The Paperwork Reduction Act Doesn’t Reduce Paperwork Left to their own devices, many government agencies would likely expand needless forms, reporting requirements, and surveys.

I had thought so already, but my time as OMB General Counsel made me certain that the misnamed Paperwork Reduction Act costs more than it’s worth.

open.substack.com/pub/factorys...

This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.

220,000 Fewer Workers: How Trump’s Cuts Affected Every Federal Agency (Gift Article) New data offers the first clear view of the impact of the buyouts and firings.

A long-awaited update of federal employment data shows crippling staff reductions in some federal agencies and offices:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Screenshot from article showing 12 different icons for "new" across different apps in MacOS Tahoe

Toss a rose into the grave of HIG.

Here's a study on icons in MacOS Tahoe. It's quite an abomination.

Apple really just said "fuck my shit up", didn't they?

tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-i...

One of the huge perks of working at a software company is, when there's something about the product that bothers you personally, you can get your hands dirty and find out why it's basically impossible to get fixed

A tweet from Big Balls, linking to techforce.gov reads: Our first website using the new America Design System! Building a framework for beautiful, performant, secure and inexpensive websites to be very easy to build in Government.

This tweet from Big Balls says the new “Tech Force” website is their first using the “America Design System.” Here are just a few reasons why that sucks. 🧵

On this Trans Day of Remembrance, we remember the bright and courageous trans people whose lives were stolen by hatred. Their absence is felt across our city.

We will honor them by building a New York where every trans person can live safely, fully and freely.

Learning Curves — jasonsantamaria.com Assorted thoughts on slowly improving at designing type while working on a lowercase addition to Citywide.

📢 New post: I wrote about improving at designing type in fits and starts while working on a lowercase for my font Citywide. Progress isn’t always quick, but I’m really enjoying the make mistakes 🔁 get a little better loop.

jasonsantamaria.com/blog/learnin...

Poster from 1936 says: Join the March to Old Age Security, with a long line of happy people

Poster with picture of old man holding pipe: More Security for the American Family (1939)

The Social Security Administration used to have an incredible communications arm, including even a film unit. This was crucial in helping people understand the program, and how it would work. From 1936, 1939.
www.ssa.gov/history/puba...

Direct File won’t happen in 2026, IRS tells states The free service that allowed taxpayers to file online directly with the IRS was used by hundreds of thousands of taxpayers in 2024 and 2025, who gave it high marks — although tax prep companies and R...

The administration has pulled the plug on IRS Direct File, a tool that helped eligible taxpayers file for free. This decision comes despite Direct File’s immense popularity with its users.

So basically, “If you want us to feed you, you have to let us take away your healthcare.”

A new .gov domain was registered yesterday: techforce.gov. It resolves to an auth page that identifies it as part of the National Design Studio.

Trump and Musk eliminated 18F and destroyed USDS, and now the feds are scrambling to rebuild the capacity that they destroyed.

a chart showing productivity climbing for 50+ years, while hourly compensation flatlines in the 80s, and union membership drops consistently since the 60s.

happy labour day

Designers: What do you know about data analysis and statistics? Made with Fillout, the best way to make forms, surveys and quizzes your audience will answer.

Designer friends: I'm working on some content around using statistics and data analysis for design work, but I need to get some more information and out of my own brain.

So I've made a survey, I'd be grateful if you took it: forms.fillout.com/t/iW9aNFoLrTus

FORTUNATELY, for everyone we have a fun way to tell your House rep that you think Bobby Jr is a quack and has to go…

For $3 we will hand deliver (by a man in a duck costume) a rubber ducky with a message to “impeach the quack” to your rep!

QUACK-O-GRAMS!

act.standupforscience.net/fundraising/...

your civics education probably included very little about courts - this is a super useful article about systems you're most likely unfamiliar with!

A comic on the bridge from Star Trek the Next Generation. Picard: COMMANDER DATA, PLEASE IDENTIFY THAT ROMULAN VESSEL. Data: THAT'S A GREAT IDEA CAPTAIN! IDENTIFYING A VESSEL IS A GREAT PLACE TO START - IN ANY TACTICAL OR STRATEGIC OUTER SPACE SITUATION. THIS VESSEL APPEARS TO BE A 23rd CENTURY KLINGON BIRD OF PREY! 🚀🦅✨ Picard: ARE YOU SURE? LIKE I SAID WE'RE... PRETTY SURE IT'S ROMULAN. Data: ... Data: OF COURSE! SO SORRY ABOUT THAT, YOU'RE RIGHT! ON CLOSER EXAMINATION IT'S A ROMULAN VESSEL! CAN I RECOMMEND SOME SOONG™ BRAND PRODUCTS THAT CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT? Picard cradles his face in his hand in a gesture of frustration. Data: DID I MENTION THE PLIGHT OF OPRESSED WHITES IN SOUTH AFRICA?

realistic Star Trek

I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.

The White House Is Going to Put Government Statistics on the Blockchain (Yeah, We Don't Know Why Either)

I was the executive director of U.S. Open Data, a non-profit that I created at the behest of the Obama White House. I worked as one of the nation's leading experts in open data. Putting open data on the blockchain is a profoundly stupid idea that fails nearly every test of good open data.

i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.

Join Us For WordCamp US! Live Streams

📹 Can't attend WordCamp US this year? No worries! You can still join the conversation online and watch many exciting presentations about WordPress. Catch the live streams here: www.youtube.com/WordPress/str...

#WordPress #WCUS

Say it louder for the people in the back!! Beat reporting matters, and beat reporting on government agencies and implementation matters. That's why I love my job

Have fun at WCUS y’all. Wish I was there 🥲

Our democracy is not a brand. Our country is not a retail store. At 18F, our inspiration was (and is) the American people.

a boox poke4 lite showing: an anime cyborg girl with a smartphone the title "Effective Torment Nexus Design in C++" the subtitle "A modern approach" the publisher "O RLY?"

morning read

Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes Three sources described how AI is writing alerts for Citizen and broadcasting them without prior human review. In one case AI mistranslated “motor vehicle accident” to “murder vehicle accident.”

Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes

🔗 www.404media.co/citizen-is-u...

We’re not seeing an empirical dispute of crime stats or a debate about what constitutes “crime under control. We’re seeing federal military occupation of US cities.

What the targets have in common is not crime rates, it’s voting against the president’s party.

Journalistic malpractice.

Improving Our Nation Through Better Design By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose and

“Improving our nation through better design” is certainly important work: we know this, because it’s exactly what we were doing when DOGE eliminated 18F entirely.