Stephen Meserve
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smeserve.bsky.social
Stephen Meserve
@smeserve.bsky.social
47 followers 60 following 20 posts

Practicing political scientist, hiker, tabletop gamer, etc in Northern Arizona

Videos
Political science 52%
Computer science 14%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

davidjroth.bsky.social
David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 21h
Bears fans preparing to riot but the stadium puts Serengeti's "Dennehy" on the PA and they all calm down instantly and begin milling about harmlessly. "Keep the juice in your chops," they mutter to each other, absently if still somewhat warmly. "Keep the juice in your brats."

Reposted by Neil Pederson, Steve Peers, Fabián Muniesa , and 11 more

josephcox.bsky.social
Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 3d
New: we've obtained material explaining how an ICE surveillance system, called Webloc, works. Draw shape on a map, see all phones available there, follow them home. All without warrant

“This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency.” www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or t...
www.404media.co

Reposted by Marc Lynch, Lisa W. Fazio, Richard Price , and 7 more

belaforams.bsky.social
Christina Belanger, Ph.D @belaforams.bsky.social · 3d
“…an intro. sociology course on race and ethnicity was canceled, a comm. course on religion and the arts was renumbered and stripped of core curriculum credit, and a philosophy prof. was told to remove Plato readings and other material related to race and gender from a core course or be reassigned.”
Texas A&M restrictions on race, gender could affect 200 courses
With the semester set to begin next week, professors have been directed to alter courses, and some classes have been removed or reassigned from the core curriculum at the College Station campus.
www.texastribune.org

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan , and 3 more

dbernstein.bsky.social
David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 4d
??? Apparently Venezuela oil revenues will go into “offshore accounts” outside of the US Treasury, PBS reports.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Efrén O. Pérez, Fabrizio Coticchia , and 4 more

dziblatt.bsky.social
Daniel Ziblatt @dziblatt.bsky.social · 5d
Some reflections from me on January 6 in comparative and historical perspective (first time on substack)

open.substack.com/pub/ziblatt4...
January 6 in Historical Perspective
January 6, 2026
open.substack.com

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

annemariebridy.bsky.social
Annemarie Bridy @annemariebridy.bsky.social · 7d
I loved the Decoder episode where @reckless.bsky.social interviews Stack’s CEO, who is convinced that the business is evolving but healthy. It’s a really interesting conversation about how to navigate both urgently and thoughtfully through disruptive change. www.theverge.com/podcast/8440...
Stack Overflow users don’t trust AI. They’re using it anyway
Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar on running the most popular developer forum in a post-ChatGPT world.
www.theverge.com

Reposted by Peter Thorne, David R. Miller, Christine Kooi , and 9 more

adamserwer.bsky.social
Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 8d
Among the many reasons you don’t kidnap a foreign head of state at gunpoint even if you have the capability, is that it sparks consequences you can neither control nor anticipate.

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

Reposted by Steve Peers, Stephen A. Meserve

adamrose.bsky.social
Adam Rose @adamrose.bsky.social · 8d
Are we at war with Venezuela?!?

I don't know. You don't know either.

It sure would be nice to have a legitimate Pentagon press corps right about now.

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

anjalikdayal.bsky.social
Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 8d
this is a war of aggression. it is illegal under international law, and he has no right to launch it. you might fairly argue that it none of that has constrained him, but laws matter when powerful actors insist they do, and there are powerful actors who could start insisting they do.

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner, David C. Kimball, Steven S. Taylor , and 2 more

robertscotthorton.bsky.social
Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 9d
Prof Eliot Jacobson: And it's a wrap. The year 2025 came in at 1.47°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial baseline, making it the 3rd warmest year on record behind 2023 (1.48°C) and 2024 (1.60°C), and likely the 3rd warmest in the last 120,000 years.

Reposted by Seth Masket, Stephen A. Meserve

duncanweldon.bsky.social
Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 11d
Mind bogglingly low.

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Jason Mittell, Colin F. Camerer , and 11 more

laprofmme.bsky.social
Laprofmme @laprofmme.bsky.social · 13d
THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS

THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

taniel.bsky.social
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 14d
“Thwaites holds back the vast icy plateau that scientists call the West Antarctic ice sheet. The greater peril would be if Thwaites collapsed and caused the broader ice sheet to melt away, adding another 10 to 15 feet to sea-level rise.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/c...
Bound for Antarctica: A Voyage to Earth’s End Is Underway
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by David Rothschild, Michael Jones‐Correa, Stephen A. Meserve , and 1 more

daviddarmofal.bsky.social
David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 16d
They Wanted a Conservative State. They Might Get a Democratic Representative Instead.

The passage of Proposition 50, which redrew California’s congressional map, means that all of the state’s conservative north is likely to be represented by Democrats.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/u...
They Wanted a Conservative State. They Might Get a Democratic Representative Instead.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by David R. Miller, Stephen A. Meserve

nateraymond.bsky.social
Nate Raymond @nateraymond.bsky.social · 19d
Kavanaugh in a footnote in today's opinion says "the officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity."

