If you want to know how Flock got so big so fast in Illinois, look no further than our sitting Attorney General (who refused to comment for this story!):

Eyes on the heartland

A vast network of new license plate cameras has exploded across Illinois in recent years—paid for by state grants to fight retail crime. With the federal government clamoring for more information on p...

unraveledpress.com

No way this could backfire. When it does, Trump will blame states or somebody else, but this is a decision to endanger Americans that Congress did not approve. (Via @almsnatalie.bsky.social) www.notus.org/agencies/fem...

FEMA Cut Staff Without Planning for Future Work, Watchdog Says

The agency has already moved to rehire some of the staff.

notus.org

Natalie Alms@almsnatalie.bsky.social · 23h ago

NEW: The Trump administration cut FEMA's workforce without a plan for what this would mean, leaving it at risk of being unprepared and without staff to respond to future emergencies. More 👇

Honesty, after the incident in Florida with the Blue Angles buzzing the beach - I’m ok with them skipping a turn.

WBEZ@wbez.org · 2d ago

Last year’s Thunderbirds appearance was marked by what residents described as loud booms. The city’s cultural affairs department said the change is due to a scheduling issue on the part of the Blue Angels.

Trees you say? (Photo by @barrybutler9.bsky.social, buy the print!)

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

Trump: "Look at the blue cities. What do they have in common? They're all dirty. They're filthy dirty. Their streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are broken. Their trees are all gross. Everything about the place is dirty. It's really all of them."

Exclusive: We obtained a leaked playbook that Flock gives to cops to coach them on "how to speak to city council" to avoid getting their contracts canceled. Includes strategies like "own the narrative" by talking to mayor "before public comment periods" www.404media.co/own-the-narr...

‘Own the Narrative’: Leaked Flock Guide Shows How It Teaches Cops to Promote Its Tech

"This document shows a coordinated effort from Flock Safety to compel law enforcement agencies to convince our elected leaders to represent their interests as a company rather than the interests of co...

404media.co

"This document shows a coordinated effort from Flock Safety to compel law enforcement agencies to convince our elected leaders to represent their interests as a company rather than the interests of concerned citizens."

‘Own the Narrative’: Leaked Flock Guide Shows How It Teaches Cops to Promote Its Tech

"This document shows a coordinated effort from Flock Safety to compel law enforcement agencies to convince our elected leaders to represent their interests as a company rather than the interests of concerned...

404media.co

This is very niche stuff for this general audience, but— If you're a government employee dealing with modernizing Medicaid tech infrastructure, I'm co-hosting a one-hour webinar on the subject next week, particularly about how to get better results within your existing contract.

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Modernizing Medicaid technologies through agile procurement. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

Constant policy changes result in expensive, exhausting, and inefficient software rebuilds and procurements. Break free of this cycle by truly modernizing how your government delivers software with hu...

usdigitalresponse-org.zoom.us

amazing time for a CityCamp!!!

BetaNYC, a partner project of the Fund for the City of New York@beta.nyc · 3d ago

Spend a Saturday exchanging civic ideas with New Yorkers who want the city to work better for everyone. CityCamp NYC returns Sept. 19 at Hunter College. The $40 early-bird rate ends Aug. 17. Get your ticket: www.citycamp.nyc

My one & only COVID take was that we should have done a blue ribbon commission on our COVID response at the end of Operation Warp Speed - not to cast blame - but to take those lessons learned and ready a better response for next time.

I just want to know what the vendor’s performance evaluation in CPARS is going to look like.

emptywheel@emptywheel.bsky.social · 5d ago

Juicebox Jeanine files a 20-page Motion to Dismiss the case against Davey Hearn that ... claims to have been helpless before DOI told them how Trump's incompetence ruined the pool. Not sure when I've seen this Olympic class ass-covering before. legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

Very excited for this new essay at "Can We Still Govern?": The key claim is that planning for a progressive future cannot just focus on new policies. It also has to include - to start with - political power. What does a power-shifting perspective look like? 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/rebuilding...

Rebuilding Democracy Requires Rebalancing Power

What does a power-shifting agenda look like?

donmoynihan.substack.com

Here in Chicago, where we unfortunately know Rahm Emanuel well, we marvel at how he gets the national press to help him manufacture the myth that he's some sort of visionary. No one here forgets that his administration covered up a police murder.

