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Alexander Howard

@digiphile.bsky.social
20K followers 1.3K following 8.8K posts

Dad, writer, cyclist, citizen, cereal dilettante. Advocate for freedom of information, open governance, & democracy. Lover of the Oxford Comma, hater of hubris. Recovering journalist. Trying to move carefully, & fix things. civic-texts.ghost.io

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Alexander Howard
Ilya Somin @ilyasomin.bsky.social · 14h
New new @lawfaremedia.org article on why the president doesn't have unlimited power to impose import bans. Most of the same constitutional and other legal constraints apply, as with tariffs: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
lawfaremedia.org
The President Doesn’t Have Unlimited Power to Impose Import Bans
Contrary to Trump’s claims, executive power to impose import bans is constrained by most of the same legal restrictions as the power to impose tariffs.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 15h
Better: “As Trump Revels in Corruption, Republicans Refuse To Check Growing Abuses of Power” “The President & the Trump family have abused official power for personal profit in unprecedented ways, normalizing corruption that once would have provoked national outrage and impeachment investigations.”
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 15h
The abuse of entrusted power for personal gain is public corruption. This article makes it clear that @peterbakernyt.bsky.social knows Trump engages in unprecedented corruption, @peterbakernyt.bsky.social, but @nytimes.com favors Trump by calling it “moved ethical lines.” This isn’t new. Why?
digiphile.medium.com
TRUMP’S TAXES REVEAL EMOLUMENTAL CORRUPTION
Donald J. Trump is the most corrupt President in American history, presiding over the most corrupt administration in over two centuries.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 15h
You quote an ethics watchdog who accurately describes Trump’s emolumental corruption as such, & correctly note more Americans view US government as corrupt under Trump. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/u... Same pattern for a decade: digiphile.medium.com/trumps-taxes... Why does @nytimes.com favor him?
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 18h
But you can’t fake authenticity when you seek to find people where we are, nor instantly become comfortable with a lens on your face in public. Talent matters. So does humility, charisma and a genuine love for humans. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/u...
nytimes.com
Mayors Are Filming Videos, Mamdani Style, With Varying Degrees of Cringe (Gift Article)
The growing use of walk-and-talk social videos can be traced to Zohran Mamdani’s successful campaign for mayor of New York City. But not all candidates are naturals on camera.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 18h
Politics and policies aside, Mamdani’s participatory approach offers an appealing alternative to alienating abuse and lies on social media from other politicians, which one reason why we’re seeing mayors and governors and candidates try to adapt and adopt the “walk and talk.”
nytimes.com
Mayors Are Filming Videos, Mamdani Style, With Varying Degrees of Cringe (Gift Article)
The growing use of walk-and-talk social videos can be traced to Zohran Mamdani’s successful campaign for mayor of New York City. But not all candidates are naturals on camera.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 18h
Success begets imitation, but not everyone is a natural on camera like @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social, whose campaign melded online and offline authenticity all the way to being sworn in as @mayor.nyc.gov Mamdani.
nytimes.com
Mayors Are Filming Videos, Mamdani Style, With Varying Degrees of Cringe (Gift Article)
The growing use of walk-and-talk social videos can be traced to Zohran Mamdani’s successful campaign for mayor of New York City. But not all candidates are naturals on camera.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 18h
Whether or not it’s an inflection point for the open Web, it’s the end of an era: Reddit announced it will remove RSS support & shutdown its remaining public API, citing automated abuse from bots scraping UGC. www.techtimes.com/articles/328... Sad to see, for many reasons.
techtimes.com
Reddit Ends Support for RSS Feeds, Imposes Restrictions on 'Old Reddit' Experience to Fight AI Scraping
Reddit is making massive changes to its platform, including the removal of the RSS feed, as well as the addition of new restrictions.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 19h
4 years ago, @khanna.house.gov’s staff voted to unionize. They persevered. They’ve won approval of the second collectively bargained labor agreement in Congressional history. (This time, the union contract is not symbolic at the end of a term.) www.politico.com/news/2026/10... They opened the door.
