Brant Houston

I found a ‘dead’ person on Social Security in Seattle “Dead” Ned Johnson turns out to be very much alive. It took him weeks to convince the system he was breathing and to start clawing his benefits back.

Another February social security event
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

New DOGE Social Security screw-up:
DOGE made a change in the field (column) for bank accounts, which are nine digits. A change at the SSA home office limits field to eight digits, thus truncating the last number, and made direct deposit undeliverable. Changing your online profile will not help.

The Trump administration attack on nonprofits continues:

Nonprofit Quarterly
reports on attacks on the nonprofit sector by the Trump administration, which just issued yet another memorandum seeking to “review,” and cut funding to, nonprofits that “undermine the national interest.”

Analysis | The White House’s wildly inaccurate claims about USAID spending Eleven out of 12 claims about the agency’s work are misleading, wrong or lack context.

Here’s some dished-up truth for your Sunday brunch. Bottom line: the White House is lying about USAID. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

research.illinois.edu/news/feature...

Layoffs have begun. Will be shutdown April 15

The impact of the destruction of USAID is now hitting Midwest universities. This was a $30 million project research.illinois.edu/news/feature...

A US Treasury Threat Intelligence Analysis Designates DOGE Staff as ‘Insider Threat’ An internal email reviewed by WIRED calls DOGE staff's access to federal payments systems “the single biggest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.”

An internal email reviewed by WIRED calls DOGE staff’s access to federal payments systems “the single greatest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.” www.wired.com/story/treasu...

The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE's Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn't exist.

Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE's Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn't exist. www.wired.com/story/treasu...

GIJN Urges Restoration of USAID Funds GIJN calls upon elected officials in the US to reverse the catastrophic action of withholding USAID funds from independent investigative newsrooms around the world.

The Global Investigative Journalism Network, an association of 250 nonprofit newsrooms spread across 90 countries and staffed by courageous investigative journalists issued this statement today. We also are helping our members find alternative sources of revenue.

gijn.org/stories/gijn...

DeepSeek: The Real Price of China's AI When Cost Efficiency Meets State Control

The best review of how DeepSeek really works as opposed to standard business reporting

www.digitaldigging.org/p/deepseek-t...

No country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law, and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more.
Mark Twain, The Gilded Age

Let’s fact-check Mark Zuckerberg’s fact-checking announcement Zuckerberg didn’t mention that a big chunk of the content fact-checkers have been flagging is not political speech, but the low-quality spammy clickbait that Meta platforms have commodified.

One of the better "fact checking Mark Zuckerberg" articles. Time to subscribe to Mantzarlis’s newsletter, Faked Up

"He should also probably be aware that as many as 90% of Community Notes never get displayed on X."

www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/zuck...

People-centered narratives take top honors in the 18th Annual Barlett and Steele Awards | The Reynolds Center The winners of the 18th Annual Barlett and Steele Awards shine a spotlight on how the decisions of a powerful few impact the vulnerable many.

Excellent inspiring journalism

businessjournalism.org/2024/10/2024...

X users jump to Bluesky - but what is it and who owns it? - BBC News Bluesky is picking up one million new users every day at its current rate.

www.bbc.com/news/article...