#MikeLaBonte: Retired electrical engineer and software developer, longtime promoter of journalism, science, and every other institution that seeks truth.
SAVE THE DATE: National Poll Worker Recruitment Day is Tuesday, August 12, 2025 — exactly three months away! Mark your calendars and get ready to help spread the word!
Register here: https://www.powerthepolls.org/scrutineers
#pollworkers #PowerThePolls
Photo Credit: @powerthepolls
“I listened to NSF staff say DOGE had the authority to give thumbs up or down to grant applications which had been systematically vetted by layers of subject matter experts.
Our closed-to-the-public deliberations were observed by Zachary Terrell from the DOGE team. Through his Zoom screen, he showed more interest in his water bottle & his cuticles than the discussion. Terrell..accessed the NSF awards system to block the dispersal of approved grants.“
https://time.com/7285045/resigning-national-science-foundation-library-congress/ #science #uspol
Happy birthday to Dr. Cecilia Payne! Her 1925 PhD thesis has been described as “the most brilliant ever written in astronomy.”
At a time when few women entered academia, Payne discovered what the universe is made of. Her work began a revolution in astrophysics & more should know her name. #science #history
Congratulations to Swampscott Tides, which has launched its long-awaited digital news outlet. https://swampscotttides.org/
Trump is killing broadband grants because some of them help minorities
Trump move also takes grants away from veterans and people with disabilities.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/trump-is-killing-broadband-grants-because-some-of-them-help-minorities/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
UPDATE: We've confirmed the identities and roles of 9 more key figures affiliated with Musk, bringing our DOGE tracker to a total of 86 staffers.
#News #Musk #ElonMusk #DOGE #Research #Government #USPolitics #Data
#worldpressfreedomday #honor to the
#memory of #journalist Victoria #Roshchyna
who was killed and tortured by russian forces.
#pressfreedom #freepress #RussianWarCrimes
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/30/europe/ukrainian-journalist-russia-torture-intl/index.html
#HowToReadThisChart is always enjoyable, but especially this one https://journa.host/@pbump/114444285902799295
Canadians using Twitter/X are being bombarded by misleading right-wing posts designed to boost Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and tarnish the reputation of Mark Carney.
The FT’s analysis finds a growing volume of that misinformation is coming not from Russia or China, but the United States.
https://www.ft.com/content/743c1dec-0c5c-4c39-a940-830ce156c235
#tech #canada #cdnpoli #twitter #x #elonmusk #misinformation #cdnelxn #cdnelection
🌐 Digital Defenders Unite! Are you ready to safeguard our movements against digital threats? From doxxing to surveillance, activists face unprecedented challenges online.
Join us Tuesday, April 29th, at 8:00 PM ET, for a game-changing session with Dr. Heather Woods and Dr. Leslie Hahner. Together, we’ll unlock the basics of infosecurity to:
✅Protect our data
✅ Defend our people
✅ Strengthen our resistance
@Gargron data point from someone with YouTube watch history turned off: nothing changed, home page is still blank except for the suggestion I turn watch history back on.
Chris Krebs has quit his job at SentinalOne to launch a legal and public relations fight against Trump and the presidential memo Trump he signed against Krebs last week. "Krebs said he understood why some have kept a low profile and tried not to further anger the president. But he said he disagreed with that approach. "I don’t think this lay-low-and-hope-this-blows-over approach is the right one for the moment we’re in."
Miles Taylor who was also targeted by Trump said "the memos targeting him and Krebs were 'punishment for dissent' and that he too planned to fight back.... 'How we respond will set the tone inevitably for how others targeted by these EOs decide to respond.”
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/chris-krebs-trump-cybersecurity-executive-action-31cb99cb
Government IT whistleblower calls out DOGE, says he was threatened at home
"Stay out of DOGE's way": IT worker details how Musk group infiltrated US agency.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/04/government-it-whistleblower-calls-out-doge-says-he-was-threatened-at-home/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
Born in 1914, Hedy Lamarr was a famous American actress who pioneered the technology that would lead to WiFi, GPS, cell phones & Bluetooth communication.
Lamarr was brilliant. Among many fascinating inventions, she developed a new communication system with composer George Antheil that used “frequency hopping” among radio waves.
Once called the “most beautiful woman in the world," Lamarr is now remembered as "the mother of Wi-Fi."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/thank-world-war-ii-era-film-star-your-wi-fi-180971584/ #science #history
While instituting the largest tariff increase in modern history, Trump claimed that the income tax was passed for “reasons unknown to mankind” and caused the Great Depression.
Here’s the real history.
https://www.propublica.org/article/history-income-tax-history-16th-amendment-trump-tariffs-great-depression?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
Tomorrow is National Poll Worker Recruitment Day!
Make a difference in your community by signing up to be a poll worker.
Help ensure fair and accessible elections by supporting your local election office.
Learn more about the role and sign up now with @powerthepolls here: https://www.powerthepolls.org/scrutineers #PowerThePolls
From the Washington Post: « Max Eden, then a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote an outline that…singled out Columbia as the top target. “To scare universities straight,” Eden wrote in the Washington Examiner, Education Secretary Linda McMahon “should start by taking a prize scalp. She should simply destroy Columbia University.” Eden, whose opinion piece came before Trump was inaugurated…suggested canceling research grants and deporting international students. »
Back up everything friends! https://www.axios.com/2025/04/04/noaa-research-websites-go-dark-saturday-night #science #uspol
Saturday 11am #BostonCommon - Look, you know you've got to dress for conditions on Saturday. Prolly gonna rain and be chilly.
You're going to a protest and will be standing outside on wet grass for a couple hours, wear the good galoshes and carry a spare pair of socks for afters. Leave fido at home. Friday is a good day to buy a decent poncho or otherwise upgrade your standing-outside-in-the-rain gear. Hot cocoa or equivalent afters. Hopefully the rains aren’t bad before the scheduled 2pm rally wrap, fingers crossed for at worst a drizzle.
Here's a site with a schedule, but don't feel the need to 'sign up' - but feel the need to 'show up'. You're making plans Friday with your mates to travel inbound together on Saturday morning, right? Taking the T? You're not going to be able to find people in the crowd, make a plan to protest.
https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/event/764606/
#Boston #BostonWeekend 3/x
Which #RichardWilkinson told us about on the TED stage in 2011 https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson_how_economic_inequality_harms_societies
https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/114276349444807543
