temecula, courtesy of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. Arrested for "illegally detaining a minor at gunpoint while off duty last week." 🧵
Reposted by Tom
The Department of Unsubtle Metaphors continues to exceed expectations
President Trump walking past the flag at the Whitehouse which has fallen to the ground
November 18, 2025 at 1:25 AM
The Department of Unsubtle Metaphors continues to exceed expectations
Reposted by Tom
Colleague just got an email that starts: "Here's a polished and respectful letter you can send to your professor"
Email from a student who turned in a ChatGPT essay. Not even looking at the ChatGPT output in the apology 🥴
![Dear [Professor’s Name],
I want to sincerely apologize for my actions regarding my midterm submission.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fs6z2b756buwsdsjkle6utfi/bafkreiecvhzfgr4tlwyy2mvpbvjncqkysytwsxvidaoressh7peonoso3y@jpeg)
November 17, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Colleague just got an email that starts: "Here's a polished and respectful letter you can send to your professor"
Reposted by Tom
Absolutely no way to read this and not conclude that the Department of Justice has been deeply corrupted. And this is from a time when career lawyers were in place, pushing back against illegality. With firings and resignations, the politicization will just get worse.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
60 Attorneys on the Year of Chaos Inside Trump’s Justice Department (Gift Article)
Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Absolutely no way to read this and not conclude that the Department of Justice has been deeply corrupted. And this is from a time when career lawyers were in place, pushing back against illegality. With firings and resignations, the politicization will just get worse.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Tom
ok i deleted my post sharing that network graph because while the interface was cool, it turns out the data analysis is "i asked ai"
A node is an entity (person, place, organization) and the connections are the record of how and when they are connected, modeled from what’s evident in the emails. If subject is unknown or redacted, a placeholder is used.
November 17, 2025 at 3:50 PM
ok i deleted my post sharing that network graph because while the interface was cool, it turns out the data analysis is "i asked ai"
Reposted by Tom
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch
The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...
oklahomawatch.org
November 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Reposted by Tom
(Politico) - An Indiana Senate Republican who President Donald Trump called out in a Truth Social post Sunday for not backing the White House’s plan to draw new congressional maps was later targeted by a swatting, according to local authorities.
@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 17, 2025 at 2:07 AM
(Politico) - An Indiana Senate Republican who President Donald Trump called out in a Truth Social post Sunday for not backing the White House’s plan to draw new congressional maps was later targeted by a swatting, according to local authorities.
@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Tom
MAGA’s ongoing war on academic freedom, reflected in headlines from the last 24 hours.
November 14, 2025 at 1:17 PM
MAGA’s ongoing war on academic freedom, reflected in headlines from the last 24 hours.
Reposted by Tom
Legality has nothing to do with the Trump administration's behavior. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/o...
Opinion | We Came Here Legally. ICE Locked Us Up Anyway.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Legality has nothing to do with the Trump administration's behavior. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/o...
Reposted by Tom
I was in a relationship for a time with a professor I had in undergraduate who was 37 when he came on to me at 19.
It had an abusive power dynamic from the start that eventually morphed into actual physical abuse.
It cost him his tenure track position, so he transferred to another uni where he
It had an abusive power dynamic from the start that eventually morphed into actual physical abuse.
It cost him his tenure track position, so he transferred to another uni where he
Sometimes I think about the time that I ran into a senior physicist on the street with a woman who was much younger than him and who I learned later had been an undergraduate in his department just the year before and was, at the time, a grad student at his university
November 16, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I was in a relationship for a time with a professor I had in undergraduate who was 37 when he came on to me at 19.
It had an abusive power dynamic from the start that eventually morphed into actual physical abuse.
It cost him his tenure track position, so he transferred to another uni where he
It had an abusive power dynamic from the start that eventually morphed into actual physical abuse.
It cost him his tenure track position, so he transferred to another uni where he
Reposted by Tom
The Founders were so concerned about bribery that the Constitution forbids it three separate times. Two emoluments clauses ban officials—unambiguously including the president—from accepting things of value, plus bribery is the only named impeachable offense besides treason.
Unprecedentedly corrupt.
Unprecedentedly corrupt.
To negotiate a trade deal with the President of the United States, the Swiss government arrived with a "special Rolex desktop clock" and "a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar"
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab
How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.
www.axios.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The Founders were so concerned about bribery that the Constitution forbids it three separate times. Two emoluments clauses ban officials—unambiguously including the president—from accepting things of value, plus bribery is the only named impeachable offense besides treason.
Unprecedentedly corrupt.
Unprecedentedly corrupt.
Reposted by Tom
From Reagan-appointed U.S. District Judge William G. Young on ICE wearing masks:
"ICE goes masked for a single reason, to terrorize Americans into quiescence… In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police."
"ICE goes masked for a single reason, to terrorize Americans into quiescence… In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police."
November 16, 2025 at 2:21 PM
From Reagan-appointed U.S. District Judge William G. Young on ICE wearing masks:
"ICE goes masked for a single reason, to terrorize Americans into quiescence… In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police."
"ICE goes masked for a single reason, to terrorize Americans into quiescence… In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police."