Michael Morisy

@morisy.bsky.social

1585 Followers 2332 Following

civic transparency for a better tomorrow. founder, MuckRock. also caretaker of DocumentCloud, FOIA Machine, and many other internet friends.

Security poster saying Up Tight and Out of Sight with a cool looking dude.
Screenshot of Reddit threads of people mourning the discontinuation of Muji's Passport Memo sized notepads.
dozens of spam replies that are nonsensical in context of responding to a FOIA newsletter.
A series of emails from random names saying "I'm not able to provide that type of information" in reponse to a MuckRock newsletter.
An email response that reads: Thank you for contacting us. We're currently experiencing a high volume of requests. For a faster response, please try reaching out to us by (insert alternative ways to contact your support team).
A screenshot showing the page_count: search in DocumentCloud, allowing you to filter by document size range.
A window showing a dropdown of search options in the DocumentCloud.org interface!
Reddit Post: "...but the over the top gesticulations are a big distraction." Probably listening to the voice of the consultants. Dr. Knabb on The Weather Channel does the same thing: great weather information with nearly Olympic sized gymnastic gestures and over-shouting while his microphone tries to overcompensate for the volume. If it gets the audiences' attention, the news directors usually love it. My last station in Memphis spent huge amounts of money on consultants. One team told me to be as described above: loud and gesture more often and to "be bold about it" while on the green screen. Took several times to get it right with them. When I did what they suggested on-air on the next newscast, my news director called me into his office afterwards to say "What the hell was that about?!" I told him I was doing exactly what the hired consultants told me to do and showed him their "cheat sheet" report card they had given me with their suggestions noted. After a few seconds of embarrassed silence, I was told: "Well, just tone it down a bit."
Email reading: Hi Michael, Saw on your website that MuckRock Foundation empowers citizens with tools for government transparency. Just like how MuckRock Foundation empowers transparency through accessible government documents, Pacific Associates empowers financial freedom by providing strategic no-interest programs to tackle high-interest debt. Basically, we can help you lower your rates to zero, cut your monthly payments by 50%, and finish your debt within 2 to 4 years. Open to seeing how it works? Respectfully, Cassandra Blakeley Business Development Pacific Associates | Irvine, CA
Subject line reads: Want exclusive access to limited edition scents?
A long block of numbers: 5632,25645,25665,25683,25698,25732,25739,25920,25937,26000,26058,26379,26487,26604,26651,26847,26849,27061,27274,27648,27656,27894,27979,27981,27985,28061,28069,28192,28193,28197,28251,28392,28444,2879,28815,28828,28937,28938,29176,29376,29403,29435,29768,29803,29910,30089,30193,30202,30223,30249,30252,30256,30275,30276,30403,30451,30810,30896,30897,31234,31355,31394,31411,31450,31590,31741,31751,31762,31835,31874,31885,31886,31932,31957,31970,32147,32152,3232,32521,32522,32658,32741,32843,32948,32972,33227,33280,33281,33284,33307,33317,33377,33412,33476,33492,33493,33527,33529,33530,33539,33616,33639,33835,33846,34070,34333,34497,34498,34526,34625,34717,34743,34805,35037,35088,35255,35394,35445,35447,35518,35519,35664,35841,36880,37011,37147,37310,37327,37333,37481,37570,37575,37577,37578,37580,37605,37708,37853,37859,37956,37960,37962,38000,38079,38233,38542,38557,38635,38644,38645,38646,38851,39024,39025,39040,39042,39044,39047,39054,39055,39056,39062,39063,39072,39073,39074,39097,39143,39266,39322,39336,39385,39451,39616,39652,39950,39951,40012,40252,40279,40396,40398,40468,40566,40570,40600,40644,40645,411,41238,41266,41630,41894,42295,42535,42937,43039,43041,43139,43942,44523,44535,44540,44684,44823,44914,45000,45396,45758,45773,45918,45987,46028,46249,46334,46336,46417,46486,46688,46756,46758,46759,46762,46773,46856,46857,46894,46912,46973,46979,47087,47359,47512,47763,47773,47809,47852,48046,48290,48439,48765,48851,4893,49258,49260,49306,49308,49309,49578,4998,50144,50145,50172,50176,50181,50185,50192,50403,50404,50408,50409,50508,51208,51216,51444,5150,51500,51526,5155,51652,51692,51695,51717,51950,52016,52101,52201,52322,52323,52362,52394,52702,52721,52749,52903,53039,53241,53457,53518,53524,53573,53843,53851,53874,54630,54652,55069,55670,55705,55732,56141,56264,56532,56725,56736,56757,56758,56897,56898,57031,5713,57287,57512,57513,57514,57552,57605,58183,58201,58206,58331,58397,58454,58731,58732,59056,59060,59493,59494,59550,59670…
