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Jerry Talton

@jerrytalton.net

Research Assistant Professor in the Siebel School of Computing & Data Science @ UIUC. Formerly CTO @ Carta (read about it at https://tinyurl.com/cto-carta), ML @ Slack, Founder & CEO @ Apropose, Research Scientist @ Intel.

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Reposted by Jerry Talton

Andrew Dessler

@andrewdessler.com

Our comment on the DOE CWG report is done. It tips the scales at 439 pages, approx. 3x longer than the DOE report.
This is related to Brandolini's law: The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.

Example: refuting one sentence.

DOE CWG STATEMENT (second paragraph of section 2.1.1, page 3): “Piao et al. (2020) noted
that greening was even observable in the Arctic.”
COMMENT: This statement implies that the Arctic greening signal was caused by elevated CO2
,
however that is not the scientific consensus. Piao et al. (2020) attribute the greening trend in the
Arctic predominantly to growing season length driven by warmer temperatures (see also Y.
Zhang et al., 2022). Piao et al. (2020) also note that this positive impact of increasing
temperatures appears to have weakened over the past four decades, “suggesting a possible
saturation of future greening in response to warmer temperature” (see also comment on
greenness trends related to Section 2.1.1, first sentence of Page 4). It is also important to put
Arctic greening more broadly into the context of the carbon cycle and other impacts. While
above-ground plants may have displayed more leaf area over the past decades, rising
temperatures also thaw permafrost and drive accelerated decomposition in highly carbon rich
soils (Turetsky et al., 2020), a process which is expected to accelerate as climate continues to
warm (Miner et al., 2022). Thus even with Arctic greening, high latitude terrestrial systems may
become net carbon sources to the atmosphere, causing an amplifying feedback (Braghiere et
al., 2023). Other risks to the Arctic linked to higher CO2

levels and rising temperatures are not
mentioned in this report (Virkkala et al., 2025). The Arctic is warming at a rate of 2 to 3 times the
global average, leading to thawing of permanently frozen soils (permafrost), with downstream
impacts including loss of structural support for buildings and subsidence, threatening
communities, roads, runways, and other assets across Alaska (Manos et al., 2025; University of
Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Northern Engineering US Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District
& Laboratory, 2019).

August 28, 2025 at 1:13 AM

Reposted by Jerry Talton

Roxane Gay

@roxanegay.bsky.social

I refuse to believe we are going to relitigate slavery. SLAVERY. It’s too much.

August 19, 2025 at 11:48 PM

Reposted by Jerry Talton

Benjamin Wittes

@benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org

Maurene Comey's goodbye note to SDNY colleagues:

July 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM

Reposted by Jerry Talton

Bill Grueskin

@bgrueskin.bsky.social

Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department tried to bar a CNN journalist from serving as a pool reporter for an upcoming foreign trip.

Other reporters threatened to boycott the trip.

Guess what happened next.

The Pentagon caved.

Via @oliverdarcy.bsky.social

www.status.news/p/pete-hegse...

I've learned that in the lead-up to Hegseth's upcoming trip to Singapore, the Pentagon quietly attempted to block CNN producer Haley Britzky from serving as the designated television pooler. Because space on such trips is limited, the press corps designates a small group of reporters to travel with the secretary and share information with the broader press. Britzky had been slated for the role. But Pentagon officials- apparently irked by some of her tweets, despite their innocuous nature
- relayed to CNN brass that she was not welcome.

The move was a plain act of retribution, a targeted attempt by the Pentagon to sideline a journalist for doing her job in a way that it did not like. It triggered immediate backlash. Reporters from other news organizations expressed outrage, with other outlets indicating that if Britzky was excluded, they too would pull out of the trip—effectively denying Hegseth the press coverage he relies on for visibility. “They don’t get to decide who covers them,” one correspondent told me.
After a brief standoff, I'm told the Pentagon relented. Britzky will travel with Hegseth as originally planned. A CNN spokesperson declined to comment and a Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to a request for one Monday evening.

May 27, 2025 at 11:39 AM

Reposted by Jerry Talton

George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸

@gtconway.bsky.social

May 26, 2025 at 6:38 PM

Reposted by Jerry Talton

Yisong Yue

@yisongyue.bsky.social

Absolutely infuriating chicanery. Yes, technically the government terminated SEVIS records, rather than revoked visas. But if you don't have a SEVIS record, then a university cannot verify that you are legally allowed to be in the US and enrolled as a student.
www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

Government Defends Itself Against Visa Revocations

Lawyers for the federal government say terminating students’ SEVIS records does not actually mean those students’ legal status in this country has changed. Immigration lawyers are skeptical.

www.insidehighered.com

April 19, 2025 at 5:32 AM

Reposted by Jerry Talton

Yisong Yue

@yisongyue.bsky.social

One of my PhD students got their visa revoked. I know of other cases amongst my AI colleagues. This is not what investing in US leadership in AI looks like.

www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/...