A few days later, DFCS presented Patterson with a “safety plan” for her to sign. It would require her to delegate a “safety person” to be a “knowing participant and guardian” and watch over the children whenever she leaves home. The plan would also require Patterson to download an app onto her son’s phone allowing for his location to be monitored. (The day when it will be illegal not to track one’s kids is rapidly approaching.)

Of course there’s a grift train. I’d be very curious to know more about that company, its owners, and its financials.

Also tagging @abucci@buc.ci (can someone tell me how to do that right?). Seems like something that might interest you, re: our recent conversation.

Journalists actually have very weird and, I would argue, self-serving standards about linking. Let me copy paste from an email that I got from a journalist when I emailed them about relying on my work but not actually citing it:

I didn’t link directly to your article because I wasn’t able to back up some of the claims made independently, which is pretty standard journalistic practice

In my opinion, this is a clever way to legitimize passing off research as your own, which is definitely what they did, up to and including repeating some very minor errors that I made.

I feel similarly about journalistic ethics for not paying sources. That’s a great way to make sure that all your sources are think tank funded people who are paid to have opinions that align with their funding, which is exactly what happens. I understand that paying people would introduce challenges, but that’s a normal challenge that the rest of us have to deal with every fucking time we hire someone. Journalists love to act like people coming forth claiming that they can do X or tell them about Y is some unique problem that they face, when in reality it’s just what every single hiring process exists to sort out.