The Renovator

The Time Is Right for Congress to Take on Tech History teaches that new blood, economic upheaval, and executive overreach are the recipe for overcoming congressional paralysis.

New members of Congress understand tech in ways their predecessors often don't, and now they’re driving new bills on online safety, privacy, AI, and more. But without a centralized tech committee, needed regulations can through the cracks. bit.ly/3K76Pjr

Ballot initiative to end Idaho’s abortion ban has more than 50,000 signatures, group says The group behind a proposed ballot initiative to end Idaho’s strict abortion ban says it’s well on its way to qualifying for the ballot. Idahoans United for Women and Families announced last week…

The group behind a proposed ballot initiative to end Idaho’s strict abortion ban says it’s well on its way to qualifying for the ballot.

via @idahocapitalsun.com

RealPage Agrees to Settle Federal Rent-Collusion Case

This consent decree would put an end to the scheme by RealPage and large apartment landlords to employ an artificial intelligence algorithm to fix the price of apartment rentals across the country, driving up rents. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/t...

It’s the first AI election. But it won’t be the last. Q&A with congressional candidate Alex Bores, the first target of an AI super PAC. “Let's have the debate. Let me know the time and the place,” he told The Up and Up.

AI literacy should be the *bare minimum* for all future members of Congress. Our generation is counting on it.

So I spoke with next-gen candidate @alexbores.nyc about becoming the first target of a push from an $100M AI super PAC. www.theupandup.us/p/its-the-fi...

Congress Can Toughen Existing Laws to Expose Trump’s Pardon-for-Sale Racket The Supreme Court’s immunity ruling gave presidents a free pass for corruption, but Congress can still demand transparency

Good breakdown from @kimwehle.bsky.social on what to do about the pardon power within the limits of its constitutional hard-coding. @theunpopulist.net

AI Is Changing How Politics Is Practiced in America Here’s what to expect in the midterm elections.

“Because there are so few rules … around AI’s role in politics, there is no oversight of these activities, and no safeguards against the dramatic potential impacts for our democracy,” note Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders.

prospect.org/power/2025-1...

This week! On Thursday, Oct 23, join “Rewiring Democracy” authors Bruce Schneier & Nathan E. Sanders, and D&S's @alicetiara.bsky.social, to explore how AI is changing power & participation, and what we can do to shape that change for the better. Learn more and RSVP: datasociety.net/events/a-roa...

Four ways AI is being used to strengthen democracies worldwide | Nathan E Sanders and Bruce Schneier The dangers of artificial intelligence and its potential to consolidate power are clear. But used fairly, it can be a boon for good government

Four ways AI is being used to strengthen democracies worldwide | Nathan E Sanders and Bruce Schneier

Meta's Scam Monopoly, the AI Race, and 'Founder Mode' Your Tech & Democracy news Roundup!

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Brief aan de informateur namens de Nederlandse mediasector - Stichting Democratie en Media

Also in this roundup: Dutch media outlets issued an open letter, warning that democracy is threatened because "our society is losing its grip on a fact-finding oriented and pluralistic provision of information due to the dominant role of global tech companies."

Promise and Peril: Generative AI’s Experimental Debut in U.S. Political Campaigns This report was also authored by Dean Jackson and Zelly Martin. Generative AI (genAI) poses a number of risks to elections, such as amplifying disinformation, facilitating foreign interference, and au...

In this roundup: @cdt.org and @tharper.bsky.social write about the "Promise and Peril" of AI in political campaigns, Tim Oates asks in @cwbeacon.bsky.social: "What if AI tells us how to vote?" and @macfound.org leads powerful foundations in forming Humanity AI to push tech in a prosocial direction.

Meta's Scam Monopoly, the AI Race, and 'Founder Mode' Your Tech & Democracy news Roundup!

New Tech and Democracy news roundup! The big stories this week are about Meta, due to a few big court decisions. A federal judge rules that Meta is not a monopoly (mystifying some commentators), and a Reuters report shows that scammers aren't a bug on Meta's platforms - they're a lucrative feature.

What Rethinking Work and Renovating Democracy Have in Common Broadening a skill or status beyond a degree or title conferred on the completion of a prescribed course of education in a recognized institution opens the door to building a new, more flexible, and m...

New from @slaughteram.bsky.social: academic degrees aren't the only way to judge people's qualifications for work. Today's world means appreciating people's skills and areas of knowledge, wherever they came from, whether that's in the civic arena or in their professional work.

What Rethinking Work and Renovating Democracy Have in Common Broadening a skill or status beyond a degree or title conferred on the completion of a prescribed course of education in a recognized institution opens the door to building a new, more flexible, and m...

New from @slaughteram.bsky.social: academic degrees aren't the only way to judge people's qualifications for work. Today's world means appreciating people's skills and areas of knowledge, wherever they came from, whether that's in the civic arena or in their professional work.

