Alex Howard

The Senate passed the reconciliation bill 51-50. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/01/senate-vote-big-beautiful-bill-trump/ On to the House. If they enact it and send it on to the President, millions will lose health care & food benefits — and the U.S. will scale up a police state […]

QR code for my signal account digiphile.97

Good morning from DC 🥵
If we need to connect:
🤳 Signal: digiphile.97
💡📲 https://civic-texts.ghost.io
📧 alex@governing.digital
🐦 X.com/digiphile
🦋 digiphile.bsky.social
🧵 threads.net/@digiphile
📇 linkedin.com/in/alexanderbhoward
👍 facebook.com/alexhoward
📸 […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

I updated my newsletter, with an apology for being out of touch. I will be updating more: American democracy has reached a tipping point as an authoritarian takeover accelerates.
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/american-democracy-nears-tipping-point-as-an-authoritarian-takeover-accelerates/

Trustworthy government statistics about the economy, public health, energy, the environment, education, agriculture, campaign finance climate change, crime, & immigration are a crown jewel of every market democracy. The Trump administration is now trying to block politically inconvenient data […]

More brilliant reporting on Trumpian corruption: nyti.ms/4iNzTYv But NYT does readers, nation, & Americans a disservice by not identifying monetizing the presidency as corruption. Ruling families in authoritarian regimes make patronizing family businesses the cost of access to state power.

Happy #StarWarsDay, everyone! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Day
It has been many years since I was tempted by the power of the Dark Side.
I found my way back to the light because the Jedi still saw something of good in me.
May the 4th be with you and yours, always.

Donald J. Trump is the most corrupt President in U.S. history. Cryptocurrencies have opened up new horizons for his abuses of entrusted power for political profit, creating new conflicts of interest, but his emolumental corruption is at issue. 🎁📰Gift link […]

#HowToCitizen by @baratunde
🌱 Show up & participate
⚡ Understand power
❤️ Invest in relationships
🤝 Commit to the collective
https://newsletter.baratunde.com/p/this-is-how-we-recover-from-disasters
We can find hope & light in these profoundly American stories: “The keys to rebuilding our […]

The rule of law in the United States continues to be under the greatest threat in my lifetime, with fundamental human rights and civil liberties in question. I wrote about it more today, along with other emerging issues around technology and government.
Please read & share […]

No leader or government agency genuinely interested in “radical transparency” cuts FOIA staff: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/hhs-firings-federal-health-agencies-foia-requests-public-records/
or gags scientists & doctors, censors data, clamps down on communications, & adopts secrecy in […]

They are coming for international students, as Don Moynihan writes today, but not for crimes. Rather, for their speech:
https://open.substack.com/pub/donmoynihan/p/the-attack-on-international-students
They will purge civil servants & then try to weaponize the state against donors, nonprofits […]

The most important thing agencies & companies can do on social media is listen & offer support — not post. Unfortunately, accounts tend to be made by PR & marketing folks whose job is to promote products & services, not do crisis management. Adobe’s Bluesky […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

Julia Angwin’s reflections on a threat model for opposing authoritarianism: https://buttondown.com/JuliaAngwin/archive/a-threat-model-for-opposing-authoritarianism/ are an excellent preface for her New Yorker article. Both are worth your time.

Their principles:
Keep hope alive
Clean-up digital […]

Rainy, cloudy, & clammy in Washington, but it’s Friday. TGIF. What was the best thing that happened to you this week? What achievement will you remember? I encourage you to brag.

Read facts.
Mostly slow news.
Not too much.
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/what-should-be-in-your-civic-information-diet/

I wrote up what I saw in Washington this weekend, along with what the Council of DC had done beforehand.
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/what-i-saw-at-the-handsoff-protests-in-washington/

By 2035, our sense of self will be challenged by personalized AI agents that eerily predict our interests, needs, desires, or flaws.
We will see the emergence of a delta between students & professionals who overly depend upon AI & people who retain the capacity for computation & critical thinking.

First time I’ve gotten an in-app notification from LinkedIn News — a “showcase page” — about breaking news. I learned LinkedIn now has 250 staff producing editorial content in a format that closely resembles journalism you might read at a news media website […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

Nations with strong data protection laws, healthy institutions, constitutions that center human rights & civil liberties, & open democratic systems have the best chance at mitigating the worst impacts of automation, algorithmic regulation, & AI on society […]

Will AI & change what it means to be human by 2035? https://civic-texts.ghost.io/by-2035-will-ai-and-related-technologies-change-what-it-means-to-be-human-for-the-better-or-worse/ Hundreds of experts surveyed by Imagining the Digital Future offered predictive insights about how life will change […]

No /About page.
No /FOIA.
No PIO.
No calendars.
No visitor logs.
No list of staff.
No asset disclosures, or ethics agreements.
No weekly press conferences.
No open meetings.
No advisory committee.

The U.S. DOGE Service is not even close to the “most transparent organization in government ever.”

Happy April Fools Day! https://civic-texts.ghost.io/happy-april-fools-day-no-joke/ The USA is in a constitutional crisis. (No joke.)

A Signal Truth: Any posts that conduct public business are public records that must be archived.
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/a-signal-truth-posts-that-conduct-public-business-are-public-records-2/
(Art by Ben Landgren for #SunshineWeek)

New post from the Archives: when the Chief Records Officer of the United States told me that blog posts and electronic messages are public records
https://e-pluribusunum.org/2025/03/28/chief-records-officer-of-the-united-states-says-blog-posts-and-signal-messages-are-public-records/
NARA hasn’t […]

What #SignalGate means for transparency & accountability — and what Congress & the Justice Department should do now. https://civic-texts.ghost.io/what-signalgate-means-for-transparency-accountability-and-what-congress-the-justice-department-should-do-now/

The cherry trees next to Nationals Park are in bloom.

An osprey returned to rebuild its nest along the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.

Rowers & sailors are out on the rivers.

Spring arrived in Washington.

Time to come out of hibernation, stretch, & grow, again.

Onwards to longer days.

I picked up a great souvenir at #SunshineFest this #SunshineWeek. It goes well with an artifact from the Sunlight Foundation (RIP). “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

Our #SunshineWeek conversation on AI & FOIA is streaming live https://www.youtube.com/live/qnd3H6sN_Uc #SunshineFest

New essay: It’s a historic mistake for the U.S. government to eviscerate human capacity to uphold the Freedom of Information Act and hope generative AI can somehow make up the difference. https://americansforprosperityfoundation.org/essay/ai-and-foia-evolution-devolution-or-revolution/

Great idea for #SunshineWeek and the rest of the year, too! It would be awesome if journalism based on records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act also always published documents or data, especially when governments take down websites & original sources […]