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blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix
@blairfix.bsky.social
950 followers 72 following 160 posts

Political economist. Blogger. Scientist. Editor of the Review of Capital as Power.

Support my research here: https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/membership/

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blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix @blairfix.bsky.social · Oct 26
In a 2024 paper criticizing the 'billion-dollar-disasters' database, Roger Pielke Jr. published analysis that is best described as a Russian-doll of errors.

Here's my in-depth take down of his appallingly bad work.

economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...
Roger Pielke Jr.’s Appallingly Bad Analysis of Billion Dollar Disasters – Economics from the Top Down
In a recent paper called Scientific integrity and U.S. “Billion Dollar Disasters”, Roger Pielke Jr. published a chart that's so bad I've devoted a whole essay to debunking it.
economicsfromthetopdown.com

Reposted by Bruno Amable, Blair Fix

michaelemann.bsky.social
Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 1d
Epic take-down of Roger Pielke Jr's appallingly shoddy academic "work", which he's used--as an attack dog of the Koch Brothers-funded think tank AEI--to discredit the case for climate action:

Reposted by Blair Fix

alexrbarron.bsky.social
Alex Barron @alexrbarron.bsky.social · 3d
If you care about politics that works for non-billionaires, I highly encourage you to read this story about the 140-fold (>$1B in a year) increase in political donations from the wealthiest Americans.

wapo.st/4ipXaBd (gift link)

Reposted by Blair Fix

jayvanbavel.bsky.social
Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 7d
I gave a talk at @cmu.edu today about human morality in the anthropocene

Although our morality evolved in small groups, the main source of moral content for >5 billion people now comes from social media

This has created a new moral ecosystem that is mismatched with our adaptations for social life

Reposted by Blair Fix

sashafury.blackskycomra.de
Sasha Fury @sashafury.blackskycomra.de · 10d
"A former United Nations special rapporteur who investigated Israeli abuses against Palestinians says he was interrogated by Canadian authorities on “national security” grounds as he travelled to Canada this week to attend a Gaza-related event."
Former UN special rapporteur Richard Falk interrogated for hours in Canada
Falk, who has investigated Israeli abuses, says questioning reflects push to silence truth of Israel's war on Gaza.
www.aljazeera.com

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Larry W. Hunter, Blair Fix , and 1 more

sarahjeong.bsky.social
sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 14d
how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't kno...
www.apmreports.org

Reposted by Blair Fix

kimsiever.bsky.social
Kim Siever @kimsiever.bsky.social · 14d
Quebec’s anti-union law is an authoritarian tactic

cupe.ca/quebecs-anti...
Quebec’s anti-union law in an authoritarian tactic
It is a dark day for Quebecers. The CAQ government’s Bill 3 is attacking the unions head-on; yet, unions are the primary institution defending the middle class and Quebec’s social model. This is an au...
cupe.ca

Reposted by Blair Fix

climatebrad.hillheat.com
Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 23d
The US billion-dollar disaster database has a problem - a billion dollars ain't worth what it used to. What happens to the disaster trend if you correct for that?

@blairfix.bsky.social investigates:

economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...
Total disaster losses as a share of US GDP — culled billion-dollar disasters. Looking at my culled billion-dollar-disasters dataset (see Figure 3), I find a slight upward trend in total annual losses measured as a share of US GDP. (Note the log scale on the vertical axis.) The red line and shaded region show a log-linear regression and associated confidence interval.

Reposted by Blair Fix

bichlernitzan.bsky.social
Bichler & Nitzan @bichlernitzan.bsky.social · 23d
Here is the Internet Archive mirror of The Bichler & Nitzan Archives, designed and implemented by @blairfix.bsky.social

archive.org/details/bich...

blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix @blairfix.bsky.social · 25d
And yet by plotting the BDD data, you make truth claims. A clever way to have your cake and eat it to.

