February 3, 2026

I’M SURPRISED THEY DIDN’T FIRE HIM FOR HIS DISCREDITED RESEARCH: Duke professor Dan Ariely had longstanding friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, newly released files show.

Dan Ariely, professor of business administration in the Fuqua School of Business and Duke alum, had a longstanding relationship with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of at least six years, per newly released documents from the Department of Justice in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Ariely is named 636 times in the more than 3 million additional files released on Jan. 30. He was a prominent professor at Duke over the course of his correspondence with Epstein.

Per The Chronicle’s review of the documents, Ariely, Graduate School ’98, and Epstein met at least seven times from 2010 to 2016. Ariely and Epstein appeared to have been friends — in an email dated Sept. 20, 2011, Ariely promised Epstein a ticket to a small TEDtalk gathering, despite the tickets already having sold out. . . .

At Duke, Ariely has received criticism since 2010 that his studies lack reliability and reproducibility. In particular, Ariely faced allegations for falsifying data in a 2012 paper about methods to discourage dishonesty, prompting the article’s subsequent retraction.

In January 2024, Ariely told The Chronicle of Higher Education that Duke had completed a confidential investigation, which concluded that the data had been falsified but Ariely had not fabricated it knowingly. A University spokesperson reportedly told the CHE that they could not be a source of information regarding the investigation.

In a February 2024 Academic Council meeting, Jennifer Lodge, vice president for research and innovation, explained that the University takes academic misconduct seriously but that investigations remain confidential to protect the privacy of faculty and those affiliated.

Background on the research scandal here and here.

Posted at 7:00 am by Glenn Reynolds

FROM MARY CATELLI:  Madeleine and the Mist.

Enchanted pools, shadowy dragons, wolves that spring from the mists and vanish into them again, paths that are longer, or shorter, than they should be, given where they went. . . the Misty Hills were filled with marvels. Madeleine still left the hills, years ago, to marry against her father’s will. If her husband’s family is less than welcoming, she still is glad she married him, and they have a son, two years old. But her husband’s overlord has fallen afoul of the king. And all his men fall with him, including her husband. She sets out, to seek the queen and try to bypass the king — and the Misty Hills. Some things are not so easily evaded.

Posted at 7:00 am by Sarah Hoyt

I UNDERSTAND HER NAME IS NOW AMELIA ROSE ALBION:  Turning The Tables.

And it’s delicious.

Posted at 3:33 am by Sarah Hoyt

February 2, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Monday, Monday.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

TO BE FAIR, I’M REALLY NOT AT ALL SURE IT’S POSSIBLE.

Posted at 9:15 pm by Glenn Reynolds

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

UPDATE:

Posted at 9:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

HMM:

Posted at 9:13 pm by Glenn Reynolds

GOOD AND HARD, FUN CITY: 16 Dead in NYC From Warmth of Collectivism.

At least 16 people have died outdoors in New York City after a winter storm and days of subfreezing temperatures, intensifying scrutiny of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D.) handling of the cold snap and his decision to halt the removal of homeless encampments.

The death toll climbed to 16, Mamdani announced Monday, and hypothermia played a role in at least 13 of the deaths. Fourteen New Yorkers died from Hurricane Ida in 2021.

Mamdani announced in December that he would drop former mayor Eric Adams’s policy of clearing homeless encampments and encouraging people to go to shelters, saying that displacement was ineffective. Critics argue the reversal left the homeless vulnerable when temperatures plunged.

Adams said he pleaded with Mamdani not to abandon the city’s established policy. “I begged him not to reverse our policy that kept homeless New Yorkers from freezing outdoors in makeshift encampments,” Adams wrote Thursday on X. “He didn’t listen.”

“Reinstate the policy now. Every day of delay risks more lives,” the former mayor said.

Mamdani on Monday, though, said that “It does not appear there’s any relationship between encampments and what we’ve seen with these 16 New Yorkers.”

The mayor also took heat from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.). “So much for the ‘warmth of collectivism,’” Stefanik said. “The cold hard truths of Socialism have arrived in NYC. People are literally dying on the streets in the cold because of inexperience, ineptitude, and a dehumanizing radical ideology.”

The optics of this risk backfiring very badly on our theater kid mayor:

UPDATE: While Mamdani is the only open communist of blue city mayors, he’s far alone in his incompetence:

It’s not quite that if you elect a Democrat, you’re signing on for at least one term of poorly run government. But in one big U.S. city after another, highly touted mayors — all progressive Democrats, of course — are proving deeply subpar in delivering services when their cities need them most.

The failures of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are well-documented. Closer to home for me, Muriel Bowser is in the final year of a twelve-year run as mayor of the District of Columbia, isn’t running for reelection, and apparently is gripped by what the high schoolers used to call “senioritis.”

As you likely know, one week ago, the northeast got hit by a major snow and ice storm. Bowser attended a party at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Thursday, while her city still hadn’t completed the basic duty of plowing the streets.

The virtue signal to reward ratio is astonishing:

Posted at 8:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

“FOLLOW THE SCIENCE,” THEY SAID, AS THEY LIED ABOUT THE SCIENCE:

Related thoughts: Flashback: We’re told to ‘follow the science’ — yet some of it is just plain wrong.

Posted at 8:37 pm by Glenn Reynolds