Randy Hart

After 15 years across local→state→federal, a simple truth keeps coming back: people don’t want innovation. They want things that work.

New essay on the blog: Stuff should work.

blog.ronbronson.com/stuff-should...

Expanding the Supreme Court should be a core part of an anti-corruption platform for Democrats in 2026 and 2028. And when I say “an anti-corruption platform,” I mean that should be *the* platform. Tie everything back to corruption.

I genuinely cannot believe that this fascist regime has screwed over the military in a thousand ways and the only thing they offered them was "you get to do war crimes" and as soon as they faced any pushback on the war crimes they went "actually it was their idea"

I know this isn't popular to say on here but I'm not universally opposed to LLMs and Stable Diffusion. I work in online safety, and these technologies have helped us develop better classifiers to catch all kinds of badness you don't want on your screen.

But they're neither intelligent nor alive.

Again (and realizing this should really be a blog) I'm sympathetic and consider myself part of Dunkleman's project of making democratic governments responsive and functional. But you can't hand wave the accountability stuff. The argument can't be a "unitary exec theory - but for good!"

Last week, ICE arrested and separated a father and son after a routine check-in. Six-year-old Yuanxin had just enrolled in the first grade at an elementary school in Astoria. Now he's in custody, alone. ICE won't say where. This cruelty serves no one. It must end.

I love this line. It's so true it hurts.

"Few IT projects are displays of rational decision-making from which AI can or should learn. "

spectrum.ieee.org/it-managemen...

The idea that “Big Balls” at DOGE would vibe code America to a balanced budget is in the top 3 of silliest ideas to come out of the union of Silicon Valley and politics.

Wasn’t this the guy running the DOGE kids?

DOGE no longer has ‘centralized leadership’ under White House tech team, personnel head says The team that was altered to house DOGE — formerly the U.S. Digital Service — is also still doing its own technology work across agencies.

NEW: DOGE no longer exists as a "centralized entity," according to the head of the government’s personnel agency --- But the longstanding White House tech team Trump used to house DOGE continues to work on tech projects throughout federal agencies.

www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

Some outlets are reporting that DOGE "doesn't exist" anymore. But the fine print on that overturns the whole story: DOGE is just dropping its tarnished brand, not the chainsaw. 🧵

btw icymi yesterday, I'm fundraising for an excellent little institution that supports civic tech folks - please read, share, & if you have capacity, give a little!

This piece is good, but omits a big source of Musk’s remaining influence in government: namely people given key appointments during the transition who were never officially part of DOGE and who are still in those positions doing DOGE-aligned work—people like my old boss at GSA who came from Tesla.

I got a billion dollar change request from a government contractor.

Are they awesome?

Seems familiar.

Highly recommend joining up with this group!

From 18F alum @matthenry.fyi: "If [sites like America By Design] are any indication of what was coming down the pike as the future of government websites, it's a bad sign for the people who have to build and maintain those sites, it's a bad sign for USWDS, and it's a bad sign for you as a user ... "

Good thread from a great fed. Continue losing so much talent this year.

1/ The night of the raid, Jonahyker López awoke to the sound of a helicopter over his building and federal agents yelling, “Open the door!” López told me he sat on the edge of his bed, wishing that his own door would become invisible. But the door came down and agents burst in. 🧵

i think the synthesis so far of the LA/DC/Chicago experiences is:

1) vulnerable people should hide and wait it out to whatever extent they can
2) other people should help them do that, financially and otherwise
3) other people should also get loud
4) not violent though

Trump Organization Is Said to Be in Talks on a Saudi Government Real Estate Deal

If I were writing a long article about how Saudi Arabia is bribing Trump with big-dollar real estate deals, I think I’d at least mention that this is plainly unconstitutional. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/w...

I will say it again; the Democrats need openly create a list of civil servants called the Dirty Dozen that will be subject to impeachment in 2026, The Constitution provides that “… all civil Officers of the United States” are subject to removal from office upon impeachment.”

YouTube video by UnAmericanBandstand Woody Guthrie~ All You Fascists Bound To Lose

just a reminder

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcK...

Growing up in a time when “selling out” was the most shameful thing you could do and then being forced to live through the 2020s feels like being kicked in the head by a horse every day

2026 has to be the start of restoration AND accountability. Those who broke the law should pay the consequences.

I fucking hate paying fees on my $500M while having a glass of wine with my wife at 11pm.

This guy gets me.

Something absolutely perfect about Larry Summers riffing about the scourge of woke cancel culture being unfair to predatory men in a friendly email to his pal JEFFREY EPSTEIN.

thinking about how i get anxious writing emails because i don't want to sound like a moron while larry summers is apparently typing emails like this:

u kno she dint want to talk tomorrow. make me bad pheel.