José Javier Olivas Osuna

Zapatero supported the bombings on Lybia in February 2011 (he was Spanish PM, PSOE). Pedro Sánchez was publicly backing that position claiming the need to bring democracy to Lybia (and accusing Aznar, previous PM, PP, of friendship with Gaddafi).
Sanchez's "No to #war" today is a political strategy

The international fascination with Sánchez, reminds me the international fascination with Varoufakis.
Both grounded on a superficial understanding of the figure.

Sabine Volk wins the 2025 Rising Star Award European Consortium for Political Research

⭐ Exemplary, Profound, Innovative ⭐

🎉Congratulations to @sabinedvolk.bsky.social on winning the 2025 Rising Star Award, praised by the jury for her exceptional academic achievements in #PolSci

👏 Read more buff.ly/JuN5qVr

#ECPRPrizes @ameliahadfield1.bsky.social

Politics as a Science | A Prolegomenon | Philippe C. Schmitter, Marc B In Politics as a Science, two of the world's leading authorities on Comparative Politics, Philippe C. Schmitter and Marc Blecher, provide a lively introduction

Politics as a Science: A Prolegomenon
By Philippe C. Schmitter, Marc Blecher (open access)
#polisci
www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mon...

Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere The portal could potentially put Washington in the unfamiliar position of appearing to encourage citizens to flout local laws.

"Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere."
This is a threat to EU security and stability.
www.reuters.com/world/us-pla...

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

Rancid - Ruby Soho (Official Music Video) HD YouTube video by Koi No Yokan

The first #punk-rock recommendation of 2026 goes to Rancid and in particular to their "And out come the wolves" album. Have a good weekend! youtu.be/HBcBC8aMPSw?...

How conspiracy theories entered the mainstream in Spain Conspiracy theories have become mainstream in Spain, with actors on both left and right adopting conspiracy narratives for short-term political advantage.

Conspiracy theories are increasingly prominent in Spanish politics.

@josejavierolivas.bsky.social @maikherold.bsky.social & Felix Hormig @forum-midem.bsky.socia explain why on @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social

How conspiracy theories entered the mainstream in Spain Conspiracy theories have become mainstream in Spain, with actors on both left and right adopting conspiracy narratives for short-term political advantage.

How conspiracy theories entered the mainstream in Spain

✍ @josejavierolivas.bsky.social @maikherold.bsky.social & Felix Hormig @forum-midem.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

Resumen: Es una medida mala para el conjunto del país y nada progresista, pero podría ser peor, no destruirá España...

🚨Panel proposal for the section on Political Sociology of #ECPRKrakow26: "Artificial Intelligence as a Lever or Threat for Democracy"
If you would like to join the panel please email me your abstract TODAY jjolivas(a)poli.uned.es
#polisci #ia #artificialintelligence

We are witnessing the demolition of the international world order by a modern Nero.

La vereda de la puerta de atrás YouTube video by Extremoduro - Topic

Today Robe Iniesta of Extremoduro passed away. He created the best rock band in Spain. Some of the best lyrics you would ever find. Nihilistic poetry with rural and popular roots.
#depRobe youtu.be/43S_qfT6vpo?...

Ramones - She's The One (Official Music Video) YouTube video by RHINO

This weekend #rock recommendation goes to The Ramones, one of the pioneers and most influential and first punk-rock bands in history.
youtu.be/Z5_fQHTW_Sk?...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

IN NEW ISSUE: Varieties of Populist Attitudes in #Brexit Britain: @josejavierolivas.bsky.social, M Martín, @unnombrealazar.bsky.social, @mmoyanop.bsky.social & @quiqueclari.bsky.social test a new multi-dimensional strategy to measure and compare them: buff.ly/4ggGJEL

@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

“The heyday of democracy was not a society where consensus was politely found on key issues, as proponents of the polarisation narratives argue, but one where ideas were contested radically. The aim was not to search for a middle ground, but for a better society [according to] the proponents.”

