Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social

Dad, writer, cyclist, citizen, cereal dilettante. Advocate for freedom of information, open governance, & democracy. Lover of the Oxford Comma, hater of hubris. Recovering journalist. Trying to move carefully, & fix things. https://civic-texts.ghost.io

Good morning from DC đŸ„”

If we need to connect:
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Unlike in “Germania,” “World Capitol Washington” might have an “Angel of Freedom” atop an “Arc du Trump”.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germania_(city)

US Army, 1945: Any fascist attempt to gain power in the USA would work under the guise of "super-patriotism" & "super-Americanism."
archive.org/details/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
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Oona Hathaway @oonahathaway.bsky.social
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"Mr. Hegseth has also boasted about his efforts to scale back what he has called 'stupid rules of engagement.'

Oona Hathaway, a professor of international law at Yale Law School, said those rules 'were developed precisely to prevent this kind of civilian harm'. . ."

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/09/world/middleeast/us-israel-strikes-iran-structures-damage.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Z1A.dCxF.YfmPa4AGooIY&smid=url-share
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đŸ«¶Thank you to @dcdgs.bsky.social @dcdpr.bsky.social @cmcharlesallen.bsky.social for turning on the water to the new public fountain at Garfield Park in mid-April, ahead of an early heat wave next week & summer weather after. DC not only added fixing a busted public water supply, but upgraded it.🚰👏
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
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Erin Kissane @kissane.myatproto.social
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These Immigration updates are brought to you by a whole village but I need to say aloud that team leads @magicbeans.bsky.social and @yvonnezlam.bsky.social and our permanent editor @jostewart.myatproto.social are among the best, toughest, most determined truth-finders I have ever worked with.
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It’s me. Lame.
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Important story on neo-McCarthyism, reporting out Trump administration efforts to criminalize not only dissent but abuse state power to improperly classify political opponents, activists, & anarchists as “terrorists” & coerce other nations into treating them that way.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/us/politics/trump-administration-far-left-terrorism-groups.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZlA.VZ8X.Hqt01Y_wjhZW
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A key Q for @npr.org to report out on ATC:

What does it mean for US government, Americans, & the humanity if a VP and POTUS support “far-right nationalists” in other nations instead of world leaders who oppose anti-democratic acts and efforts to turn nations into illiberal regimes, like Hungary?
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What I’d ask of @steveinskeep.bsky.social & NPR staff: stop sanding off the corners.

“As Trump & Vance support fascist politicians abroad, they’re deploying the same authoritarian playbook that has dismantled liberal democracies here in the USA.”
www.npr.org/2026/03/20/nx-s1-5754021/trump-democracy-autocracy-dictatorship-reports

No more “critics say.”
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I criticize public media because I’ve been listening & watching my entire life, never because I want it to end or delegitimize journalists or journalism.

Staff work incredibly hard to get facts right in a sea of doubt, denial, & deception, much less the fog of war.

But this is a systemic failure.
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The issue is not that @npr.org isn’t reporting on how Orbán dismantled democracy, or connecting to Trump’s authoritarianism.
In April 2025, @robschmitz.bsky.social reported on what “aspiring autocrats” could learn from Hungary:
www.npr.org/2025/04/21/nx-s1-5338596-e1/how-to-dismantle-democracy-lessons-aspiring-autocrats-may-take-from-hungarys-orban
It’s that NPR keeps normalize fascism here.
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“Everything that is happening now in the U.S., we have been living it.”
“we are talking about the Orbán government, which is methodically trying to stifle criticism. This means heavy centralization of education, the scrapping of the Ministry of Education. I think this sounds very familiar to you?"
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“Orbán still has the support of many Hungarians”

“That becomes more visible the farther you go outside the capital”

“His model uses money to bolster his party's interests as he accuses the EU of meddling”

“the EU is trying to pressure Orbán to reverse anti-democratic measures”

Sound familiar?
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“The 1st thing [Orbán] did was to suspend the civil service law & fire huge numbers of public employees, particularly those in the public broadcast media, because they were the ones who
were committed to truthful news. And the 2nd move was that he weaponized the state budget."

Sound familiar?
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@npr.org included denialism from a nationalist who lobbied for Hungary in the USA, positioned gerrymandering, media repression, & taking over courts as claims by “critics,” & aired a claim that illiberal acts eroding democracy was just a party pursuing a mandate after an election.

Sound familiar?
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NPR.org is unable or unwilling to differentiate American conservatives from nationalists, even after defunding & lies by the Trump administration about public media.

