Tootfinder

Too many inconvenient truths coming from that.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/nasas-acting-chie…

NASA’s acting chief calls for the end of Earth science at the space agency
NASA’s charter clearly states the agency should study planet Earth, however.

2025 NFL Free Agency Tracker: Commanders Sign Von Miller https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2025-nfl-free-agency-tracker-signings-updates-best-players-available

Far-Right 'Appeal to Heaven' Flag Flown Above Government Agency in DC (Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/far-right-appeal-to-heaven-flag-sba-government-agency-dc/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250617/p157#a250617p157

Former $61 million 4-time All-Pro could land with Raiders in free agency https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/news/former-61-million-4-time-all-pro-could-land-raiders-fre…

Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy
emphasized his desire to end NASA's focus on studying the Earth and understanding how the planet's surface and atmosphere are changing.
This shift has been a priority of the Trump Administration at other federal agencies.
https://…

NASA’s acting chief calls for the end of Earth science at the space agency
NASA’s charter clearly states the agency should study planet Earth, however.

The Office of Management and Budget has drafted a memorandum that directs federal agencies to fully migrate to a post-quantum cryptographic standard,.
https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2025/07/omb-draft-memo-sets-agenc…

OMB draft memo sets agency and vendor quantum security standards
The Office of Management and Budget is drafting a new memorandum to outline steps for the federal government’s migration to a post-quantum cryptographic standard.

Chalk up another big win for the #Windows and #Instagram folks! Bombing innocents is the only way to be truly social!
https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/world/israels-spy-agency-used-ai-and-smuggled-in-drones-to-prepare-attack-on-iran/article_ce2d0fbc-ae83-5266-af3f-e1cf35feface.html
see also
https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-ai-weapons-430f6f15aab420806163558732726ad9

This is completely crazy if you think about digital sovereignty....
#spain

Spain awards Huawei contracts to manage intelligence agency wiretaps
Huawei will manage and store judicially authorized wiretaps in Spain, under a contract that bucks the trend of Western governments restricting use of the Chinese tech company's products and services.

Former Super Bowl MVP drawing interest from three teams in free agency: Possible landing spots for Von Miller

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/former-…

@… In case you haven't seen the news about the Chemical Safety Review Board.
https://mastodon.social/@hmelman/114695207463426975…

Sources: the US State Department has effectively dismantled its three-year-old Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, firing between nine and 11 staffers (Eric Geller/Cybersecurity Dive)
https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/state-depart…

State Department cyber diplomacy firings and changes threaten U.S. defenses
Departures and restructuring will make it harder for the agency to pursue global policies that strengthen its own critical infrastructure, experts said.

On 17 June the European Space Agency (ESA) and OHB System AG sealed their agreement to build ESA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, #LISA: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/LISA/Construction_of_ESA_s_ambitious_LISA_mission_begins - a bold scientific enterprise, the triple-spacecraft mission will be the first space-based observatory to study gravitational waves.

Russia becomes third-largest gas supplier to EU: https://benborges.xyz/2025/07/16/russia-becomes-thirdlargest-gas-supplier.html

Denmark's Agency for Digital Government has announced plans to phase out Microsoft software across its offices in favour of open source alternatives, joining a growing European movement challenging the dominance of American tech giants.
https://www.co…

Denmark to replace Microsoft Office with open source alternatives
German state of Schleswig-Holstein also turns its back on Microsoft as Europeans fear being ‘blackmailed’ by Big Tech

Risky Medications: The FDA has given more than 20 foreign factories a special pass to continue sending drugs to the U.S. even though they were made at plants that the agency had banned.
Troubled Factories: The medications came mostly from plants in India where inspectors found contaminated drugs, filthy labs and falsified records.
FDA Secrecy: The agency did not proactively inform the public when drugs were exempted from import bans, and it did not routinely test the medications …

Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA’s Gamble on America’s Drugs
A ProPublica investigation found that for more than a decade, the FDA gave substandard factories banned from the United States a special pass to keep sending drugs to an unsuspecting public.

