Chris Markiewicz

Mafia governance in action

"the only offer on the table was that I needed to resign by 5pm that day or the DOJ would basically rain hell on UVA... If I did not resign that day, I was told that the DOJ would extract/block hundreds of millions of dollars from UVA before they would even negotiate."

Community Review: BEP038 - Atlases and Templates · bids-standard bids-specification · Discussion #2250 We are pleased to announce the community review period for BIDS Extension Proposal (BEP) 038! BEP038 extends the BIDS standard to describe BIDS Derivatives datasets that are intended to be distribu...

We are pleased to announce that BIDS Extension Proposal 038 - Atlases is open for community review!

github.com/bids-standar...

The review period is open from November 10 - November 21.
#bids #neuroimaging

Craven behavior from Shaheen and Peters. Trying to cut a deal that guarantees you nothing--no guarantee that a single dollar gets spent as intended, a "promise" of a future vote on ACA subsides that may never happen--is chump move. thehill.com/homenews/sen...

Of course, this is precisely why we expect law enforcement to wear badges and uniforms and show identification. Anyone could have foreseen (and many of us did) that this would be a serious side-effect of ICE's insistence on behaving like unaccountable thugs.

Is Representational Similarity Analysis Reliable? A Comparison with Regression Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA) is a popular method for analyzing neuroimaging and behavioral data. Here we evaluate the accuracy and reliability of RSA in the context of model selection, a...

However, splitting the RSA computation into two steps may lead to information loss. A single-step approach using regression or hierarchical modeling appears to improve precision, reliability and interpretability in estimating representational similarity. arxiv.org/abs/2511.00395

Chicago-area man killed by ICE honored at Franklin Park Day of the Dead celebration: ‘Someone who was wanted’ Candles, candy and colorful flowers adorned the ofrenda a couple dozen people helped build Saturday to honor Silverio Villegas González.

Candles, candy and colorful flowers adorned the ofrenda, or altar, that a couple of dozen people helped build Saturday to honor Silverio Villegas González, the man shot and killed by an ICE agent in northwest suburban Franklin Park nearly two months ago.

✨ Call for Maintainers ✨ · Issue #959 · all-contributors/all-contributors.github.io The all contributors bot is seeking new maintainers Thousands of projects use the All-Contributors bot to acknowledge contributors, but we need help maintaining it. We have recently redone the docu...

The all-contributors GitHub bot project is looking for new maintainers. Could this be you?

github.com/all-contribu...

#OpenSource

Community members describe confrontation with federal agents - Evanston RoundTable Evanston community clashes with federal immigration authorities after car crash. Residents detained, pepper spray used. Mayor demands review.

My sister lives in #Evanston, IL and feels the severity of the situation is not well reported nationally. The local paper interviewed residents after the Halloween assaults, and she says that matches what she's seen herself and heard from neighbors.

evanstonroundtable.com/2025/11/01/e...

This is some disturbing ICE Gestapo footage. They point guns at citizens and threaten to shoot them. They punch a guy in the back of the head repeatedly when he’s down and already subdued, then later slam his head into the side of their vehicle.

This took place on 10/31/2025 in Evanston, IL.

U.S. citizen shot from behind as he warned ICE agents about children gathering at bus stop, lawyers say Lawyers for Carlos Jimenez said he was in fear after an agent threatened him with chemical spray, then pointed a gun at him.

US citizen shot from behind as he warned ICE agents children would be coming to get bus, lawyers say

This week, the #Python Software Foundation rejected a $1.5MM NSF grant, due to a requirement that the PSF abandon diversity work.

So I joined forces with Python folks (@offby1, @petrillic, @amethyst) and we're matching up to $12,000 of donations to the PSF. 🧵

The official home of the Python Programming Language

TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-...
🧵

Voter Pamphlet 2025 - BIDS Election Election Information Packet 2025 Steering Group Candidate Summaries Alessio Giacomel I am an early career researcher currently working at the University Hospital in Frankfurt am Main. My background is...

🗳️ Polls are OPEN for the 2025 @BIDSCommunity Steering Group Election!

We're electing two new members to help guide the future of BIDS. 📊✨

If you're a contributor, check your inbox for your ballot (let us know if you have not received it). Voting closes October 31st!

👉 Review candidates:

So that's the second thing that a president has: Article II, the inherent right of self-defense. If somebody is about ready to launch missiles at the U.S. or launch an attack, the president does have the authority to strike those people. Drug runners do not qualify for that. And I know —drugs kill-and they do. They kill tens of thousands of people. But it is not the intention of the drug runners to kill people. They're selling drugs, and drugs are a major problem in this country. I happen to think it's as much of a demand problem as it is a supply problem-but it is not a direct attack to try and kill Americans or seize territory in America. And it sure as hell isn't that on a boat off the coast of Venezuela that is thousands of miles from the U.S. And that's the other thing-they haven't presented a shred of evidence that those boats were even headed to the United States.

