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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 4h

The recent trajectory, in broad strokes:

- Regime starts militarizing the conflict in early summer
- Regime declares all liberal/leftwing political activity as domestic terrorist or terrorism-adjacent in presidential memo
- Regime ramps up the propaganda against “the Left” across all channels

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 4h

The regime gets more deranged every day. A rightwing conspiracy theorist assassinated a Democratic lawmaker - which the attorney general presents as an example of leftwing political violence in order to justify an authoritarian crackdown on the opposition…

We’re in incredibly dangerous territory.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Bondi: "We've been living through a horrific cycle of political violence in this country ... night after night antifa wrecks havoc on the streets of our cities. In Minnesota, a gunman murdered a state lawmaker and her husband."

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 23h

Trump & MAGA "have capitalized on the killing of rightwing influencer Charlie Kirk to expand attacks on liberal groups, donors, Democrats, and others by tarring many critics as the 'enemy within' and 'radical left' in a move that legal scholars and historians call authoritarian and anti-democratic."

‘Page one of the authoritarian playbook’: how Trump and allies are exploiting Kirk’s killing

The president and his Maga allies have used the rightwing influencer’s killing to justify attacks on critics, experts say

www.theguardian.com

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 1d

Good

Laurie Winkless @lauriewinkless.bsky.social · 1d

MIT rejects federal funding deal with Trump administration - BBC News share.google/qhsXLHtEf0Mk...

MIT rejects federal funding deal with Trump administration - BBC News

The deal would see universities cap foreign admissions, restrict protests and adopt a binary definition of gender.

share.google

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 1d

This is beyond bad. All of our disease defenses are down now. We are sitting ducks. This is #RussellVought #DonaldTrump. They are endangering American lives with their insane crusade. These men are hazardous to your health and dangerous to the republic.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 1d

My quote of the day

Nobody ever thanks you for saving them from the disease they didn't know they were going to get.

William Foege

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 1d

Biggest cluster of solar parks in the world is on a high Tibetian plateau (Gonghe County), max efficency because air density is lower

Spanning 16 sq miles, below is 10km scale ⬇️

Enough renewable power for the whole plateau and China´s data centers for AI development
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/b...

The main group of solar farms, known as the Talatan Solar Park, dwarfs every other cluster of solar farms in the world. It covers 162 square miles in Gonghe County, an alpine desert in sparsely inhabited Qinghai, a province in western China.

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 1d

www.protagonist-science.com/p/how-social...

How social media destroys democratic discourse, explained in 6 easy figures

Where we all went wrong

www.protagonist-science.com

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 2d

Extortion. 8/ www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/09/m...

‘It’s extortion’: Brown, Dartmouth faculty urge schools to resist Trump bid to reshape higher education - The Boston Globe

“You must refuse all unlawful demands and political threats that would undermine our academic freedom and self-governance,” read a petition signed by 500 members of the Dartmouth community.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 2d

Even conservatives don't like it. 5/ www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Trump's higher education compact isn't conservative. It's federal intimidation. | Opinion

President Trump is trying to impose an ideological checklist on universities. That's not conservative reform. That's an abuse of power.

www.usatoday.com

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 2d

If you want to know about Trump's compact for higher education read these pieces. 4/ www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

A Compact for Control (opinion)

No self-respecting institution of higher education should accept the Trump administration’s unconstitutional terms, Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg write.

www.insidehighered.com

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you @nytopinion.nytimes.com for publishing this rot. Marc Rowan has run hundreds of companies into the dust to extract profits from their failure and bankruptcies. Now he wants to do the same to American higher education. Do not believe a word this man says. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Badly Needed

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 2d

The attack on @frediotto.bsky.social was seeded years ago by Roger Pielke Jr, who started arguing that this table from a recent @ipcc.bsky.social report proved that climate science cannot attribute extreme weather to climate change.

But Roger is of course lying. And we know this for 2 reasons.

🧵

CLIMATEWIRE
Climate critics try to discredit IPCC author for linking
disasters to global warming
By LESLEY CLARK, SARA SCHONHARDT, CHELSEA HARVEY | 10/09/2025
06:22 AM EDT Roger Pielke Jr. and oil industry supporters are attacking climate scientist Friederike Otto, whose
work has been used in lawsuits against polluters.

