The Dusty Dinosaurs off Route 12 18%

By Valerie Pavilonis18% Nic Rowan18% Greg Fournier18% Ross Anderson18%

8/8/2026, 3:50:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 7 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Indoctrination, and Attempt to Sell a Product or Service, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 32.1% saturation with 109 hits. Analysis detected 279 faulty-reasoning hits from 340 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 25.8% and a BS Rank of 18% (25,201 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 82.40% of the article peer group.

The Dusty Dinosaurs off Route 12 
Near Detroit rests the graveyard of some ancient reptiles, with a twist. 
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Dispatch Culture 
Valerie Pavilonis, Nic Rowan, Greg Fournier, & Ross Anderson / August 8, 2026 
Valerie is Ideas Editor at The Dispatch, based in New York City. 
Prior to joining the company in 2025, she worked at The New York Times and NewsGuard Technologies, and she is currently a Novak Fellow through The Fund for American Studies. 
When Valerie isn’t commissioning and editing the next big essay for The Dispatch, she is probably people-watching in a funky cafe or scheming up her next oddly-themed party. 
Nic Rowan is managing editor at The Lamp and a fellow in the Robert Novak Journalism Program through The Fund for American Studies. 
Greg Fournier writes the Substack newsletter “Armchair Thoughts.” 
Ross Anderson is the Editor of The Morning Dispatch, based in London. 
Prior to joining the company in 2025, he was an editor at The Spectator, columnist at The New York Sun, and a Tablet fellow. 
When Ross isn’t working on TMD, he’s probably trying out new tech, lifting weights, or hanging out with his cat, Teddy. 
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Meilaender, Sharla Moody, & Ashley Dowdney / July 11, 2026 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 3.3%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.5%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.7%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.9%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.6%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 3.5%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.9%The Dispatch: 4.4%Framing Effect3.5%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.6%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.7%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.0%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.4%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 2.7%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 5.0%Negativity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.4%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.1%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.0%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.7%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.4%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 2.4%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.6%The Dispatch: 0.9%Recency Bias2.4%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.2%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.2%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.6%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.8%Straw Man0.0%This article: 32.1%Valerie Pavilonis: 8.0%The Dispatch: 3.0%Appeal to Authority32.1%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 2.2%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.9%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 3.5%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.9%The Dispatch: 5.5%Hasty Generalization3.5%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.1%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 2.2%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.7%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.5%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.4%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.0%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.2%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.3%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.2%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.2%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.0%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 0.7%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 19.4%Valerie Pavilonis: 4.9%The Dispatch: 6.4%Biased Writer Voice19.4%This article: 10.6%Valerie Pavilonis: 2.6%The Dispatch: 1.2%Indoctrination10.6%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.2%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Valerie Pavilonis: 0.0%The Dispatch: 1.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 10.6%Valerie Pavilonis: 11.5%The Dispatch: 4.5%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…10.6%

340 words analyzed.

Speakers

5speakers57%attributed speech146writer words
Selected voice

The Dispatch

100%flagged-word coverage
36 attributed words19% of attributed speech25% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Indoctrination+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%The Dispatch: 100.0%100.0%Attempt to Sell a Product +100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%The Dispatch: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice-11.6 ptsWriter: 11.6%The Dispatch: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.