politico.com
It took four years, but a Capitol Hill office finally has a union contract
Staffers for Rep. Ro Khanna recently ratified a collectively bargained agreement after protracted negotiations.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 19h
In 2014, HLS found 50%+ of cited links in Supreme Court opinions no longer point to the intended webpage. ~70% of cited links in academic legal journals & 20% of all science, tech, & medicine articles suffer from linkrot. perma.cc I’m sure it’s gotten worse. I bet @timbl.bsky.social is frustrated.
perma.cc - Private
Link rot destroys the integrity of your citations
OU
Links start healthy. New citations have been vetted and verified.
After one year. After a year, over 20% of cited links may be dead or otherwise inaccessible.
After five years. After five years, the situation is much worse - over 50% of cited links can be affected.
As time goes on. Link rot is
inevitable and rarely reversible. The longer the wait, the more likely a link will have rotted.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 04/10/2026
Incredible piece: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/m...
nytimes.com
Dying Patients Are Inundated by Misinformation. My Dad Was One of Them.
Cancer patients are being persuaded to spend tens of thousands on unproven treatments by alternative-medicine clinics.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“Americans have been offered enticements for their political support for more than 200 years”— @newsguy.bsky.social “the distinction between a political promise & an illegal inducement still matters.” NB: a crime to offer to pay or pay a specific individual for a vote, not to offer to pay everyone
newsguy.substack.com
A Chicken in Every Pot
America has a long history of ‘vote-buying.’
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 03/10/2026
JUST POSTED: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have pushed a multibillion oil deal with Russia as part of peace talks that will bring profits to their family business partners. A new front for Trump-era conflicts of interest. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/u...
nytimes.com
U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies (Gift Article)
President Vladimir V. Putin brought up a sale of Russian energy assets with President Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pushing a deal that raises new questions about conflicts of inter...
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Trump regime is trying to legitimize abuses of power by US officials by systematically dismantling decades of anti-corruption work, policies, regulations, & the departments that investigate and enforce them. The last administration’s accountability failures were catastrophic, & keep compounding.
wsj.com
Exclusive | Decades After Watergate, Justice Department Reviews Whether Nixon Got a Raw Deal
A revisionist historian went to the DOJ headquarters to present his case that the former president and his associates weren’t treated fairly.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
Erin Keane @erinkeane.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
There are reasons other than net take-home pay that generations of American parents steered their kids toward college. I don't see how "go into construction!" is helpful unless paired with more robust worker protections and a true safety net, especially in right to work states.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
BREAKING: A federal judge has ruled for the first time that a Flock search was unconstitutional and violated a woman's Fourth Amendment rights. Oklahoma cop pulled over a woman and searched her in Flock "because he saw her license plate was from California" www.404media.co/federal-judg...
404media.co
Federal Judge Rules a Flock Search Was ‘Indiscriminate Mass Surveillance’ and Unconstitutional
Flock’s nationwide network is quickly “approaching dragnet-type law enforcement practice” and the cop should have got a warrant, the judge wrote.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Literal No Kings. Either Article I means something or it doesn't.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
As always, #FollowTheMoney www.opensecrets.org
opensecrets.org
OpenSecrets
OpenSecrets is the nation's premier research and government transparency group tracking money in politics and its effect on elections and policy.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
if commercial viability depends on AI being accurate enough for a government using it in a public-facing role for service delivery, that creates a structural conflict between the models and “big lies.” popular.info/p/watch-trum...
popular.info
Watch Trump's new chatbot debunk his lies
Hours after its launch, America.gov's chatbot was censored.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I also wonder if this will lead to the kind of open data poisoning @timbernerslee.bsky.social warned me about a decade+ ago, should evidence contradicts the policy impact or fabulism of the president or his partisans about the incidence of vaccine fraud or phenomena of anthropogenic climate change.