A Former ICE Official Is Worried the Agency Is About to Go on a Spree of Hiring Proud Boys
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/07/masked-ice-agents-secret-proud-boys-trump.html

"NASA Pulls Back From Promise to Host Major Climate Change Reports, Citing Legal Loophole"
#Nasa #Climate #ClimateChange

NASA Pulls Back From Promise to Host Major Climate Change Reports, Citing Legal Loophole - Inside Climate News
Earlier this month, the agency said it would work to re-host information from a federal website that went dark. Now it says it will no longer do so.

Trump is Destroying Our Oldest Science Agency
#NowWatching

Survey: 83% of Filipino Consumers Plan to Increase Their Consumption of Plant-Based Foods https://vegconomist.com/studies-numbers/survey-filipino-consumers-plan-increase-consumption-plant-based-foods/

Survey: 83% of Filipino Consumers Plan to Increase Their Consumption of Plant-Based Foods - vegconomist - the vegan business magazine
Tokyo-based consumer research agency GMO Foods has conducted a survey on the attitudes of Filipino consumers toward plant-based foods.

#Blakes7 Series D, Episode 02 - Power
ORAC: No, unless directed by an outside agency, matter transmuted to energy will merely dissipate at random.
VILA: [Indicating teleport area] Could this have done it without us knowing?
https://

Illuminating the Three Dogmas of Reinforcement Learning under Evolutionary Light
Mani Hamidi, Terrence W. Deacon
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.11482 https://

Illuminating the Three Dogmas of Reinforcement Learning under Evolutionary Light
Three core tenets of reinforcement learning (RL)--concerning the definition of agency, the objective of learning, and the scope of the reward hypothesis--have been highlighted as key targets for conceptual revision, with major implications for theory and application. We propose a framework, inspired by open-ended evolutionary theory, to reconsider these three "dogmas." We revisit each assumption and address related concerns raised alongside them. To make our arguments relevant to RL as a model …

While TV personality turned #Drumpf #MAGA mouthpiece Dr Oz is on a TV mission castigating #Medicare recipients for not working & watching TV as ample justification for cutting off their benefits , the same administration has removed …

Reagan-appointed judge rules that US #NIH must restore hundreds of canceled grants.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01914-2

Media advocates criticize a US Department of Energy plan to throw out FOIA requests sent before October 1, 2024, unless the request is formally renewed (Jason Koebler/404 Media)
https://www.404media.co/trump-administration-outlines-p…

Trump Administration Outlines Plan to Throw Out an Agency's FOIA Requests En Masse
The Department of Energy said it will close FOIA requests from last year unless the requester emails the agency to say they are still interested. Experts say it's an "attempt to close out as many FOIA requests as possible."

Danish government agency to ditch Microsoft software in push for digital independence https://therecord.media/denmark-digital-agency-microsoft-digital-independence

https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2025/06/cisas-executive-director-leaving-agency/405981/
CISA’s executive director is leaving the agency

CISA’s executive director is leaving the agency
Bridget Bean had been with CISA for over three years, during which time she also briefly served as the acting director of the cyber agency.

#Yorkshire ist offiziell von einer #Dürre betroffen. Nach einem extrem trockenen Frühling mit teils nur 40 % des üblichen Regens sind Flüsse und #Grundwasser stark abgesunken.
Auch die

Drought declared in Yorkshire after extremely dry spring
The UK has seen one of the driest springs on record this year

Get on the Train or be Left on the Station: Using LLMs for Software Engineering Research
Bianca Trinkenreich, Fabio Calefato, Geir Hanssen, Kelly Blincoe, Marcos Kalinowski, Mauro Pezz\`e, Paolo Tell, Margaret-Anne Storey
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12691

