Opens profile photo
Follow
Alex Howard
@digiphile
🛠Dad, cyclist, citizen 🗽Director 🇺🇸Editor ☀Advocate 🍱 💡📲 : bit.ly/2A9dkOd 📱4108499808
Smog Emissions Check StationWashington, DCdigiphile.info/about/Joined March 2007

Alex Howard’s Tweets

If the people in power do not want records to be created, then there is an inherent conflict, because they are the ones responsible for ensuring those very records are preserved. grid.news/story/science/ That’s why Congressional oversight & IGs are crucial:
Quote Tweet
Discovery of more records destruction by former @DHSgov officials — suggests @TheJusticeDept should have moved immediately to secure devices & messages on 1/7/2021. washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07 Investigate DoJ inaction, @OversightDems. @DHSOIG passivity suggests IG should go, @POTUS.
Show this thread
3
3
7
Show this thread
There was a crisis of oversight before the most corrupt administration in US history. It’s now a civic emergency. & Congress must do more to ensure muzzled watchdogs bark & bite again: washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/ Keep your promises, . Special Committee, .
Image
Image
Image
Image
Quote Tweet
Image
The GAO found 10 agencies — including @FBI & @DHSgov — were aware of planned events on January 6, & 7 were aware of potential violence: gao.gov/products/gao-2 @January6thCmte & @TheJusticeDept need to inform Americans why they didn’t act.
Show this thread
6
5
Show this thread
In 2019, Biden told the American people about reforms to restore faith in government: joebiden.com/governmentrefo In 2022, has delivered historic aid, but not on promises to restore public trust. -No Commission on Federal Ethics -404 Ethics.gov -404 #OpenGov
Image
Image
Image
Image
Quote Tweet
Image
Dear @POTUS, Thank you for restoring democratic norms for briefings & disclosure at the @WhiteHouse. Please appoint the first U.S. Chief Ethics Officer, relaunch Ethics.gov, & focus your administration on anti-corruption & good governance, from personnel to policy.
Show this thread
1
2
1
In a healthy democracy, there is a basic expectation that elected officials & civil servants work for the public, in a government of, by, & for the People. Secrecy & the destruction of public records robs us of the knowledge we need to be self-governing.
2
7
12
Show this thread

Topics to follow

Sign up to get Tweets about the Topics you follow in your Home timeline.

