Gael Spivak

For every $1 in benefits fraud, agencies spend $3.72 trying to detect it, based on the unproven assumption that means-testing lowers the rate of fraud. But there's evidence to indicate that trusting people to self-report what they need would be cheaper overall, even factoring in fraud/abuse.

Hot take: Grammarly should focus on at least providing human-level editing abilities before it claims to offer better-than-human-level editing abilities.

You might want to look at the ISO plain language standard. It's language neutral, so the advice applies to most languages. 50 plain language experts from 25 countries drafted and approved the standard (representing 19 languages). You have to buy the standard but your library may have a copy.

Guidelines for Ethical Editing of Student Texts - Editors Canada To aid editors who edit undergraduate and graduate students' work, Editors Canada has developed guidelines for the ethical editing of English-language papers, theses and dissertations.

If you're wondering where the line is when editing student work, you owe it to yourself and your client to read Editors Canada's Guidelines for Ethical Editing of Student texts. Available as a free download here:

You probably missed this key point in the initial news coverage since most headlines treated the DOJ announcement like it was no big deal. Read this to find out what’s really going on.

Editors and writers, if you aren't signed up for this newsletter, do it now. It's so useful.

Remarkable case of false balance. Trump is disappearing people, blowing up boats, musing about third term. Mamdani wants rent freeze and free buses. “Extremes“

The Walton family (who own Walmart) are worth over $400 billion, yet many of their employees are on SNAP.

Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.

The people who need help are not the problem.

It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.

Hey ⚾️ fans,

If you’re at the game tonight, walk each other to your cars because ICE is in the parking lot.

#WorldSeries

This is so important. People say (and spell) my name incorrectly all the time. So I appreciate it when people ask how to say my name. I try to do the same for others.

Updating my LEGO White House

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Plain legal communication reduces litigation. Improving clarity improves accuracy, certainty and precision, which reduces litigation involving interpretation issues.

Get your copy of ISO 24495-2: Plain language — Part 2: Legal Communication today.
bit.ly/3HTq12X

I know Alex really knows her indexing stuff. If you're interested in indexing, check out her course.

#CancelSpotify

They are running ICE ads.

They aren't the only company, but I think we should make an example out of Spotify and do an economic boycott against companies supporting masked, armed agents terrorizing innocent Americans with impunity.

Spread the word.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/s...

There’s a, “No Kings, Austin,” online registration form being passed around on BlueSky.

You don’t need to register.

Don’t sign anything and block anyone posting No King’s registration. If it’s not phishing, it definitely could be used like that.

White words on a black background read: 50+ Immigration agents have the authority to detain whom they reasonably suspect are in the country illegally. We found more than 50 Americans who were held after agents questioned their citizenship. They were almost all Latino. ~130 Agents also can arrest citizens who allegedly interfered with or assaulted officers. We compiled cases of about 130 Americans, including a dozen elected officials, accused of assaulting or impeding officers. ~20 Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer.

Hi, I'm the ProPublica reporter who's been tracking an unusual stat: U.S. citizens grabbed by immigration agents.

I did it because the government isn’t.

This is what I found.

We’re using Steve’s resources (book, workshop, monthly exercises) for our Fall 2025 pro-d with Weston Family Conservation Science Fellows @ncccnc.bsky.social.

Highly recommended! Pair with a Pomodoro timer and students say “it’s life changing” ⬅️ direct quote.

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Plain language guidelines help lawyers, judges and other legal professionals reach multiple audiences with the same document, which reduces the need for additional explanatory documents.

Get your copy of ISO 24495-2: Plain language — Part 2: Legal Communication today.
bit.ly/3HTq12X

That's wonderful! Congrats!

This is cool.

Perhaps the only politician truly standing up for trans folks in the US right now. Zohran is such a bright light.

This is a great book. I refer to it often.

Whiny MAGA freaks out over Super Bowl halftime show Songs in Spanish? In America?

"There's truth underneath all this fake outrage. Conservatives really are at a disadvantage in pop culture because most creative people are liberals, which has always been true & probably always will be. While MAGA has had some success building a culture machine, what it produces is mostly banal."

Interested in indexing? I'm teaching at TMU this winter: continuing.torontomu.ca/search/publi...

"This course provided an excellent introduction to indexing! Additionally, the instructor went above and beyond to provide feedback and support throughout the course." Jolie, student, winter 2025

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For governments and businesses, the benefits of plain legal communication are many, including increased compliance and reduced litigation.

Get your copy of ISO 24495-2: Plain language — Part 2: Legal Communication today.
bit.ly/3HTq12X

Books Unbanned Teens and young adults ages 13 to 26 living anywhere in the U.S. can access our entire collection of e-books and audiobooks.

Young people anywhere in the country can check out ebooks and audiobooks from the Seattle Public Library.

www.spl.org/programs-and...

#BannedBooksWeek #BooksUnbanned

How the plain language world fosters plain language standards that work in most, if not all, languages Christopher Balmford | Plain language advocate and practitioner August 2025 Editor’s Note: This article was originally written for the October 2025 issue of the PLAIN eJournal, which focuses on all th...

Great piece on the history of the ISO plain language standard. It's on LinkedIn.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-pl...

Hertling: His comments about putting hands back on recruits… We moved away from that 30 years ago because it’s ineffective…

You know where it didn’t go away? The Russian army.

The inhumanity is accelerating.

There are multiple reports of ICE agents laughing as kids scream and cry, and one in this raid saying literally “fuck them kids.”