A long list of exemptions to public records law: Missouri Section 610.021(1) RSMo Missouri Section 610.021(13) RSMo Missouri Section 610.021(2) Missouri Section 610.021(3) Missouri Section 610.021(3) RSMo Missouri Section 610.022 Missouri Sections 217.075(3) RSMo Missouri Vague or Not Reasonably Described Missouri attorney work product Missouri privileged or is otherwise protected by law Missouri section 217.075.1(1) Missouri § 610.021(1) Missouri § 610.021(3) Montana 43 C.F.R. § 2.51(c) Montana 43 C.F.R. § 2.6(c) Montana 43 CFR 2.5(d) Montana Confidential Criminal Justice Information Montana FC23-2175 Montana MCA § 3-15-402 Montana Materials Publicly Available Montana McBurney, et al. v. Young, et al., 133 1709, 1716 (2013) Montana Montana Code Annotated 2-6-102 Montana Montana Code Annotated § 44-5-103(13) Montana Montana's Constitution, Article II, § 9 Montana No Responsive Documents Montana Not Applicable Montana Requester Non-Responsive Montana Section 2-6-1002(1)(a) Montana Section 2-6-1002(1)(b) Montana Section 3-15-402, MCA Montana Title 2, Chapter 6 of Montana Code Annotated
The materials responsive to your request are exempt from disclosure as, among other classifications, security.
A Reddit ad asking if you love “raccoon management sims” and suggesting one to buy.
Private equity is becoming part of college sports, after several stalled attempts. Driving the news: The University of Utah's board of trustees yesterday unanimously approved the creation of a for-profit company in partnership with Otro Capital, a New York-based firm formed in 2023 by RedBird Capital Partners alumni. It will be called Utah Brands & Entertainment, once the legal paperwork is completed, and will manage a variety of UU athletic operations — including media, hospitality, licensing, and finance. Otro is cornerstone equity investor, albeit with a minority stake, and would receive a percentage of annual revenue. Major UU donors also are expected to participate, with total investment expected to approach $500 million.
An idiotic email pitch on how great I am using AI sycophancy in order to try to sell something. Representative sample: You’ve already proven excellence. Now it’s about compounding it as a founder. At TopLeads, we help A-Grade founders build outbound systems that run like infra, not hustle: → 600 sends/day → 8–15 qualified replies/month → $2.1K setup | <$200/month to run
Reddit Post Screenshot Reading: Nexstar told stations we wouldn’t run Kimmel tonight, but they didn’t bother to pull the ABC ads which said, “Hey, Kimmel is back on!” We are already producing long newscasts to fill the gap. By the way, no direct word from higher-ups. No company-wide email, just trickled-down half-communications to station managers and news directors. I’d bet they’ll get mad about all the overtime we’re running for this. Our in and out times have been insane, and there has been no guidance to the production side. Hell, half of them today weren’t even informed about the extended newscasts when they began. Aside from all the absolute BS regarding the FCC, this makes me just want to walk away. This has been the worst past week I’ve ever had in my career. How am I supposed to justify myself as a responsible journalist when I’m being told not to run stories about the BIGGEST story of the day? How am I supposed to justify myself when all I can tell people is “it wasn’t our choice”? Emails, phone calls during the show (which I answer if I can catch them), Facebook comments, people angry and under the belief that yes it is indeed our local station’s choice for this crap. We complain to our ND, who is telling the station manager about our complaints, and that’s where it just stops. Our corporate overlords don’t give a shit about us, and while I’ve known that a long time, it’s becoming harder to look away from. I’ve never felt this disheartened in a news job before. I love my job, and I love my community, but with the Kimmel mess, I wonder if it’s even worth it. Anyways, thanks for letting me complain. Fruitful and good news days to all who read.