youtube.com
Tim Berners-Lee discussion with Alex Howard at Gov 2.0 Expo
YouTube video by O'Reilly
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This week, we learned the new America.gov runs on xAI & Google Gemini. I wonder if public AI bots on .gov will need to consult multiple models to be more trusted in the years ahead.
america.gov
America.gov
Find answers from official government sources and clear next steps for the services you need with America.gov.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A judge held a law banning landlords from setting rents based on software recs unconstitutionally burdens a company’s speech & “signaled that to survive First Amendment scrutiny,” New York should narrow the law to ban price setting based on recs using only non-public data. mailchi.mp/upturn/denve...
mailchi.mp
Benefits Tech Advocacy Hub releases updated guidance for states in response to details from CMS’ Interim Final Rule.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I added the Freedom Forum’s new sticker from the 1A Fest to my most recent laptop, alongside my meager collection since 2025. (There may be a theme here.) I’ve kept several previous machines in part to stay connected with those eras, going back two decades now.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In 2029, after growing scandals & escalating, cumulative harms to teen athletes & humans who wager on them, I bet Congress will revisit legalized gambling. Watch how betting apps & websites partnered with leagues & corporate networks who foolishly embedded an ancient vice into sports fight it.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Journalism is not a crime, much less treason. Journalists & the First Amendment have been an essential ingredient to the success of the USA & our armed forces for 250 years. Hegseth should be impeached & removed from office after betraying his oath. cc @robertgarcia.bsky.social @raskin.house.gov
washingtonpost.com
Hegseth details new initiatives in partisan address to troops
In a fiery speech, the Pentagon chief solicited bids to build a new base, called for more focus on religion and said Elon Musk will help develop next-generation weapons.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The Secretary of Defense claimed the free press of the USA is guilty of “treason” — a capital offense — for informing the American people of his mismanagement of an illegal war of choice in Iran. How would the @washingtonpost.com report this differently if the U.S. was another country?
washingtonpost.com
Hegseth details new initiatives in partisan address to troops
In a fiery speech, the Pentagon chief solicited bids to build a new base, called for more focus on religion and said Elon Musk will help develop next-generation weapons.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I’m working my way through a packed storage container again, after a summer away from sorting through the earthly belongings of my mom & pop. I found a message from beyond the grave she’d written for herself. I celebrated after another morning of “eating the dead elephant,” & then returned to DC.
Mantra
for Getting Rid of Stuff
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Fun fact: Sandy Boynton went to my high school & made a comic for our choir’s tour of Slovakia & Austria in 1993. As I found storage spelunking today, my Mom held onto a poster. As I recall, we sang a fine version of Handel’s “Halle-moo-ya”’ chorus that holiday season.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
David Kaye @davidakaye.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
was just having a conversation about this. it's true. of all the trump admin crimes since 1/2025, these killings are among the clearest cut, with the most law/jurisprudence to support prosecution of a whole range of ppl involved, from leadership to subordinates.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Understanding Senator Eric Schmitt. His track record includes bringing this expensive litigation chock-full with misinformation all the way to Supreme Court. My article with @justinhendrix.bsky.social in 2024: A Conspiracy Theory Goes to the Supreme Court: How Did Murthy v Missouri Get This Far?
justsecurity.org
A Conspiracy Theory Goes to the Supreme Court: How Did Murthy v Missouri Get This Far?
