The Senate passed the reconciliation bill 51-50. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/01/senate-vote-big-beautiful-bill-trump/ On to the House. If they enact it and send it on to the President, millions will lose health care & food benefits — and the U.S. will scale up a police state to pursue mass deportations, to start.

Good morning from DC 🥵
If we need to connect:
🤳 Signal: digiphile.97
💡📲 https://civic-texts.ghost.io
📧 alex@governing.digital
🐦 X.com/digiphile
🦋 digiphile.bsky.social
🧵 threads.net/@digiphile
📇 linkedin.com/in/alexanderbhoward
👍 facebook.com/alexhoward
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🖥️ youtube.com/digiphile

I updated my newsletter, with an apology for being out of touch. I will be updating more: American democracy has reached a tipping point as an authoritarian takeover accelerates.
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/american-democracy-nears-tipping-point-as-an-authoritarian-takeover-accelerates/

Congress should not tolerate the corruption or censorship of the public data which belongs to the American people, not politicians or officials. Public access to public knowledge is a universal human right.

The greatest risk to open government data remains political, not technical: https://sunlightfoundation.com/2017/03/10/the-biggest-risks-to-open-government-data-are-political/

Trustworthy government statistics about the economy, public health, energy, the environment, education, agriculture, campaign finance climate change, crime, & immigration are a crown jewel of every market democracy. The Trump administration is now trying to block politically inconvenient data:
https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/the-trump-administration-is-trying

More brilliant reporting on Trumpian corruption: nyti.ms/4iNzTYv But NYT does readers, nation, & Americans a disservice by not identifying monetizing the presidency as corruption. Ruling families in authoritarian regimes make patronizing family businesses the cost of access to state power.

Happy #StarWarsDay, everyone! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Day
It has been many years since I was tempted by the power of the Dark Side.
I found my way back to the light because the Jedi still saw something of good in me.
May the 4th be with you and yours, always.

Donald J. Trump is the most corrupt President in U.S. history. Cryptocurrencies have opened up new horizons for his abuses of entrusted power for political profit, creating new conflicts of interest, but his emolumental corruption is at issue. 🎁📰Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/us/politics/trump-crypto-world-liberty-financial.html?unlocked_article_code=1.D08.VisA.53nzmtkdTQCt

#HowToCitizen by @baratunde
🌱 Show up & participate
⚡ Understand power
❤️ Invest in relationships
🤝 Commit to the collective
https://newsletter.baratunde.com/p/this-is-how-we-recover-from-disasters
We can find hope & light in these profoundly American stories: “The keys to rebuilding our democracy are in the story of fire recovery in Altadena.“ 🇺🇸🛠️🗽

The rule of law in the United States continues to be under the greatest threat in my lifetime, with fundamental human rights and civil liberties in question. I wrote about it more today, along with other emerging issues around technology and government.
Please read & share: https://civic-texts.ghost.io/despite-doubt-and-denial-authoritarianism-accelerates-in-the-united-states/

No leader or government agency genuinely interested in “radical transparency” cuts FOIA staff: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/hhs-firings-federal-health-agencies-foia-requests-public-records/
or gags scientists & doctors, censors data, clamps down on communications, & adopts secrecy in rulemaking: https://www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com/p/alexander-howard-discusses-hhs-secretary #OpenGov

They are coming for international students, as Don Moynihan writes today, but not for crimes. Rather, for their speech:
https://open.substack.com/pub/donmoynihan/p/the-attack-on-international-students
They will purge civil servants & then try to weaponize the state against donors, nonprofits, press, law firms, & business leaders:
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/path-american-authoritarianism-trump If you follo the news, you know competitive authoritarianism is already happening.

The most important thing agencies & companies can do on social media is listen & offer support — not post. Unfortunately, accounts tend to be made by PR & marketing folks whose job is to promote products & services, not do crisis management. Adobe’s Bluesky disaster is a case study for everyone to study.
https://petapixel.com/2025/04/10/adobe-deletes-bluesky-posts-after-furious-backlash

Julia Angwin’s reflections on a threat model for opposing authoritarianism: https://buttondown.com/JuliaAngwin/archive/a-threat-model-for-opposing-authoritarianism/ are an excellent preface for her New Yorker article. Both are worth your time.

Their principles:
Keep hope alive
Clean-up digital footprint
Don’t give legal excuses
Compartmentalize
Find community

Rainy, cloudy, & clammy in Washington, but it’s Friday. TGIF. What was the best thing that happened to you this week? What achievement will you remember? I encourage you to brag.

Read facts.
Mostly slow news.
Not too much.
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/what-should-be-in-your-civic-information-diet/

I wrote up what I saw in Washington this weekend, along with what the Council of DC had done beforehand.
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/what-i-saw-at-the-handsoff-protests-in-washington/

By 2035, our sense of self will be challenged by personalized AI agents that eerily predict our interests, needs, desires, or flaws.
We will see the emergence of a delta between students & professionals who overly depend upon AI & people who retain the capacity for computation & critical thinking.

First time I’ve gotten an in-app notification from LinkedIn News — a “showcase page” — about breaking news. I learned LinkedIn now has 250 staff producing editorial content in a format that closely resembles journalism you might read at a news media website at first browse. As most folks now realize, a platform operated by a tech company (Microsoft) publishing like material this raises complex policy issues. Keep an eye on this.
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a523356/

Nations with strong data protection laws, healthy institutions, constitutions that center human rights & civil liberties, & open democratic systems have the best chance at mitigating the worst impacts of automation, algorithmic regulation, & AI on society.
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/by-2035-will-ai-and-related-technologies-change-what-it-means-to-be-human-for-the-better-or-worse/