Share this page!

Alex Howard Profile picture
Twitter logo
25 Sep, 4 tweets, 3 min read
"A Member of Congress shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House." ethics.house.gov/publications/c…
@RepMTG's tweets calling Democrats "evil" & @RepDebDingell💩violate House Ethics Rules.

Danger sign: far-right calls for people be be "wiped clean"
Does @RepMTG's behavior "reflect creditably on the House," @SpeakerPelosi? @RepTedDeutch?

Either sanction any Member of Congress who debases public discourse with lies of fraud, dehumanizing speech, "cheap fakes" or deepfakes, or remove the standard from the Code of Conduct.
January 6th showed far-right partisans believed @POTUS45 (& @RepMTG's) lies of fraud & viewed violence as just. Millions of disinformed Americans still believe the election was stolen, & many support violence: theconversation.com/21-million-ame…

Congress (& @Twitter) must not sleep on this.
Calling political opponents "evil" pieces of sh-t who should "wiped clean" has grim historic antecedents.
White Christian nationalists are using that rhetoric now & driving the remaining Republicans out of the GOP with threats:
nytimes.com/2021/09/16/us/…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Alex Howard

Alex Howard Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @digiphile

Alex Howard Profile picture
23 Sep
Just tuned into the livestream in time to hear @Baratunde introduce @nabihasyed's discussion with @RamaswmySridhar & @robreich.
This is a fantastic program, full of remarkable people speaking to the hardest questions about tech, industry society, & #UnfinishedLive is free online.
I am now experiencing some breathtaking FOMO.
Haven't been to a good conference like this since before the pandemic.
Best part of events is always the hallway discussions.
(#UnfinishedLive COVID-19 protocols look solid: mandatory vaccination + masks indoors. Nothing on testing.)
What does a Freedom of Information Act for corporations & platforms look like, asks @nabihasyed?

Such a wonderful question, & important idea.

It seems these #UnfinishedLive folks aren't the right folks to answer, but the US FOIA Advisory Committee does:
Read 14 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
20 Sep
Has there been a @WhiteHouse statement on what an open, decentralized Web & Internet mean to democracies?

Or on shutdowns, whether in India or Afghanistan? axios.com/newsletters/ax…

Or risks centralization, authoritarianism, & nationalism pose?
axios.com/internet-freed…
#KeepItOn
@WhiteHouse Tweets by @POTUS about the Internet are about adding access in the USA, not policy: twitter.com/search?q=from%…
Ditto @WhiteHouse: twitter.com/search?q=from%… & spoken statements by President Biden: factba.se/biden/search#i…
Contrast to 2011:
obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/07/0…
Policy/messaging void
@WhiteHouse @POTUS A notable exception came in July, when @POTUS @JoeBiden criticized Internet shutdowns & said the USA was exploring providing access to Cubans to bypass censorship: factba.se/biden/transcri… Do you know if the USA every did so, @PressSec @StateDeptSpox?
cc @SenRubioPress @RepTenney
Read 8 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
30 Jun
Today is International Parliamentarism Day:
un.org/en/observances…
I'm not sure what Congress is doing, but I'm going to log on shortly for a conversation at 12 PM ET with @MarceloRamos & others.

You can watch the debate online: mailchi.mp/bussola-tech/p… #OpenGov #CivicTech
@MarceloRamos 9+ years since I spoke about #edem #civictech & #opengov in Brazil's Congress with @Participatory @agm3dc @felipeestefan:


Somewhat ironically, I can't find the archived video, but my photo with @DeputadoFederal endures on Twitter:
@MarceloRamos @participatory @agm3dc @FelipeEstefan @DeputadoFederal I see I tagged the wrong account: it's @MarceloRamosAM. (He should be @verified, @TwitterGov.)
Listening to @elaforde, who emphasized how crucial online access is to digital democracy.
Per @StatistaCharts, Internet penetration is 68% in 2021.
Brazil needs to bend the curve up.
Read 6 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
22 Jun
The @WhiteHouse is tweeting about infrastructure – not DC Statehood or the For the People Act.

No tweets by @POTUS @VP at all, yet.

If @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris believe our democracy is at risk from authoritarianism, pls act like it!

Use the bully pulpit & protect voting rights.
There’s the public statement of support from this @potus that I’d looked for earlier.
If our democracy is “in peril,” then this @whitehouse needs to rally all Americans to defend it based upon shared public facts, from debunking @potus45’s lies of fraud to changing Senate rules.
More presidential attention, but no deeper insight into how the President or Senator Majority Leader propose to overcome the filibuster that has sunk civil rights legislation in previous years.
Read 9 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
22 Jun
Tuning in to @DFRLab's virtual conference now, with @GrahamBrookie & @Rosejackson3 kicking off, recounting just how much happened in the last year.

Next up: @krmaher & @BrandyZadrozny.

I'm looking forward to learning more about DFR's new Democracy & Tech Initiative.

#360OS
Lives on Twitter via @AtlanticCouncil. @krmaher noted access to free knowledge is fundamentally disruptive to closed societies & governments aground the world.
She said @Wikimedia has built out the @wikipedia platform to be resilient against country-specific takedowns. #360OS
Can for-profit tech companies do what @Wikipedia has done?
@krmahawr models that bring people into setting policies for content & community standards. It’s expensive, hard, & takes years, she says, but products will be better in the long-term & mitigate negative harms. #360OS
Read 5 tweets
Alex Howard Profile picture
11 Jun
Watching.

USAG Garland says @TheJusticeDept will double the @CivilRights enforcement staff to protect right to vote.

Garland says DoJ will use all of the relevant federal statutes to protect every qualifying American seeking to participate in our democracy.

A watershed moment.
@TheJusticeDept @CivilRights "…each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act" - @repjohnlewis, quoted by USAG Garland today.
nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opi…
@TheJusticeDept @CivilRights @repjohnlewis Hope @TheJusticeDept posts these remarks online soon; there's a lot here, from USAG saying Congress needs to pass S.1 & the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, to provide @TheJusticeDept the tools it needs, or reference to @POTUS' EO on voting to new guidance.
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @digiphile has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @digiphile!

Read all threads by @digiphile

:(