Kelly Smith

Climate of Suppression: Environmental Information Under the Second Trump Administration – Environmental Data and Governance Initiative The report Climate of Suppression: Environmental Information Under the Second Trump Administration examines management of federal websites related to environmental regulation in the first six months o...

In a new report, EDGI documents the second Trump administration’s control of federal environmental information in its first 6 months. We found that environmental justice & climate change information have been broadly rewritten & deleted. Learn more: envirodatagov.org/publication/...

Hello journalists. If you report this you gotta say that under the Constitution he has no power to do it. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Home Depot and Lowe's Share Data From Hundreds of AI Cameras With Cops Home improvement stores are finding ways to share data from their Flock license plate reader cameras with law enforcement, according to public records.

“What we're learning is that two of the country's most popular home improvement stores are contributing to the massive surveillance dragnet coordinated by Flock Safety,” EFF’s @maassive.bsky.social told @404media.bsky.social.

How Trump is reshaping government data The Trump administration has influenced data used by researchers, economists and scientists — an effort that drew more attention after the president fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Data collected by some weather balloons halted.

Statistics for HIV among transgender people scrubbed from the CDC website.

President Trump has been wielding influence over data used by researchers and scientists — drawing more attention after he fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Trump administration shrinks Defense Technical Information Center staff from 154 to 40 The cut to DTIC staff marks the latest move in an ongoing series of personnel reductions at DOD under the second Trump administration.

Trump administration shrinks Defense Technical Information Center staff from 154 to 40. This marks the latest move in an ongoing series of personnel reductions at DOD under the second Trump administration. via @brandivincent.bsky.social defensescoop.com/2025/08/05/t...

We’ve launched a database with about 1.5 million pages of once-secret records detailing when law enforcement officers in California seriously injured someone or an agency found an officer violated policy with @kqednews.kqed.org, @sfchronicle.com @latimes.com @calmatters.org 1/

It’s so bleak that the people running the US government and US mega-corporations no longer believe that “being able to know things about the real world” is a strategic asset

Trump’s Efforts to Control Information Echo an Authoritarian Playbook

In the disinformation war, reality is losing.

The people who have promoted disinformation and conspiracy theories are now in charge of the US government.

It runs beyond Trump in this admin.

Reality, science, and education are losing to disinfo.

Gift link.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...

For six months, I've said that threats to economic data have been more collateral damage than intentional harm.

No longer.

Firing the head of the BLS is five-alarm intentional harm to the integrity of US economic data and the entire statistical system.

Are revisions - even significant revisions - to economic data unusual? Might the President have a point here? No to both. Katrina Stierholz, a (now retired) librarian at the Research Division of St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank explains in this column from 2017: journals.ala.org/index.php/dt...

Reminded of Mr. Rogers' testimony before Congress.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKy7...

"WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 1, 2025) – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today that it will begin an orderly wind-down of its operations"

cpb.org/pressroom/Co...

Smithsonian removes Trump from impeachment exhibit in American History Museum A temporary placard, on display since 2021, described the president's historic impeachments. Officials said the exhibit was restored to an earlier version following a review of legacy content.

Under pressure from the White House, the Smithsonian has removed Trump from the impeachment exhibit at the History Museum.

The exhibit now says that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal,” referring to Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton.

The exhibit now looks the way it did in 2008.

Warning sign at Imperial Beach, Calif. Photo: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego

A new tool from @scrippsocean.bsky.social forecasts sewage contamination at beaches in the San Diego-Tijuana border region up to five days in advance—helping you avoid health risks and plan safer days by the water. ➡️ bit.ly/3IT740A

Scientists Say New Government Climate Report Twists Their Work A new Department of Energy report “fundamentally misrepresents” climate research and leaves out key context, multiple scientists cited in the report tell WIRED.

NEW: i spoke to nine (!) scientists across several disciplines whose work was cited in the new Department of Energy report that downplays the severity of climate change. all of them say their work was misrepresented, cherry picked, and/or lacked context —

All historians know the sinking feeling of tracking an "authoritative" reference back through several generations of writers to an unsourced assertion by someone nobody's ever heard of.

