jules

How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't kno...

how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...

The surrender caucus secured yes votes from Democrats who aren't facing re-election this cycle, but four of them have Democratic governors who can pick their replacement.

If you live in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maine or Virginia this is an easy and effective way to make your anger clear.

Is he saying he loves everyone he platforms? Such a weird response to the question.

😞 yikes "Using Narcan this way is not just mean spirited, it’s cruel,” Appa said. “When you send someone from a resting state to a heart rate of over 120, and say somebody has preexisting medical problems … it can be life-threatening.”

ai is built on violations of consent
facebook is founded on misogyny

Good news for my new Church of Satan Enterprise SaaS venture!

Interesting that the administration that claims to dislike it when refugees seek residency *illegally* is arresting refugees in *courts* when the seek immigration legally.

MAGAs are just xenophobic white supremacist bigots.

Direct File is now open source. Finally.

A short, personal post about why: chrisgiven.com/2025/05/dire...

Massive kudos to the Direct File team for pulling this off and showing their commitment to transparency and earning trust.

screenshot of IRS direct file GitHub showing a folder called "monads" with "MaybeVector.scala", "Result.scala", "Thunk.scala"

holy shit IRS official monads just dropped

re: https://mastodon.social/@waldoj/114594219594750133

Yesterday, my amazing former team at IRS Direct File released the vast majority of the code base as open source software (github.com/IRS-Public/d...) under the CC0 "license" (which is more like a waiver of copyright).

18F files legal challenge A statement about 18F’s appeal filed with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

We have some news to share with you. 🥄

Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.

No one experiencing the tragedy of a miscarriage should be arrested, much less abandoned in jail for 5 months with a $100k bond. But that’s exactly what happened to Mallori Patrice Strait in Texas. Women, particularly women of color, in this country are no longer allowed dignity even in extreme loss

New W&M tax bill that dropped includes a provision that would take away the child tax credit from US-citizen kids if either of their parents doesn't have an SSN.
Estimated to take money away from ~4.5m children who are either citizens or lawful permanent residnets.

Jack D. Ripper from Dr. Strangelove with a cigar in his mouth

Customs and Border Protection Confirms Its Use of Hacked Signal Clone TeleMessage After a hacker reportedly stole data from TeleMessage Signal that included references to CBP, the agency has now confirmed that it used the app but has now “disabled” it as a “precautionary measure.”

tired: SignalGate

@wired.com: The Signal clone, TeleMessage—which Mike Waltz appeared to use in a Reuters photo—has been hacked. And Customs and Border Protection also confirmed it used TeleMessage.

Welp.

A screenshot of an article from The Onion: These radical left-wing lunatics promote antisemitism with their blue hair, indoctrinating our youth and encouraging them to believe they are beautiful no matter what they look like. It’s absolutely disgusting.” At press time, more than 300 hairstylists accused by the government of administering androgynous pixie cuts were reportedly on a plane bound for El Salvador.

This joke from @theonion.com is uncomfortably close to what actually happened to @alt18f.bsky.social:

Some rightwing tweeter mocked pictures of my colleagues with queer-looking hairstyles. Musk saw this, wrote "that group has been deleted," and fired us all.

The 25-year-old DOGEr overseeing the CFPB's destruction owns > $100,000 of shares in Apple & Tesla,
2 companies the CFPB regulates & prohibits its employees from owning.

Destroying the CFPB will likely have a direct & predictable effect on his investments.

Part of the DOGE/Musk crime wave

you can change your name under 21 with parental permission if you’re cis, but trans folks aren’t mature enough.

trans people are ~1.3% of the US, with no community wealth or institutional power.

they’ll take as much from trans folks as the rest of you decide not to stand in the way of them taking.

Iowa. Yep, you'll either get shot by a lady in her bathrobe or get the bored cops to casually violate your rights in god's country. Who the hell looks at the sky and chills out in public, probably a Satan worshipper

Just trying to spread the word, sorry if I came off hostile. All that to say, 1099s would have been supported in future versions. I'm sorry you weren't able to use it.

There were plans to increase the scope of supported taxpayer situations in the future. Like many digital products, the scope was intentionally kept smaller for its pilot to deliver a working product sooner. Incremental improvements in software development is widely seen as standard practice.

IRS Direct File wouldn't charge you to file your state taxes - you'd just be redirected to the state's filing application. Sounds like that's what you ended up using, just as intended!

Users loved Direct File. In 2024, 86% of users said it increased their trust in IRS, not the most beloved of organizations. The Direct File “net promoter score” (a measure of customer satisfaction and loyalty) is 84, well above that of TurboTax, and even Apple. In user surveys conducted by Code for America, 94% prefer Direct File and state equivalents to their previous filing method and 84% said they were “very satisfiedˮwith another 14% being “satisfied” with the product. Direct File expanded the tax filing pool. Over time, the federal government has shifted more and more of the safety net to the tax system, primarily via the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. One problem is that people with very low incomes are not obliged to file, even when it’s in their interest to do so. By being truly free, Direct File captured some of those people. About 1 in 4 of Direct File users were non-filers the previous year, a much higher rate than any other filing alternative.

Treasury Secretary Bessent said the fate of Direct File would reflect customer service. But users loved it. It had a more positive brand than Apple and a 98% satisfaction rate! It also brought more low-income people into the tax system, which matters since so many benefits are distributed that way.

Trump administration plans to end the IRS Direct File program for free tax filing, AP sources say The Trump administration plans to eliminate the IRS’ Direct File program. That's the electronic system for filing tax returns directly to the agency for free.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are going after Direct File because it stops giant tax prep companies from ripping taxpayers off for services that should be free.

Americans want a free and easy way to file their taxes — Trump and Musk want to take that away.

The rollout of Direct File was a genuine unequivocally good thing (unless you’re a huge Intuit shareholder or something), and I know a few people who worked very hard on it.

You can't file state taxes or get a copy of your federal return for free on turbo tax or most other commercial tax prep software, so it's only free if you live in the few states that don't have income tax. Not to mention you're forced to give away personal info to private profit-seeking companies

A screenshot of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division website with a banner saying "Do you believe you have been discriminated against because of diversity, equity and inclusion? Get help NOW!"

"Diversity is discrimination" is literally Orwellian language, like "war is peace, hate is love, slavery is freedom."

You can find it at civilrights.justice.gov

With tax day coming up on April 15, we want to make sure our community knows about IRS Direct File. It’s a free option for filing a federal tax return, and you can learn more about it at DirectFile.irs.gov.

‘It is a wrecking ball’: Former DOGE worker describes Musk-led government-slashing effort from the inside | CNN Politics Elon Musk has claimed the Department of Government Efficiency is “the most transparent organization in government ever.” But Merici Vinton, a federal worker who recently left her job at the government...

I spoke with CNN about what it was like inside USDS before and after Inauguration Day—and what the transition to DOGE meant from the inside.

Catch the interview tonight on Erin Burnett. 📺

www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/p...