Murthy v Missouri may become a landmark case in which Supreme Court justices are led astray on the basis of a disinformation-laden record.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
David Greene @davidgreene.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Win! CA Court of Appeal rules that the First Amendment protects to republish legally obtained police records even if they had been ordered sealed, affirms anti-SLAPP motion. law.justia.com/cases/califo... We @eff.org represented Jack Poulson who reported on the domestic violence arrest of a tech CEO
law.justia.com
Blackman v. Substack, A173244 (Cal. Ct. App. 2026)
Blackman v. Substack, California Court of Appeals 2026
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
an odd moment was the president posting an image wearing one glove and posing with xi, a photoshopped blonde woman, and a row of droids the president running an overtly political campaign ad paid for by the us government is a sign of blatant corruption and disregard for the rule of law
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Some of that gold, The Times found, is linked to miners who pay gang protection money. That allows criminals to profit from the administration’s signature deal. And American financiers are investing in a mine tied to gangsters as part of a deal brokered by the Trump administration.”
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
An investigation by @NYTimes.com has found that President Trump has aligned the USA “with an industry that is still plagued by the very criminality that he said he was fighting by arresting Mr. Maduro. Planes carried gold out of Venezuela before companies had even visited the mines.”
nytimes.com
Trump Brought Venezuelan Gold to the U.S., but Refiners Won’t Touch It (Gift Article)
The administration is brokering deals in a notoriously corrupt industry, including one with a company that the United States deems a security threat.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Done
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Eventually, all repos merge into 1 & a service runs through it. The service was forked at the world's great hackathon & runs over cables from the basement of time. On some of the repos are timeless documentation. Under the repos are the code, & some of the code are theirs. I am haunted by binaries.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
PS 18F was being built before Healthcare.gov failed, @donmoyn.bsky.social, inspired by GDS in the UK, before USDS was created from the team that saved the site.
healthcare.gov
Welcome to the Health Insurance Marketplace®
Welcome to the Health Insurance Marketplace®. Official government website.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Civic technology is made by & for everyone. DOGE is made by & for white male software engineers.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Embraced public service by all Americans & built accessibility by default into digital systems Vs Shows open hostility towards GLBTQ Americans. makes services and sites that are inaccessible to all, despite the law and Web standards. (DOGE receipts added.)
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Useful comparison of DOGE to USDS & is 18F by @donmoyn.bsky.social donmoynihan.substack.com/p/doge-vs-ci... …tho US-centric & mixes human-centric design applied to govtech in the federal government, versus civic tech work outside of it, after a decade of rebranding by @codeforamerica.org & USDS/18F.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
@jkbjournalist.bsky.social reopened the Epstein case; Heidi Blake seems to have restarted the UK prosecuting Andrew Tate; Ronan Farrow, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor made the system finally go after Weinstein for real. Journalism has again and again made the justice system do its job.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I don’t see it online, but I bet they have more. shop.freedomforum.org/collections/...
shop.freedomforum.org
Freely Fest™ – Freedom Forum Shop
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
These are the essential ingredients that have made our country greater over time, as successive generations claim their birthright and extend the franchise to more and more Americans. When we all know our constitutional rights, we all can speak up to ensure they are not denied to any one of us.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
While every person in our nation cannot speak nor assemble nor workshop no publish nor petition the powerful for redress freely today, extending that liberty to every person in our union should be the North Star for all Americans in the next 250 years of our existence.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This exhibit imagines a USA without the First Amendment. It’s a darkened vision, not one viewed through rosy glasses.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
What would the United States be like without the five freedoms in the First Amendment? People who have lived, worked, studied in, or visited nations without constitutional protections the freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press, & petition can tell us.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I hope the Freedom Forum & @wamu.org can engage more artists, musicians politicians, news media, & activists from around DC to peaceably assemble, hold town halls with ANC commissioners & councilors to petition for redress. :)
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I appreciated the Freedom Forum & their partners creating an event that celebrates expression & supports civic education about the First Amendment for all ages today.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It was awesome to observe Kevin M Goldberg in his natural element, having fun educating the public about the First Amendment, and meet Esther Ciammachilli, the public radio host who’s been in my kitchen, car, & ear for almost a decade.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The more we all learn about the constitutional freedoms that every human in the USA has under the Constitution, the more secure in our rights we’ll all be: constitution.congress.gov/browse/amend...
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