The Idea That Once Held America Together Died in 2025; The New York Times, December 24, 2025

 John Fabian Witt , The New York Times; The Idea That Once Held America Together Died in 2025

"In a year when the United States seemed more split than ever, Americans united in one way: We demanded results, and we wanted them now. From ICE raids designed as a theater of terror and GLP-1 shortcuts for weight loss to A.I.-generated term papers, rampaging DOGE bros and summary Alien Enemies Act deportations, America raged against the journey and clamored for the destination, no matter what the lawyers and the chatbot therapists said. Outcomes seemed to be all that mattered. Winners win. Losers follow rules and talk it over.

The pattern was most conspicuous in a Washington that swept aside norms, starting with President Trump’s Inauguration Day assembly of billionaires and followed by a Project 2025-led smashing of the traditional rituals of administration. Regular order in Congress gave way to a federal shutdown, ad hoc continuing resolutions and forced votes on bills like the Epstein Files Transparency Act. With impoundments, the White House upended the Constitution’s carefully choreographed system for enacting spending bills. “Detain first, think later” became the angry spirit of immigration enforcement, even as the “Department of War” (renamed without the required congressional process) launched “kinetic strikes” that summarily executed dozens of people accused of being drug couriers."

Are Open Data Efforts Working?; Government Technology, March 2018

Adam Stone, Government Technology; Are Open Data Efforts Working?

"Data managers say that in their fondest dreams, they’ll do more than count data sets and track clicks. They are looking for metrics that connect open data to social outcomes.

Are babies healthier because of open data? Are streets safer? That’s the holy grail of open data metrics, and data chiefs from cities large and small agree that we’re not there yet. In these still-early days of open data, there’s no algorithm that will cleanly and clearly describe the impact of open data on society at large.

“There needs to be more conversation at the national level about how to measure success, especially on the public side,” Roche said. “Maybe there needs to be a standard set of metrics across cities to let us benchmark the use of open data. It’s something we all need to be exploring.”"