Chad Levinson
@chadlevinson.com
Academic in DC (Virginia Tech SPIA) nee CHI, NYC, omnivore, decent cook, novice gardener, puppy papa, he/him
The President’s Echo System: How Foreign Policy is Sold to Americans (forthcoming 2026). https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674302518
The President’s Echo System: How Foreign Policy is Sold to Americans (forthcoming 2026). https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674302518
Using generative text AI tools is just p-hacking with words instead of numbers
February 12, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Using generative text AI tools is just p-hacking with words instead of numbers
Reposted by Chad Levinson
These are definitely the people to think the waitress is really flirting with them
Experiments conducted with the A.I. system Claude are producing fascinating results—and raising questions about the nature of selfhood. Gideon Lewis-Kraus reports from inside the company that designed it, Anthropic. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/rOfXjg
February 11, 2026 at 8:17 PM
These are definitely the people to think the waitress is really flirting with them
Threads on Howard Lutnick's testimony have followed the chain of evidence to raise the question of whether he trafficked his kid's nanny (or nannies) to Epstein Island. This man's public image has gone on quite a journey since his company lost 2/3 of its employees on 9/11.
February 10, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Threads on Howard Lutnick's testimony have followed the chain of evidence to raise the question of whether he trafficked his kid's nanny (or nannies) to Epstein Island. This man's public image has gone on quite a journey since his company lost 2/3 of its employees on 9/11.
This nails it: passing off LLM-assisted writing as your own is the ethical equivalent of lip-syncing, and that's before you factor in the theft and energy use.
February 8, 2026 at 4:20 PM
This nails it: passing off LLM-assisted writing as your own is the ethical equivalent of lip-syncing, and that's before you factor in the theft and energy use.
I see we're approaching the "was he really so bad" phase of the Epstein coverup
February 3, 2026 at 4:27 AM
I see we're approaching the "was he really so bad" phase of the Epstein coverup
It takes a certain kind of econ-brain to think that rising grocery prices lead to increased restaurant consumption because the margins shrink rather than decreased restaurant consumption because people have less money for luxuries.
Treatler-Stalinism is a real ideology and an actual, tenured crackpot historian (who used to be a quite good historian) is a true believer in it.
We live in some goddamn interesting times.
We live in some goddamn interesting times.
February 2, 2026 at 9:52 PM
It takes a certain kind of econ-brain to think that rising grocery prices lead to increased restaurant consumption because the margins shrink rather than decreased restaurant consumption because people have less money for luxuries.
I have always wondered about the movie Manhattan, particularly its secondary characters’ acceptance of their adult friend’s open romantic relationship with a teenager. Now I realize Woody Allen understood these people just fine.
February 2, 2026 at 5:13 PM
I have always wondered about the movie Manhattan, particularly its secondary characters’ acceptance of their adult friend’s open romantic relationship with a teenager. Now I realize Woody Allen understood these people just fine.
Reposted by Chad Levinson
"Not only don't people work less when they are guaranteed an income, they might actually put in more effort at work. And the fact that they have more money to spend leads to the creation of more jobs."
Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
January 29, 2026 at 5:55 PM
"Not only don't people work less when they are guaranteed an income, they might actually put in more effort at work. And the fact that they have more money to spend leads to the creation of more jobs."
Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
The silver lining is we will now have a definitive answer to the question of "is this person a journalist?"
Anyone who supports the arrest of journalists for covering a story, not a journalist.
Anyone who supports the arrest of journalists for covering a story, not a journalist.
January 30, 2026 at 3:00 PM
The silver lining is we will now have a definitive answer to the question of "is this person a journalist?"
Anyone who supports the arrest of journalists for covering a story, not a journalist.
Anyone who supports the arrest of journalists for covering a story, not a journalist.
Reposted by Chad Levinson
Is the National Guard still in DC? Because we could use the roads plowed.