Now AI can make up new ones in no time at all.

Hi 👋 Librarian at the Internet Archive here.

Last week’s announcement that @archive.org is now a Federal Depository Library sparked some great questions—so we put together a new FAQ to explain what this means (and what it doesn’t). 👉 help.archive.org/help/federal...

Excellent, if also infuriating, article.

I'd like to talk about the Government Accountability Office, a little known but important federal government agency. Headed by the US Comptroller General, it was established in the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 as a congressional watchdog to investigate public spending.

In the US, a factual National Archives still exists — but for how long?

NARA is "much more than a home for documents. It safeguards billions of records vital to government transparency, public accountability, historical preservation, veterans’ services and the integrity of elections."

US economic data quality a worry, authorities not acting urgently enough, experts say Risks to the quality of official U.S. economic data - long seen as the gold standard - are worrying 89 of 100 top policy experts polled by Reuters, with most also concerned that the authorities are not addressing the issue urgently enough.

US economic data quality a worry, authorities not acting urgently enough, experts say reut.rs/46n6Et3

I really hope complex life has formed elsewhere in the universe and that it worked out better than it has on earth

The NWS is soliciting comments through January 26, 2026, on the potential utility of Bluesky in the NWS mission. Bluesky is a social media platform that can provide a way for the NWS to share posts providing additional information that is complementary to official NWS products and outreach information. For a limited time, NWS will be engaging in a prototype activity to examine the potential utility of this social media platform to support operations. This prototype effort will utilize a national NWS Bluesky account, with posts being publicly visible via the following NWS Bluesky account page: https://bsky.app/profile/nws.noaa.gov . Additional information on the prototype use of Bluesky can be found at the following link: https://nsdesk.servicenowservices.com/api/g_noa/nwspc/res2/d664da9797aa62 148881bb7de053af4f The prototype period will last approximately through January 26, 2026. Based on the findings, NWS will determine whether to continue to pursue use of Bluesky at field offices. If NWS decides to pursue use of Bluesky and offer this service on a more consistent basis, another Public Information Notice announcing an experimental implementation date will be sent. Bluesky content and response to real-time comments will be provided on a time-available basis. Users should not rely on this service as the primary means of receiving NWS information about hazardous weather conditions. Users should tune to NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) or local/national media sources for the latest critical information. NWS alerts and warnings are also available on the official NWS website:

The NWS is doing a test run of using Bluesky.

www.weather.gov/media/notifi...

Women’s contributions and men’s racism erased from history of national monument NPS removed historical information about women and race from signs at the Muir Woods National Monument.

NPS removed historical information about women and race from signs at the Muir Woods National Monument.

Adopt A Station - Rescue Public Media Help preserve independent journalism and community programming across America by adopting a public media station. Congress has voted to rescind public media's funding.

This is a great resource

adoptastation.org?fbclid=PAQ0x...

Public broadcasting is about more than content. It's about an ethos. That there need to be spaces in society that are not soaked in the logic of consumerism and profit. Where people are treated as citizens, valued for humanity and their ideas rather than disposable income. It's simple, but powerful.

Have I missed news about NARA's Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) being terminated? Website looks dead (last captured yesterday in Internet Archive), though the blog is still up. transforming-classification.blogs.archives.gov

KPBS stands to lose $4.3 million in federal funding that Republicans in Congress are clawing back. That’s 12% of our budget.

If you like my reporting on housing, transportation and climate change in San Diego, please donate to help ensure I can keep doing it 🙏🏻
donate.kpbs.org/kpbs/donate?...

We made a big mistake when we decided that governments should and could communicate with the public during disasters largely via corporate-owned algorithmic social media websites.

We have to return to requiring governments to use truly *public* platforms designed for this use case that all can see.

🚨BREAKING: Cal State LA just moved classes online and let faculty work remotely, not for a storm, not for COVID, but because ICE is in the area.

Let that sink in, an entire university is treating immigration enforcement like a public health crisis.