Thom Volker
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thomvolker.bsky.social
Thom Volker
@thomvolker.bsky.social
290 followers 280 following 540 posts
PhD Candidate in Statistics, Utrecht University

Creates fake data for a living.

thomvolker.github.io
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Thom Volker
schoutenlegal.bsky.social
Het meest opmerkelijke staaltje van framing: het is VERKRACHTING VAN KINDEREN.

In de Amerikaanse pers wordt nu in het kader van de Epstein-files gesproken over “underaged women”. Dat zijn dus “kinderen”. 1/5>
February 4, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
thorbenson.bsky.social
Sacre bleu
Elon Musk responding to news of X office being raided in Paris: This is a political attack French Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Investigating child sexual abuse material isn’t controversial. Turning it into political theater is manipulation. Maybe that logic flies on some island. Doesn’t fly in France.
February 4, 2026 at 1:06 AM
thomvolker.bsky.social
I suddenly understand the exorbitant fees they charge
eikofried.bsky.social Eiko Fried @eikofried.bsky.social · 8h
Does anyone know why some fancy journals redraw your figures for you (no matter how much you object) — must be some copyright ($) thingie?

Below from the proofs I just got. Looks like they placed all numbers by hand (and definitely not in the node center, see e.g. "4") 🫣
February 4, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
lotfielhamidi.bsky.social
Maar even zonder dollen: het is echt bizar. Correspondenten van de ene op de andere dag ontslagen.
February 4, 2026 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
myrthehilkens.bsky.social
Wat een uitstekende journalistiek. Drie keer hetzelfde antwoord. CDA, D66 en VVD zeggen alledrie - op de vraag waarom inkomen wordt belast en niet vermogen - dat je nou eenmaal niet alles geregeld krijgt zoals je dat zou willen. Iemand liegt.
February 4, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
alexip718.com
INBOX: Washington Post Ukraine Correspondent Lizzie Johnson announces that she has been laid off in the middle of a below-freezing war zone without power, heat, or running water.
lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · 49m I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated. Quote lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Jan 25 Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp.
February 4, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
johnholbein1.bsky.social
Are female economists treated differently than males in academic seminars?

These authors wanted to know whether gender shapes how scholars are treated when presenting research.

So they built a massive dataset of 2,000+ economics seminars, job talks, and conference presentations from 2019–2023...
February 3, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
This part of our response essay is where I'm at. Boiling down all of politics to electoralism has been absolutely terrible for resisting rising authoritarianism.

www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...
A final but especially important reason that popularism has put the United States at greater, not lower, risk of authoritarianism is the Democratic Party’s overly cautious use of institutional authority and political power beyond elections. Popularism doesn’t just urge candidates to check the polls before making a campaign decision; by defining politics down to poll-watching, it trains leaders to check with polls before governing—any use of their legislative and administrative power. Successful opposition parties in authoritarian environments around the world don’t do this: they engage in politics in order to wield power, not just to win or maintain it. But in the United States, the opposition party sees elections as its only tool, even as the regime repeatedly and brazenly threatens electoral integrity. The implicit pitch is “at least if you vote for us, you keep the right from governing.” Examples of Democratic squeamishness about power abound. The Democrats have just now begun to engage in partisan gerrymandering, fifteen years after Republicans used it to tremendous gain. And Democratic politicians who call Trump a dictator have voted for nearly all of his nominees in the Senate. In this, Democratic leaders are the ultimate popularists—waiting to use their institutional power until it is overwhelmingly clear that public opinion is on their side. The results have been disastrous. Most consequential was the hesitancy of the Department of Justice under Merrick Garland to swiftly and aggressively prosecute Trump for the coup attempt on January 6, 2021. That’s exactly the opposite of what Lula’s government has done to Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil after Bolsonaro’s own coup attempt. As seen across more than two dozen other countries that convicted or banned from office national leaders for constitutional violations and crimes since 2010, this is not an impossible task.
February 3, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
drtomemery.bsky.social
In the Netherlands we are upgrading and integrating the Social Science and Humanities Research Infrastructure through a project called SSHOC-NL which is led by ODISSEI and CLARIAH.

You can find more about what we are up to in these videos: sshoc.nl#wp--skip-lin...
SSHOC-NL
sshoc.nl
February 3, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
stevevladeck.bsky.social
Even if you don't have time to read all 83 pages of Judge Reyes's opinion barring the Trump administration from rescinding Temporary Protected Status for 350,000+ Haitians, please at least check out the four-page introduction.