Smith: Yeah and also understand the other connection, as you've seen the stories about Trump authorizing CIA action in Venezuela. I have no independent confirmation of that other than what I've read in the media. And as you see the rhetoric from him ramp up about the Maduro regime in Venezuela, is this really about stopping drugs or is he engaged in a regime change effort in Venezuela, which certainly hasn't been approved of by Congress and certainly doesn't fall under the Article II designation. Trump has mused about how now maybe they may bo hitting targets on land within Venezuela. So he is asserting the unilateral right to start a war with Venezuela

Smith: I've not been briefed. I don't know if I'd go so far as, I expect war. But if we, as a country, don't stand up and say, no, President Trump, you do not have the unilateral power to override the Constitution and do whatever you want whenever you want whenever you want to do it-Trump's just going to keep expanding. And look, I'll tie a little terrifying connection in for you here. You hear what's going on in Chicago—and it's going on in other cities as well—but in Chicago, most blatantly, they are literally stopping people on the street and demanding their papers. If they don't have them-frequently citizens, legal residents— are being detained by your United States federal government without any probable cause, articulable suspicion, or any measure, just because they showed up and they want to say it. They are violating our rights individually, and then Trump is asserting his right to use the United States military in any way that he sees fit— certainly in the Caribbean, but also right here in the United States of America. He's trying to send them to Portland, trying to send them to Chicago.

How far are we away from President Trump deciding to use the U.S. military to do a kinetic strike on people within the U.S. because he sees them as a threat, by whatever definition he wants to throw out there? I want to say-and I know there's a lot of people on the left and in the Democratic Party who are all over this— but I want to say to the rest of you who are not: come on. I mean, you could not like the Democrats, you could not like a bunch of our policies. Hell, you can oppose the Affordable Care Act, you can oppose a bunch of other things. If you are an American conservative, do you want the federal government to be able to have that type of power-to take away your liberty-whether it's Trump or anybody else?

As ranking Dem and former chair of the House Armed Services Committee, he usually stays in his lane because you save your powder for the defense fights.

When he lays it out like this, we should listen /2

So, I have to say — as members of Congress go, Adam Smith is about as run of the mill as there is (used to be). He’s sensible, compromises, believes in bipartisan work, believes evidence, thoroughly studies material for his committee work.

Seeing quotes like this from him is… deeply unnerving. /1

DOE's public statements about this say that all the ad hoc committees, including HEPAP, will be replaced by a single committee. As an STS researcher, I am compelled to point out that this overlaps with the Nazi playbook for taking over German physics. My slides about how they did that:🧪⚛️🔭

DOE Consolidates Office of Science Advisory Committees Six long-standing committees advising the Department of Energy’s Office of Science have been rolled into one.

SCIENCE POLICY NEWS:

During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭

Why that matters 🧵

Los Angeles County declares state of emergency over immigration raids Los Angeles County officials voted on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency over ongoing federal immigration raids.

To be clear:

LA County has declared a state of emergency BECAUSE OF the federal government.

The Feds, LA County is (correctly) saying, have CAUSED the emergency.

This is a striking political moment of internal collapse. Local govts feeling compelled to protect their ppl from … their own govt.

I'm recruiting PhD students to join my new lab in Fall 2026! The Shared Minds Lab at @usc.edu will combine deep learning and ecological human neuroscience to better understand how we communicate our thoughts from one brain to another.

Trump defends use of U.S. military against 'enemy within' Earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the purpose of the department would exclusively be "war fighting."

JUST IN: President Trump has told top U.S. commanders that the military would be used against "enemy within."

In a sane country with competent leadership, the 50 highest-ranking Democrats would call a press conference to denounce what just happened as a threat to the republic and demand Trump's immediate impeachment and removal from office.

I don't know he could make his intentions more clear.

Community Review: BEP042 - Electromyography (EMG) · bids-standard bids-specification · Discussion #2219 We are pleased to announce the community review period for BIDS Extension Proposal (BEP) 042! BEP042 extends the BIDS standard to include electromyography recordings. The draft specification may be...

We are pleased to announce that BIDS Extension Proposal 42 - Electromyogrpahy is open for community review!

github.com/bids-standar...

The review period is open from September 29 - October 10.
#bids #neuroimaging #electromyography #emg

Community Review: BEP020 - Eye Tracking · bids-standard bids-specification · Discussion #2218 We are pleased to announce the community review period for BIDS Extension Proposal (BEP) 020! BEP020 extends the BIDS standard to formally specify eye-tracking recordings, which has previously been...

We are pleased to announce that BIDS Extension Proposal 20 - Eye Tracking is open for community review!

github.com/bids-standar...

The review period is open from September 29 - October 10.
#bids #neuroimaging #eyetracking

Huge congratulations to NASA's @cgentemann.bsky.social for the #AGU2025 Open Science Recognition Prize!!! 🎉🎊🚀

Chelle has been a steadfast leader in open science, from data, to code, infrastructure, policy and education.

This could not be more highly deserved!

www.agu.org/honors-home/...

You've likely seen the new $100,000 penalty on high-skill immigrant workers.

Here's the next, separate bomb the White House is dropping on high skill immigration, to be officially published *tomorrow*.

tl;dr: Most H-1Bs now inaccessible for entry-level jobs, e.g. new grads from US universities.

Good morning.

Immigration is good. Trade is good.

There are nuances but they are narrow enough that free and open movement of people and goods should be the default.

Data only shows associations. Turning those into claims about mechanism or causation? That requires a Rosetta Stone of prior knowledge + theory. Resting-state fMRI is purely observational; correlation is its currency. From this, plenty of "theoretical toys" about brain function can be built...

If Jimmy Kimmel, the mildest slice of Colby Jack in America, isn’t safe, then you aren’t safe.

ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Live! From the Air ‘Indefinitely’ The decision follows conservative backlash to a comment the late-night host made about Charlie Kirk.

I don’t know when it’s going to pop for a lot of normies that they are living under an authoritarian regime, but the cancellation of popular TV shows that make fun of the administration might do it www.vulture.com/article/abc-...