Sepultura - Refuse/Resist [OFFICIAL VIDEO] YouTube video by Roadrunner Records

This weekend #rock recommendation goes to Sepultura. The Brazilian band is one of the best in the history of thrash metal.
youtu.be/6ODNxy3YOPU?...

IN NEW ISSUE: Varieties of Populist Attitudes in #Brexit Britain: @josejavierolivas.bsky.social, M Martín, @unnombrealazar.bsky.social, @mmoyanop.bsky.social & @quiqueclari.bsky.social test a new multi-dimensional strategy to measure and compare them: buff.ly/4ggGJEL

@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

Es completamente lamentable como artículo. Lo interesante y triste es ver a El País siendo utilizado de plataforma para mensajes anti-sistema tan disparatados.

Green Day - When I Come Around [Official Music Video] (4K Upgrade) YouTube video by Green Day

This time my #rock music recommendation goes to Green Day (another punk band from California). This track "When I come around" is from their album Dookie which is still the one that brings better memories to me.
Have a good weekend!
youtu.be/i8dh9gDzmz8?...

🚨"Populismus im Staat der Autonomen Gemeinschaften" a chapter in the Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2025 co-authored with Mario Kölling about the Spanish case.
uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/...
#populism

Delusionally so

I didn't claim you said that. But that is something the article you cite says.

Agreed. Many RRPPs in Europe don't have particularly acute people centric discourses either and yet they tick most populism boxes.

The topic is not getting much attention in the public sphere. Hyper politicized media don't seem to find in this story potential to use it against any party or politician. No serious security or defence debate in Spain in years. Governments pretend these are not real challenges.

Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage Davie says departure is ‘my own decision’, while head of news also quits. Insiders say it ‘feels like a coup’ by broadcaster’s enemies

"Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage"

I wish public TVs in Spain would try to be half as neutral as the BBC and there was some accountability or external monitoring process in place.

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

Next week I will give a couple of lectures in Barcelona in case anyone over there is interested. One on Borders, Populism and Identity Narratives @upf.edu, and the second one on Disinformation in Spain at the
Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials.

Spain's public broadcasting RTVE is actually enjoying a quick rise in audiences by relying on a myriad of TV programmes that are largely tabloid style political talk shows with a strong political pro-governmental bias. It is shameful and arguably against UE law.

For those who minimise the dangers of #Covid19. This remains a grave public health issue. Governments should not pretend it is all over. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

