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9 Nov, 8 tweets, 12 min read
Americans should have been able to watch a press briefing with @VP & the @CDCDirector online at noon every day, with updates from Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, @DrNancyM_CDC, @SteveFDA @SecAzar @HHS_ASH & industry, followed by a Q&A with reporters.

Its absence has left information voids.
@VP @CDCDirector @DrNancyM_CDC @SteveFDA @SecAzar @HHS_ASH When I was in Maine, I discovered
@nirav_mainecdc holds a live public briefing each Tuesday & Thursday broadcast on @MainePublic & posts it on @YouTube. @MEPublicHealth posts #COVID19 data on a website every day.

That's the model @VP @CDCDirector should have adopted with @PBS.
How do you close an information void?
Inject facts into discourse from verified, trustworthy sources: media, government, academia, NGOs.

@Facebook's COVID-19 or election facts atop newsfeeds is actually a GREAT example.

Closing these voids is literally a matter of life & death.
It's not just about tech companies, but they matter a LOT. @zephoria & @mjgolebiewski report on "data voids" is seminal: datasociety.net/library/data-v…
@JoshBenton explored how language mattered:
niemanlab.org/2019/11/watch-…
Data voids are a national security problem & public health problem
@zephoria @MJGolebiewski @JoshBenton I've been grieving since February about how badly this Administration failed Americans. Not only did they leave information voids, but the POTUS actively injected medical misinfo & viral disinfo into public discourse. The resultsing "infodemic" is deadly.
What can be done, NOW? PEOTUS @JoeBiden's new coronavirus task force should hold a daily briefing & Q&A with the nation's top health & science journalists: washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11…
Discuss @COVID19Tracking data & @CovidActNow projectsion. Stream it online, & post it on YouTube.
@JoeBiden @COVID19Tracking @CovidActNow The @Transition46 will show a Biden @WhiteHouse will govern. Start by injecting facts into public discourse from top doctors & scientists, including every former @CDCDirector.

Model a healthy relationship with the press with daily briefings, @TDucklo: view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/16048…
@JoeBiden @COVID19Tracking @CovidActNow @Transition46 @WhiteHouse @CDCDirector @TDucklo Rarely has one of my hopeful tweets into the ether been so quickly bookended by a livestream:
But a crucial part of the public health value of briefings & updates derives from a public Q&A between press & doctors on public media, & FAQ coming out of them

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Alex Howard Profile picture
10 Nov
NEW: Secretary of State refuses to accept the will of the American people after a free & fair election & cooperate with a peaceful transition of power, eviscerating the @StateDept’s moral authority to engage in diplomacy & @USAID’s @StateDRL mission to protect & advance democracy
The record of @SecPompeo was mixed & not distinguished. Today’s comments, however, degrade his office & merit resignation in disgrace.

A healthy Congress would censure him, at minimum.
Don’t worry, says the politics editor: he’s just joking.

He can’t possibly believe this administration was ordained by God, or the Rapture is coming, or evolution isn’t real, or Democrats aren’t legitimate or that corruption is OK, or lawsuits will swing the election in SCOTUS.
Read 5 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
10 Nov
🚨⚖️ State officials across the US say the 2020 election went well, with only minor issues that typical every year — much less Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud — but @AP reports AG Barr just authorized a probe of “apparently credible” allegations: apnews.com/article/electi… ImageImageImage
Barr’s memo prompted @TheJusticeDept official who oversees investigations of voter fraud to resign in hours nytimes.com/2020/11/09/us/…
Barr’s authorization ignored policies intended to keep @TheJusticeDept from affecting the outcome of an election.

An abuse of power to keep power. ImageImage
“this is about disruption, disinformation, & sowing chaos-@vanitaguptaCR “They have no evidence, so they’ll push the PR.”
politico.com/news/2020/11/0…
“Voters decided [the] election & overwhelmingly picked Biden,” “Election was secure & fair. No factual basis for memo.”
Read 5 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
9 Nov
This was the speech from a POTUS that Americans have been waiting to hear since this deadly virus reached our shores: honest about the danger, rational about required responses, clear about the needs, focused on a shared goal, & grounded in shared values. pscp.tv/JoeBiden/1vAxR…
POTUS-Elect @JoeBiden:

The single most effective thing we can do to stop the spread of COVID: wear a mask.

A mask remains the most potent weapon against the virus."

We can save tens of thousands of
lives if we just wear a mask.

Not Democrat or Republican lives American lives.
Biden:
It doesn't matter who you voted for. We are Americans and our country is under threat.
We're now called to do the same thing that generations have done when faced with a crisis throughout our history: rise above our differences to defend the strength & vitality of nations
Read 4 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
9 Nov
Unlike in 2008 & 2016, the @USGSA administrator has declined to authorize the funding Congress appropriated to get the presidential transition running: washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
@Transition46 has 73 days left; every day matters.
TBD what, if any, hidden pressures @GSAEmily is under
Congress in 1963: “Any disruption occasioned by the transfer of the executive power could produce results detrimental to the safety and well-being of the United States & its people.” govinfo.gov/content/pkg/ST…
That is what happened in 2000, with harms in 2001, & is happening now.
Congress specifically gave the @USGSA administrator discretion to decide to release funds in the event of a close election — NOT a @potus or @whitehouse — when the candidates are “apparently successful,” or to withhold them if there’s doubt. brookings.edu/testimonies/im…
Read 14 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
6 Nov
I'm split-screening again today, watching election results while I participate in the #FWD50 conference on digital government. (I'm hosting a channel for @fwd50conf this afternoon.)

Watching @bethnoveck talk with @acroll now about historic lows in trust: Image
@fwd50conf @bethnoveck @acroll Countries with historic lows in trust in government should be treat it as an civic emergency. Cf USA:
pewresearch.org/politics/2019/…

Solving public problems like @bethnoveck describes means politicians & officials should should optimize for trust:
solvingpublicproblems.org

#FWD50 ImageImage
Thanks to @acroll for asking my question! Transparency DOES breed trust in open source software: it's mission-critical if, say, the US government is deploying tools to be used by dissidents & human rights activists globally: But people != software. #FWD50
Read 9 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
5 Nov
At 6:26, the @POTUS tweeted that there would be a news conference at 6:30.

10 minutes later, @WhiteHouse livestream says "the President Delivers Remarks," & it hasn't started yet.

I still recommend that news networks don't air him live, but some will.
@POTUS @WhiteHouse Nope, he's not conceding.

It's the same lies, misinformation, & conspiratorial BS about the election & polls you can read here on Twitter, except delivered by the sitting POTUS from the White House podium.

But I'm watching him undermine democracy on TV, as I have for 5 years.
@POTUS @WhiteHouse "Kwin-a-pee-ock"
Read 6 tweets

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