Table 12.12 | Emergence of CIDs in different time periods, as assessed in this section. The colour contesponds to the confidence of the region with the highest confidence: white cells indicate where evidence is lacking or the signal is not present, leading to overal bu confidence of an emerging signal.

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 1d

"In a fractured media environment, you can keep a narrative alive indefinitely simply by never acknowledging the evidence that undermines it."

- @noupside.bsky.social

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Andrea Love, PhD | Biomedical Scientist @drandrealove.bsky.social · 1d

RFK Jr. is HARKing in human form.

“hypothesizing after results are known,” is a tactic to “fit” a narrative to data.

It’s how he’s going to “make proof” for false health claims.

RFK Jr isn’t a scientist. He doesn’t know how to do science. He HAS profited off health disinformation for decades.

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 1d

Totalitarian regimes have to insert their propaganda into every public and private space, for only then, the control is complete.

Americans should not let this go unpunished.

Europeans should shore up their laws and institutions, because domestic fascist copycats will try the same plays.

Dr Emma L Briant 🐸🎃 @emmalbriant.bsky.social · 1d

Oh wow, I have never seen politicization of government communications like this

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 1d

A new Noem video is being played at airports trashing Democrats.

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Dr Emma L Briant 🐸🎃 @emmalbriant.bsky.social · 1d

It's happening all across government right now and this is unprecedented in a modern democracy.

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 1d

Here is what I want lab leak believers to do:

Just take a cheat day from the emotional narrative; you don´t have to tell anybody about it.

Find a cozy hotel room; lie on the bed and enjoy the little secret inside story:

Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKNDRJ8Z
Free access audio/blog 🔽

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 2d

This is an important report for EU countries: Make sure to safeguard your institutions now while you can, because the anti-science juggernaut that came for the US science will not stop.

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation
open.substack.com/pub/christin...

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

My newly launched report on how we can safeguard the independence of our important scientific and evidence-generating institutions - not least so they can hold government to account

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 2d

Pielke… Ridley… lab leak fanatics and climate deniers that attack ordinary scientists are often the same players.

Imagine the media would, instead of framing the science or scientists as the problem, rather wake up to the same old anti-science actors, tactics and agendas.

Ken Rice @kenrice.bsky.social · 2d

www.eenews.net/articles/cli...

Climate critics try to discredit IPCC author for linking disasters to global warming

Roger Pielke Jr. and oil industry supporters are attacking climate scientist Friederike Otto, whose work has been used in lawsuits against polluters.

www.eenews.net

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 2d

Pielke… Ridley… lab leak fanatics and climate deniers that attack ordinary scientists are often the same players.

Imagine the media would, instead of framing the science or scientists as the problem, rather wake up to the same old anti-science actors, tactics and agendas.

Ken Rice @kenrice.bsky.social · 2d

www.eenews.net/articles/cli...

Climate critics try to discredit IPCC author for linking disasters to global warming

Roger Pielke Jr. and oil industry supporters are attacking climate scientist Friederike Otto, whose work has been used in lawsuits against polluters.

www.eenews.net

4 11 22

Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 2d

Why isn't this major headline news? Why isn't corporate media covering NSPM-7?

www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nsp...

Trump’s NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism “Indicators”

New directive targets “anti-Christian,” “anti-American,” and “anti-capitalism” opinions

www.kenklippenstein.com

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 2d

When I was reporting in Sudan several years ago, a driver warned me not to tell government officials when I was leaving because the airport is where they stop and detain writers.

So, yeah, this is a very bad sign. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled

www.theguardian.com

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 3d

Highly relevant indeed, thanks again for sharing.

I certainly think better when I am writing, and the idea of proof of thought is a beautiful way of putting it.

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Reposted by Philipp Markolin, PhD

Raven Onthill @ravenonthill.bsky.social · 3d

This particular essay is also perhaps relevant.

Proof of Thought

With large language models capable of generating convincing documents without real thought, this insightful article explores the critical need for new “Proofs of Thought” to ensure genuine intellectua...

erik.wiffin.com

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Philipp Markolin, PhD @philippmarkolin.bsky.social · 3d

Now that is, like I said, an observation; but it largely tracks with some of the reporting below ⬇️; as for the cyber-security risk of vibe-coded stuff; that is a whole different beast I might think about another time but it seems apocalyptically bad.

Cheers
shinycroak.blogspot.com/2025/09/ai-a...

shinycroak.blogspot.com

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