Fact: Trump’s illiberal acts explicitly parallel those of Orbán.

The playbook was in Project 2025, which Trump lied about to us.
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After reporting how OrbĂ n has eroded Hungarian democracy towards electoral autocracy, @npr.org fails.

He didn’t capture the imagination of “many US conservatives” *despite* these actions, but inspired American Christian nationalists *because* of them — folks like @jd-vance-1.bsky.social & Trump.
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It’s a fact that Orbán remade the courts, starved & limited independent press, changed the Constitution to consolidate power, passed laws & amendments to stifle civil society & NGOs, & fostered “a culture of corruption that benefits a “clique of wealthy oligarchs.”
@NPR.org used “critics say.”
Weak.
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In May 2025, @npr.org accurately reported that Hungary “inspires American conservatives” because Orbán had created an “electoral autocracy, a hybrid political system that injects authoritarian methods into what appear to be democratic institutions and structures,” but failed to connect the dots.
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Far-right nationalism, if it’s unclear, is fascism — not constitutional conservatism.
The US Holocaust Museum has a useful reference:
encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/fascism-1
Fascists reject liberal democracy & seek a one-party authoritarian state ruled by a strongman with the threat of violence.
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Why does this matter? Why bother criticizing the Post or (beleaguered) public media?
Because they’re pulling punches in reporting that should explicitly connect far-right nationalism in Hungary (& its ties to Russia) with Trump & Vance’s ideology in the USA, including what it *means* for Americans.
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@npr.org staff know Orbán who is, what he believes, & what he’s done. @robschmitz.bsky.social reported he’s a far right leader
www.npr.org/2026/04/05/nx-s1-5770205/will-hungarys-far-right-leader-viktor-orban-be-voted-out-of-power But NPR falls on the crutch that he’s “criticized” for corruption, illiberalism, & ties to Russian, instead straight reporting that of the truth.
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In contrast, @washingtonpost.com described Orbán as a far-right nationalist who is Trump & Vance’s “closest ideological ally in Europe” but changed a headline that (accurately) described him as “aligned” with Trump’s movement & (incorrectly) with conservatives.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/07/vance-orban-trump-election/
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In a follow up segment on @npr.org’s All Things Considered that was even more muddled, @robschmitz.bsky.social accurately described Orban as “one of Europe’s far-right’s strongest allies” — but did not identify him, Trump, or Vance as far-right Christian nationalists.
www.npr.org/2026/04/07/nx-s1-5775711/vp-vance-is-in-budapest-to-support-hungarian-pm-orban-who-is-trailing-in-the-polls
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Yesterday, @amartinezla.bsky.social identified Hungarian PM Victor Orbán as a “nationalist” in a @npr.org segment on VP @jd-vance-1.bsky.social campaigning there.

@robschmitz.bsky.social identified an opposition candidate in Hungary as a “conservative.”

But NPR failed to explain the differences.
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On @npr.org this AM, @francoordonez.bsky.social broadcast Trump’s debunked lie about NATO allies not coming to our aid (they did, after the US was attacked on 9/11/2001!) while failing to report key context: Congress banned every POTUS from unilaterally withdrawing without advice & consent in 2024.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
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State of the Future @sotf.org.uk
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The growing case to protect FOI www.mysociety.org/2026/04/08/the-growing-case-to-protect-foi/

Great summary by @juliacushion.bsky.social of responses to recent threats to freedom of information

We, @mysociety.org & others are exploring what an FOI Network could look like

Next online workshop: Wed 15 April luma.com/y12euvs2
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
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Wessel van Rensburg @wildebees.bsky.social
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The paper argues that the most effective response to misinformation is not simply to make people better at rejecting falsehoods, but to make societies better at producing, trusting, and circulating reliable information.
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
2d
Unprecedented corruption
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Reposted by Alexander Howard
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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social
2d
Difficult to describe how unusual it is for @icrc.org to speak publicly like this.

"Heavy explosive weapons with wide-area effects struck densely populated urban areas, including the capital Beirut, without effective advance warnings."

ICRC Outraged by Deadly Strikes in Densely Populated Areas
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Just in case you could benefit from hearing Daphne’s warbling howl & woof, here is a young golden spaniel expressing her displeasure about your correspondent recording her instead of immediately commencing with throwing her ball.

She’s a sweet pirate who loves you, too, if you need #pawstivity đŸŠźđŸŸâ€ïž
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