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Alex Howard Profile picture
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3 Mar, 4 tweets, 8 min read
Last year, I published a survey of transparency in legislative support agencies, which are exempt from FOIA: firstbranchforecast.com/2020/02/06/foi…
@USCBO & @USGAO were open & responsive.

@librarycongress @USCapitol & @CapitolPolice …were not.

#opengov
@USCBO @USGAO @librarycongress @uscapitol @CapitolPolice Of note: Acting @CapitolPolice Chief testified to Congress she has not held a press conference, & expects she never will: firstbranchforecast.com/2021/03/01/for…
USCP is the least transparent law enforcement entity of its size in the USA, & should be subject to the FOIA: washingtonpost.com/investigations…
@USCBO @USGAO @librarycongress @uscapitol @CapitolPolice The @CapitolPolice budget is $515 million for FY 2021 (~10% of TOTAL Legislative branch funding!) ~2,450 employees, ~2,000 of whom are sworn officers, & is now asking for more $ after the worst leadership & management failure in its history. firstbranchforecast.com/2021/01/06/a-p…
@USCBO @USGAO @librarycongress @uscapitol @CapitolPolice Now up at US FOIA Advisory Council meeting: @DanielSchuman talking through Congressional disclosure practices, laws, norms, & procedures. (This is his wheelhouse.) His additional "quasi-mandatory responsive disclosure" category is kinda convoluted but apt.

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More from @digiphile

Alex Howard Profile picture
3 Mar
The @opengovpart put the United Kingdom “under review” for failing to involve its public in co-creating an #opengov plan & submitting 2 late.
I remember when OGP restored the US after we released a weak “action plan”
opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/upl…
Wait until OGP learns what @POTUS45 did
When @opengovpart put the US “under review,” who noticed?
Watchdogs had decried corruption & illiberalism; most didn’t participate in the forums.
No far-right media reported “censure.” (Sure wasn’t on Fox.)
After 4th NAP submitted, OGP acted as if US was healthy, & lifted review.
The Biden @WhiteHouse has been silent since January 21 on @OpenGovPart & many #opengov policies, personnel, & programs. @WeThePeople44, the “flagship commitment” under @POTUS44, is gone. @POTUS still hasn’t answered questions about any of it: governing.digital/letters/letter…
Read 7 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
1 Mar
Here’s @Twitter’s new #COVID19 misleading info @Policy, which includes details of “strikes” for repeated offenders: help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-p… Of note? Twitter will not add a feature for consumers to flag misinformation or disinformation about masks, vaccines. ImageImageImageImage
This may put journalists reporting on PPE shortages or other governmental failures into conflict with the new @Policy. What if authorities misled about prevalence or death?
Much depends on health authorities @Twitter relies on being right. (Cf. @WHO @CDCgov on masks a year ago.) ImageImageImageImage
What is NOT in violation of Twitter’s new #covid19 misinformation @Policy?

“Strong commentary, opinions, and/or satire” if they don’t contain false or misleading statements of facts, & “counterspeech.”

(TBD how @WSJopinion fares. Watch how FDRLST is handled.) Image
Read 10 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
28 Feb
“social media companies have to be responsible for verifying what are real news sources and what are not —and tagging things as disinformation. And being transparent around ‘Who are these pages, who’s funding them, what’s their budget’?”-@MichaelDTubbs cjr.org/special_report…
As @ybenkler reminded me, lying about politicians is protected by the First Amendment, &, unlike a Facebook or Twitter moderating an account or Page, governments removing a site of literal fake news would raise speech issues:
defusingdis.info/2019/01/17/how…
Defamation law is an option.
When a Senator asked me how to deal with a fake news website in his state, I didn’t suggest taking it down, & suggested he do many of things that Tubbs did:
sunlightfoundation.com/2017/12/19/win…
Politicians have limited options.

Search & social media companies need to ID “pink slime” sites.
Read 6 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
26 Feb
The Book of Exodus describes God punishing the Israelites with a plague for making a gold calf. (The Second Commandment bans idolatry.)

Cartoonists used this to satire the cult of Trump.

Now, life has imitated art — but Christian nationalism is no joke:
npr.org/2021/02/24/970… ImageImageImageImage
If you’re not following this closely, the vision of Christian nationalism is incompatible with a pluralistic, multiracial democracy.
It’s the direct descendant of the Confederacy & white supremacy.
It’s key to understanding Trumpism & the 1/6 insurrection: nytimes.com/2021/01/11/us/… ImageImage
A minority of Republicans have now repudiated the Big Lie & Trumpism, as “far-right populism,” not “conservatism,” noting the deification of Trump & his immorality, but @MJGerson doesn’t name Christian nationalism (or White nationalism) for what they are washingtonpost.com/opinions/there… ImageImageImage
Read 5 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
17 Feb
Republicans are misleading Americans into blaming the Texas blackouts on renewable energy sources, like wind.
Reality: icy conditions knocked plants offline & froze coal stores. Grid wasn’t designed for cold.
washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…
It’s Australia redux:
“Most of the shortfall in electric power generation during the current cold snap is the result of natural gas & coal powered plants going offline.” reason.com/2021/02/16/ren…
By falsely asserting otherwise, @WSJopinion is misleading subscribers, & further damaging @WSJ’s reputation. Image
This headline by @VICENews is fair, factual, & accurate: vice.com/en/article/88a… If you see the cause of the Texas blackouts falsely associated with renewable energy or wind turbines by a politician, follow the money to their conflicts of interest in the oil & gas industry.
Read 4 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
15 Feb
"Whether we pass legislation to save our democracy will fall on the shoulders of Democrats for the next two years."-@CongressRadar firstbranchforecast.com/2021/02/15/for…

What's at stake? "The suffocation of American democracy."
web.archive.org/web/2018100803…

"after a failed coup attempt aimed at overthrowing the results of free & fair elections certified by all 50 states, [this] administration must come to grips with the stark reality that democracy…is in its worst crisis since the Civil War"-@piccone_ted brookings.edu/blog/order-fro…
"Our political process and electoral systems, while having endured a massive stress test, still need major work to comply with basic standards of free and fair elections with universal suffrage for all U.S. citizens"-@piccone_ted
Read 5 tweets

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