Carousel

Nice study showing very little in-class transmission, assessed by whole genome sequencing, at Boston University in fall 2021 with vaccine mandate and mask mandate, no distancing.
Quote Tweet
"Of more than 140,000 in-person class events and a total student population of 33,000 between graduate and undergraduate students, only 9 instances of potential in-class transmission were identified, accounting for 0.0045% of all classroom meetings." jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman
Show this thread
Image
51
550
1,445
Good news: +528,000 jobs in July 2022, & 3.5% unemployment rate — a 50-year low: twitter.com/BLS_gov/status Go deeper: labor force participation rate fell (62.1%), & is 2.3% lower than 2/2020, when it was already low: investors.com/news/labor-for & Congress should do more
Image
Image
Image
Image
Quote Tweet
Payroll employment rises by 528,000 in July; unemployment rate edges down to 3.5% go.usa.gov/vrK #JobsReport #BLSdata
1
2
Show this thread
I’ve gotten a lot of grey & silver hair over the last decade working on open government in Washington, but the pattern of destruction of public records relevant to an attempted auto coup & failed putsch has turned some my beard white. This is unacceptable unaccountability,
Quote Tweet
.@digiphile weighs in on the growing controversy surrounding missing communications from Defense, Homeland Security and Secret Service officials. bit.ly/3cWETxF
2
5
Public records are the backbone of open government. Transparency & accountability are impossible if documents, email, or texts are destroyed — or if they are never created. I spoke with about the crisis in good governance in Washington:
1
12
11
In 2019, Biden told the American people about reforms to restore faith in government: joebiden.com/governmentrefo In 2022, has delivered historic aid, but not on promises to restore public trust. -No Commission on Federal Ethics -404 Ethics.gov -404 #OpenGov
Image
Image
Image
Image
Quote Tweet
Image
Dear @POTUS, Thank you for restoring democratic norms for briefings & disclosure at the @WhiteHouse. Please appoint the first U.S. Chief Ethics Officer, relaunch Ethics.gov, & focus your administration on anti-corruption & good governance, from personnel to policy.
Show this thread
1
2
1
I honestly cannot express how powerful & important this is. People must understand this work was the core mission at the founding of the . To protect the rights of Black people when state processes fail or refuse to do so. Grateful to AG Garland & .
Quote Tweet
BREAKING: Attorney General Merrick Garland announces that the Justice Department has charged four current and former Louisville Metro Police Department officers with federal crimes related to death of Breonna Taylor. abcn.ws/3JyAEof
Embedded video
0:44
431.4K views
268
3,543
16.7K
There was a crisis of oversight before the most corrupt administration in US history. It’s now a civic emergency. & Congress must do more to ensure muzzled watchdogs bark & bite again: washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/ Keep your promises, . Special Committee, .
Image
Image
Image
Image
Quote Tweet
Image
The GAO found 10 agencies — including @FBI & @DHSgov — were aware of planned events on January 6, & 7 were aware of potential violence: gao.gov/products/gao-2 @January6thCmte & @TheJusticeDept need to inform Americans why they didn’t act.
Show this thread
6
5
Show this thread
Public trust in US government was high under Eisenhower. It has fallen to historic lows: pewresearch.org/politics/2019/ Key inflection points: 📉Vietnam 📉Watergate 📉Stagflation 📉Long War in Iraq after 9/11 📉2008 financial crisis Failure to mitigate pandemic & recession won’t help.
3
8
29
Show this thread
P.S. That “c” should have been a comma; while “trafficc” could read a like thicc traffic or exotic congestion patterns, it’s really just that my copy editor ✍🏻 needs a stern reminder to read tweets aloud before publishing them. (You’d think that guy would learn after 15+ years.)
1
Show this thread
This is my “back to DC trafficc humidity, mosquitoes, work, and revelations-of-insect-infestations/on-mammals-in-my-care” face, AKA a “Case of the Mondays.” How’s your day going?
Image
1
3
Show this thread
Why hasn’t the taken stronger executive actions to ensure transparency & accountability after January 6th, as part of a broader #anticorruption strategy & renewal of open government, ? What does history say about deterrence after failed coup attempts? cc
Quote Tweet
Replying to @digiphile @DHSgov and 2 others
The retention of Chris Wray at FBI (Jan 6th), Rettig at IRS (auditing Trump's opponents in Comey, McCabe, illegally retaining Trump's tax returns), and Cuffari are all inexplicable.
1
5
The breach of the US Capitol on January 6th was the worst failure of national security failure since 9/11 — arguably, since 1814. Transparency is necessary for accountability, & 572 later, we still have neither — nor : failed to stop an attempted coup
Quote Tweet
INCREDIBLY important question. Trump installed loyalists within the Department of Homeland Security. We need a non-Trumpist Inspector General to ferret them out, rather than cover up for them. (1/2) twitter.com/digiphile/stat…
Show this thread
1
4
8
We wrote a memo about this issue in November 2020 that wrote up -- we take no joy in being vindicated. prospect.org/cabinet-watch/ Biden should fire EVERY inherited Trump political official TODAY, a call that we have made every day since January 20, 2021. (2/2)
1
7
8
Show this thread
Image
Image
Image
Image
Quote Tweet
Folks, today I tested positive for COVID again. This happens with a small minority of folks. I’ve got no symptoms but I am going to isolate for the safety of everyone around me. I’m still at work, and will be back on the road soon.
1
5
Show this thread