Michael Hobbes
@michaelhobbes.bsky.social
Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.
Increasing autism rates over the last 25 years may just be kids with mild forms getting diagnosed. Rates of moderate to severe impairment due to autism have actually fallen slightly.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
![The autistic community is a large, growing, and heterogeneous population, and there is a need for improved methods to describe their diverse needs. Measures of adaptive functioning collected through public health surveillance may provide valuable information on functioning and support needs at a population level. We aimed to use adaptive behavior and cognitive scores abstracted from health and educational records to describe trends over time in the population prevalence of autism by adaptive level and co-occurrence of intellectual disability (ID). Using data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, years 2000 to 2016, we estimated the prevalence of autism per 1000 8-year-old children by four levels of adaptive challenges (moderate to profound, mild, borderline, or none) and by co-occurrence of ID. The prevalence of autism with mild, borderline, or no significant adaptive challenges increased between 2000 and 2016, from 5.1 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.6–5.5) to 17.6 (95% CI: 17.1–18.1) while the prevalence of autism with moderate to profound challenges decreased slightly, from 1.5 (95% CI: 1.2–1.7) to 1.2 (95% CI: 1.1–1.4). The prevalence increase was greater for autism without co-occurring ID than for autism with co-occurring ID. The increase in autism prevalence between 2000 and 2016 was confined to autism with milder phenotypes. This trend could indicate improved identification of milder forms of autism over time. It is possible that increased access to therapies that improve intellectual and adaptive functioning of children diagnosed with autism also contributed to the trends.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j76trmiofvaxxpvx2vnb2vwf/bafkreibeoudvh2b4ifuiqq7pmnzwg6y6n3caschubukvo6kzqcfn2kdf5i@jpeg)
February 10, 2026 at 11:26 PM
Increasing autism rates over the last 25 years may just be kids with mild forms getting diagnosed. Rates of moderate to severe impairment due to autism have actually fallen slightly.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Probably an inflated number anyway (ahem, "suspected") but this is precisely the result guaranteed by Stephen Miller's quotas. Finding gang members / terrorists is hard, and there aren't many.
But grabbing green card holders & asylum seekers at court hearings & schools is super easy.
But grabbing green card holders & asylum seekers at court hearings & schools is super easy.
A stunning detail the ICE chief shared in this hearing that was supposed to be a brag, except it isn't: ICE has arrested 379,000 people between Jan. 2025-Jan. 2026 -- but only 8,700 were suspected gang members or known suspected terrorists.
That's 2%! www.huffpost.com/entry/latest...
That's 2%! www.huffpost.com/entry/latest...
Congresswoman Uses Simple Math To Show How Broken ICE Is
www.huffpost.com
February 10, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Probably an inflated number anyway (ahem, "suspected") but this is precisely the result guaranteed by Stephen Miller's quotas. Finding gang members / terrorists is hard, and there aren't many.
But grabbing green card holders & asylum seekers at court hearings & schools is super easy.
But grabbing green card holders & asylum seekers at court hearings & schools is super easy.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
This is what ICE looks like
Law enforcement on Tuesday released photos of a masked individual appearing to tamper with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door on the morning of her disappearance. 🔗 on.wsj.com/46uTQjq
February 10, 2026 at 7:51 PM
This is what ICE looks like
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
One of Antonin Scalia's kids allegedly said that she was relieved that her father died when he did, because he would be so "upset" at how "coarse" and "polarized" politics has become, which makes me wonder if Scalia's children have any idea who their dad was www.politico.com/news/magazin...
February 10, 2026 at 7:44 PM
One of Antonin Scalia's kids allegedly said that she was relieved that her father died when he did, because he would be so "upset" at how "coarse" and "polarized" politics has become, which makes me wonder if Scalia's children have any idea who their dad was www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
You might remember the superbowl MAHA ad featuring Mike Tyson. Go to the page, which clearly labeled as a US government website, and you are encouraged to use Grok.
February 10, 2026 at 6:45 PM
You might remember the superbowl MAHA ad featuring Mike Tyson. Go to the page, which clearly labeled as a US government website, and you are encouraged to use Grok.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
This is true, and even if we get rid of Trump, we still have to reckon with the fact that a substantial proportion of US economic and political elites were *eager* to jump on the fascism train. They will still be the same people when Trump is gone.