January 28, 2026 at 5:59 PM
Is the National Guard still in DC? Because we could use the roads plowed.
@ushmm.bsky.social It offends this grandson of survivors that you continue to post on X, which is owned by a white supremacist Nazi sympathizer. It is also offensive that you refuse to acknowledge that young children are hiding from murderous federal agents in today's United States.
Walz was right.
Walz was right.
January 28, 2026 at 5:22 PM
@ushmm.bsky.social It offends this grandson of survivors that you continue to post on X, which is owned by a white supremacist Nazi sympathizer. It is also offensive that you refuse to acknowledge that young children are hiding from murderous federal agents in today's United States.
Walz was right.
Walz was right.
So the Greenland thing is just another way to manipulate the markets, right?
January 21, 2026 at 8:24 PM
So the Greenland thing is just another way to manipulate the markets, right?
The 25th Amendment is not for the type of incapacity that Trump has. All he has to do to resume power is inform Congress that that he's resuming power. The VP can try to contest that resumption, but that requires a 2/3 majority of both the House and Senate. Impeachment has a lower bar.
January 20, 2026 at 10:13 PM
The 25th Amendment is not for the type of incapacity that Trump has. All he has to do to resume power is inform Congress that that he's resuming power. The VP can try to contest that resumption, but that requires a 2/3 majority of both the House and Senate. Impeachment has a lower bar.
My favorite part of this (IANAL): she is not competent at this point to suffer any punishment for past violations, but next time she will be because I'm telling her.
And, as if that were not enough, Novak essentially says that Halligan doesn't know enough to know how wrong this whole "charade" is. "[I]n light of her inexperience, the Court grants Ms. Halligan the benefit of the doubt and refrains from referring her for further investigation ... at this time."
January 20, 2026 at 7:07 PM
My favorite part of this (IANAL): she is not competent at this point to suffer any punishment for past violations, but next time she will be because I'm telling her.
Reposted by Chad Levinson
No, these are very serious comments.
ChatGPT has absolutely no goddamn place in graduate education. It steals from other authors, routinely gets major facts wrong, hallucinates sources, and generally makes the prose flat and boring as hell.
And if you shill for it in my mentions, I'll block you.
ChatGPT has absolutely no goddamn place in graduate education. It steals from other authors, routinely gets major facts wrong, hallucinates sources, and generally makes the prose flat and boring as hell.
And if you shill for it in my mentions, I'll block you.
January 17, 2026 at 11:16 PM
No, these are very serious comments.
ChatGPT has absolutely no goddamn place in graduate education. It steals from other authors, routinely gets major facts wrong, hallucinates sources, and generally makes the prose flat and boring as hell.
And if you shill for it in my mentions, I'll block you.
ChatGPT has absolutely no goddamn place in graduate education. It steals from other authors, routinely gets major facts wrong, hallucinates sources, and generally makes the prose flat and boring as hell.
And if you shill for it in my mentions, I'll block you.
Reposted by Chad Levinson
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open 'just to do quick research'
![You’ve got super fans pausing and zooming in on individuals frames of your documentary. One allegedly shows one of the Duffers with a ChatGPT tab open on their computer. In your presence, what did they use ChatGPT for?
I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?
I’m personally not, but the internet seems sure.
Well, there’s a lot of chatter where [social media users] are like, “We don’t really know, but we’re assuming.” But to me it’s like, doesn’t everybody have it open, to just do quick research?
I do.
How can you possibly write a storyline with 19 characters and use ChatGPT, I don’t even understand.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7t2urmt3i33jl6tjgiolio6g/bafkreidw2tmcr2ayq74oqmjm5pn2tdox6hlxnpqevhuqqj6oa7nsslx3oi@jpeg)
January 13, 2026 at 8:45 PM
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open 'just to do quick research'
Reposted by Chad Levinson
Verizon outage experiencers, was able to activate the $20 “our bad” credit from my account center—I think you have to log in and specifically do this or you may not get it
January 16, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Verizon outage experiencers, was able to activate the $20 “our bad” credit from my account center—I think you have to log in and specifically do this or you may not get it
In related news, the last season kinda sucked
January 14, 2026 at 2:51 PM
In related news, the last season kinda sucked
More ivy league political scientists on Bluesky today letting me know never to cite their work because they don't write it.
