Jon Camfield
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Jon Camfield
@joncamfield.com
220 followers 310 following 8 posts
Find me at https://mastodon.social/@joncamfield , or my bridged account here: https://bsky.app/profile/joncamfield.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
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Jon Camfield @joncamfield.com · Nov 8
Don't take my flurry of activity here as much of a sign of any long term presence here; I'm happily set up on Mastodon/fediverse. I'd much rather see you all over on there anyhow! (which if you set up a bridge, maybe I can?)
Reposted by Jon Camfield
jacobharr.is
Chilling details from a lawsuit against DOGE by USADF about how much of a lie DOGE's "IT modernization" is (the best way to describe it is if someone comes from the cable company and then says because he's in your house, he's allowed to do a home invasion) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
On February 20, 2025, Chris Young, a senior member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team met with the USADF leadership team, including me, at headquarters. Young explained that he was there to introduce DOGE to the Agency. He also announced that two software engineers would be assigned to the Agency to modernize the Agency’s IT systems and create efficiencies in our operations. During discussions, I stated to Mr. Young that modernizing our IT systems and databases was welcome news and that we fully supported the mission of using technology to create a more efficient workforce. Mr. Young spoke about his experience in Africa as a child of missionaries and stated that he has seen first-hand the many problems that USADF is trying to address. He mentioned that due to the urgency of responding to the President’s Executive Order aimed at USADF, the two engineers would come to the Agency the next day on February 21st. 4. On February 21, Ethan Shaotran, Jacob Altik, and Nate Cavanaugh arrived at USADF. Shaotran and Cavanaugh introduced themselves as IT personnel from GSA. Altik stated that he was a lawyer from the White House Personnel Office. They explained that we needed to immediately sign a memorandum of understanding for their detail assignment. 5. Once the MOU was signed, Altik explained the true purpose of the meeting, which was to provide USADF leadership with DOGE’s interpretation of the “minimum presence and function” required by USADF’s statute. DOGE read the statute to mean: 1) only the USADF Board and President/CEO are statutorily required, 2) only one or two grants funded by private sector partnerships are required, and 3) all other personnel/employees therefore needed to be eliminated under the Executive Order. 6. Altik stated that his next step was to present a RIF plan (where all USADF staff would be fired) to the board for approval by Monday, February 24. Altik threatened that if the Board didn’t approve the plan, the Board would be dismissed.
March 18, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
erictopol.bsky.social
A nonsensical threat to:
One of the most important advances in biotechnology of our time, already being used to successfully treat refractory cancers, enable genome editing, develop vaccines for infectious diseases for which there are none, treat autoimmune diseases, and more.
March 17, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
americanfietser.bsky.social
Share the media.
The news is compromised.
We're starting to boil over.
March 15, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
atrupar.com
Trump at the DOJ: "I believe that CNN and MSNDC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal. What they do is illegal."
March 14, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
davelevitan.bsky.social
NEW: I heard from a *bunch* of federal employees tonight with more backbone that Chuck Schumer. Spread the word!

"Shutdowns suck, but what we’re experiencing is something much much worse and now is the moment to stand against it or you’re abdicating your duty as an elected official.”
'If You Don't Fight, You Can't Win': Federal Employees Want Chuck Schumer and the Democrats to Grow a Spine
Splinter is your home for news and opinions that challenge power in our political and economic system that's becoming more unhinged each and every day.
www.splinter.com
March 14, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
acyn.bsky.social
AOC: It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect social security, protect medicaid, and protect medicare.
March 14, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
ocasio-cortez.house.gov
Republicans’ partisan spending bill turns the federal government into a slush fund for Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

It’s unthinkable that any Senate Democrat would hand them a blank check by voting for cloture.
March 14, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
dansinker.com
Lol tell it to USAID
schumer.senate.gov Chuck Schumer @schumer.senate.gov · Mar 14
If we enter a shutdown, Congressional Republicans would weaponize their majorities to cherry-pick which parts of government to reopen.
March 14, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
faineg.bsky.social
Brooklyn, it is time to go yell at Chuck Schumer
kitabet.bsky.social Elizabeth @kitabet.bsky.social · Mar 14
traditionally people assemble on the sidewalk in Brooklyn to yell at him outside his apartment
March 14, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Individual Border Patrol agents knew they were doing this, and a supervisor signed off on it.
March 13, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
donmoyn.bsky.social
“Johns Hopkins has bet very heavily on a century and a quarter of partnership with the federal government. If the federal government decides it doesn’t want to know things anymore, that would be bad for Johns Hopkins and devastating for Maryland.”
March 12, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
tahir.bsky.social
There is a real, genuine 1st Amendment crisis in the United States right now.