The political dynamics of 2025 were shaped by Democrats and Republicans over-reading Trump's victory in the same way. That turns out to be a problem for a LOT of rich and powerful people who made a very large bet on the theory that MAGA had won the culture war. www.offmessage.net/p/trump-has-...
Trump Has Lost The Culture
And his greediest collaborators are awakening to the fact that they made a terrible bet.
www.offmessage.net
February 10, 2026 at 5:27 PM
This is true, and even if we get rid of Trump, we still have to reckon with the fact that a substantial proportion of US economic and political elites were *eager* to jump on the fascism train. They will still be the same people when Trump is gone.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Michael Hobbes is dunking on carbrainers again
February 9, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Michael Hobbes is dunking on carbrainers again
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Ryan Grim has the occasional good take about various issues so it's important to consciously remember that he is, overall, absurdly credulous.
There is no possibility covid started in summer 2019, under *either* the wet market *or* lab leak theories, a truly idiotic argument.
There is no possibility covid started in summer 2019, under *either* the wet market *or* lab leak theories, a truly idiotic argument.
Redfield is a Trump appointee and known crank. If COVID was circulating in summer of 2019, the entire timeline of the pandemic would be different. Chinese authorities were not "pushing the wet market narrative," they actively covered it up.
What is happening to people's brains over there
What is happening to people's brains over there
February 10, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Ryan Grim has the occasional good take about various issues so it's important to consciously remember that he is, overall, absurdly credulous.
There is no possibility covid started in summer 2019, under *either* the wet market *or* lab leak theories, a truly idiotic argument.
There is no possibility covid started in summer 2019, under *either* the wet market *or* lab leak theories, a truly idiotic argument.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Just a reminder that despite doing a good thing on the Epstein Files, Thomas Massie is a deeply unserious person.
February 10, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Just a reminder that despite doing a good thing on the Epstein Files, Thomas Massie is a deeply unserious person.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
The republican faction that has most opposed Trump is neocons. Other factions like business execs or religious conservatives have reasons for, and examples of, opposition to Trump, but Libertarians had the easiest case and the weakest examples. Total frauds, still preoccupied with campus left.
February 9, 2026 at 3:12 PM
The republican faction that has most opposed Trump is neocons. Other factions like business execs or religious conservatives have reasons for, and examples of, opposition to Trump, but Libertarians had the easiest case and the weakest examples. Total frauds, still preoccupied with campus left.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family.
“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
‘He’s not the same’: Father of Liam Conejo Ramos says 5-year-old continues to suffer
Some people thought they say the 5-year-old during the Super Bowl halftime show. But Liam is still in hiding with his family, after he and his father were detained and then released from a Texas deten...
www.mprnews.org
February 10, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family.
“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Starmer claims the increase in migration during the pandemic - when much-needed health workers were brought in - was a “squalid chapter” in history, causing “incalculable” damage. How offensive to the essential workers who came to this country, risking their lives while helping a nation in need.
Starmer is also the person who put his signature and his picture on these pages. Not McSweeney, not Mahmood, not anybody else. Some of which is quoted in my bio because they apply to me 🤢
www.gov.uk/government/s...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821ae...
www.gov.uk/government/s...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821ae...
February 10, 2026 at 12:51 PM
Starmer claims the increase in migration during the pandemic - when much-needed health workers were brought in - was a “squalid chapter” in history, causing “incalculable” damage. How offensive to the essential workers who came to this country, risking their lives while helping a nation in need.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Gay was the easiest thing to explain to my son. I was literally just “sometimes two men or two women fall in love.” “Ok, cool. What’s a war?”
always so funny to me when people are like “how am I supposed to explain Gay to my kids?” my kid asks me way harder shit all the time. “why did they build the road this way? why are some people bad?” I don’t know. please ask me about Gay
February 10, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Gay was the easiest thing to explain to my son. I was literally just “sometimes two men or two women fall in love.” “Ok, cool. What’s a war?”
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
have never seen popular public opinion shift so fast about a surveillance product than the fallout from ring's super bowl "search party" ad. they'll teach this in advertising courses one day. chef's kiss baby www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet
Ring's 'Search Party' is dystopian surveillance accelerationism.
www.404media.co
February 10, 2026 at 3:14 PM
have never seen popular public opinion shift so fast about a surveillance product than the fallout from ring's super bowl "search party" ad. they'll teach this in advertising courses one day. chef's kiss baby www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
generally the biggest "conspiracy theories" are heavily promoted by respectable news outlets
QAnon is of course insane and bogus but nobody “serious” espouses it and lab leak is I think generally accepted by the public at this point as the likely origin. But there’s nothing there it’s become ingrained via repetition.