Get on the Train or be Left on the Station: Using LLMs for Software Engineering Research
The adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) is not only transforming software engineering (SE) practice but is also poised to fundamentally disrupt how research is conducted in the field. While perspectives on this transformation range from viewing LLMs as mere productivity tools to considering them revolutionary forces, we argue that the SE research community must proactively engage with and shape the integration of LLMs into research practices, emphasizing human agency in this transformation…

Design an Editable Speech-to-Sign-Language Transformer System: A Human-Centered AI Approach
Yingchao Li
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14677 https://

Design an Editable Speech-to-Sign-Language Transformer System: A Human-Centered AI Approach
This paper presents a human-centered, real-time, user-adaptive speech-to-sign language animation system that integrates Transformer-based motion generation with a transparent, user-editable JSON intermediate layer. The framework overcomes key limitations in prior sign language technologies by enabling direct user inspection and modification of sign segments, thus enhancing naturalness, expressiveness, and user agency. Leveraging a streaming Conformer encoder and autoregressive Transformer-MDN d…

Full Canadian Transportation Agency decisions were #public, but legislative changes made most #confidential
https://www.…

"On July 5, the day after the Texas floods hit, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) received 3,027 calls from survivors and answered 3,018 of them, about 99.7%, according to Maxine Joselow of the New York Times. But that day, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not renew the contracts for four call center companies that answered those calls. The staff at the centers were fired. The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or about 35.8%. On Monday…

July 12, 2025
On July 5, the day after the Texas floods hit, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) received 3,027 calls from survivors and answered 3,018 of them, about 99.7%, according to Maxine Joselow of the New York Times. But that day, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not renew the contracts for four call center companies that answered those calls. The staff at the centers were fired. The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or about 35.8%. On Monday, July 7,…

Letter from the House Democrats to the new interim #NASA administrator observing "a fringe, extremist ideology emanating from the White House Office of Management and Budget" and expressing "nothing but contempt for its goal of dismantling our nation’s space agency": https://democrats-science.house.gov/imo/media/doc/SST RM Lofgren and Foushee - Letter to Interim Administrator Duffy - FY 25 Impoundments - 7.16.25.pdf

Agency: Veteran OT Humphries signs with Rams https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45502018/dj-humphries-signs-rams-agency-says

2025 NFL Free Agency Tracker: James Cook, Bills Agree to Extension, Hold-In Over https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2025-nfl-free-agency-tracker-signings-updates-best-players-available

us_agencies: U.S. government agency websites (2018)
50 networks, one for each U.S. state, representing the web-based links between their associated government agencies websites. A node is an entire agency website and a directed edge (i,j) represents the existence of a hyperlink from any webpage in website i to some webpage in website j. Data was collected with a crawler. Nodes are annotated with the number of webpages per website, website name (related to its government function) and U…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom
said the state is suing the Trump Administration
after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced
his agency is clawing back $4 billion of federal funds
previously awarded for high-speed rail construction,
the latest challenge for the country’s costliest infrastructure project.
Duffy this week said the decision to take back funds awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration during the Obama and Biden Administrations
…

California Sues Trump To Hang Onto $4 Billion Of Bullet Train Funds
Gov. Gavin Newsom says the effort by the Transportation Department to claw back federal grants is politically motivated and based on Trump’s “animus” toward the state.

"Musk and his allies systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at the Social Security Administration based on misinterpreted data, using their claims to justify an aggressive effort to gain access to personal information on millions of Americans."
Gift link.

Inside DOGE’s Chaotic Takeover of Social Security
The drama offers a case study in how Elon Musk’s team sought to run a critical government agency through misinformation and social media blasts — and how longtime employees responded.

