"We cannot afford to replace the critical tasks of federal workers with models that completely make stuff up. There is no substitute for the expertise of federal workers handling sensitive information and working on life-critical sectors ranging from health care to immigration."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/replacing-federal-workers-with-chatbots-would-be-a-dystopian-nightmare/

Today's story looks at how the POTUS's revenge tour is targeting cybersecurity leaders and election security efforts.

"President Trump last week revoked security clearances for Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) who was fired by Trump after declaring the 2020 election the most secure in U.S. history. The White House memo, which also suspended clearances for other security professionals at Krebs's employer SentinelOne, comes as CISA is facing huge funding and staffing cuts."

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/04/trump-revenge-tour-targets-cyber-leaders-elections/

In 2019 Carole Cadwalladr gave a TED talk that broke from their tradition of glowing techno-optimism. She told the world about the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. She was met with a lot of anger, and she got sued.

Now she's back with a talk about the "digital coup" in the US. I'll just quote a lot of the transcript. The whole transcript is here:

https://broligarchy.substack.com/p/speaking-truth-to-tech-gods-i-return

...

I have a lot of emotions about coming here. And TED, also, I suspect, is feeling them too. But what actually I finally realized yesterday is that the denial and the confusion that I've been feeling is maybe what you're feeling, too.

I felt powerless for a really long time. So if that's what you're feeling, I get it. But we have to act now. My alarm system is ringing again. There are things that we can do. In my case, I survived. And you will too. But it's by learning how to fight back. This is my guide, and it has to start with naming it. It's a coup.

I know you probably don't want to hear that, and especially here, but we can’t fight it if we can’t see it. And we can’t see it if we don’t name it.

The Russian and American presidents are now speaking the same words. They are telling the same lies. We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time. And this is just the start.

Coups are like concrete. When they stop moving, they set. It is already later than we think.

(1/n)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZOoT8AbkNE

“If you don’t see all of this as one of the darkest days in American history, in which the President is openly embracing disappearing people without due process in the name of “liberty,” you are a part of the problem. Fascism has risen in America, and it is being aided by a foreign dictator whom Trump admires.”

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/14/trump-bukele-plot-us-citizen-detention-in-salvadoran-torture-camps-while-defying-supreme-court-via-gibberish-responses-to-reporters/