January 13, 2026 at 8:25 PM
More ivy league political scientists on Bluesky today letting me know never to cite their work because they don't write it.
Chicago (north branch) -> Hudson -> East R. -> Chicago (south) -> Charles -> Chicago (south) -> Hoosic -> Potomac
My favorite Twitter prompt was "RT this with your home river," so reskeet this with your home river.
Mine is the Patuxent.
Mine is the Patuxent.
January 12, 2026 at 9:25 PM
Chicago (north branch) -> Hudson -> East R. -> Chicago (south) -> Charles -> Chicago (south) -> Hoosic -> Potomac
The clear implication of the threat she identifies, and the action required to counter that threat, is that Donald Trump cannot be trusted to honor US security commitments to NATO allies.
Leavitt: "The president was very clear last night. He said he wants to the US acquire Greenland because he feels that if we do not, then it will eventually be acquired or perhaps even hostilely taken over by China or Russia. Perhaps it would be in the best interest of Greenland to be part of the US"
January 12, 2026 at 6:56 PM
The clear implication of the threat she identifies, and the action required to counter that threat, is that Donald Trump cannot be trusted to honor US security commitments to NATO allies.
Criminal legal practice is interesting in that it seems to transform traumatic experiences into a puzzle to be solved by the lawyers involved. This comment is not meant to be derogatory, but to speculate about how lawyers cope with these cases without developing a trauma response.
Question for MN lawyers: do fed LEOs count as "peace officers" under MN Stat 609.066 ("Deadly force by peace officers")?
OT1H, MN Stat 626.84(c) defines "peace officer" as distinctly an MN officer.
OTOH, MN Stat 626.77 analogizes Fed LEOs to "PEACE OFFICERS from adjoining states."
OT1H, MN Stat 626.84(c) defines "peace officer" as distinctly an MN officer.
OTOH, MN Stat 626.77 analogizes Fed LEOs to "PEACE OFFICERS from adjoining states."
January 8, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Criminal legal practice is interesting in that it seems to transform traumatic experiences into a puzzle to be solved by the lawyers involved. This comment is not meant to be derogatory, but to speculate about how lawyers cope with these cases without developing a trauma response.
If you're still on Xitter, you're posting in the Stormfront comment section. Find another way to promote your newsletter.
checking in on elon musk, the guy who absolutely did not give a nazi salute last year
January 8, 2026 at 3:39 PM
If you're still on Xitter, you're posting in the Stormfront comment section. Find another way to promote your newsletter.
Agencies aren’t empty vessels populated by people, virtuous or evil. They comprise legal authorities, budget lines, real estate, equipment, personnel with employment protections, cultures, and public reputations. They enable evil people to do harm, often without allowing virtuous people to do good.
definitely not opposed to doing both, but to lay it out: ICE is just an agency populated by people, and in theory it could be populated by anyone to serve any purpose, whereas murderers and kidnappers should be in prison, plain and simple
January 8, 2026 at 3:59 AM
Agencies aren’t empty vessels populated by people, virtuous or evil. They comprise legal authorities, budget lines, real estate, equipment, personnel with employment protections, cultures, and public reputations. They enable evil people to do harm, often without allowing virtuous people to do good.
There are simply no virtuous Republican office-holders. Every single one of them is abetting a coup.
Switch parties. Today is a good day for it.
Switch parties. Today is a good day for it.
January 6, 2026 at 7:23 PM
There are simply no virtuous Republican office-holders. Every single one of them is abetting a coup.
Switch parties. Today is a good day for it.
Switch parties. Today is a good day for it.