I had thought so already, but my time as OMB General Counsel made me certain that the misnamed Paperwork Reduction Act costs more than it’s worth. open.substack.com/pub/factorys...

This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.

A long-awaited update of federal employment data shows crippling staff reductions in some federal agencies and offices: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Toss a rose into the grave of HIG. Here's a study on icons in MacOS Tahoe. It's quite an abomination. Apple really just said "fuck my shit up", didn't they? tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-i...

One of the huge perks of working at a software company is, when there's something about the product that bothers you personally, you can get your hands dirty and find out why it's basically impossible to get fixed

This tweet from Big Balls says the new “Tech Force” website is their first using the “America Design System.” Here are just a few reasons why that sucks. 🧵

On this Trans Day of Remembrance, we remember the bright and courageous trans people whose lives were stolen by hatred. Their absence is felt across our city. We will honor them by building a New York where every trans person can live safely, fully and freely.

📢 New post: I wrote about improving at designing type in fits and starts while working on a lowercase for my font Citywide. Progress isn’t always quick, but I’m really enjoying the make mistakes 🔁 get a little better loop. jasonsantamaria.com/blog/learnin...

The Social Security Administration used to have an incredible communications arm, including even a film unit. This was crucial in helping people understand the program, and how it would work. From 1936, 1939. www.ssa.gov/history/puba...

The administration has pulled the plug on IRS Direct File, a tool that helped eligible taxpayers file for free. This decision comes despite Direct File’s immense popularity with its users.

So basically, “If you want us to feed you, you have to let us take away your healthcare.”

A new .gov domain was registered yesterday: techforce.gov. It resolves to an auth page that identifies it as part of the National Design Studio. Trump and Musk eliminated 18F and destroyed USDS, and now the feds are scrambling to rebuild the capacity that they destroyed.

happy labour day

Designer friends: I'm working on some content around using statistics and data analysis for design work, but I need to get some more information and out of my own brain. So I've made a survey, I'd be grateful if you took it: forms.fillout.com/t/iW9aNFoLrTus

FORTUNATELY, for everyone we have a fun way to tell your House rep that you think Bobby Jr is a quack and has to go… For $3 we will hand deliver (by a man in a duck costume) a rubber ducky with a message to “impeach the quack” to your rep! QUACK-O-GRAMS! act.standupforscience.net/fundraising/...

your civics education probably included very little about courts - this is a super useful article about systems you're most likely unfamiliar with!

realistic Star Trek

I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.

I was the executive director of U.S. Open Data, a non-profit that I created at the behest of the Obama White House. I worked as one of the nation's leading experts in open data. Putting open data on the blockchain is a profoundly stupid idea that fails nearly every test of good open data.

i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.

📹 Can't attend WordCamp US this year? No worries! You can still join the conversation online and watch many exciting presentations about WordPress. Catch the live streams here: www.youtube.com/WordPress/str... #WordPress #WCUS

Say it louder for the people in the back!! Beat reporting matters, and beat reporting on government agencies and implementation matters. That's why I love my job

Have fun at WCUS y’all. Wish I was there 🥲

Our democracy is not a brand. Our country is not a retail store. At 18F, our inspiration was (and is) the American people.

morning read

Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes 🔗 www.404media.co/citizen-is-u...

We’re not seeing an empirical dispute of crime stats or a debate about what constitutes “crime under control. We’re seeing federal military occupation of US cities. What the targets have in common is not crime rates, it’s voting against the president’s party. Journalistic malpractice.

“Improving our nation through better design” is certainly important work: we know this, because it’s exactly what we were doing when DOGE eliminated 18F entirely.

"Website design is my passion." americabydesign.gov

On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout. On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar. This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media. Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵

one way or another, a sword would fix me

From day one, they telegraphed that procurement capture was the goal: push out the workers and specialists who understood the technology’s (severe) risks and limitations, then open up the spigot of tax dollars to favored contractors.

textbook administrative burden - meaning the strategic creation of burdens that will prevent people accessing services they need and are legally supposed to have. It's instantly obvious that email's not a great crisis technology. cc @pamherd.bsky.social @donmoyn.bsky.social

People are being kidnapped into unmarked vans by masked police. There is a genocide happening in Palestine. Literal billionaires have taken over our government. And all Democratic leadership can do is send us another fundraising text?

I decided to look at all 66 prosecutor elections this fall. Why? Prosecutors have huge power over sentencing, charging, second chances, and even immigration implications. Here's everything you need to know, from East to West Coast. New from me:

A lot of friends of mine don’t know who James Dobson was. Here’s a thread about his legacy, which continues to make all of our lives harder to this day. I don’t really believe in hell but also it would be so cute and fun if he were rotting in it right now 🤞🔥✨

James Dobson can no longer do evil on earth, but we still live with his zombie: his network of "family policy council" lobbying groups Most state laws against abortion, gay marriage, or trans healthcare have their roots in Dobson's network. Its power is vast, yet it is little-known 🧵

"Food and drug facility inspectors are having to go to the store and buy supplies on their own dime so they can take swab samples to test for pathogens." THIS IS INSANE!!

"'That’s the equivalent of basically taking out a credit card with a $20,000 credit limit, canceling it and then saying, 'I’ve just saved $20,000.' Anything that’s been said publicly about [DOGE’s] savings is meaningless.'”

Trump fired all of the designers in 18F, the US Digital Service, and elsewhere in government. Now he is calling for improved government design. www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

"hero is who code"

Funny how when it comes to AI people are all "adapt or be left behind" but when it comes to remote work the same people insist that things must go back to how they were at all cost.

Trump is the greatest threat to Americans' freedoms in our country's history. Charges for journalists for covering a protest.

BREAKING: we just defeated the Trump administration's attempt to stop our class action to hold accountable those responsible for the unconstitutional destruction of USAID! We are going take discovery, try the case & win Kudos @democracydefendersfund.org team & our great partners at the MSG firm!

I'm launching a course: Build a LocalGov Drupal Website. Wanna keep up to take with progress (and perhaps - probably - get a discount code before it launches)? the-confident.com/courses/buil...

If the media aren’t framing this as a test case for taking over every big American city, they’re not doing their jobs

"Crime" is largely just shit people made up so they'd have an excuse to kill and enslave undesirables.

Might need to make this my next read 👀 themaintainers.org/study-guide/