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In fact, cellphone bans are not enough. We also need to curtail the Chromebooks and most other classroom tech. A Chromebook—or especially a Macbook—can easily serve as a big-old phone, allowing kids to cheat, text, and even gamble on sports (happening at my kids’ high school, I hear!) instead of listening to their teacher.
A Mac finder window showing a 110MB HTML file, which is way too much HTML for one file.
A retro-futuristic schematic of a tiki drink with rum, rum, grapefruit, and more rum. The cocktail is called the "Self-Destruct Sequence."
Press release reading: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, October 22 – The Intelligent Design Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Club at Cornell is deeply concerned with President Hunter Rawlings' blatant disregard for the facts concerning Intelligent Design in Friday's State of the University Address. In a speech usually reserved for current university business, he spent over two thirds of his time blasting the emerging ID theory as anti-scientific and religious in an unscrupulous, unknowledgeable manner. Intelligent Design (ID) is a scientific theory which holds that certain features of the universe and living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, and are not the result of an undirected, chance-based process such as Darwinian evolution. It follows the principles of the scientific method, scorns the biases of either religion or naturalism, and attempts to follow all the available evidence to a valid conclusion. ID is testable and falsifiable, and so far it's predictions have repeatedly been shown accurate. The IDEA Club at Cornell holds that the problems with Neo-Darwinian evolution can no longer be ignored, and it is time for true research and debate about the issues surrounding the beginnings of life to take place at universities across the country. Attacking ID as a non-scientist and without addressing it's scientific claims, Rawlings states that it is religion masquerading as science and is a religious belief at it's core. This gross misstatement is a disservice to unbiased discourse, besides being an insult to people of faith throughout America. Ad hominem attacks and confusing people's religious beliefs with their scientific research is not befitting a university president. We would hope Rawlings will instead follow Cornell's often lauded commitment to a free and open exchange of ideas.
An email to a mailing list about AS/400 computers with subject line starting "An interesting way to advertise a conference ..." and body text ".. with a iPhone app:" and a link to iTunes.
Forum post: To anyone saying this post was written by AI—yes, of course it was. That’s how things work now. I speech to text in my own words, then I use ChatGPT to sharpen it into something clearer and more readable. It’s a tool, like any other. If that bothers you, maybe it’s time to stop reading or reconsider how you use the internet. This is modern communication. If you can’t get past the fact that AI helped tighten the language, that’s your problem—not mine. Welcome to the future. Good luck keeping up.
An ad reading: Monthly briefing Sponsor me for $10/month and get a curated email digest of the month's most important LLM developments. Pay me to send you less!
Several vented their disapproval of colleagues’ wardrobe choices when I stopped them on the street. “Younger people get all their information about everything from crazy people on the internet, and you’ve got crazy people showing up half-naked and thinking that’s the norm,” said Jane Papa, 79.
An image showing public records requests for copies of all records requests received to Boston, Cambridge and Amherst, MA. Only Amherst provided records.
A prompt from Docusign suggesting it can generate an AI summary of an agreement, with a vague disclaimer stuffed behind a link.
A string of old FOIA alerts in my inbox.
An email from automating service IFTTT: Hi morisy, We still can’t connect to your Twitter, but it should be easy to fix. Click through to reconnect.
Email that reads: Megan Hill <megan@unityteam.co> 8:08 AM (54 minutes ago) to michael Michael, I've been working with multiple buyers specifically targeting the non-profit news space this quarter. Last month, we helped a business owner in your industry complete a successful exit at a valuation that exceeded their expectations. Given the current market interest in non-profit news businesses like Muckrock, would it be worth exploring what opportunities might be available to you? Best, Megan Hill Strategic Partnerships BatonMarket www-batonmarket-com Pls reply 'No Thanks' if it's not a fit atm.
An article about the merged B2B conglomerate TechTarget Informa, which is not doing great, projected revenue wise.
Speaking bluntly, our industry, our jobs, and our projects are under attack by volatile, and self-inflicted, U.S. trade policy. Our manufacturing costs in the last two months have seen an increase of 104% due to U.S. tariffs. (See below for a more thorough explanation of how tariffs work.) The impact that 104% tariffs will have on our industry, and our company, are nothing short of devastating and are already having immediate consequences that will be felt knowingly and unknowingly by everyone who enjoys this industry - from the hobbyist, the retail store owner, the publisher, and ultimately our communities.
