the dream of the 1890s will one day be alive in california

the secret it to never drive a car in Seattle and visit in June when there’s approximately twenty hours of daylight and the orca whales are waving to you while you’re on the bus

Paying attention to local politics means you will regularly feel the level of burning hatred most people feel for war criminals, but directed toward a real estate agent who keeps voting against library funding

Ahoy housing wonks in Alaska and BC! Sightline is hiring part-time contributors to help advance housing abundance in these two corners of Cascadia. Please spread the word! www.sightline.org/about/careers/

Ranked choice voting elevates candidates who speak to the broadest swath of voters. In the 2022 contests for AK's US House seat, that was Mary Peltola. In 2024, it was Nick Begich. It really is that simple. New analysis of ballot data from myself and @jayleetx.com for @sightline.org below. ⬇️

Top 10 neighborhoods by housing density added, 2020–25: 1—Greenpoint waterfront Brooklyn 2—East Harlem Manhattan 3—Navy Yard DC 4—Downtown Brooklyn 5—Hunters Pt Queens 6—Journal Sq Jersey City 7—Lower E Side Manhattan 8—The Drag Austin 9—Downtown Jersey City 10—LI City Queens

This week, the Supreme Court finally killed off the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I've spent the past decade studying the VRA and the attacks on it, so I thought I would offer some historical perspective, and where I think we're headed. This will be a long thread; buckle up.

“After enduring nearly a century of systematic resistance to the Fifteenth Amendment,” the Chief Justice wrote, “Congress might well decide to shift the advantage of time and inertia from the perpetrators of the evil to its victims.”

we’re not going to know in the moment but someday we are going to live through the last oil supply crisis in human history

Come work with me!

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

Democratic consultants: To replicate Mamdani’s success with the young people we must appeal to their short attention spans with memes and TikTok Mamdani (actual quote): In the fifth century in what we now know as Ireland, a British warlord named Coroticus had laid waste to the countryside

Sup chat this is Slouching Towards Bethlehem with your boy The Rough Beast, and it looks like today’s stream could be a big one, as some of you might’ve already seen there are rumors going around social media that the hour has come round at last, so we’re gonna get right into it

No son, they are not "magically delicious." The workers made them delicious. This is a slogan meant to mystify the social conditions of labor

NEW VIDEO: North America’s Elevator’s Problem Elevators are absolutely essential to modern cities..... and it turns out North America kind of sucks at them. We partnered with @sightline.org to look into the many issues plaguing our elevator industry, and what it might take to fix it.

day one in mamdani’s new york

maybe the greatest pitch frame in baseball history

Price those curbs! 👏 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/o...

Exciting new research that demonstrates how localities in the same metropolitan area have wildly varying tax bases—which go on to have a huge impact on the ability to provide services. Rich towns can collect more taxes, give themselves better services, and reinforce inequality.

the two types of part time state legislator: - retired dentist - part time employee of a progressive nonprofit both of these end up having distinct problems!

This is the lesson of 2025

"If you set different rules, people will change how they play the game." Thanks to those who made it to yesterday's *Hot Seat* w researcher Shannon Grimes! Our latest democracy and elections work/quips/analysis are always available via newsletter: sightline.org/newsletters

Just learned: It's so easy to sort strings that are numbers in proper numerical order with the {stringr} #Rstats 📦's `str_sort()` function and numeric = TRUE!! x <- c("8", "10", "1", "40") str_sort(x, numeric = TRUE) [1] "1" "8" "10" "40"

going to Portland this week! what's going on?

sometimes when you're very overdue on doing laundry, your only shirts available are your worst shirt, for obvious reasons, and your favorite shirt, which you have reserved in case of emergency. this is known as the Launderer's Paradox and may result in you wearing your favorite shirt to walgreens

America's pundit sickness in one sentence: "The question for Mamdaniism is not just whether it will play in Park Slope or Prospect Lefferts Gardens—it’s whether it will play in Plano." THAT IS CATEGORICALLY THE OPPOSITE OF THE QUESTION, HE'S RUNNING FOR MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY, NOT PLANO

"voters are why I lost" is the funniest possible thing for a politician to say.

Still the most insane growth story in urban America. Population was only 560k at the turn of the century

Any excuse to repost an all-time Bluesky banger

Go vote, NYC. 🗳️

YYYY-MM-DD OR NOTHING AT ALL

producers in the control room turning a big dial that says "manufacturing consent" up to 11

Gotta admit, “Yes, cers” is a bit odd. As my wife said, it sorta’ has Teenjus vibes.

Gonna level with you bro I think DHS needs to be dissolved after this. Regardless of what national security functions fall under its remit, it's clearly institutionally constructed in such a way allows it to be used as an unaccountable tool of executive power. Can't reform your way out of that.

Whether visible or invisible, permanent or temporary, almost all of us will have or know someone with a disability. As Mayor, I’ll fight like hell for truly accessible public transit.

because America is so lax about unmarked cop cars and its state agents love using them so much, it’s impossible to say whether this is an ex-cop car, a current cop car, or just a regular Ford Explorer with steelies and a light bar plopped on it.

I’ve seen a lot of “the left is blowing this race by uniting behind a socialist like Zohran” takes but not enough “the establishment/center is blowing this race by uniting behind a sexual harasser/corrupt weirdo like Cuomo” takes

people think agriculture is fully solved science for some reason and, uh, it’s not

society was better when both cars and smartphones were helpful tools and not mandatory devices for participation in society

The problem of constitutional law, in a nutshell:

Impossible to communicate to people that once you decide that a group more vulnerable than you can be sacrificed in the name of your own safety or interests that you have already entered into an tacit agreement that you can also be sacrificed in the interests of a group less vulnerable than you.

new pope! *crowd goes wild* American pope! *crowd boos* woke for an American! *crowd goes wild* bad on protecting abusive priests! *crowd boos* hates JD Vance! *crowd goes wild*