It's a tour de force:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
"On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: “America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions.”1 More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President Washington’s vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take. [screenshot of tweet]. So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program. And one of those (her word) “damn” countries is Haiti. Relevant here, three days before making the above post, Secretary Noem announced she would terminate Haiti’s TPS designation as of February 3, 2026. See 90 Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025) (Termination). Plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders. They are not, it emerges, “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.” They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer’s disease, Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl. (SAC)) ¶ 1; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank, id. ¶ 2; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department, id. ¶ 3; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, id. ¶ 4; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse, id. ¶ 5. They claim that Secretary Noem’s decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2), and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Government counters that the Court does not have jurisdiction, and, in any case, the Secretary did not violate the law. Plaintiffs seek to stay the Secretary’s decision under 5 U.S.C. § 705 pending the outcome of this litigation. See Dkt. 81 (§ 705 Mot.). To decide their motion, the Court considers first whether it has jurisdiction. It does. See Part II. It then considers: whether Plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; whether they will be irreparably harmed absent a stay; and whether a merged balance of the equities and public interest analysis favors a stay. See Part III. Each element favors Plaintiffs. See Parts IV, V, and VI. Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely. Secretary Noem has terminated every TPS country designation to have reached her desk—twelve countries up, twelve countries down. See Section IV.A.2. Her conclusion that Haiti (a majority nonwhite country) faces merely “concerning” conditions cannot be squared with the “perfect storm of suffering” and “staggering” “humanitarian toll” described in page-after-page of the Certified Administrative Record (CAR). See Section IV.A.3.a. She ignored Congress’s requirement that she “review the conditions” in Haiti only “after” consulting “with appropriate agencies.” 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(3)(A); see Section IV.A.1. Indeed, she did not consult other agencies at all. See id. Her “national interest” analysis focuses on Haitians outside the United States or here illegally, ignoring that Haitian TPS holders already live here, and legally so. See Section IV.A.3.b. And though she states that the analysis must include “economic considerations,” she ignores altogether the billions Haitian TPS holders contribute to the economy. See id. The Government’s primary response is that the TPS statute gives the Secretary unbounded discretion to make whatever determination she wants, any way she wants. And, yes, the statute does grant her some discretion. But not unbounded discretion. To the contrary, Congress passed the TPS statute to standardize the then ad hoc temporary protection system—to replace executive whim with statutory predictability. See Section I.A. As to irreparable harm, the Government contends that, at most, the harms to Haitian TPS holders are speculative. But the Department of State (State) warns [screenshot] Dkt. 100 (§ 705 Reply) at 20–21.4 “Do not travel to Haiti for any reason” does not exactly scream, as Secretary Noem concluded, suitable for return. And so, the Government studiously does not argue that Plaintiffs will suffer no harm if removed to Haiti. Instead, it argues Plaintiffs will not certainly suffer irreparable harm because DHS might not remove them. But this fails to take Secretary Noem at her word: “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.” See Section IV.B.2.b. Finally, the balance of equities and public interest favor a stay. The Government does not cite any reason termination must occur post haste. Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things—in the public interest is not one of them. For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Renewed Motion for a Stay Under 5 U.S.C. § 705, Dkt. 81.
February 3, 2026 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Thom Volker
myrthehilkens.bsky.social
❤️🩷♥️
February 2, 2026 at 9:15 PM
thomvolker.bsky.social
When the editor asks for major revisions
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d
Q: Do you plan on tearing the Kennedy Center down and how much will all of the renovations cost?

TRUMP: Probably around $200 million. I'm not ripping it down. I'll be using the steel. So we're using the structure. We're using some of the marble.
February 2, 2026 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
alexbaumhardt.bsky.social
Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com
February 1, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by Thom Volker
petervermaas.bsky.social
Zoals het er nu naar uitziet heeft Frankrijk komende week eindelijk een begroting voor 2026. Maar zonder de veelbesproken Taxe Zucman. Ik sprak de econoom die het begrotingsgat wil dichten door de allerrijksten zwaarder (of überhaupt) te belasten: Gabriel Zucman www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...
Franse econoom wil allerrijksten zwaarder belasten, ook in Nederland: ‘Miljardairs danken hun rijkdom niet alleen aan zichzelf’
Frankrijk: De allerrijksten betalen relatief de minste belasting. Fiscaal ‘loodgieter’ Gabriel Zucman, econoom uit de school van Piketty, wil het gat dichten. Maandag spreekt hij in de Tweede Kamer. „...
www.nrc.nl
January 31, 2026 at 10:07 AM
thomvolker.bsky.social
Hier zit wel wat in natuurlijk. Als rechts de boel verkloot krijgt links steevast de schuld, terwijl als links inlevert of water bij de wijn doet, ook links de schuld krijgt.
remcobreuker.bsky.social Remco Breuker 🟥 @remcobreuker.bsky.social · 4d
Bizar om te zien hoe D66 de volle laag krijgt voor het rechtsgeorienteerde regeerakkoord. Ja, Jetten had wellicht nee moeten zeggen, maar de eisen om het zo rechts te maken komen toch echt van ... rechts. Niet-rechtse partijen (ik zal D66 niet links noemen) hebben een dijk van een PR-probleem in NL.
January 31, 2026 at 9:34 AM
thomvolker.bsky.social
An authoritarian state is being rolled out in real time, and all the democrats want is that it can be live-streamed by ICE agents.
perrybaconjr.bsky.social Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 5d
"The Democrats are pushing reforms that they know won’t work because they are doing performative, perfunctory opposition to try to quiet their base, instead of real legislating and fighting to dismantle Trump’s ICE and CBP." newrepublic.com/article/2059...
Senate Democrats’ ICE Proposals Are a Huge and Inexcusable Whiff
Their opening bid should have been eight or 10 bold proposals. But as usual, the Democrats start by negotiating with themselves.
newrepublic.com
January 30, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
nytimes.com
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“When the world is silent as children are killed, starved and displaced, that silence is complicity,” writes Wesam Hamada, whose 5-year-old daughter, Hind Rajab, was killed in Gaza. “Every child who dies waiting to be saved represents a failure of humanity.”
Opinion | No Child Deserves to Die Like My Daughter
What was done to my daughter did not break me. It left me with a mother’s responsibility to ensure no child is left unheard.
nyti.ms
January 29, 2026 at 5:40 PM
thomvolker.bsky.social
I can't tell what is real and what is AI anymore 😭
January 29, 2026 at 6:17 PM
thomvolker.bsky.social
This is bad
January 29, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
oisinryan.bsky.social
Our causal inference summer school, Utrecht 6 - 10 July (€875 for academics) is open for registration!

