Instead of unnecessary roads & highways that will never ever have enough budget for upkeep. Win-win that shit. Keep trees. Ditch cars.

Katie is getting criticism from the right and the left, and people seem to forget that she took office less than 2 months ago. Either "see she's too inexperienced" or "she completely betrayed us." Just chill.

Last night, I saw Blonde Redhead live in Nantes, 15 years after seeing them live in Seattle, and oh boy. They're still so good. Maybe even better than back then. Such amazing ethereal sound. youtu.be/7NvllmNib8Y?...

This year, I have stepped back from my pursuit of a policy-related or adjacent position. Recognizing that my life is different in France than in the US, & while I am freelancing, I have decided to lean more into helping folks use video/audio to tell their stories. Need help? hmu: withinreach.fr

No it's actually really funny, bc Bruce Harrell would derail any conversation to mention his high school or college football team. He even did this for an agonizingly long period when hosting a delegation from France & you just know they were all questioning their career decisions in that moment.

In Japan, transit passes aren't just for transit. They're replacing cash & competing w/ debit cards. Let me tell you how a system like this in the US or EU could make life simpler & fairer for all people. #urbanism #Japan youtu.be/8_2S_bXGdLI

When I first visited #Japan in 2023, I was blown away by the idea that I could use a local transit pass to buy almost anything, almost anywhere nationwide. 🚋 ✅ 🚅 ✅ 🍱+☕ ✅ 🗣️🎤 ✅ 🛒 ✅ I think this sort of idea can have huge upsides for many cities/countries. Let me tell you why. youtu.be/8_2S_bXGdLI

Can't remember the last time I put out a video on YouTube but this one has been percolating since 2023. #Japan #urbanism #transit youtu.be/8_2S_bXGdLI

Deserved. Won a continental trophy at 16 & again at 20. Played well against Atlético in the CWC. A great Sounder. A great story. Now he gets to play for the club he's loved since he was a kid. Go get it, Obed.

Street art on pill hill in Seattle 🥹

Every movement needs it's Bella Ciao or La Marseillaise. This isn't necessarily *the* candidate, but Woody Guthrie has a pretty good catalogue nonetheless. youtu.be/jKVnur5DkdI?...

God, I used to look forward to this day every winter. You cannot overestimate how depressingly dark Seattle winters are. Sun goes down at 5:30pm at the earliest in Nantes, so I just don't get this thrill anymore.

ICE are fascist, weak-minded pieces of human garbage. They'll execute you because they have no redeeming qualities & they hate that you know it. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

ICE is kidnapping children from Washington State. Deploy the WA National Guard to stop them, now.

Une vidéo terrifiante et nécessaire que tous les Français, et surtout les élus, devraient regarder. ICE est une organisation paramilitaire extrémiste et dangereuse. Ils attaquent n’importe qui, sans provocation et sans punition pour leurs crimes. youtu.be/rThhm1-g1a8?...

Avec le meurtre de Renée Goode, l'agence fédérale ICE est devenu un nom un peu plus connu en France. Mais si le meurtre de Renée Goode est l'expression la plus crue d'une violence institutionnalisée chez ICE, elle n'en est que la surface émergée. Par Gabin Bénard Mondon

Obed Vargas to @fcnantesoff.bsky.social please.

This fucker didn't win a prize he didn't earn, so he's going to start a war instead. Internal strife & oppression + external war. Sounds familiar.

Yay for several months of new episodes of Frieren. This first episode of season 2 didn't skip a beat. Just fucking beautiful. youtu.be/C0BG3B7aksU?...

ICE is a terrorist organization.

Americans are being attacked, killed, & kidnapped by their own federal government. Radio silence internationally about this slide into authoritarianism. This is Germany in 1933. It's clear that the American people have no allies, no sympathy, no solidarity while US government allies are complicit.

Follow Jeremiah for the soccer news. Stay for the immortal fucking wisdom. Pin this.

I just need Cascadia and a California Republic.

Let's go Nouhou!

They're doing this at schools. The far right American autocracy experiment is ramping up and they're doing it in schools. France, our oldest ally, where is your solidarity? Where is your outrage? The American people are being held hostage in plain sight.

Wish folks in France would see that Trump is sending the army into American cities that he feels are too leftist & that his secret police are openly taking civilian lives. I see zero international solidarity b/c a small slice of the population voted him into office.

