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. https://civic-texts.ghost.io
Alexander Howard
Video of the lively discussion of "A More Perfect Union: Free Speech, DEI, and America at 250" with me, ACLU attorney Emerson Sykes, legal scholar Eugene Volokh, Above the Law founder David Lat, & a guy trying to heckle me around the 30:00 mark www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SCS... @digiphile.bsky.social
In a previously unpublicized letter to Congress, the newly-departed head of ICE said the agency collects data on people suspected of potentially unlawful activity, which could include protesters. n.pr/4vGiqbn
“Any fascist attempt to gain power in America would…work under the guise of ‘super-patriotism’ & ‘super-Americanism.’ Fascist leaders are neither stupid nor naive. They know that they must hand out a line that ‘sells.’”-U.S. Army orientation, 1945
archive.org/details/Army...
What’s past is prologue.
Free Speech Champion(tm) Bari Weiss demanding CBS News smear an American executed by her government for protesting bsky.app/profile/elio...
@USGSA.gov announced the U.S. government sold the Old Post Office Building in DC.
@WSJ.com reported how much, & to whom: $80 million, to the firm that holds the long-term lease on the property.
ICYMI, the Trump Organization sold the leasing rights for $375 million in 2022.
Looked inflated, then.
Code reviewed by WIRED uncovered an unreleased face-recognition system embedded in Meta’s smart glasses platform. It’s designed to identify people via biometric data stored on users’ phones.
I took my daughter to the first “block party” at the National Gallery of Art today. Lovely experience, except for the heat on the way there & back. 🖼️ 🎶
I took my daughter to see the new #StarWars film at the National Air and Space Museum last night. (The supersize Mandalorian episode was entertaining, if flawed.)
We saw an actual X-wing fighter hanging upstairs, and the Starship Enterprise downstairs afterwards.
Geek heaven.
LLAP🖖🏻 🚀
The National Park Service has opened public comment on POTUS Trump’s proposed arch in DC: parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm....
Deadline: June 15.
Construction crews are already working on the site, despite the absence of democratic legitimacy from intentionally obtaining the consent of the governed.
In a previously unpublicized letter to Congress, the newly-departed head of ICE said the agency collects data on people suspected of potentially unlawful activity, which could include protesters.
Code reviewed by WIRED uncovered an unreleased face-recognition system embedded in Meta’s smart glasses platform. It’s designed to identify people via biometric data stored on users’ phones.
"The bigger problem, Lulu, frankly, is not any kind of political influence. The problem was the incompetence.."
Scott Pelley talked to @lulugn.bsky.social about "the Bari Weiss era and his last days at 60 Minutes:" www.nytimes.com/2026/06/07/m...
