How can DOGE fix federal IT? Lock out vendor lock-in

In the midst of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s headline-making actions, it’s a good time to remember that DOGE’s mandate is to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity” by “modernizing federal technology and software.” Federal IT is a worthy target for Musk and his team of efficiency hackers. It’s overpriced, with various estimates pegging the government’s costs at two to four times the private sector’s. It underdelivers compared to what’s available outside of government, as anyone who has held positions in both sectors will attest. And it is difficult to…

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Migrants Are Heading South

In the north of Costa Rica, an irregular dirt path runs parallel to the highway that connects the country with Nicaragua at the Las Tablillas border post. When torrential downpours flood the Río Frío and drench the surrounding lowland forest, the trail turns into a viscous paste that sucks at the shoes of migrants crossing the border by foot; they often leave their ruined sneakers behind once they make it across. On a visit to the area last month, I saw hundreds of discarded shoes, sun-bleached and caked in dust.…

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Harvard Still Wants Its DC Sugar Daddy

“No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” This defiant and bipartisan defense of the purity of education, delivered by Harvard President Alan Garber, sounds fantastic, right? After all, what society that pretends to value objectivity would dare to allow a government to control the educational decisions of private institutions? Barack Obama—blessed is he—agreed, celebrating Harvard as a shining beacon of academic freedom! “Harvard has set an example…

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The White House is starting a new media policy that restricts wire services’ access to the president

Fresh from a courtroom loss over The Associated Press’ access to the presidency, the White House on Tuesday put forward a new media policy that sharply curtails access to Donald Trump by news agencies that serve media outlets around the world. It was the latest attempt by the new administration to control coverage of its activities. The Washington Times stories: White House

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White House proposes drastic cuts to State Department and funding for UN, NATO and other groups

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has proposed gutting the State Department’s budget by almost 50%, closing a number of overseas diplomatic missions, slashing the number of diplomatic staff, and eliminating funding for nearly all international organizations, including the United Nations, many of its agencies and for NATO headquarters, officials said. The proposal, which was presented to the State Department last week and is still in a highly preliminary phase, is not expected to pass muster with either the department’s leadership or Congress, which will…

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We’re About to Find Out What Mass Deportation Really Looks Like

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. The Trump administration is working hard to convince the public that its mass-deportation campaign is fully under way. Over the past several weeks, federal agents have seized foreign students off the streets, raided worksites, and shipped detainees to a supermax prison in El Salvador using wartime powers adopted under the John Adams administration. The tactics have spread fear and created a showreel of social-media-ready highlights for the White House. But they have not…

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