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blairfix.bsky.social
Blair Fix
@blairfix.bsky.social
920 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 · 15d
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 Blair Fix
kimsiever.bsky.social
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
November 11, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by Blair Fix
climatebrad.hillheat.com
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.
November 2, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
bichlernitzan.bsky.social
Here is the Internet Archive mirror of The Bichler & Nitzan Archives, designed and implemented by @blairfix.bsky.social

archive.org/details/bich...
November 1, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
bichlernitzan.bsky.social
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/
October 31, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Blair Fix
leedrutman.bsky.social
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...
October 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
albertateachers.bsky.social
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
October 31, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by Blair Fix
justingundlach.bsky.social
I don't think enough people have read this -- IMO all of #ClimateSky, #GreenSky, and #EnergySky should, and if they have students should assign it to their students -- so I'm reposting.
October 30, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by Blair Fix
tkovach.bsky.social
"Having piqued my interest, I’m now going to pivot and not investigate these questions. And that’s because this essay is not about good science. It’s about the error-riddled work of Robert Pielke Jr. " Lmao
October 30, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by Blair Fix
bichlernitzan.bsky.social
Is the world heading for a new arms race?
bnarchives.net/id/eprint/854/
October 30, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
akgbsky.bsky.social
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
October 29, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
andrewdessler.com
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
October 29, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Reposted by Blair Fix
michaelemann.bsky.social
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
October 27, 2025 at 11:53 PM
blairfix.bsky.social
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
October 27, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
jennyyeremiy.bsky.social
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
October 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM
blairfix.bsky.social
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
October 26, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
joshtpm.bsky.social
Reagan was like Joe Free Trade. He and Thatcher are the avatars of the neoclassical economics resurgence, trade liberalization, etc. good or bad this is pure reality. The idea that this conversation is even happening shows how much we’re in the mad king 2+2=7 world.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17d
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?"
October 25, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
mehdirhasan.bsky.social
"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
October 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
rbreich.bsky.social
Priorities.
October 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Blair Fix
mediaindigena.bsky.social
"[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
October 23, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Blair Fix
mims.bsky.social
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
October 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
jayvanbavel.bsky.social
Only a small % of people engage in toxic activity online, but they’re responsible for a disproportionate share of hostile or misleading content on nearly every platform

Because super-users are so active, they dominate our collective impression of the internet www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
Are a few people ruining the internet for the rest of us?
Why does the online world seem so toxic compared with normal life? Our research shows that a small number of divisive accounts could be responsible – and offers a way out
www.theguardian.com
July 13, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
jayvanbavel.bsky.social
Social media users adopt the toxic behaviors of ingroup members

An analysis of 7 million tweets from over 700,000 accounts finds that exposures to toxic behavior by ingroup members is the primary driver of contagious toxicity online academic.oup.com/jcmc/article...
October 22, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
coreyryung.bsky.social
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 · 19d
a live look at the demolition of the White House's East Wing for Trump's ballroom
October 22, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
stephenwolf.bsky.social
Republicans on the Supreme Court are poised to gut the law that finally ended Jim Crow, and Southern Republicans are eager to gerrymander Black voters out of representation like it’s 1925 again
stephenwolf.bsky.social Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 19d
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...
October 22, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Blair Fix
mluckovich.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 5:57 PM