Code is a confusing engineering object for our human brains. It is a bit like building a bridge or a kitchen utensil: it’s an object without a mind, it has a function, it can fail, people do unexpected things with it. But it can also feel a bit like a person given a task: it has behavior, it •decides•, it •acts•, it •causes•.
(All arguably true of a bridge too, but most of us don’t think of bridges that way!)
The lay understanding of code leans heavily on the idea that programs are anthropomorphic, little homunculi with agency.
2/

The US SEC rescinds 14 rules the agency proposed under the Biden Administration, including two relating to DeFi and digital asset custody (Martin Young/Cointelegraph)
https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-axes-biden-era-proposed-rules-o…

NIH scientists air deep concerns about agency policies and cuts:
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/public-health/nih-scientists-air-deep-concerns-about-agency-policies-and-cuts

2025 NFL free agency tracker: Broncos add ex-Chargers RB J.K. Dobbins https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2025-nfl-free-agency-tracker-signings-updates-best-players-available

¿Corrupción? ¿Donde?
@… https://mstdn.social/@Free_Press/114857399291118861

#UsPol #SaveThePlanet
"US Environmental Protection Agency suspends 139 staffers over letter criticizing Trump policies"

US Environmental Protection Agency suspends 139 staffers over letter criticizing Trump policies
The letter, signed by more than 200 people, accused Administrator Lee Zeldin of pushing policies that endanger public health and the environment.

US-Ukraine minerals fund looks for manager as critical resources deal advances: https://benborges.xyz/2025/07/15/usukraine-minerals-fund-looks-for.html

Five migrants deported by the US to the small southern African country of Eswatini, under the Trump administration’s third-country program,
will be held in solitary confinement for an undetermined time,
an Eswatini government spokesperson says.
Thabile Mdluli, the spokesperson, declined to identify the correctional facility or facilities where the five men are held, citing security concerns.
She told the Associated Press that Eswatini planned to ultimately repatriate…

6 ways AI can partner with us in creative inquiry, inspired by media theorist Marshall McLuhan https://theconversation.com/6-ways-ai-can-partner-with-us-in-creative-inquiry-inspired-by-media-theorist-marsha…

6 ways AI can partner with us in creative inquiry, inspired by media theorist Marshall McLuhan
By engaging consciously with technology, students learn to use AI critically and creatively — without surrendering their agency.

Arabic news channel Alhurra has replaced its programming with an image accusing the USAGM of illegally withholding Congress-approved funding for its parent MBN (Matthew Keys/The Desk)
https://thedesk.net/2025/06/alhurra-calls-out-usagm-funding-cuts/

Alhurra calls out U.S. Agency for Global Media over funding cuts
The Arabic-language satellite TV channel said the federal agency is "illegally withholding" Congressionally-approved funds for its broadcast operations.

Ukraine-aligned hackers claim cyberattack on major Russian drone supplier https://therecord.media/ukraine-hackers-claim-attack-russia-gaskar-group-drone-maker

So far the Social Security agency’s core functions — like sending monthly checks to 74 million Americans — have remained largely intact.
But under pressure from Musk’s team, nearly half of the Social Security Administration’s 140 senior executives, and thousands of employees overall, have taken buyouts or retired.
As many as 12 percent of staff members, out of a bureaucracy that numbered around 57,000 people, are expected to depart their jobs as part of DOGE’s cost-cutting plan.

Inside DOGE’s Chaotic Takeover of Social Security
The drama offers a case study in how Elon Musk’s team sought to run a critical government agency through misinformation and social media blasts — and how longtime employees responded.

Cowboys linked to former 1,000-yard RB in 2026 NFL free agency https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/news/dallas-cowboys-linked-former-1000-yard-running-back-2026-nfl-free-agency

Should the Raiders Add a Right Tackle? https://www.si.com/nfl/raiders/las-vegas-alex-cappa-george-fant-dallas-cowboys-pete-carroll

"Japan had hottest June on record: weather agency"
#Japan #Climate #ClimateChange

Japan had hottest June on record: weather agency
Japan experienced its hottest June on record, the weather agency said Tuesday, as climate change prompts sweltering heat waves across the globe.

