Globe-trotting Scottish traffic cone gets hero's welcome in Boston ⁠42%

By Roberto Scalese⁠18%

7/14/2026, 12:07:58 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Post Hoc (False Cause), In-Group Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 51.6% saturation with 158 hits. Analysis detected 1,046 faulty-reasoning hits from 306 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 46% and a BS Rank of ⁠42% (12,805 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 58.50% of the article peer group.

The spontaneous symbol of Scottish mirth has now been legitimized into a marker of friendship between Glasgow and Boston. 
Scottish World Cup visitors made a habit out of putting traffic cones atop statues in and around Boston. 
For the days (was it really only days?) 
the Tartan Army was in town, seemingly no edifice was safe from a coning. 
It's an American spin on a Glaswegian tradition: Locals there are vigilant about keeping a pylon on the head of the Duke of Wellington statue outside of Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art. 
After decades of trying to de-cone the duke, city officials in recent years decided to embrace the antics, according to the BBC. 
Which explains why a traffic cone was strapped into a first-class Delta seat and flown across the Atlantic this week. 
The switch from spontaneous fun to state-run merriment started with two Scottish marketing guys, Danny Campbell and Andrew Dobbie, and the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, which offered up the cone as part of its effort with Boston to become sister cities. 
Massachusetts officials were eager to get in on the friendship display Tuesday, welcoming the cone at Logan Airport's international terminal. 
"This is probably — yes, it is — my first official welcoming ceremony for a traffic cone," said Gov. 
Maura Healey. 
Speaking in turn, Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Meet Boston President Martha Sheridan and MassPort head Richard Davey each swore they'd make sure Massachusetts had enough beer the next time the Tartan Army came to town. 
Having safely alit in Boston, the cone will now be carried to different landmarks across the commonwealth for more media opportunities. 
Anyone interested in tracking the pylon's progress can follow along at bostoncone.com. 
While there, visitors can donate to mental health charities in Scotland and Massachusetts. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 19.6%Roberto Scalese: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 2.4%Confirmation Bias19.6%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 0.5%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 8.5%Roberto Scalese: 1.2%Cognoscenti: 2.3%Availability Heuristic8.5%This article: 16.3%Roberto Scalese: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic16.3%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 1.4%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 15.7%Roberto Scalese: 1.9%Cognoscenti: 3.9%Framing Effect15.7%This article: 4.2%Roberto Scalese: 0.1%Cognoscenti: 0.8%Loss Aversion4.2%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.2%Cognoscenti: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 13.4%Roberto Scalese: 0.3%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect13.4%This article: 11.1%Roberto Scalese: 0.9%Cognoscenti: 3.4%Optimism Bias11.1%This article: 2.6%Roberto Scalese: 0.3%Cognoscenti: 0.7%Pessimism Bias2.6%This article: 5.6%Roberto Scalese: 3.7%Cognoscenti: 5.0%Negativity Bias5.6%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 1.1%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.1%Cognoscenti: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 24.2%Roberto Scalese: 4.3%Cognoscenti: 0.7%In-Group Bias24.2%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 1.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 10.5%Roberto Scalese: 0.8%Cognoscenti: 2.0%Halo Effect10.5%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.3%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.2%Cognoscenti: 0.9%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 6.2%Roberto Scalese: 0.1%Cognoscenti: 0.2%Primacy Effect6.2%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.3%Cognoscenti: 0.4%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.1%Cognoscenti: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 23.9%Roberto Scalese: 1.0%Cognoscenti: 2.6%Appeal to Authority23.9%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.1%Cognoscenti: 1.7%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.3%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.1%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 19.3%Roberto Scalese: 2.8%Cognoscenti: 3.5%Hasty Generalization19.3%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 11.8%Roberto Scalese: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 0.6%Bandwagon11.8%This article: 11.8%Roberto Scalese: 0.8%Cognoscenti: 5.4%Appeal to Emotion11.8%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.5%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 26.8%Roberto Scalese: 0.7%Cognoscenti: 2.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)26.8%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 11.1%Roberto Scalese: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 2.3%Anecdotal11.1%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 19.6%Roberto Scalese: 0.4%Cognoscenti: 0.7%Ambiguity (Equivocation)19.6%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 6.2%Roberto Scalese: 0.5%Cognoscenti: 0.9%Unattributed Quote6.2%This article: 6.9%Roberto Scalese: 0.1%Cognoscenti: 0.6%Quote-first Misdirection6.9%This article: 51.6%Roberto Scalese: 13.4%Cognoscenti: 3.0%Biased Writer Voice51.6%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 1.0%Cognoscenti: 1.4%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.8%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.0%Cognoscenti: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 15.0%Roberto Scalese: 0.6%Cognoscenti: 1.2%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…15.0%

306 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker6.9%attributed speech285writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 9 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 41 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 100.0% coverageMaura Healey • 19 words • 100.0% coverageMaura Healey • 2 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Maura Healey

100%flagged-word coverage
21 attributed words100% of attributed speech100% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Quote-first Misdirection+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Maura Healey: 100.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+90.5 ptsWriter: 0.0%Maura Healey: 90.5%90.5%Biased Writer Voice-55.4 ptsWriter: 55.4%Maura Healey: 0.0%0.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -16.1 ptsWriter: 16.1%Maura Healey: 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.