The DOGE team was acting like “a bunch of people who didn’t know what they were doing, with ideas of how government should run — thinking it should work like a McDonald’s or a bank — screaming all the time,” former SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek said. (Published Sept. 2025)

The Untold Saga of What Happened When DOGE Stormed Social Security

DOGE has ignored urgently needed reforms and upgrades at the Social Security Administration, according to dozens of insiders and 15 hours of candid interviews with the former acting chief of the agenc...

propublica.org

Every diploma should come with a green card

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 6d ago

a future D administration should make an easy pathway to citizenship specifically for foreign students

This is one of the most frustrating parts of public service to me. The public servants who respond to bad days know what made them bad & the fact that administrations push the bad days aside for political reasons hurts us all.

Nicholas Grossman@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 6d ago

The initial response to COVID-19 is similar to the withdrawal from Afghanistan, in that the crisis management was far from perfect and a serious after-action analysis would highlight valuable lessons learned, but any effort to do so is dwarfed by conspiracy theorists and liars trying to exploit it.

The initial response to COVID-19 is similar to the withdrawal from Afghanistan, in that the crisis management was far from perfect and a serious after-action analysis would highlight valuable lessons learned, but any effort to do so is dwarfed by conspiracy theorists and liars trying to exploit it.

This is happening in just over 30 minutes!!! At 1PM ET We're going to show you how to pry records from the government. This one is especially focused on city councils. Subscribers get the link here: www.404media.co/our-new-foia... Not a sub? Sign up now to get in

Our New FOIA Forum! 7/30, 1PM ET

Join us for our latest FOIA Forum where we teach you how to pry records from the government.

404media.co

Zohran Mamdani is undoing deceptive UX patterns Be still my heart

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 7d ago

Uber Eats and DoorDash hid tip buttons and set default tips below 10%. As a result, tips for delivery workers fell 79%.  In January, we made these corporations change their apps — and in the past six months, we've put $104 million back in delivery workers' pockets.  This is only the beginning.

Sat down to write about the Hugging Face/AI incident. Ended up drawing this instead.

Surprise! (But in all seriousness, if this is happening to other tech firms - gov is gonna need to do some serious thinking about how to mitigate - a job that’s made harder by DOGE cuts at CISA)

Jackie Welles Shocked in Cyberpunk 2077

ALT: Jackie Welles Shocked in Cyberpunk 2077

static.klipy.com

Raphael Satter@raphae.li · last wk.

Breaking on @reuters.com: OpenAIs's rogue agent compromised an account at a second tech firm, sources say Story TK

When journalists asked me about where we would see the effects of DOGE, my answer was a) during crises and b) for the big services that interact with the public like SSA, VA and IRS. So lets check in on the IRS: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The IRS is imploding.

The CEO says the agency is proving it's possible to have “less people and better results.”

motherjones.com

Ctrl-F “Laquan McDonald” <Not found>

‘I’ve Never Lost’: Rahm Emanuel Makes His Case

The former Chicago mayor discusses Israel, Democrats and whether he’ll run in 2028.

politico.com

MuckRock's guide explains how to use public records requests to move beyond participation lists and better understand how immigration enforcement operates at the local level.

How to follow the paper trail of ICE’s local Immigration enforcement

MuckRock’s latest guide explains how to obtain records about ICE’s involvement and better understand how immigration enforcement operates at the local level.

buff.ly

By filing Freedom of Information requests, 404 Media has obtained bodycam footage and documents that uncover stories about tech that powers ICE and how cops abuse Flock. You can FOIA too! On July 30th at 1 pm ET, we will teach you how to file a FOIA request live: www.404media.co/our-new-foia...

Arabella Crawford & I have a paper for @searchlightinst.bsky.social's Tech Viaduct on the need to harmonize definitions for programs. When words like income & homelessness change depending on the program - it makes improving the safety net difficult. www.searchlightinstitute.org/research/sta...

Standard Definitions: Reducing Administrative Burden by Ensuring Interoperability

Simplifying definitions is necessary and the sensible first step to making technological solutions possible.

searchlightinstitute.org

Too many people in our spaces think a new tech will solve a problems when sometimes the answer is using the tools we have and being a good bureaucrat.

I can't speak to issues like humanitarian aid, but I can say with certainty that Elon's DOGE cuts impacted watchdogs such as the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). Let me tell you about it. 🧵

I’m so thankful @404media.co doesn’t paywall their open records reporting and proactively posts records on @documentcloud.org www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

ICE Wide Analytical Tools

documentcloud.org