Democracy Philanthropy Let's shift some of our investment to the long-term work of Democracy Renovation

New from Danielle: we're coming up on Giving Tuesday, and of course we would be very grateful if you'd support The Renovator with a paid subscription or gifts to others, but it's worth thinking about moving money to democracy more generally too! #GivingTuesday

Bad Politician: When Not Giving the Speech They Wanted Changed Everything A new series for readers who want to survive politics, stay human in public life, and understand how quiet choices decide who stays, who walks away, and the leaders we all live with.

From our co-editor Beth’s first draft, I thought this was an incredibly powerful piece that everyone should read. I’ve never read anything like it, and I’m proud @the-renovator.bsky.social got to publish it.

How cuts to federal housing program put CT residents at risk Trump administration funding cuts to permanent housing programs mean CT could lose up to $69M and risk the housing of 6,500 people.

Trump administration funding cuts to permanent housing programs mean CT could lose up to $69M and risk the housing of 6,500 people.

Indiana mid-decade redistricting news.

The Pope vs. Marc Andreessen: The Future of Tech & Democracy Morality, technology, and symbolic Twitter beef in your Tech & Democracy Roundup

Why did Marc Andreesen post a meme in response to Pope Leo's tweet about AI? This and other (less bizarre) news explained, in this installment of our Tech & Democracy news roundup! #AI

Are We Ready to Share Power? | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice. Across the nonprofit sector, there are seven key levers of power dor building healthy, democratic organizations.

@karlaliliana.bsky.social for @npquarterly.bsky.social: Are we ready to share power? 7 levers of power, and how to give more people access to those levers:
nonprofitquarterly.org/are-we-ready...

Real Solutions Welcome to Real Solutions, a special 8-episode podcast series from the Othering & Belonging Institute featuring people leading efforts across the country that show what bold policy solutions would mov...

In this premiere episode of Real Solutions podcast series, we hear from 10 advocates from organizations around the country fighting for a fair & just society. belonging.berkeley.edu/real-solutio... @obi-belonging.bsky.social @saratexas.bsky.social @saqibbhatti.bsky.social @acrecampaigns.bsky.social

The 2025 elections heading for delayed runoffs - FairVote In several of this year's elections, voters will return to the polls for delayed runoffs because no candidate earned a majority of the vote.

No one wants to spend the holidays thinking about elections – but the Bay Area's largest county will hold a runoff on December 30.

With #RankedChoiceVoting, holiday runoffs could be a thing of the past. @calrcv.bsky.social
fairvote.org/the-2025-ele...

Freeing Ourselves From the Cycle of Rising Violence Urban Rural Action’s Uniters come together to renovate democracy and make their communities more peaceful at the same time.

New post on @the-renovator.bsky.social! It was genuinely a pleasure to speak to Joe Bubman at Urban Rural Action. They are doing bridge-building and dialogue the right way - and I learned something new about how peace and democracy are sort of the same thing.

New York Just Ran the Election the Rest of America Needs Real Choice, Real Turnout, Real Legitimacy: Lessons from New York’s De Facto All-Party Primary

All-party primaries give us higher rates of participation that reconnect our political institutions to the people and require them to be responsive to the people, and require positive governance strategies that sustain majoritarian coalitions. (For the opposite, see the White House right now.)

New York Just Ran the Election the Rest of America Needs Real Choice, Real Turnout, Real Legitimacy: Lessons from New York’s De Facto All-Party Primary

New from Danielle Allen: New York Just Ran the Election the Rest of America Needs. When Cuomo refused to accept the primary results, he basically created an all-party primary - and now we know that a million New Yorkers really want substantive change! And billionaires didn't decide the outcome!

Want to End the Gerrymandering Wars? Embrace Proportional Representation Trump has triggered a particularly fierce round, but the logic of war is inherent in a winner-take-all system

@andycraig.bsky.social and @theunpopulist.net crossover event! Andy's piece about getting rid of single-member districts and using a system of proportional representation instead was such a great example of democracy renovation, we had to bring it to our audience too.

A former GOP official has privately financed the purchase of the second-largest voting technology vendor in America? What could possibly go wrong...

Here's what could go right: We urgently need a demand by election officials for open-source voting technology.

Maddow: This is what Democrats have been screaming about The real numbers on the impact of Republican changes to health insurance subsidies are being made public, and they are extreme to say the least. Suddenly, the abstract fight over the federal…

Re health care costs: "These are insane numbers."

Two ways to think about this story. One: the "insane numbers." The other: that 1/2 of America has no clue about these facts, because of the bubbles we've allowed media to become.

THAT is the insanity.

My Father’s Flag and the Idea of America Over decades, across continents, and through harrowing experiences, my family held on to this bit of cloth as a reminder of everything they believed in—and were running toward.

A harrowing origin story of patriotism from @tribelaw.bsky.social and @thebulwark.com, and a reflection that "America, for all its flaws and misdeeds, stands for an idea so much better than the worst parts of its legacy."