Cybernetic Marionette: Channeling Collective Agency Through a Wearable Robot in a Live Dancer-Robot Duet
Anup Sathya, Jiasheng Li, Zeyu Yan, Adriane Fang, Bill Kules, Jonathan David Martin, Huaishu Peng
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10079

Cybernetic Marionette: Channeling Collective Agency Through a Wearable Robot in a Live Dancer-Robot Duet
We describe DANCE^2, an interactive dance performance in which audience members channel their collective agency into a dancer-robot duet by voting on the behavior of a wearable robot affixed to the dancer's body. At key moments during the performance, the audience is invited to either continue the choreography or override it, shaping the unfolding interaction through real-time collective input. While post-performance surveys revealed that participants felt their choices meaningfully influenced …

2025 NFL free agency: Free agents, notable departures for all 32 teams https://www.nfl.com/news/2025-nfl-free-agency-free-agents-notable-departures-for-all-32-teams

us_agencies: U.S. government agency websites (2018)
50 networks, one for each U.S. state, representing the web-based links between their associated government agencies websites. A node is an entire agency website and a directed edge (i,j) represents the existence of a hyperlink from any webpage in website i to some webpage in website j. Data was collected with a crawler. Nodes are annotated with the number of webpages per website, website name (related to its government function) and U…

The Transportation Department is set to lose about 7 percent of its staff
because of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offers,
according to data reviewed by POLITICO
— but some of its sub-agencies will be hit much harder.
The percentage of employees who accepted the administration’s
“fork in the road” offers
included 4.5 percent of the staff at the Federal Aviation Administration,
an agency facing increased scrutiny after January’s ma…

A look at the disputes over Kari Lake's official title and power at USAGM, as she uses the title of acting CEO while lawsuits challenge her status (David Folkenflik/NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/13/nx-s1-5500554/kari-lake-ceo-agency-usagm-voice…

UK NCA officer jailed for stealing bitcoin from darknet criminal he previously helped investigate https://therecord.media/former-uk-nca-officer-jailed-stealing-bitcoin-from-criminal

Known as “white” asbestos,
chrysotile asbestos is banned in more than 50 countries
for its link to lung cancer and mesothelioma,
a cancer that forms in the lining of internal organs.
White asbestos, however, has been imported for use in the United States for roofing materials, textiles and cement as well as gaskets, clutches, brake pads and other automotive parts.
It is also used in chlorine manufacturing.
Last year the Environmental Protection Agency, u…

E.P.A. Plans to Reconsider a Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos
The Trump administration’s move sets back a decades-long effort to end the use of the material, which is widely banned in other countries.

The Raiders Believe in CB Eric Stokes https://www.si.com/nfl/raiders/green-bay-packers-las-vegas-eric-stokes-pete-carroll

'The neutrality of the agency has been eliminated': Stats-based feds decry BLS chief's firing (Eric Katz/GovExec.com)
https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/08/neutrality-agency-has-been-eliminated-stats-based-feds-decry-bls-chiefs-firing/407272/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250806/p137#a250806p137

Ukraine’s economic crimes bureau remains leaderless amid government interference: https://benborges.xyz/2025/07/14/ukraines-economic-crimes-bureau-remains.html

Exploring Collaboration Patterns and Strategies in Human-AI Co-creation through the Lens of Agency: A Scoping Review of the Top-tier HCI Literature
Shuning Zhang, Hui Wang, Xin Yi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.06000

Exploring Collaboration Patterns and Strategies in Human-AI Co-creation through the Lens of Agency: A Scoping Review of the Top-tier HCI Literature
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly becomes an active collaborator in co-creation, understanding the distribution and dynamic of agency is paramount. The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) perspective is crucial for this analysis, as it uniquely reveals the interaction dynamics and specific control mechanisms that dictate how agency manifests in practice. Despite this importance, a systematic synthesis mapping agency configurations and control mechanisms within the HCI/CSCW literature is…

UK appoints first-ever female chief of foreign intelligence service MI6 https://therecord.media/blaise-metreweli-new-mi6-chief

Should the Raiders Pursue Former Divisional Rival? https://www.si.com/nfl/raiders/las-vegas-pete-carroll-geno-smith-denver-broncos-justin-simmons

Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency still hadn't not answered nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers.
The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended

FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show
Two days after deadly Texas floods, the agency struggled to answer calls from survivors because of call center contracts that weren’t extended.