Last year we added a new day focused entirely on designing a causal research project from scratch in groups - looking forward to doing this again this year!

utrechtsummerschool.nl/courses/heal...
Introduction to Causal Inference and Causal Data Science | Utrecht Summer School
The course takes an interdisciplinary approach and is suitable for applied researchers across health, social and behavioural sciences.
utrechtsummerschool.nl
January 27, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
devezer.bsky.social
(That's also the primary reason why I am generally against premature moralization abt & criminalization of research practices, and condemning of individual researchers for engaging in them. Change is hard and shouldn't be achieved in spite of people. We need to educate, support, collaborate w them.)
January 26, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
thomvolker.bsky.social
Me: I want free elections

Them: You woke communist piece of shit
bluser12.bsky.social egg price watcher @bluser12.bsky.social · 9d
Katie Miller: classical liberal democracy is woke leftist ideology

Anyway, get a Claude subscription.
@KatieMiller Co-Founder of Anthropic: “My deep loyalty is to the principles of classical liberal democracy.” If this is what they say publicly, this is how their AI model is programmed. Woke and deeply leftist ideology is what they want you to rely upon. Quote Chris Olah @ch402 · 16h I try to not talk about politics. I generally believe the best way I can serve the world is as a non-partisan expert, and my genuine beliefs are quite moderate. So the bar is very high for me to comment. But recent events – a federal agent killing an ICU nurse for seemingly no reason and with no provocation – shock the conscience. My deep loyalty is to the principles of classical liberal democracy: freedom of speech, the rule of law, the dignity of the human person. I immigrated to the United States – and eventually cofounded Anthropic here – believing it was a pillar of these principles. I feel very sad today.
January 26, 2026 at 9:45 PM
thomvolker.bsky.social
Me: I want free elections

Them: You woke communist piece of shit
bluser12.bsky.social egg price watcher @bluser12.bsky.social · 9d
Katie Miller: classical liberal democracy is woke leftist ideology

Anyway, get a Claude subscription.
@KatieMiller Co-Founder of Anthropic: “My deep loyalty is to the principles of classical liberal democracy.” If this is what they say publicly, this is how their AI model is programmed. Woke and deeply leftist ideology is what they want you to rely upon. Quote Chris Olah @ch402 · 16h I try to not talk about politics. I generally believe the best way I can serve the world is as a non-partisan expert, and my genuine beliefs are quite moderate. So the bar is very high for me to comment. But recent events – a federal agent killing an ICU nurse for seemingly no reason and with no provocation – shock the conscience. My deep loyalty is to the principles of classical liberal democracy: freedom of speech, the rule of law, the dignity of the human person. I immigrated to the United States – and eventually cofounded Anthropic here – believing it was a pillar of these principles. I feel very sad today.
January 26, 2026 at 9:45 PM
Reposted by Thom Volker
felienne.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
"on the average, we get about two percent efficiency out of schoolbooks as they are today. The future of education, as I see it, will be conducted in the medium of ____ where it should be possible to obtain one hundred percent efficiency"

Wat hoort daar op het streepje?
January 26, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Thom Volker
chrisdeleon.bsky.social
hey everybody lifelong tech expert here

> "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility

that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
404media.co 404 Media @404media.co · 10d
And what is happening inside ICE detention centers? 404 Media also learned that the federal government claimed that the day after it was sued for allegedly abusing detainees at an ICE detention center, a “system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility.
ICE Says Critical Evidence In Abuse Case Was Lost In 'System Crash' a Day After It Was Sued
The government also said "we don't have resources" to retain all footage and that plaintiffs could supply "endless hard drives that we could save things to."
www.404media.co
January 25, 2026 at 5:26 PM