Reposted by Blair Fix

albertateachers.bsky.social
The Alberta Teachers’ Association @albertateachers.bsky.social · 25d
Looking for the most recent issue of the ATA News? You can read it online at abteach.cc/ATANews60-4
 
Ensure you don’t miss out on education news from across the province by signing up to receive each issue in your inbox at abteach.cc/UpdateSignUp

Reposted by Blair Fix

bichlernitzan.bsky.social
Bichler & Nitzan @bichlernitzan.bsky.social · 25d
Roger Pielke Jr. argues that existing data, however poor, show that large-scale climate disasters are becoming less impactful. @blairfix.bsky.social shows that these data demonstrate the very opposite. Will Nature publish his rejoinder?

bnarchives.net/id/eprint/872/

Reposted by Blair Fix

bichlernitzan.bsky.social
Bichler & Nitzan @bichlernitzan.bsky.social · 26d
Is the world heading for a new arms race?
bnarchives.net/id/eprint/854/

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Scott L. Greer, Adam Bonica , and 3 more

leedrutman.bsky.social
Lee Drutman @leedrutman.bsky.social · 27d
I jump into the moderation debate. I agree with @adambonica.bsky.social and @gelliottmorris.com on the methodology, but I want to draw attention to a bigger issue. The collapse of candidate effects generally.
leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...

Reposted by Blair Fix

akgbsky.bsky.social
AG @akgbsky.bsky.social · 27d
I dont know how @blairfix.bsky.social finds the time to do this but he’s so damn good! If you can take the time to read this don’t forget to click the @profstevekeen.bsky.social link.

economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...
Roger Pielke Jr.’s Appallingly Bad Analysis of Billion Dollar Disasters – Economics from the Top Down
In a recent paper called Scientific integrity and U.S. “Billion Dollar Disasters”, Roger Pielke Jr. published a chart that's so bad I've devoted a whole essay to debunking it.
economicsfromthetopdown.com

blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix @blairfix.bsky.social · 27d
Thanks! And my god yes it took a long time to unravel the whole list of errors.

Reposted by Katharine Hayhoe, John Kennedy, Flavio Lehner , and 1 more

andrewdessler.com
Andrew Dessler @andrewdessler.com · 27d
this is a very impressive analysis of some of the statistical "oddities" in Pielke Jr's analysis that normalized climate impacts are declining. Everyone should read this.
economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...
Roger Pielke Jr.’s Appallingly Bad Analysis of Billion Dollar Disasters – Economics from the Top Down
In a recent paper called Scientific integrity and U.S. “Billion Dollar Disasters”, Roger Pielke Jr. published a chart that's so bad I've devoted a whole essay to debunking it.
economicsfromthetopdown.com

Reposted by Blair Fix

michaelemann.bsky.social
Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 28d
Finally, an independent expert, political economist @blairfix.bsky.social, has actually taken a look under the hood, digging deep into the details of Roger's methodology, and it's not pretty. Blair's commentary speaks for itself: economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...
Roger Pielke Jr.’s Appallingly Bad Analysis of Billion Dollar Disasters – Economics from the Top Down
In a recent paper called Scientific integrity and U.S. “Billion Dollar Disasters”, Roger Pielke Jr. published a chart that's so bad I've devoted a whole essay to debunking it.
economicsfromthetopdown.com

Reposted by A. E. Dessler, David Greene

blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix @blairfix.bsky.social · 28d
Other than outright fraud, what bothers me most in science is the combination of clever rhetoric with analysis that seems sound but is actually abysmal. It's a recipe for hoodwinking people.

Hence this deep dive into some appallingly bad science:

economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...
Roger Pielke Jr.’s Appallingly Bad Analysis of Billion Dollar Disasters – Economics from the Top Down
In a recent paper called Scientific integrity and U.S. “Billion Dollar Disasters”, Roger Pielke Jr. published a chart that's so bad I've devoted a whole essay to debunking it.
economicsfromthetopdown.com

blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix @blairfix.bsky.social · 29d
The thought had occurred to me. I guess the main hurdle is how restrictive their response format is. Looks like NPJ has a reply format with a 1200 word limit. That's rather debilitating.

www.nature.com/npjnathazard...
Matters Arising | npj Natural Hazards
Matters Arising
www.nature.com

blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix @blairfix.bsky.social · 29d
Yes you do!

blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix @blairfix.bsky.social · Oct 26
If you enjoy my data-driven research, consider becoming a supporter. You can sign up here: economicsfromthetopdown.com/membership/
Support Economics from the Top Down – Economics from the Top Down
Hey folks, I’m a crowdfunded scientist! I do painstaking research highlighting the empirical realities that mainstream economists prefer to ignore. All of my work is published for free under a creativ...
economicsfromthetopdown.com

Reposted by Blair Fix

jennyyeremiy.bsky.social
Jenny Yeremiy, P. Geoph 🪶🌿🇵🇸🇳🇬🇱🇧🇨🇦 @jennyyeremiy.bsky.social · Oct 26
Outside Calgary-Bow but want to get involved? Volunteer: recallnicolaides.ca/volunteer-re...

