I'm also worrying how much the shift to AI administration of SNAP (particularly, to identify "fraud") is making this worse than worse.

Michigan’s use of AI to process SNAP applications draws concerns about past automation failures • Michigan Advance

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has begun using artificial intelligence to help boost the number of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cases it can review, a department off...

michiganadvance.com

Pam Herd@pamherd.bsky.social · 6h ago

The vast majority denied SNAP are denied for procedural reasons. Even 4 in 10 of those with NO INCOME in the previous year are denied, with 80% of those denied for *procedural reasons*, or, effectively, missing paperwork. And The One Big Beautiful Bill is making this so much worse.

New, from me: The Kennedy Center and NIH don't appear to have much in common, but both reveal what happens when nonpartisan institutions clash with a personalist regime. The inherent contradictions between competence and cronyism soon reveal themselves. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-art-an...

The art and science we deserve?

Both the Kennedy Center and NIH are crumbling under the weight of Trump’s ego

donmoynihan.substack.com

And, although it says on their system that they sent the reminders and forms via usps, the mail never arrived. My "informed delivery" account shows all my mail, so I know I'm not insane.

The form that was accepted last time is not necessarily the form they expect this time. And, most forms aren't available online. It took me a full hour waiting for the local office to print a 2 page form for me the other day.

Our area of Richmond/Henrico made national news a couple of years ago when Dejoy messed up our local postal operations. We still routinely have our mail delivered at unreasonable hours, several days late, or not at all. People can and do lose benefits over stuff like this.

Pam Herd@pamherd.bsky.social · 6h ago

The vast majority denied SNAP are denied for procedural reasons. Even 4 in 10 of those with NO INCOME in the previous year are denied, with 80% of those denied for *procedural reasons*, or, effectively, missing paperwork. And The One Big Beautiful Bill is making this so much worse.

I've gotten used to getting kicked off at every 6 month review, then jumping through the hoops to have it reinstated. It's like taking on a second job just trying to make sense of it. My friend lost her health care because of procedural issues. It's so stressful that she hasn't reapplied

“If you are staring at an example of social disorder or social inefficiency, and the left refuses to explain either why it has happened or how they will fix it, then the right gets to point at someone in the immediate area and say, ‘That’s who did it.’” crazy how much Mamdani speaks my language

This work was supported by 11 different NIH grants and a NSF grant. The Trump Administration would now like Russ Vought (literally) to decide whether projects like this get funded. He would have final say on every NIH grant.

Ryan Boyd@ryanboyd.bsky.social · 20h ago

NEW BRAIN DROPPED

In the past five years #NIH created an on-campus lab to study neural development, exactly because NIH scientists anticipated that this research line will be important. This is an example of scientific judgement White House political appointees setting priorities are unlikely to have.

Ryan Boyd@ryanboyd.bsky.social · 20h ago

NEW BRAIN DROPPED

Here's David Ellison's statement on his successful Paramount-WBD. Thanks Newsom "for his support throughout this process." State AGs were on track to kill the the merger with litigation and delay. Is Newsom giving up on the presidency and instead pursuing a post-gov career as Friend of Oligarchs?

He was put in charge of a university and dramatically lowered admissions standards because not enough white men were getting admitted. (Which admittedly seems to be the radical centrist version of admissions by merit) www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2023/08/chai...

Chairman Rufo's gender politics - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Someone in comments below pointed out that Ron DeSantis was an affirmative action baseball recruit at Yale. Funny you should mention that, because as Michelle Goldberg observes Christopher Rufo is tur...

lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com

The vast majority denied SNAP are denied for procedural reasons. Even 4 in 10 of those with NO INCOME in the previous year are denied, with 80% of those denied for *procedural reasons*, or, effectively, missing paperwork. And The One Big Beautiful Bill is making this so much worse.

Chloe N East (she/her)@chloeneast.bsky.social · yesterday

New from me @jasonbcook.bsky.social & @elizabethacox.bsky.social with CBPP on SNAP Administrative burdens can lead to procedural denials, where applicants are rejected not due to ineligibility, but because they are unable to navigate the complex processes www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

Why do white men become white nationalists? Interesting new empirical results in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sure, the top 1% owns about 1/3 of all of the net wealth in the country (and far more than they did in 1990), but I’ll bet you never considered how grievously oppressed you are by the 1% at the BOTTOM of the socio-economic ladder! Some typically mind bending insights from the OR GOP here.

