SoundTransit started construction of Link Light Rail in 2000 and has 56 miles of track. China started high speed rail in 2007 and has 30,000 miles of track. I know it’s not comparable at all but the numbers crack me up every time.

@natebowling.com coded

It's worth noting how the President is largely unchecked in implementing his agenda with such narrow Congressional margins: the House is 218-214 and the Senate is 53-47. We're talking about a ten seat total advantage.

I wrote about ICE's concentration camps and the tech bros' data centers as key elements of the economic infrastructure of fascism. And how politicians need to take the public's lead in opposing both.

If you're into that kinda thing, Hearts vs Rangers is bedlam at the Ibrox. 1-1 in the 21st minute.

These are all from today

Sherifa is one of my favorite experts writing in English about the region. Not a pundit—an actual subject matter expert.

If you were alarmed enough by Twitter morphing into a Nazi bar to move here, I hope you're thoughtful enough to realize Substack has the same problem. I use @buttondown.com; my favorite soccer writers are on Ghost. Anything is better than enriching people who gladly host hate speech.

"Nate, [Redacted AI] said I shouldn't go to Thailand during the summer because of monsoons"

A few folks in my life with "chronic decision paralysis" are increasingly telling me "well, I asked Chat or Gemini and it said...." Habibi, there is literally no faster way to get me to stop listening to you than uttering that sentence.

SOMEONE AT THIS PARTY JUST BROKE OR A WHEEL OF COUGAR GOLD CHEESE

This seems unusual

Proposed by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas (R-21st): "The Secretary of State... shall deny any immigration benefit, visa, immigration relief, or admission to the US to any alien who adheres to Sharia law." www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.

Starmer's premiership is in danger of ending because an ambassador he appointed was named in the Epstein files. This stands in contrast to the US where the President is directly named in the files over 5000 times and suffering no real political consequence. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/w...

I keep being like why are people so willing to fight for their own demise but these are the same people who filled in pools rather than just let Black people have shared access to them so

Free newsletter: I'm leaving Substack and moving to Ghost. First delivery from the Ghost platform will come tomorrow! open.substack.com/pub/tacticsf...

Mood in Seattle music.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Uj...

I truly don't understand the impulse to engage in self-surveillance with the help of Jeff Bezo's Amazon

“The majority of violence perpetrated at protests is state violence against often peaceful demonstrators and language used by journalists describing ‘clashes with law enforcement’ or ‘protests turning violent‘ obscure the direction violence is delivered.”

Congress allocated $170 billion dollars for immigration enforcement in July. This puts the ICE/CBP budget within spitting distance of the Army. ICE functionally has unlimited resources and its tactics have been tried out on Black communities for decades. buttondown.com/natebowling/...

MAGA: Teachers are such powerful influences on students they can turn them into political radicals by assigning an excerpt from Ta-Nehisi Coates or convince them to change their gender based on pronoun use -- but not when by praying right in front of them on school property during the school day.

Notably, there was less anxiety on and around assessment days and more in-class conversations about actual learning, rather than scores, afterward. @natebowling.com growbeyondgrades.org/blog/taking-...

The Trump Department of Homeland Security, still led by Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, is at war with the American people

This is bleak: Jes Staley, currently CEO of Barclays, reassuring Epstein that popular revolt against financial elites is unlikely because capitalism and pop culture have defanged social movements, leaving people more invested in consumption than justice.

most recent email i have received is a guy who told me i should be lynched. looked him up and he is a 68/69-year-old retiree in phoenix who doesn't appear to be married or have children. his facebook page is nothing but reposted memes and AI slop and he used to post a lot on gun forums

1. This "DHS likely broke the law" nonsense from the judge is dumb.You're a judge, did they break the law or not?! 2. I don't understand why Congress doesn't pass a law that says "for oversight purposes, members are guaranteed no notice access to all non-classified federal facilities."

"Democracy doesn't work when half your population is functionally illiterate." - A random Egyptian guy today and he wasn't taking about Egypt.

Back in July this really awesome newsletter said retail demand for Bitcoin had dried up and that new "Bitcoin treasury companies" were a gambit to create demand where there is none. buttondown.com/natebowling/...

Sometimes I'm reading history and catch myself being like "oh snap, that's us!" The fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire hits home. Due to terrible leadership, Vienna went from being the global center of culture & commerce to getting ran through by Nazi Germany in like 25 years.

I think the Olympian of my childhood had a full time staff 3x as big as the Seattle Times of today

The WAPO cuts are bad. But it's been a dead man walking since Bezos bent the knee to Trump in 2024. But I'd trade the whole Post in a heartbeat for a return to robust local newsrooms. There's more people paid to clean my current school than covering news in my hometown.

Black Deported Veterans of America, BDVA.us, is an organization advocating for green card holders who were promised a pathway to citizenship after military service. In too many cases the promises made by recruiters never materialized, leaving the veterans subject to immigration enforcement.

“Who is going to pay for it?” are the 7 stupidest words to poison American minds.

Somehow we’ve let the idea take hold that a government helping its own people is a problem rather than the point of a government

You will never be able to guess the absolute foolishness this is a response to 🤣

In the current wave of immigration crackdowns—because racism is real—Black immigrants are getting it worse. Later week on the podcast, I'll have a conversation with a co-founder of Black Deported Veterans of America. Yes, they are deporting Black military veterans. www.bdva.us

Periodic reminder: When someone shares news with "BREAKING" and they aren't a journalist and don't link to a news story, it's probably not the best source for people to be resharing. It might be trying to get rage reposts, even! Better to find a news article that is accurately describing facts.

It is pretty incredible how every other story needs multiple sources and oftentimes multiple opinions (even if they’re bad faith) but anything involving cops gets just the one.

That blatant lie by law enforcement was seen by far more people than the quiet walk back offered by the prosecutor

What I’m seeing here is that Epstein is a nexus point for the “intellectual” cabal that shores up the race science justifying our current immigration and anti-DEI policies (Huberman), as well the tone policing moderates (Brooks) that hamstrings oppositions. Oh and their billionaire benefactors.

If CW was able to match what Orlando City got for Freeman from Villarreal he deserves plaudits given the circumstances. Updated non-Roldan central midfield depth chart: 1. Dotson 2. Petravich 3. Brunell 4. A. Roldan

Thanks to my geographic location and remarkable levels of spousal indulgence live English football is a semi-regular part of my life. This winter we made our second trip to Hillsborough to watch @swfc.co.uk. A #BowlingsAbroad travelogue. buttondown.com/natebowling/...

I'm going to use this map next year when we talk about gerrymandering in AP Government

Me (for like 15 years): Paul Thomas Anderson makes the whitest movies this side of Wes Anderson; is he afraid of Black characters? Me (after watching One Battle After Another): Nah, bruh. We're good.

An entire political movement founded on uncovering hidden messages in documents to discover the powerful secret pedophiles and meanwhile the powerful pedophiles out here sending gmails saying "Hi fellow pedophile when are we meeting to do pedophilia again"

🦉