A GitHub notification reading: [GSA/data.gov] O+M 2024-01-13 (Issue #5035) Fuhu Xia <notifications@github.com> Mon, Jan 20, 2025 at 1:50 PM Reply-To: "GSA/data.gov" <reply+AAYWI7MB5JNJKM2ZT2TUJ5GFTJ55ZEVBNHHKL4NHIU@reply.github.com> To: "GSA/data.gov" <data.gov@noreply.github.com> Cc: Hyon Kim <hyon.kim@gsa.gov>, Comment <comment@noreply.github.com> db-solr-sync show 2386 datasets need to be deleted. it is time to manually delete some erroneous datasets.
A title card of executive producers listing Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Elon Musk, and Mark Woolway.
Article screenshot: In my research, I learned that when the Freedom of Information Act came under attack in the early 1980s, the publishing industry was among those who fought back. One bill introduced in Congress at that time proposed making the Central Intelligence Agency entirely exempt from FOIA requests. Another bill, the “Freedom of Information Improvements Act of 1981,” proposed an array of changes, including banning requests from outside the U.S., allowing agencies to charge higher fees, adding new exemptions, and expanding certain existing exemptions. In testimony before a Senate subcommittee against the proposed changes, the Association of American Publishers named 14 recent or forthcoming books that drew on FOIA-produced documents. The subjects of those books ranged from movie star Erroll Flynn, to the Kennedy assassination, to Cold War-era nuclear arms policy, to U.S. diplomatic relations with China. Authors’ use of FOIA had sparked important debates and assisted the accountability of the CIA and FBI, the group said. And it warned that the proposed changes would usher in a “presumption of secrecy concerning an unprecedented range of important government activities.” In coverage of the testimony, Publishers Weekly noted that “several” FOIA-assisted books had been bestsellers. The proposed cuts to FOIA wouldn’t just be bad for public discourse; they’d also be also bad for business. Thankfully, they never passed.
Until a few decades ago, Humanity was evolving and progressing at a steady pace, and positive results were already beginning to emerge. Then, journalists multiplied, sprouting everywhere in droves. They began flooding unprepared human beings with immense amounts of sterile daily chronicles—at first slowing down, and now nearly extinguishing, our evolutionary process. If we look around today, we see nothing but a meaningless everyday life. Journalists have, in fact, killed our bright future by perpetually fixating on a filthy present—one that remains unchanged because they keep it firmly anchored to itself. It is, therefore, important to remember that nothing holds absolute value.
An email reads: Dear CEO, Editor-in-Chief and Reporters in various fields and Anchors. As we enter the new year of 2025, I would like to emphasize again today that although reporters and editors may be dreaming good and hopeful dreams, they will never be happy.
Notice of European data protection law removal from Google Search To: Owner of https://www.documentcloud.org/ , Due to a request under data protection law in Europe, Google can no longer show one or more pages from your site in Google Search results. This only affects responses to some search queries for names or other personal identifiers that might appear on your pages. Only results on versions of Google’s search results for countries applying European data protection law are affected. No action is required from you. What we’d like you to know: These pages haven’t been blocked entirely from our search results. They’ve only been blocked on certain searches for names on versions of Google’s search results for countries applying European data protection law. These pages will continue to appear for other searches. We aren’t disclosing which queries have been affected. In addition, to comply with developments in European law, which seek to prevent the identification of the requester, we are no longer disclosing the affected URLs.
# MuckRock Swag Black Hoodies: * Large: 2 * XXL: 2 * Small: 1 * Medium: 1 * XL: 3 Redacted Bars: * 2XL: 1 * Large: 8 Got Docs T-Shirt: * Large: 3 * XXL: 5 * Medium: 1 FOIA Laws Shirt: * XXL: 4 Government Attic Shirt: * Large: 1 * Youth Large: 1
A toddler shirt featuring construction equipment layed out alongside toddler pants that have little anchors in them. No toddler featured because in this house we respect privacy and autonomy.
A Facebook marketplace ad for horse manure.
A screenshot of Mac OS TV app, showing all of the Aliens movies, An American in Paris, Barry Lyndon, Ben Hur, Big Hero 6, Lebowski, Bald Runner Final Cut, Casablanca, Casino Royale, Citizen Kane, Clockwork Orange, and Contagion.