Notices by Michael Downey 🚩 (downey@floss.social)

💰 Elon #Musk reportedly spent $40 million dollars on #SuperBowl ads calling #USAID wasteful.

🤯 Money that could have saved the lives of 25 million kids with malaria.

💡 At less than 1% of the US budget, USAID makes America safer, stronger and more secure.

🗣️ US folks, tell Congress that for pennies on the dollar, foreign aid is a deal it can't afford to lose.

📺 And watch THIS ad instead.

#StandWithUSAID #SaveForeignAid #USpol #SuperbOwlSunday

Personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC, and were stopped.

The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, two of the sources said.

Three of the sources said the DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to security systems and personnel files. Two of those sources said also they wanted access to classified information.

(2/3)

https://lite.cnn.com/2025/02/02/politics/usaid-officials-leave-musk-doge/index.html

#USpol #USAID #Resist #DOGE

🚨 Senior USAID security officials put on leave after refusing Musk’s DOGE access to agency systems

Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after refusing to allow officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar told CNN.

https://lite.cnn.com/2025/02/02/politics/usaid-officials-leave-musk-doge/index.html

#resist #USAID #USpol #Musk #Trump

@dansup Congrats, big achievement unlocked! 🎉

❓ Where do we find the source code for the app? It doesn't seem to be on https://github.com/orgs/joinloops/repositories

@Cattail

Surely it must simply be an oversight. What would there be to hide?

@dansup

@wearenew_public You mean Bluesky, the protocol started by billionaires and planning to become ad supported?

No Thanks, I'll still with things here on the #Fediverse where regular people are working together to run and build things.

@Slyphic @_elena It's not a news article from the news/editorial team, it's one of their "contributor" blogs.

https://joshsteimle.com/writing/how-being-a-forbes-contributor-works.html

🇺🇸 🚨 For the first time in 70 years, the US Centers for Disease Control did not publish its "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)" today.

☣️ This report would have shared several new discoveries about the active biosecurity threat #H5N1 bird flu.

⌛ Every day these public services are disrupted increases the risk and damage to the world.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index.html

#USpol #publicHealth #globalHealth #CDC #MMWR

Still tracking the fallout from #Meta #Facebook policy as the #FediPact grows.

Has anyone seen any servers specifically and recently announce they are *not* going to block/de-federate #Threads?

So far the only two I've seen are Fosstodon and Indie Web, neither of which are surprising to those who've followed their history.

Requesting #Fediverse opinions:

Before I arrived here, UNDP created a platform to work on "online information pollution" called iVerify. It was based on the (now defunct) CrowdTangle platform from Meta, Detoxify/Perspective, and Meedan Check.

We haven't yet had conversations about what's next for it.

What do we collectively think? Something worth continuing to invest in? Are there safer, more sustainable integrations? How might it keep up with new platforms?

(1/2)

:boost_love: #FediAdmin

(2/2) More on the project at

https://www.undp.org/digital/iverify

https://github.com/undp/iVerify-Apps

#misinformation #disinformation #factChecking

:twitter: Elon Musk Wealth
2012: $2,000,000,000.00
2023: $234,000,000,000.00
2025: $432,600,000,000.00

:facebook: Mark Zuckerberg Wealth
2009: $2,000,000,000.00
2023: $105,000,000,000.00
2025: $214,000,000,000.00

👷🏽 US Federal Minimum Wage Workers:
2009: $7.25
2023: $7.25
2025: $7.25

➡️ "The cage match we should pay attention to is the one the billionaire class is waging against the working class." - Warren Gunnels

#classWar #capitalism #minimumWage #USpol #Musk #zuck #Zuckerberg

🇺🇸 :flag_un: The United States has just withdrawn its funding for the World Health Organization, who for 75 years have led the charge to protect lives and improve health everywhere.

🌍 Please give what you can.

https://donate.who.foundation

#WHO #USpol #health #healthcare #WorldHealthOrganization #UN #UnitedNations

As my dayjob demands increase, 2025 brings to a close my tenure on the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors. I remain a GNOME user, supporter, advocate and donor, and I still strongly support the community's work and mission to bring a pleasant and easy-to-use free software desktop experience to people everywhere.

Times are tough for many open source projects struggling to find the resources to meet their growing demand; GNOME is no exception. Please help if you can:

https://www.gnome.org/donate

@evan FWIW, Nike actively doesn't allow employees — or visitors — to wear competitors' products while on the property of their headquarters campus.

🇨🇵 Who do we know in the Fediverse based in or near #Paris #France and working on #OpenSource strategy, policy, etc.? Bonus points if a funder or if in government of some kind.

:boost_love: #boostsAppreciated

#askFedi #FreeSoftware #FLOSS #FOSS

:flag_un: Had a good meeting today about our #UN systemwide OSPO teams' plans to bring the world's #OpenSource community back to UNHQ in #NewYork again this summer. We got a ton of great feedback that we've been able to integrate into this year's plans.

Still a few things to be approved, but should be an even bigger and better event than last year. More soon.

🎉 Our team is excited to start our work building national-level OSPOs to support responsible, sustainable scaling of #OpenSource for public services. First up, #Trinidad and #Tobago - with more to come. Read more:

https://www.undp.org/digital/news/new-open-source-programme-office-trinidad-and-tobago-sets-out-catalyze-digital-public-services

#OSPO #TT #FreeSoftware #FOSS #FLOSS

Open Steamroller Initiative

#OSI #OpenSource #AI #OpenSourceAI #OSAID

Comparing it to #OpenSource Software, the head of the #OSI says:

"#AI needs similar freedom to flourish."

Except that the Free Software & Open Source movements were (until recently!) not about the freedom of technology or its makers. It was all about the needs & liberation of those using that technology.

Now the very group self-charged with protecting OSS weaken it.

IMHO the disappointing #OSAID catastrophe is a great example of what happens when you de-center everyday people from strategy.