Cowboys' free agency options at RB in preseason https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/cowboys-free-agency-options-at-rb-in-preseason

A look at WindBorne, which uses weather balloons and AI to improve forecasting, as potential budget cuts to NOAA threaten its access to public weather data (Tim Fernholz/New York Times)
https://www.

The Future of Weather Prediction Is Here. Maybe.
Thanks to A.I., companies like WindBorne hope to usher in a golden age of forecasting. But they rely in part on government data — and the agency that provides it is in turmoil.

us_agencies: U.S. government agency websites (2018)
50 networks, one for each U.S. state, representing the web-based links between their associated government agencies websites. A node is an entire agency website and a directed edge (i,j) represents the existence of a hyperlink from any webpage in website i to some webpage in website j. Data was collected with a crawler. Nodes are annotated with the number of webpages per website, website name (related to its government function) and U…

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/house-of-commons-data-breach-1.7608061
House of Commons hit by cyberattack from 'threat actor': internal email

House of Commons hit by cyberattack from 'threat actor': internal email | CBC News
The House of Commons and Canada’s cybersecurity agency are investigating a significant data breach caused by an unknown “threat actor” targeting employee information.

Nick Chubb free agency: Houston Texans emerge as 'one to watch' for veteran RB, per report

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nick-ch

FEMA search and rescue teams take days to reach Texas after flooding as agency faces overhaul (CNN)
https://cnn.com/2025/07/13/politics/fema-texas-flooding-search-rescue
http://www.memeorandum.com/250713/p31#a250713p31

DeepSeek a threat to national security, warns Czech cyber agency https://therecord.media/deepseek-security-czech-cyber-agency-warning

Raiders urged to poach Seahawks star with 1 Pro Bowl selection in 2026 NFL free agency https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/news/raiders-urged-poach-seahawks-star-pro-bowl-2026-nfl-…

Trump’s nominee to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics told Fox News Digital on Monday that the agency should suspend monthly jobs reports
-- a change that could leave businesses and policymakers at least temporarily without the data they’ve used for decades to gauge the state of the labor market and broader economy.

E.J. Antoni, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation,
whom Trump nominated Monday to lead the federal statistical agency,
has repeatedl…

Trump’s pick for BLS commissioner endorses suspending monthly jobs reports
“The BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports,” E.J. Antoni, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the federal statistical agency, said on Fox News Digital.

us_agencies: U.S. government agency websites (2018)
50 networks, one for each U.S. state, representing the web-based links between their associated government agencies websites. A node is an entire agency website and a directed edge (i,j) represents the existence of a hyperlink from any webpage in website i to some webpage in website j. Data was collected with a crawler. Nodes are annotated with the number of webpages per website, website name (related to its government function) and U…

Spain awards Huawei contracts to manage intelligence agency wiretaps https://therecord.media/spain-awards-contracts-huawei-intelligence-agency-wiretaps

The Orlando Sentinel got a cease-and-desist from Florida's DCF that claims its reporter coerced families for a story on a foundation tied to Gov. DeSantis' wife (Mike Schneider/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/orlando-sen

Florida agency tells newspaper to halt reporting angle on foundation associated with governor's wife
Florida’s child welfare agency has sent a letter to a newspaper telling it to “cease and desist” its reporting on foster families for a story about a nonprofit associated with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ wife. The foundation is the subject of an investigation. The Orlando Sentinel received the letter on Friday from the Department of Children and Families. The letter claims the newspaper’s Tallahassee reporter intimidated foster families who had received money from the Hope Florida Foundation w…