The Trump era of dictatorship needs to end with an abolition of the current right wing party in the US, a restriction on its most dangerous far right ideals, & a restructuring of the US political system to have a variety of smaller parties that more accurately reflect the US population.

20 mins before start, my kid's school sends an email saying a lot of staff will be absent, at best late & they really don't know what to do. Look, Nantes, I know ❄️ happens here like once every 10 yrs but there needs to be citywide rules for this shit. 10cm snow? Cancel school for the next day. Easy.

Snow in #Nantes!!

Snow in Nantes! What a surprise.

Attention aux élus 🇫🇷. Trump n’est pas l’🇺🇸. Il n’est pas les Américains. Il se comporte comme s’il était un dictateur au-dessus des lois. Réfléchissez avant de cliquer sur « publier ». Renseignez-vous sur la séparation des pouvoirs et cessez d’utiliser le peuple américain comme un jouet politique.

Glad that France is obsessed w/ Mamdani. NYC is a big noticeable place w/ a leftist mayor within a burgeoning autocracy. However, French people should look inward. There's lots of reason *here* for the French to have hope. Volunteer w/ the current municipal elections & build the hope you seek.

This was special.

Funny thing: Today I got robo-rejected for a job at Nantes Métropole called "Access to Immigrant Rights Coordinator." This after drafting laws w/ immigrant rights orgs for 4 yrs & for having the lived experience of being an immigrant in Nantes. Kudos to the 7th gen nantais who got the interview tho.

After putting it down almost 18 years ago, I recently started playing bass again and it feels so much more fun than it ever did.

I rode on this bike lane a few weeks ago and it's great. It's wide, calm, and safe. Plus, it was built in no time. Every American "bike mayor" needs to skip Paris & come to Nantes. What we're getting here is achievable over there.

Seeing news of the historic flooding in S King County, in areas where I grew up, and I'm hoping everyone is doing ok. Hoping WA, OR, and BC can work together on a recovery plan & a way to avoid this huge climate catastrophe in the future. Stay safe, friends.

Anyone wondering if there's good in this world only needs to read the sentence below to have some hope. Perhaps the simultaneously most destructive & least effective Council President in modern Seattle history voted out after one term

Part of the brilliance of football & the World Cup is that we get to share cultures w/ one another. Pride in Seattle is an expression of its culture. It is not political. Pride is part of the fabric of the city & is as much a part of who we are as anything else. Welcome to international competition.

Just a shout out for one of my personal favorite, and dare I say, one of the best pieces of fiction constructed. Everyone should binge that first season. I'm looking forward to season 2 coming out in about a month. You should too. youtu.be/n6HZo_33YaQ?...

Bruce Harrell & Jenny Durkan both stood in the way when we tried to make SE streets safer. I'll forever hold that grudge. No matter where I live. Instead of protecting SE kids, they drove division between neighbors, all to basically do jack shit (save for the few improvements we forced through).

Half a block from a playground, a neighborhood greenway, & a preschool. This angers me from 7000 miles away. Streets in an area like this should be designed to make it impossible for people to drive dangerously. Seattle's streets endanger its children.

Wow too bad, Vancouver.

I love how France is starting to look a bit outside of the box, in part due to Zohran BUT nowhere is like New York. Y'all are overlooking the socialist elected to the west coast city that's much more your speed and size.

I've traveled 3507km on 32 train trips this year apparently. Almost all have been within about 100 km of home. Will add another this weekend.

Aly at CBO. What a huge fucking win. Wow. Seattle is lucky to have such a brilliant mind back at the City.

Everyday life in France is being reminded that my experience (founding a nonprofit, running campaigns, creating laws that affect hundreds of 1000s of people, working on $8b budgets, etc) holds no value outside of the US. It's an everyday lesson in humility. Sometimes (oftentimes) hard to swallow.

One thing I love about Nantes is that there's nothing special about this method of tree delivery, but achievement unlocked nonetheless.

Real talk: The hardest part of moving to France & the thing that has led to many sleepless nights in the nearly 2 years since I arrived is that I miss movement building and I miss working to bring other people hope. One day, perhaps. One day.

This dunce Council thinks they won but all Katie has to do is pull a Bruce or a Jenny & just not spend the $. Let it sit/use it in only the strictest terms that follow the MDARs. As for graffiti, just pass a policy removing burden from property owners & use that $ for in-house on-call spot removal.