If executive branch creates a system so that people under government control can be located and then just stops listing some people in that system — despite their still being under government control — that should be a five-alarm fire for the other branches, the states, and the public.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · yesterday

NEW: @apnews.com confirms that ICE has begun electronically "disappearing" people in the agency's custody who have final orders of removal. As of last week, anyone jailed by ICE with a final order of removal will NOT appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, making them effectively vanish.

The provost of Dartmouth, at which I teach, has been using AI to write both academic papers & national op-eds, according to brave reporting by @thedartmouth.bsky.social. Many students are already bitter about AI. This leaves us as faculty no ground to stand on. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...

Op-eds, academic articles by Provost Santiago Schnell flagged as ‘AI-written’ by ‘near-zero error’ AI detector Pangram

Schnell said he used artificial intelligence for “making writing processes more efficient,” but that AI was not a “substitute” for his own “intellectual judgment or authorship.”

thedartmouth.com

I do wonder if these kinds of relative well-being measures are part of what explains the disconnect between consumer confidence and measures like inflation.

Steve Rattner@steverattner.bsky.social · yesterday

The labor share of economic output hit its lowest point on record in Q2 2026.

BREAKING: TV pool will not be providing coverage of presidential events until further notice b/c of CNN's ban, pool chair and FOX News Washington Bureau Chief Bryan Boughton said. It's effectively a boycott by the fellow members — ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

It's the last day to comment on the Department of Education's proposed accreditation changes (until 11:59). This is a continuation of the administration's attempts to exert political control over univerities. Please take a minute to comment. The @alliancehighered.bsky.social has templates here:

Here is another way to parse the cuts in scientific agencies. Hat tip to @dangaristo.bsky.social for generating these graphs. bsky.app/profile/dang...

Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · yesterday

And here's a plot of workforce changes relative to 2024.

From stopping deadly blood clots after surgery to managing diabetes, there's an HHS agency focused on helping save lives and money. Trump is on track to light that money on fire by refusing to spend it. I'm demanding answers.

Great new summary of how recent bipartisan endeavors to use evidence to inform federal policies has been gutted in the past 18 months. NIH attempts to cut funding for policy research will further the breakdown of the evidence pipeline. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-system... @donmoyn.bsky.social

The System for Using Evidence to Improve Federal Programs Has Been Gutted

Here’s How We Fix It

donmoynihan.substack.com

Trump just gave companies permission to behave in ways they've always wanted to behave.

Prof Dynarski@dynarski.bsky.social · yesterday

Wtf www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The plan is paid for by taking child care supports away from low income parents (mothers), just as they're requiring these same families (women) to *work* to access Medicaid and SNAP. The real goal is to punish poor single mothers. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/u...

White House Plan to Subsidize Stay-at-Home Parents Divides Conservatives

Some praise the idea championed by Vice President JD Vance to direct federal money to support traditional families, while others say it cuts against conservative principles.

nytimes.com

You’re right—that plane shouldn’t have gone there. That’s my fault, and I should have made sure there wasn’t a terminal in the landing path. Would you like me to call emergency services, or assist with lining up takeoffs?

It really is striking how many authoritarian states have ended up in this exact same place, where the leader seizes control of scientific inquiry. Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union, Aryan Physics in the Third Reich, Great Leap Forward (also related to Lysenko) in China.

Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · 2d ago

Lysenkoism lives. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/s...

Not an exaggeration to say when authoritarian thugs distort scientific research toward their own petty or prejudiced tastes, economies suffer, national security is compromised, people die. Exact proportion of each of those consequences varies from one authoritarian state to another, but all happen

Nikole Hannah-Jones w/ a sobering follow-up on her decision yrs ago to enroll her daughter in a poor, majority-Black public school rather than a wealthier, whiter private school. You leave heartbroken for the kids being failed by this grossly unequal system. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/m...

In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? (Gift Article)

A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.

nytimes.com

I've sent this to about 5 people so far this morning. Such an important piece.

In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? (Gift Article)

A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.

nytimes.com