The White House is singing a different tune these days.
Administration officials say abolishing the FEMA outright is not on the agenda -- with one senior official telling the Post that “changes in the agency will probably amount to a ‘rebranding’ that will emphasize state leaders’ roles in disaster response.”
Noem, who apparently had not received the new White House talking points, was still talking about scrapping FEMA this week,
when she claimed the agency is “slower to ge…

Trump and Noem’s attacks on FEMA make Texas floods all the more devastating
For months before the Texas flash floods, President Donald Trump and his administration floated the idea of abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

2025 NFL free agency tracker: Ravens extend WR Rashod Bateman on three-year deal https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2025-nfl-free-agency-tracker-signings-updates-best-players-available

NFL offseason report cards: Let's grade every team's signings, trades, draft picks and hires https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45690070/nfl-offseason-grades-2025-free-agency-draft-trades-extensions-coaching-chang…

July 12, 2025 -- On July 5, the day after the Texas floods hit, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ... (Heather Cox Richardson/Letters from an American)
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-12-2025
http://www.memeorandum.com/250713/p24#a250713p24

Cybersec information overload got you down? Then don't miss today's Metacurity for a concise run-down of the most critical infosec developments you should know, including
--1,000 CISA employees have decamped from the agency since January
--Victoria's Secret postpones earnings release after cyberattack,
--New security fixes for Qualcomm chips,
--AFP nabs nearly two dozen in sextortion sting,
--Marriott can't be sued for breach,
--Trump dumps …

1,000 CISA employees have left the agency since January
Victoria's Secret postpones earnings release after cyberattack, New security fixes for Qualcomm chips, AFP nabs nearly two dozen in sextortion sting, Marriott can't be sued for breach, Trump dumps AI Safety Institute, Indian grocery delivery startup wiped out by hack, so much more

Imagine spending years as an intelligence officer, working diligently to subvert the Kremlin,
only to watch the US stand with Russia, Iran and North Korea,
as it did in February when it voted against a UN resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine.
In that moment, Tim Weiner said: “You come to the realization, if you hadn’t already:
‘My God, the president of the United States has gone over to the other side. He has joined the authoritarian axis.’”

Cowboys Predicted to Target 1,000-Yard, 12-TD Running Back in Free Agency https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/running-back-tyler-allgeier-free-agent/?adt_ei=[email]

Trump Administration Outlines Plan to Throw Out an Agency's FOIA Requests En Masse https://www.404media.co/trump-administration-outlines-plan-to-throw-out-an-agencys-foia-requests-en-masse/

Taking One Last Dip Into The Free Agency Pond With Pete Carroll, Raiders https://raiderramble.com/2025/07/08/taking-one-last-dip-free-agency-pete-carroll-las-vegas-raiders/

NASA is looking for a CISO.
https://www.usajobs.gov/job/839985100?mod=djemCybersecruityPro&tpl=cs

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)/Senior Agency Information Security Officer (SAISO)
The incumbent serves as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Senior Agency Information Security Officer (SAISO) leading the cybersecurity and privacy strategy and program implementation to protect NASA's missions and enterprise. Responsibilities include establishing strategy, policies, programs, and frameworks for the security of classified and unclassified information and information systems at NASA. Also, manages the Cybersecurity and Privacy Division within the Office of the CIO.

