And I really mean nothing gets durably better. Climate change? Nah, they need the petroleum economies to stay afloat because that's where all the investment money for AI is coming from. Democracy? Nope, democracy is bad for oligarchy. Civil rights? lol, they'd prefer we use company scrip.
Nothing will get durably better until the billionaire class is eliminated. Their interests run completely contrary to the well-being of the other 99.9% of us. So tax the fuck out of them until their desires can't outweigh the rest of us, and then we can fix things in a more permanent way.
Also the architects of the Iraq war are not all dead yet. They should still be prosecuted. George W. Bush is still a war criminal.
One of the lessons of the Iran war is that it was a huge mistake not to even try to put any of the Iraq war architects in prison. We shouldn’t make it again.
remember when the IRS put out a a free online tax filing system where you could just do your taxes through the IRS and it was actually well made and was pretty well recieved and then the tax filing industry and Republicans killed it and now you have to use TurboTax again
Today we observed six shackled detainees being loaded onto the ICE Air flight at MSP. They're heading to El Paso, where conditions are so horrific, staff gamble on who the next prisoner to commit suicide will be.
The man walking from right to left at the beginning of the clip is dragging shackles.
I refuse to be okay about it. You can't make me.
In the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, the marching band are all wearing t-shirts that say "BAND." I'm glad because otherwise we wouldn't have known!
Today wrapped another segment of my career, and quite a learning experience. By volume, it was a positive experience and I will miss a lot of it – mainly the people! An excellent group of people doing impressive work.
Anyway, now on to another thing and probably learning a bunch more!
Heck yeah the Plum Book!
(You know you're a dork when someone mentions the Plum Book and you not only know what it is, but you cheer for it.)
Sites like this should be mandated by law. This should always exist.
When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.
The Simpsons started just five years after Murder She Wrote started.
So.
You want to convince your city, town, and county to proactively REJECT working with ICE/CBP?
Send them this link about the staggering financial cost to the Twin Cities.
Make your conservative mayor start to sweat about her budget.
minnesotareformer.com/2026/03/02/m...
We should get coffee sometime, pal! It's been so long!
Holy shit, Ron knows my name!
And this is why it's unfortunate 18F didn't have broader success with reforming digital services acquisitions. It's a big undertaking because it requires that gov stakeholders learn a little more, but when it happens, the upsides are enormous.
I believed this was true while I was on the inside so it's not surprising or anything. In fact, I think it's valuable experience to see it firsthand. And it's not like the vendors are acting in bad faith. They're not! They're responding to the environment they exist in.
In the contractor world, however, the primary motivation is keeping the contract and the secondary motivation is getting more contracts. As a result, saying "yes" is in the corporate interest, regardless of what it means for the government. And that sucks. Misaligned incentives across the board.
One of the strengths of 18F was that we were also feds, and we didn't have a financial motive. As a result, when our federal partners asked for something that wasn't actually in their best interest, we were free to say so. We could tell them why, and suggest alternatives.
Having been on the contractor side of government digital services for a while now, I can say confidently that the government needs an 18F or USDS (the real one, not this fake-ass fakery the White House made). The government makes a lot of bad requests and vendors just say, "You bet!"
Hi Ron
Grim Reaper with the 1920s Warner Bros logo (looking suspiciously like Michigan J Frog) knocks on the door of Oracle, while doors labeled with the previous Warner acquisitions have bloody trails leading from them
Donald Trump canceled Direct File after giant tax prep companies spent millions lobbying.
Why? Because Direct File let you file your taxes for free.
So today, I’m introducing a bill to make Direct File the law of the land. And 160 members of Congress are joining me.
Pizzaballa from downtown
I regularly see people wondering how it's possible that there are so many musicians and writers and film makers and artists from a tiny nation like Iceland.
And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.
I don’t know who needs to hear Jesse Jackson leading the kids on Sesame Street in this beautiful call-and-response reminding them that every child is somebody, but here it is
RIP Rev. Jesse Jackson. Few people can say they moved the world, but he was one.
Happy new year! May the Horse trample the Snake underfoot.