February 10, 2026 at 3:33 PM
generally the biggest "conspiracy theories" are heavily promoted by respectable news outlets
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
when he shows even the slightest modicum of interest in me
February 10, 2026 at 1:58 PM
when he shows even the slightest modicum of interest in me
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
I love reading up on conspiracy theories and have since I was a kid and I don’t think there’s a modern one based on less than lab leak. The entirety of the evidence is the lab being a half hour drive from the market. You can’t have lab leak without the market so this next evolution is even flimsier.
Redfield is a Trump appointee and known crank. If COVID was circulating in summer of 2019, the entire timeline of the pandemic would be different. Chinese authorities were not "pushing the wet market narrative," they actively covered it up.
What is happening to people's brains over there
What is happening to people's brains over there
February 10, 2026 at 3:27 PM
I love reading up on conspiracy theories and have since I was a kid and I don’t think there’s a modern one based on less than lab leak. The entirety of the evidence is the lab being a half hour drive from the market. You can’t have lab leak without the market so this next evolution is even flimsier.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
the wet market narrative is *bad for the Chinese government* and they have actively suppressed it at every turn! these people are incapable of the most basic understanding of the world.
Redfield is a Trump appointee and known crank. If COVID was circulating in summer of 2019, the entire timeline of the pandemic would be different. Chinese authorities were not "pushing the wet market narrative," they actively covered it up.
What is happening to people's brains over there
What is happening to people's brains over there
February 10, 2026 at 3:17 PM
the wet market narrative is *bad for the Chinese government* and they have actively suppressed it at every turn! these people are incapable of the most basic understanding of the world.
Redfield is a Trump appointee and known crank. If COVID was circulating in summer of 2019, the entire timeline of the pandemic would be different. Chinese authorities were not "pushing the wet market narrative," they actively covered it up.
What is happening to people's brains over there
What is happening to people's brains over there
February 10, 2026 at 3:14 PM
Redfield is a Trump appointee and known crank. If COVID was circulating in summer of 2019, the entire timeline of the pandemic would be different. Chinese authorities were not "pushing the wet market narrative," they actively covered it up.
What is happening to people's brains over there
What is happening to people's brains over there
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
we almost never saw pieces like this when the prevailing epstein accusations were based on totally made up claims from the right. now that the actual evidence in the files implicates trump and other right wing figures, we get 5 articles like this a day.
Last week the far right started peddling a narrative that the outrage over Epstein is a moral panic. Today, like clockwork, a more polite version of that narrative appears in the Atlantic.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
February 10, 2026 at 1:36 PM
we almost never saw pieces like this when the prevailing epstein accusations were based on totally made up claims from the right. now that the actual evidence in the files implicates trump and other right wing figures, we get 5 articles like this a day.
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Chat bots give the wrong medical advice more than half the time. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/w...
Health Advice From A.I. Chatbots Is Frequently Wrong, Study Shows
www.nytimes.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:27 AM
Chat bots give the wrong medical advice more than half the time. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/w...
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
It’s crazy how much of pundit culture is just “I have to engage with society in all its different forms, even in ways that I don’t like.”
Bari Weiss bravely invites us to focus on the real fascism in Minneapolis
www.thefp.com/p/mob-rule-c...
www.thefp.com/p/mob-rule-c...
February 9, 2026 at 11:24 PM
It’s crazy how much of pundit culture is just “I have to engage with society in all its different forms, even in ways that I don’t like.”
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Something tells me this sort of piece doesn’t hit the way it used to
Bari Weiss bravely invites us to focus on the real fascism in Minneapolis
www.thefp.com/p/mob-rule-c...
www.thefp.com/p/mob-rule-c...
February 9, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Something tells me this sort of piece doesn’t hit the way it used to
Reposted by Michael Hobbes
Downward-Punching Dog
Bari Weiss bravely invites us to focus on the real fascism in Minneapolis
www.thefp.com/p/mob-rule-c...
www.thefp.com/p/mob-rule-c...
February 9, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Downward-Punching Dog