The government is openly retaliating against anyone with a viewpoint it doesn't like: Pro-Palestinian protesters, law schools teaching Black History, pro-immigration public service loan forgiveness seekers.
March 9, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
puregonz0.bsky.social
Dems got tricked into banning TikTok and letting Republicans/Trump swoop in like heroes to save it while potentially delivering the influential app right into the hands of nefarious actors. This is the same thing. They are being tricked into destroying the open Internet. They're a party of rubes.
February 21, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
rebeccaplevin.bsky.social
Following a loud public outcry about job cuts at the National Parks Service — and a relentless media campaign from outdoors enthusiasts across the country — it looks like the Trump administration has blinked.

via @jackdolan.bsky.social
Trump administration backtracks on eliminating thousands of national parks employees
Following a loud public outcry, and relentless media campaign from outdoors enthusiasts, the Trump administration has reversed course on a plan to eliminate thousands of seasonal workers at the Nation...
www.latimes.com
February 21, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
alecmuffett.bsky.social
Apple in 2016 | A Message to Our Customers | “…government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers…”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/112421
#EndToEndEncryption #HomeOffice #apple #surveillance #tcn
Apple in 2016 | A Message to Our Customers | “…government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers…”
A follower on Twitter reminded me of the message that Apple published in February 2016; the nature of British surveillance requests will probably prevent them sharing similar to the UK today, but t…
alecmuffett.com
February 21, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
adambonica.bsky.social
The DOGE firings have nothing to do with “efficiency” or “cutting waste.” They’re a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning. 🧵⬇️
Scatterplot titled “Empirical Evidence of Ideological Targeting in Federal Layoffs: Agencies seen as liberal are significantly more likely to face DOGE layoffs.” • The x-axis represents Perceived Ideological Leaning of federal agencies, ranging from -2 (Most Liberal) to +2 (Most Conservative), based on survey responses from over 1,500 federal executives. • The y-axis shows Agency Size (Number of Staff) on a logarithmic scale from 1,000 to 1,000,000. Each point represents a federal agency: • Red dots indicate agencies that experienced DOGE layoffs. • Gray dots indicate agencies with no layoffs. Key Observations: • Liberal-leaning agencies (left side of the plot) are disproportionately represented among red dots, indicating higher layoff rates. • Notable targeted agencies include: • HHS (Health & Human Services) • EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) • NIH (National Institutes of Health) • CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) • Dept. of Education • USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) • The National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE), despite its conservative leaning (+1 on the scale), is an exception among targeted agencies. • A notable outlier: the Department of Veterans Affairs (moderately conservative) also faced layoffs despite its size. Takeaway: The figure visually demonstrates that DOGE layoffs disproportionately targeted liberal-leaning agencies, supporting claims of ideological bias. The pattern reveals that layoffs were not driven by agency size or budget alone but were strongly associated with perceived ideology. Source: Richardson, Clinton, & Lewis (2018). Elite Perceptions of Agency Ideology and Workforce Skill. The Journal of Politics, 80(1).
February 20, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
makenakelly.bsky.social
I'm hearing now that *every* technologist CFPB hired to investigate Big Tech was fired this evening. That's somewhere between 70-100 people.

wired.com/story/dozens-of-cfpb-workers-terminated-in-after-hours-firing-blitz/
Dozens of CFPB Workers Fired in After-Hours Blitz
Some affected employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were notified with an email that addressed them as [EmployeeFirstName][EmployeeLastName], [Job Title], [Division].
wired.com
February 14, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
clancyny.bsky.social
Authoritarians ask Musk to turn over lists of USAID staff

The prime minister of Slovakia asked Musk to share information about NGOs and reporters who worked there.

In Russia, the state duma speaker said, if USAID is an enemy organization, Russia wants a list, "and we’ll hand it over to the FSB.”
Authoritarian leaders in former Soviet bloc seize on Musk’s USAid crackdown
Region’s autocrats join in persecution of agency that provided aid and helped to build up civil society in 1990s
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
obarcala.bsky.social
"For the first time in US history, the federal government has moved noncitizens apprehended and detained in the US on civil immigration charges to the Naval Station at Guantanamo . . . And it is holding them incommunicado, without access to attorneys, family, or the outside world."
February 12, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
anneapplebaum.bsky.social
Loyalty tests are a classic feature of the autocratic playbook

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
U.S. intelligence, law enforcement candidates face Trump loyalty test
Candidates for top intelligence and law enforcement jobs were asked to give “yes” or “no” responses to questions such as: Was Jan. 6 “an inside job?”
www.washingtonpost.com
February 10, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
normative.bsky.social
They’re laying the groundwork to start ignoring court orders.
lizcheney.bsky.social Liz Cheney @lizcheney.bsky.social · Feb 9
JD Vance - If you believe any of the multiple federal courts that have ruled against you so far are exceeding their statutory or Constitutional authority, your recourse is to appeal. You don’t get to rage-quit the Republic just because you are losing. That’s tyranny.
February 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Jon Camfield
pkrugman.bsky.social
It could mean that the world financial system melts down when investors realize that Elon Musk may selectively default on US debt. Just saying.
February 10, 2025 at 12:06 AM