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"your work is also part of a system that needs public support and trust, which it earns by demonstrating not just its usefulness, but also its openness, transparency, and accountability" ❤️❤️ Yup!

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

“There is a vast chasm between the concept of freedom inscribed on paper and the reality of freedom in our lives.” Revisit Jelani Cobb‘s piece, from 2020, on Juneteenth and the meaning of freedom.

Trump cut staffing at the VA, and now Dallas vets are waiting months for care. Surgeries are being delayed. Vets are being left without mental health care. I’ve called for an investigation—because if you claim to support veterans, act like it.

Take a moment to submit a comment on the proposed restrictions to COVID vaccines. I'm personally pretty sure getting the COVID boosters along with the annual flu shot has helped my family stay healthier during peak disease season that's lately been swarming with RSV and so many other viruses.

“No one is watching, no one will hold them accountable, so they can just do what they want,” said one HUD attorney. “The civil rights laws that people marched for and fought for, ... it’s not happening. And people are really being harmed by it.” By @jessecoburn.bsky.social

"Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways"

We're hiring! Join the Eviction Lab as a Data Engineer and help build powerful, scalable data tools that inform housing research and policy nationwide. Apply now: tinyurl.com/evictionlab2025

ERICA to the Rescue! Read about our volunteer efforts to rescue & revive ERIC, Dept of Ed's research repository. www.datarescueproject.org/erica-to-the... Thanks to crizzo, @archive.org & @safeguardingdata.bsky.social for all of the hard work. Check out more rescued data on our Data Rescue Tracker!

Toxicologist here! This will improve the health of zero Americans. Current synthetic food dyes are not causing health problems, and are often times used because they are actually safer than natural food dyes. Reminder that guns are the #1 cause of death of children but we are going to ban food dyes.

We just brought Data Days over to Bluesky-- follow us at @datadayscle.bsky.social . Take our survey to let us know how Data Days CLE can best help you with #data and #civictech in 2025. Go to datadayscle.org for the survey.

FDA inspectors found serious problems at a Glenmark factory in India that manufactured the recalled drugs. Another medication made there has been tied to deaths of U.S. patients. By @sheinvestigates.bsky.social

Why do we build the wall, my children, my children, why do we build the wall?

New on my blog: OpenAI dropped a trio of models yesterday that they claim result from "focusing closely on real-world developer needs." I was curious whether this might mean stronger #rstats coding performance. www.simonpcouch.com/blog/2025-04...

We filed suit today to compel the Office of Management & Budget to resume disclosing key federal spending plans called “apportionments,” which tell federal agencies how and when to spend federal funds. The law requires this disclosure—and the public has a right to know: protdem.org/4ijKGJV

It was very frustrating to watch reporters in the Oval allow Bukele's assertion these people are "terrorists" to go unquestioned

If I were a writer, I'd start on a short story where former US citizens shipped to El Salvador by a traitorous US President and tech oligarchy end up building the new mecca in El Salvador while the US and it's weird remaining cult-enraptured citizens crumble.

Spurred by ProPublica’s reporting, Democrats have introduced a measure designed to block a right-wing strategy to disallow ballots after they were cast. It’s being used to try to upend the results of a key state Supreme Court race. By @dougbockclark.bsky.social

NEW: Whooping cough is killing babies. It’s not just measles cases that are soaring as vaccine rates decline. And the Trump administration recently cut $11 billion from state and local agencies on the front lines of protecting Americans from outbreaks. www.propublica.org/article/whoo...

Yet again we put more work on schools and kids. So ridiculous.

NEW on @npr.org: A DOGE staffer working in the Social Security Administration has been pushing questionable claims about noncitizens voting — apparently using data that court records suggest DOGE shouldn't have. More on the claims and the latest in DOGE access concerns:

For @propublica.org: measles vaccination rates were *below herd immunity* in most states in the 2023-24 school year. Read the story on vaccine hesitancy & rising cases of measles and whooping cough by @deldeib.bsky.social: www.propublica.org/article/whoo...

Seriously.

I'm making an ID.me account (a private identity vendor selling its services to government), required to log into my IRS.gov account, and their privacy policy says I'm also creating an "an ID.me Rx Account," and consent to this company collecting my health information. *What*? www.id.me/privacy

Trump, Musk and DOGE have touted the short-term savings from their cuts. What they don’t mention: the long-term consequences of shrinking food inspections, disaster response and other federal safety efforts. Me + @hannahnatanson.bsky.social on Trump’s big shift of risk to everyday Americans.

The ability of people to access federal programs should not be a function of whether federal administrators personally like or dislike a state's governor. www.huffpost.com/entry/janet-...

Ohio peeps, get on the horn to your state reps, they're trying to cut the budget for our public libraries. Tell them to restore the Public Library Fund (PLF) to 1.75% of the Ohio General Revenue Fund!

This is profoundly ignorant stuff. www.wired.com/story/doge-d...

We've been busy rescuing our old blog so that it can continue to serve as a resource for anyone who wants it. We'll be spotlighting a few top posts over the coming weeks, but wanted you to know that this content is available—along with our guides to agile development, accessibility, and more.

NEW: The move — along with the CDC’s explanation — is a sign that the nation’s top public health agency may be falling in line under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines. By @sheinvestigates.bsky.social

“'It’s a move to cut the brakes guarding against reckless government technology spending,' said one former 18F employee. With 18F out of the picture, Musk 'and other private corporations who want to basically take advantage of taxpayer money can get in with less scrutiny.'"

Imagine you're a parent who has actually lost a child, and you see this. Sick.

well, ive taken a good long look under the hood and the only way to save civilization is for the government to give my companies tens of billions of dollars while simultaneously kneecapping my competitors

Roses are red Violets are blue

Ummm... Does OP think that the "all people are created equal" quote is only from the musical Hamilton?

Boosting this opportunity to share your perspective on privacy issues—you don't need to live in @trahan.house.gov's district to participate. (🧵 for some of the questions, to get you thinking!)

need you to constantly remind yourself that the average normal person has no idea that any of the stuff we are rightly getting upset about is going on. they dont know. and we need to do everything we individually can to make them know.

If the White House continues to scoff at court orders instead of complying with them, what recourse do the courts have? Any one of the rest of us would be forcibly hauled back to court, fined, sentenced to jail, ordered to do community service, etc. Can the judiciary do that to a sitting president?

Shot, chaser

The U.S. has a shortage of rental housing for its lowest-income renters. What’s the gap in your state? 
Find out more via @nlihc.bsky.social's ‘The Gap’ 2025: https://nlihc.org/gap #housing+ #urbanism #urbanism+

Meanwhile, @wired.com "will no longer put articles that primarily use public records obtained by FOIA behind its paywall." From Reliable Sources: view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/174...

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

Keep it up! We’re seeing real results!

What. Is. This. Garbage.

Hey look — DOGE found dead people on social security and cut off their benefits… one problem: THEY ARE ALIVE. 😕 www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

The DOGE staff has no experience at all in government. They have ignored institutional expertise and have practiced ideological incompetence to a predictable disastrous result. They have invaded American’s privacy and likely added proprietary software to government databases.

Over the past several weeks, ProPublica has identified dozens of people who worked for DOGE. #ICYMI: We just added 20 names to our tracker, bringing the total to 66.

The executive branch of the U.S. government is in open defiance of BOTH other branches of the government. What’s that called?