For those of us wondering if WA needs a digital service. The structure is not, I understand, there for it. But this is NOT the first case we've seen where they would have been used.

hey! if you didn't see that Kansas has requested trans folks to surrender their Driver's Licenses, I'll link it below - but meantime, this urgent appeal is worth your time & $$. I just donated, join me.

I cannot tell you how excited I am by this! Alexis is epic and she will do a tremendous job!

Some personal news

BILLY BRAGG - CITY OF HEROES YouTube video by Billy Bragg

I wrote this yesterday about the hero city of Minneapolis

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKOW...

Major Kudos to the Smooth Reader who took a deep comb to it, even down into the footnotes! DP community does tremendous work, and has been for >25 years!

Distributed Proofreaders Distributed Proofreaders provides a web-based method to ease the conversion of Public Domain books into e-books. By dividing the workload into individual pages, many volunteers can work on a book at t...

I mistyped the group I work with, it is Distributed Proofreaders. I don't think they are on bsky yet. They do the transcription, and formatting for many of the books that come to @gutenberg.org. You can find out more on the website, and join in! www.pgdp.net/c/

Freedom of speech by Jr. Zechariah Chafee Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by volunteers.

I tend to get backed up doing the final processing for Digital Proofreaders getting books to @gutenberg.org. But this one cut in line. The foundational text on Free Speech as we've understood it for the last century. gutenberg.org/ebooks/77769

The chilling numbers behind Seattle’s ICE false alarm Seattle put four schools on lockdown due to fears of immigration roundups. They were wrong. But ICE's own Washington data shows there's good reason to be on edge, writes columnist Danny Westneat.

"Society has got to stop knee-jerk accepting random social media as a sole information source. The sea of tweets and posts isn’t always wrong. But it is always hyperventilating."

So true.

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

The text "RECLAIM YOUR PRIVACY" next to an image of a lock on top of a keyboard

You deserve control over who has access to your private data. That's why we're fighting data brokers and challenging illegal information sharing. Learn more at Take Back CTRL: takebackctrl.org/reclaim-you...

Let's be clear: no one should be taking medical advice from the man who told Americans to inject bleach.

To moms worried about the Tylenol they took while pregnant: you deserve better than being RFK Jr's scapegoat.

And to the autism community: you are loved exactly as you are.

Programs for Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Harmed by Trump’s Anti-Diversity Push Citing concerns about DEI, the U.S. Department of Education has halted funding for programs that support students with combined hearing and vision loss in eight states. “How low can you go?” one advoc...

BREAKING: Trump’s Education Dept. cancels grants that help students who are both deaf and blind.

“How low can you go?” said one person who works with DeafBlind students and their families.

W/ @jsmithrichards.bsky.social for @propublica.org

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

A crocheted Patti smith

Patti smith from Horses

I crocheted Patti Smith’s Horses cover

State of DC: ICE and MPD are starving out Mt Pleasant community members - people are too scared to come to the weekly neighborhood Catholic Charities food distribution.

Traitors to the city they swear to protect.

Today’s a good day to remind everyone

DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH OR FILM UNHOUSED CAMPS. IT IS DANGEROUS FOR RESIDENTS & CAN BE USED TO TARGET THEM.

Well, bombycids counted as new, but bombycidae did not. So there are... congruencies?

Looking at the words-we-haven't-seen-list I can tell this will get ugly. I can see folks using galumphs and kerfuffles, indeed I could see myself using those. But bombycids and chinoviks? Less likely. I've done books on butterflies, but it is likely to have been bombycidae, as they were scientific.

Kentucky hospital group warns of closures, reduced services, job losses due to Medicaid cuts Healthcare in Kentucky is facing a tough future with billions in Medicaid cuts on the horizon, according to the Kentucky Hospital Association.

Kentucky hospital group warns of closures, reduced services, job losses due to Medicaid cuts www.lex18.com/news/coverin...

The economy is adding barely any jobs right now and where we’ve seen new jobs it's been in health care.
 
Well guess what? Republicans just passed the largest cuts to health care and Medicaid EVER.
 
We need to reverse those cuts and end Trump's tariffs if we want to salvage our economy.

I’ve said this before and I’ll probably say it again, but every hardcore IRL activist I know makes a very deliberate effort to interject joy into their lives and appreciate little things. I’ve only ever seen this dedication to misery in extremely online meme “activists”.

I am so heartbroken for the excellent folks I've worked with in the Department of State. The folks I know who were impacted were all great, and did not deserve the way they have been treated. Years of passionate service to Americans deserves better than this.

As a vegetarian I got a lot less judgy at the end. I mean if these are the choices, I _might_ be willing to fish the ham out of that sandwich. I've done it before. But seriously.... where is the Indian food? Is salad the only vegetable?

The up-to-date sandwich book : 400 ways to make a sandwich by Eva Greene Fuller Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by volunteers.

If you want historical backstory, a recent Gutenberg offering.
Answers the age old literary question: "What even is an egg and cucumber sandwich?" Egg salad, they were eating egg salad.

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75893

Republicans' new Medicaid red tape will push Missouri to the brink and block healthcare for millions • Missouri Independent The budget bill passed by the U.S. House will kick millions of people off of Medicaid by piling on new red tape.

Today in the @missouriindependent.com
I shared how new Medicaid red tape imposed by Republicans will kick over 10 million people off their healthcare, including more than 180,000 people in Missouri ‼️

missouriindependent.com/2025/06/06/r...

How do we repair the mess Trump & the tech titan have made? Public servants who know how to build things can tell us.

Here’s @merici.bsky.social, who built IRS Direct File AND helped launched the beloved CFPB on @cnn.com with @philmattingly.bsky.social

transcripts.cnn.com/show/cg/date...

This article is the most accurate summation of DOGE and civictech I've seen. Could not agree more with his conclusions.

I think the tech community understands how bad this is, but does anyone else? Data Brokers are bad enough, but when you can not opt-out? When government asks for data, consent isn't deniable. No one would say yes, there is no benefit to have your data aggregated. Now you can't say no.

My oldest kid filed taxes for the first time ever this year. She used direct file. The gen-z verdict was: "objectively pretty awesome". Imagine a whole generation who felt that way about the tax filing experience?

Executive orders aren’t enough: How to actually stop waste, fraud, and abuse - Niskanen Center In practice, enforcing full data access across all systems could prove expensive and may still fall short of its goal to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse.

Just published my first article with Niskanen Center- how to use data management best practices from the private sector to combat fraud in government programs. (Spoiler: it's not by giving senior leaders and small strike teams broad access to all datasets) www.niskanencenter.org/how-to-stop-...

Want a more rich understanding of why this is dangerous? Years ago the incomparable former USDSer, Marianne Bellotti, did an explainer: medium.com/the-technica... (archive link: archive.is/K2TX3). What if SSA calculates benefits wrong? That seems... bad?