Bud Heckman
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budheckman.bsky.social
Bud Heckman
@budheckman.bsky.social
Guiding nonprofits & foundations.
Leading in Interfaith & Climate Action.
Press, speech, religion, petition, & assembly.
Funding, comms, & strategy.
Empathy, community, action.
interreligious.org
An interesting interactive tool from the Pew Research Center on where Americans get their news from and which news sources they trust, including breakdowns by political party and age group.

See: www.pewresearch.org/journalism/f...
News Media Tracker
Pew Research Center’s News Media Tracker shows data on Americans’ awareness of, use of and trust in 30 major news sources to map out part of the U.S. media ecosystem.
www.pewresearch.org
June 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM
This is a valuable new resource for scholars to explore work in light of the US's democratic slide towards autocracy. It is especially interesting to see the tracker (first comment), which catalogs the current US administration's efforts to dismantle democracy and establish an authoritarian state.
June 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has posted a tracker for nonprofit job losses. This is an odd follow-up to its much-talked-about publication of a list of the big foundations that the new presidential administration might attack.

www.philanthropy.com/article/10-0...
April 11, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Helpful new resources from the Independent Sector:
1) 𝐓𝐚𝐱 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫
Monitors federal tax & other legislation.
2) 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫
Tracks federal & state-level litigation.
3) 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫
Follows executive actions by the WH.
independentsector.org/policy/track...
Tracking the Policy Landscape for the Charitable Sector - Independent Sector
Tracking the Policy Landscape for the Charitable Sector Independent Sector and partners are providing three trackers to monitor policy actions that could impact the charitable sector. These include: T...
independentsector.org
April 11, 2025 at 6:20 PM
"For Augustine, the problem in our loving is not that it is too public but that it is too private, inordinately delimited to the narrow confines of our individual desires and interests. Like Jesus, Augustine presses us to expand our love outward..."
Zachary Taylor: martycenter.org/sightings/th...
The Problem with JD Vance’s Augustine
Vance draws on Augustine's City of God to justify prioritizing fellow citizens over migrants, but Augustine’s understanding of love challenges such a view.
martycenter.org
April 9, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Where did the tariff idea come from?
Jared found Peter Navarro searching for economic advisors online. He presented Navarro. Where did Navarro get the idea of tariffs? He cites Ron Vara in his books.
The problem? Navarro made up Ron Vara (anagram of his own name) as a source!
youtu.be/MJbZCbBLqkk
The ridiculous real story behind the tariff plan that turned Donald Trump into a global disaster
YouTube video by MSNBC
youtu.be
April 5, 2025 at 7:38 PM
𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙘𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙢?

Take these steps to limit how Meta and others profit from you and your data.

Navigate to the Accounts Center in the Facebook or Instagram app. On the Settings pages, look for the Accounts Center.

/1
January 25, 2025 at 4:27 PM
To protect yourself, take a few minutes and clean up how Meta and its infinite partners are using your data. You may be surprised!

www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

And give @eff.org a follow!
Mad at Meta? Don't Let Them Collect and Monetize Your Personal Data
If you’re fed up with Meta right now, you’re not alone. Meta tracks you across millions of websites and apps and its business model relies on your data. If you want to limit Meta’s ability to collect ...
www.eff.org
January 23, 2025 at 7:04 PM
There are a lot of storylines to the LA area fires. Climate change, geography, fire department budget cuts, water supply issues, fleeing insurance companies...a series of things are getting the blame. But there is also a little-known, underlying story about California's water... /1
January 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
If you are in higher education, you will benefit from listening to this three-episode story by The Boston Globe and The Globe's podcast, "The Harvard Plan." You will want to catch the third episode - "Universities are the Enemy." /1
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Harvard Plan Pt. 3: “The Universities Are The Enemy”
Podcast Episode · The Globe · 12/20/2024 · 50m
podcasts.apple.com
December 23, 2024 at 6:24 PM
What would be your 2024 word of the year suggestion?
Some picks to date...
Merriam-Webster: 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Oxford: 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗼𝘁
Cambridge: 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁
Collins: 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁
Dictionary(dot)com: 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗲
December 11, 2024 at 7:27 PM
"If you think "critical of" equals "biased about"..."
LA Times owner plans to add AI-powered ‘bias meter’ on news stories, sparking newsroom backlash. www.cnn.com/2024/12/05/m... "The reader can press a button and get both sides of that exact same story," says the owner.

If you think "critical of" equals "biased about" then you may enjoy this machine.
LA Times owner plans to add AI-powered ‘bias meter’ on news stories, sparking newsroom backlash | CNN Business
Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who blocked the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris and plans to overhaul its editorial board, says he will implement an artificial intelligence-power...
www.cnn.com
December 6, 2024 at 5:24 PM
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 is available for pre-order now. It will release on Dec. 19. I was honored to contribute a chapter on "𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮."