✅ Petition Buddy
✅ Social Media
✅ Traditional Media
✅ Technical
✅ Familiar with WordPress & Elementor
✅ Organizational Support
❓Other
#Reclaim #Public #Education #abpoli #ableg #CalgaryBow

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Shibley Telhami, Jan W. Mueller , and 10 more

atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Oct 25
Trump: "They cheated on a commercial. Ronald Reagan loved tariffs and they said he didn't. And I guess it was AI or something. They cheated badly. Canada got caught cheating on a commercial. Can you believe it?"

Reposted by Erich Fromm, Matías Vernengo, Michael H. Whitworth , and 2 more

mehdirhasan.bsky.social
Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · Oct 24
"Forgive me, but how in the world is this not on the front page of every American newspaper, leading every cable news show, and right smack dab in the middle of every legacy media homepage? Why are we, at Zeteo, the only folks leading with this insane story?"
zeteo.com/p/trump-ille...
👑 Trump's Third Term?
Peter Rothpletz on Donald Trump's brazen push to secure a 3rd (forever?) term, the White House's transformation into a Saddam Hussein-style palace, and the bombshell NBA gambling indictments.
zeteo.com

Reposted by Blair Fix

mims.bsky.social
Christopher Mims @mims.bsky.social · Oct 24
Whenever I start to wonder why humans are having such a tough time with modernity I find it helpful to remember that:

1. We’re animals. And we've only been human for 0.15% of the time that mammals have existed.

2. We’ve only had written language for 1.8% of the time that we’ve been human.

1/3

Reposted by Iain Davidson, E. Wayne Ross, Blair Fix

rbreich.bsky.social
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · Oct 24
Priorities.

Reposted by Blair Fix

mediaindigena.bsky.social
MEDIA INDIGENA @mediaindigena.bsky.social · Oct 23
"[B]ehind ever billionaire is a complicated [seldom public] network of corporate control... [Here], we’ll map the ownership network of 10 billionaire families in Canada."

Revealing work by @dtcochrane.bsky.social + @blairfix.bsky.social

economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/06/23/m...
Mapping the Ownership Network of Canada’s Billionaire Families – Economics from the Top Down
DT Cochrane and I look at the network of corporate power behind Canada's richest families.
economicsfromthetopdown.com

Reposted by Rita Rubin, Rebecca Tushnet, Alan Richardson , and 6 more

coreyryung.bsky.social
Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · Oct 22
There is no difference between Trump destroying the East Wing and using a wrecking ball on the Washington Monument or Smithsonian. Just because he (temporarily) lives there doesn't give him the right to demolish the White House without Congressional approval.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Oct 22
a live look at the demolition of the White House's East Wing for Trump's ballroom

Reposted by Anna O. Law, James Goodwin, Blair Fix , and 1 more

stephenwolf.bsky.social
Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · Oct 22
North Carolina’s GOP just enacted a new congressional gerrymander to win an 11-3 GOP majority in a swing state by targeting Black Dem Don Davis.

They already gerrymandered a 10-4 edge in 2024 by replacing a fairer map that split 7-7 in 2022.

Interactive map: davesredistricting.org/join/3f06a7f...
Image of a gerrymandered congressional map enacted by North Carolina Republicans for 2026 that was drawn to elect an 11-to-3 Republican majority in this swing state. The districts are colored by the 2024 presidential winner's margin. Donald Trump won the 11 red districts by strong but not overwhelming margins while Kamala Harris won 3 districts by lopsided margins. Trump won 9 of the red districts by at least 14 percentage points, one more seat by 12 points, and the final seat by 9.5 points. He won North Carolina overall by just over 3 points.