Reposted by Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Rosemary A. Joyce, Robert C. Richards , and 6 more

akivamcohen.bsky.social
AkivaMCohen @akivamcohen.bsky.social · 20d
Guards began beating him. Beat him until he bled. Knocked his face into the wall, broke all his teeth. No access to outdoors, no contact with relatives.

Now describing US knowledge of CECOT's torture practices, followed by footage of Trump praising those practices.

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Stephen A. Meserve

jasonkoebler.bsky.social
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 20d
SCOOP: Flock left at least 60 of its AI-powered, people-tracking surveillance cameras exposed and livestreaming to the open internet. We tracked ourselves. The exposure highlights the power of these cameras and types of things they're tracking. Not just cars.

www.404media.co/flock-expose...
Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves.
Flock left at least 60 of its people-tracking Condor PTZ cameras live streaming and exposed to the open internet.
www.404media.co

Reposted by Caroline Krafft, Robert C. Richards, Stephen A. Meserve , and 1 more

trevondlogan.bsky.social
Trevon Logan @trevondlogan.bsky.social · 20d
In a world of Sundown Towns where Black people weren’t allowed after nightfall, Green Book businesses were tiny spots of light. Traveling while Black was about survival. The Green Book Project documents that history:
greenbookproject.org.ohio-state.edu #GreenBookProject #CommunityMap #EconSky

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner, Robert Wolfe, Michael Zimmer , and 2 more

parkermolloy.com
Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · 21d
This is just sad.
Text: Garry Tan 9 @garrytan X.com My 10 year old got sick of coloring something and asked Nano Banana to finish coloring it and this is what it rendered Image 1: crab half filled in Image 2: crab filled in by AI

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Rosemary A. Joyce, Stephen A. Meserve

intmon.bsky.social
International and Monetary Economics Network @intmon.bsky.social · 22d
Highly recommended!

"The Incidence of Tariffs: Rates and Reality" by Gita Gopinath and Brent Neiman.

"...tariff pass-through to U.S. import prices is almost 100 percent, so the United States is bearing a large share of the costs."

bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/u...

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Victor Asal, Diane Ravitch , and 4 more

propublica.org
ProPublica @propublica.org · 26d
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it faced hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects last year.

(Published July 2024)
School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state program...
www.propublica.org

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Trevon D. Logan, Nancy T. Ammerman , and 6 more

donmoyn.bsky.social
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 26d
Very much reads like they are significantly reducing the influence of peer review on scientific funding, which under the current regime opens the way for more politicized funding instead.
hleisthen.bsky.social HL Eisthen, defective human product @hleisthen.bsky.social · 27d
NSF now planning to let POs largely decide what gets funded, and to send PIs reviews that are only 3-5 sentences long. They don't have to use outside reviewers (except maybe 1) and don't have to convene panels. (1/5)
NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists
Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities
www.science.org

Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis, Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Lesley A. Hall , and 30 more

andrew.heiss.phd
Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · 27d
Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Stephen A. Meserve, Jeannette Sutton

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 28d
Gen AI tools are not good sources for information during rapidly unfolding, novel events. Words associations aren't helpful for discovering ground truth. These tools are more likely to echo and contribute to the inherent uncertainty and ambiguity of crisis events.

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Kate Starbird, Stephen A. Meserve

paleofuture.bsky.social
Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 28d
Elon Musk's AI robot is spewing misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting
Grok Is Glitching And Spewing Misinformation About The Bondi Beach Shooting
Among other problems, the chatbot is spewing misinformation about the horrific Bondi Beach shooting in Australia.
gizmodo.com

Reposted by Smith, Maya Sen, Stephen A. Meserve

egojunk.bsky.social
eric gonzalez juenke @egojunk.bsky.social · 28d
Nothing will make you an education AI skeptic faster than grading some college take home assignments. Admins who haven’t been in a classroom in years push it as a learning tool. Students are laughing at them as they use it as a cheating tool. It’s all instructors are texting about with each other.

Reposted by McKenzie Wark, Mark Rice, Daxton R. Stewart , and 1 more

shannonmattern.bsky.social
Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Dec 12
In my 25yrs in the academy I 👀 the proliferation of expensive enterprise software that shifted the burden of sooo many basic administrative functions — reconciling receipts, paying honoraria, booking travel — from competent, efficient staff to faculty + students. I’d spend entire days on this crap.

smeserve.bsky.social
Stephen Meserve @smeserve.bsky.social · Dec 12
Why not conquer the world? Among other things a "state" in 1400 couldn't truly control anywhere outside of like 100 miles in any direction.

smeserve.bsky.social
Stephen Meserve @smeserve.bsky.social · Dec 12
Europa Universalis 5 has a lot of problems but it also is clear someone actually read the literature on state development and capacity this time. Very promising.