How are Grokipedia sources selected or ranked? Who sets the parameters to give more or less credence to a source or other? Source Selection and Ranking in Grokipedia Grokipedia, launched by xAI on October 27, 2025, generates its articles using the Grok AI model, which synthesizes information from a wide range of online sources rather than relying on human curation like Wikipedia. While xAI has not released a detailed public technical whitepaper on the exact algorithms (as of October 29, 2025), available information from announcements, media analyses, and Grok's own descriptions indicates a process focused on "maximum truth-seeking" through AI-driven evaluation. Below, I'll break down how sources appear to be selected and ranked, based on reported mechanisms, followed by who influences these parameters. How Sources Are Selected Diverse Aggregation: Grok pulls from a broad internet corpus, including real-time data from platforms like X (formerly Twitter), news outlets, academic papers, books, and even Wikipedia itself (under Creative Commons licensing). Many initial articles are adapted or rewritten from Wikipedia entries, sometimes nearly verbatim, but with AI-applied modifications for perceived accuracy or neutrality. This allows rapid scaling to over 885,000 articles at launch, prioritizing breadth over exhaustive human vetting. AI-Driven Filtering: Selection emphasizes "first-principles reasoning," where Grok breaks down topics into fundamental facts and cross-verifies claims across sources. It asks internal prompts like: "What's true, partially true, false, or missing?" to filter out "propaganda" or distortions. Sources are chosen if they align with evidence-based synthesis, drawing heavily from real-time web data to reflect current events without the delays of human editing. Inclusion Criteria: High-quality sources (e.g., primary documents, peer-reviewed studies) are favored, but the process is opaque. Articles often include inline citations for transparency, though some entries are "thinly sourced" compared to Wikipedia's rigorous referencing (e.g., one article on the Chola Dynasty cites only three sources vs. Wikipedia's 113+). Grok integrates multimodal data (text, images, videos) from diverse origins, but excludes or downplays content deemed unreliable or biased during generation. How Sources Are Ranked or Given Credence Credibility Assessment: Ranking isn't based on a simple popularity metric (like Wikipedia's "reliable sources" policy) but on Grok's probabilistic evaluation of factual alignment, recency, and logical consistency. Sources are weighted by: Truth-Seeking Score: Grok assigns implicit credence based on cross-verification—e.g., a claim corroborated by multiple independent outlets gets higher weight than isolated reports. This aims to avoid "consensus-driven editing" biases. Recency and Relevance: Real-time feeds (e.g., from X) boost timely sources, potentially elevating user-generated content over legacy media. Bias Detection: Pre-launch tweaks "purged propaganda," likely via fine-tuned parameters that deprioritize outlets Musk has criticized (e.g., The New York Times or NPR, often cited in Wikipedia). Conservative-leaning or "alternative" sources may receive more credence in politically charged topics, as seen in entries promoting right-wing viewpoints or omitting controversies. Output in Articles: Citations appear as hyperlinks at the end of sentences or sections, allowing users to trace origins. However, the ranking isn't explicitly visible (no numbered lists or confidence scores); instead, Grok synthesizes top-ranked info into the narrative, potentially burying lower-credence sources. | Aspect | Selection Process | Ranking/Credence Mechanism | Example | |--------|-------------------|----------------------------|---------| | Primary Sources (e.g., academic papers, official docs) | High priority; directly queried via Grok's context window (up to 2M tokens) | Weighted heavily for factual baselines; low hallucination risk | Historical events like the Chola Dynasty cite few but verified primaries | | News/Media Outlets | Aggregated from web crawls; filtered for diversity | Demoted if flagged as "propaganda" (e.g., left-leaning); elevated for real-time alignment | Musk's bio downplays NYT-reported controversies | | User-Generated (e.g., X posts) | Integrated via real-time feeds | Ranked by engagement/virality but verified against facts; avoids "bimodal" extremes | Political topics blend X insights with broader web data | | Wikipedia-Derived | Adapted as base; rewritten for "improvements" | Medium credence; used as scaffold but overridden by Grok's edits | ~Many articles note "adapted from Wikipedia" at bottom | Who Sets the Parameters? xAI Engineering Team: The core parameters (e.g., weighting algorithms, bias filters) are defined by xAI's developers during Grok's training and fine-tuning. This includes prompt engineering for truth-seeking and dataset curation to "shift closer to politically neutral." As an open-source project, some model weights are public, allowing community scrutiny, but fine-tuning details remain proprietary. Elon Musk's Influence: As xAI's founder and CEO, Musk directly shapes priorities, as evidenced by his public directives to "purge out the propaganda" and delay launch for refinements. He has tweaked Grok to "lean further to the right" in tests and criticized specific sources, influencing what gets de-emphasized. Critics argue this introduces personal bias, with articles aligning to Musk's worldview (e.g., promoting "woke mind virus" narratives). Grok's Self-Improvement Loop: Parameters evolve autonomously via user feedback (e.g., "It's Wrong" highlights on articles) and continuous retraining on new data. xAI plans to incorporate X's Community Notes for validation, but ultimate decisions rest with the AI under xAI oversight—no open human editing like Wikipedia. In summary, Grokipedia's approach trades human consensus for AI speed and "objectivity," but its source handling risks inheriting training data biases or Musk's preferences. For balance, cross-reference with multiple tools. xAI has promised more transparency in future updates, so this could evolve quickly.

🚨🚨Attention to the new AI generated online encyclopedia #Grokipedia (owned and apparently shaped by Elon Musk). Those studying #disinformation and #AI should read what Grok (Musk's AI chatbot has to say about it).
In my view it is quite troubling.
x.com/i/grok/share...