The head of the California Privacy Protection Agency on the future of data privacy regulation https://therecord.media/california-privacy-protection-agency-tom-kemp-interview

2025 NFL Free Agency Tracker: 49ers Sign WR Robbie Chosen https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2025-nfl-free-agency-tracker-signings-updates-best-players-available

Aaron Rodgers to the Steelers -- finally: Grading the move, and whether he's actually an upgrade https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/44442475/2025-nfl-free-agency-grades-quarterback-aaron-rodgers-pittsbur…

Recently departed officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( #Fema )
say the organization is dangerously underresourced
and overstretched in the event of further natural catastrophes.
A mass staff exodus, plunging morale and a loss of key leaders
has left the main US disaster-relief organization ill-equipped to cope with an anticipated deadly spate of storms in the curren…

$97 million investment, 1st-round pick, among 3 Cowboys under most pressure in 2025 https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2025/07/15/why-trevon-diggs-tyler-guyton-are-cowboys…

The National Park Service is the most popular government agency,
with just 7 percent of polled Americans rating it as unfavorable.
And the people want it funded:
Just 17 percent of polled U.S. residents support reducing funding for the National Park Service and other agencies that manage federal lands.
Yet none of this has deterred Donald Trump and congressional Republicans from seeking to devastate the National Park Service.
Trump’s proposed FY 2026 budget would …

The US Public Loves the National Park Service. Trump Is Destroying It Anyway.
Trump is pushing for cuts that could require 350 of the 433 sites run by the National Park Service to shut down.

A former Justice Department official is warning of a
🔥wave of retribution inside the agency.
Patty Hartman, who served as a top public affairs specialist at the FBI and federal prosecutors' offices, told CBS News,
"The rules don't exist anymore."
Hartman, who was fired Monday via a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi,
is the fourth person connected to the agency's work on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots to be terminated in the past month.

Fired Justice Department official warns "we are falling into an abyss"
Patty Hartman, who worked with the public affairs team on Jan. 6 prosecutions, was fired Monday by Pam Bondi.

Homan, who doesn't have a Senate-approved position and no formal authority over any agency, is a giant trial balloon, right?
Not being sarcastic.
I feel like that is his job: say something outrageous ("Of course we stop you for being brown!") and then see how it goes over, walk back what fails.
-- John Pfaff
htt…

Hundreds of consumers reached out to their congressional representatives for help in the past 12 months.
“I have been unable to pay my rent, utilities, personal bills, student loans, or my credit card. I have been unable to buy groceries or put gas in my car,” wrote a New Yorker, who contacted Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ office.
Records show their representatives — all Republicans — referred them to the "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau",
the watchdog agency form…

These GOP Lawmakers Referred Constituents to the CFPB for Help. Then They Voted to Gut the Agency.
Many of the same Republican lawmakers who have targeted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for cuts have collectively directed thousands of constituents’ complaints about banks, credit cards, loans and other products to the agency.

Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau told the House Appropriations Committee that the Federal Aviation Administration plans to replace its aging air traffic control systems
-- which still rely on floppy disks and Windows 95 computers!
The agency has issued a Request For Information to gather proposals from companies willing to tackle the massive infrastructure overhaul

US air traffic control still runs on Windows 95 and floppy disks
Agency seeks contractors to modernize decades-old systems within four years.

Gabbard’s team has sought spy agency data to enforce Trump’s agenda

The Director’s Initiative Group has expressed an interest in gaining access to emails and chat logs of the largest U.S. intelligence agencies to root out “weaponization,” according to multiple people familiar with the effort.

Gabbard’s team has sought spy agency data to enforce Trump’s agenda
A team created by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has sought access to emails and chat logs of the largest U.S. spy agencies to root out “weaponization.”

Outrage continues to grow against U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem over her response to the deadly floods that ravaged Texas last week.
According to a Friday report from The New York Times,
more than two-thirds of phone calls to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from flood victims went unanswered
after Noem allowed hundreds of contractors to be laid off on July 5, just a day after the nightmare storm.
According to The Times, this dramatical…

'Unforgivable': FEMA Missed Thousands of Calls from Texas Flood Victims After Noem Fired Contractors | Common Dreams
FEMA missed two-thirds of calls from Texas flood victims after DHS Sec. Kristi Noem allowed hundreds of call center employees to be fired. "They are intentionally breaking government," said Sen. Chris Murphy.