Review the full text or pre-order: www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...
The Routledge Handbook of Politics and Religion in Contemporary America
The Routledge Handbook of Politics and Religion in Contemporary America is a comprehensive reference source to this significant, controversial and consistent topic in America’s politics. It examines t...
www.routledge.com
December 6, 2024 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Bud Heckman
So if Musk owns all the accounts on X, then he owns all the content on those accounts and can be held responsible for everything that appears on X, right? Defamation attorneys, start your engines.
Musk's complaint is that the sale includes Infowars' accounts on X, and Musk's legal team wants it to be clear they actually own those accounts, not The Onion or Infowars, and all people and organizations on the platform have a "license" to use it, not ownership.

www.rawstory.com/infowars-267...
'Highly unusual': Elon Musk's X objects to very specific piece of The Onion's Infowars bid
Satirical newspaper The Onion made waves when it moved to buy the assets of Infowars, the far-right conspiracy theory webcast of Alex Jones, from a bankruptcy auction. But there was a sudden, unexpect...
www.rawstory.com
November 26, 2024 at 10:08 PM
November 25, 2024 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Bud Heckman
The usual suspects are out there yelling "There are 23 million government workers! Fire most of them!" No awareness that most work for local governments, and most of *them* are schoolteachers. Federal employment hasn't grown since the 1950s
November 23, 2024 at 2:06 PM
Christian Nationalism is assumed by the steps of Project 2025 & the interests of many of 47’s aides & appointees, including Hegseth.
To understand this better look at the many connections with someone like Pastor Doug Wilson, Christ Church, in Moscow, Idaho.

idahocapitalsun.com/2024/11/21/t...
Trump’s Defense secretary nominee has close ties to Idaho Christian nationalists • Idaho Capital Sun
Pete Hegseth, president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of Defense, has close ties to an Idaho-based Christian nationalist church.
idahocapitalsun.com
November 24, 2024 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Bud Heckman
If you want to turn a Bluesky Starter Pack into a list rather than follow everyone, Seth Miller (@wandrme.paxex.aero) has made a tool to convert starter packs into lists: nws-bot.us/bskyStarterP.... I've tested it and it works. He's made other tools - accessible from above URL - see screenshot.
November 22, 2024 at 11:09 PM
Fascinating feed about Elon's shift and obsession...
What does Elon Musk's online activity reveal about him? Going through nearly 40,000 posts over the past decade, and the policies implied or suggested in them, @ainsliejstone.bsky.social and I found a changed man
November 22, 2024 at 1:49 AM
Jane Ferguson (The New Yorker, PBS NewsHour) is announcing a new platform for journalists to monetize their content and offerings – Noosphere noosphere.app

Her announcement: www.linkedin.com/posts/jane-f...
noosphere.app
November 22, 2024 at 1:31 AM
Reposted by Bud Heckman
Babylon Bee Authors Exposed: An SPLC investigation into the Babylon Bee and its sister sites has unmasked the names of 14 pseudonymous authors responsible for anti-LGTBQ+, racist, and anti-immigrant articles on the Bee sites, as well as several scam businesses formerly run by Bee owner, Seth Dillon.
Inside the Beehive
An SPLC Data Lab investigation of anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-immigrant content on The Babylon Bee and its sister site, Not the Bee, has uncovered multiple controversial businesses formerly run by owner Seth...
www.splcenter.org
November 19, 2024 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Bud Heckman
Even babies learn that just because you cover your eyes in peekaboo games, things 1/

“The course changes at the University of North Texas’ college of education included removing words such as “race,” “gender,” “class” and “equity” from titles and descriptions.”

www.dallasnews.com/news/educati...
‘Race,’ ‘equity’ removed from UNT course titles to comply with Texas DEI ban, faculty say
The University of North Texas changed class titles and descriptions with some citing the state’s DEI ban though officials deny that’s the cause.
www.dallasnews.com
November 19, 2024 at 11:29 AM
Polarization and mis- and dis-information are deadly: "partisan divides during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 43% higher excess death rate among Republican voters compared to Democrats"

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Political polarization and health - Nature Medicine
Political polarization is an understudied determinant of health. This Review describes the types of political polarization and how they impact the health of populations and individuals, including pote...
www.nature.com
November 18, 2024 at 1:25 PM
"Christians...largely backed the most anti-climate candidate in history.... In a September 2024 poll, 82 percent of white evangelicals expressed support for the president-elect, along with 61 percent of white Catholics and 58 percent of white non-evangelical Protestants."
sojo.net/articles/opi...
The Future of Climate Action Is Bleak, But Don't Tune Out
Following religious teachings to “stay awake” will help us find the energy we need to rise and, eventually, to overcome.
sojo.net
November 18, 2024 at 1:07 PM