The Maryland Department of State Police has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Biden’s DOJ for $2.75 million after it was alleged that their physical and written exams “disproportionately excluded” female applicants. The physical test, called the Functional Fitness Assessment Test (or, fittingly, FFAT), included *checks notes* 18 pushups, 27 sit ups, and a 15-minute mile… hardly the stuff of the Navy SEALs. But just 51% of females — who are (in general, please don’t sue me, Mr. President) significantly weaker and slower than men — were able to pass, prompting the DOJ to dub the test sexist, and to demand the MDSP hire 25 candidates who failed. Folks. Denying biological differences in a swimming competition is one thing, but when it comes to our police force the stakes are literally a matter of life and death. And the criminals? Don’t care that it hurts your feelings.

A new study by Nature claims conservatives get more social media suspensions because they post more disinformation, even when controlled for bias in policy. The study has all the right pedigree: it’s from the Oxford Internet Institute, co-authored by an “MIT computational social science professor,” and quite self-aware, acknowledging the “common objection” that defining misinformation can be subjective. And maybe they’re right. I’m sure Buster from Butterfield, Arkansas believes every word of JehovanCrusaderApocalypse.com about Obama’s Secret Sex Bunker while reposting on Facebook — and perhaps there are more of him than his political opposite. But there’s a larger truth no study is talking about: the world in which we automatically assigned prestige to institutions like Oxford, and pledged blind cultural allegiance to the objectivity of “studies,” no longer exists. The divide that matters now isn’t Red vs Blue: it’s people still hoping for that world to return, and those who recognize it never will.

“Sex work is, in contrast to fact-checking, a legitimate occupation,” tweeted Marc Andreessen on Friday. His comment came in response to a tweet of Nate Silver remarking that the MSM still hadn’t “fact-checked” Walz's “fire in a crowded theater” mischaracterization at the VP debate, because of course they haven’t — because of course they’ll never. But the open mocking represents a kind of epistemic breach in the fact-checking and misinformation discourse, and signals a hopeful trend. Yes, there’s been widespread skepticism of “fact-checking” for years. But these days the conversation feels more settled. And if we can collectively diagnose truth distortion as the derangements of partisanship, algorithms, and a state-sponsored media, maybe we can begin working — in earnest — on truth-seeking systems to replace fact-checking (like decentralized moderation that neutralizes partisan lean and is resistant to state influence (thank you, Jack, taking notes from you here 👑)). No more nannies. Let’s just fix the internet. 

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this week on the pod, we discuss the vice presidential debate between jd vance and tim walz as well as the dock worker strike fiasco. plus: another quarterfinal round of our pirate idol pod competition

how the national park service’s ‘yosemite mafia’ is abusing federal power to enrich themselves, quash investigations, and threaten the adventurous american spirit

despite a well-established, unambiguous supreme court precedent, vp pick tim walz argues (yet again) that hate speech isn’t constitutionally protected

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