Evergreen post by @maxberger.bsky.social 🎯

Because California’s income tax is so progressive a family of four making $100k only pays about $1000 in income tax right now (when the renters credit, dependent credit, and standard deduction are factored in). The cutoff for a family of four to pay any tax now is $77k.

it feels like a lot of Dems are suddenly trying "we can run a robust social safety net by only taxing rich people and corporations" messaging and that is a) not a great message, in that we should all contribute b) not actually true, math-wise

its actually crazy that simply saying “New York City does not need to be the only place in the world that legally mandates two person train operation” results in literal death threats

Lina Hidalgo is one of those people who had a promising start but turned out to be totally awful and when she learned she would never get elected to anything ever again is totally burning every single bridge on the way out.

Pomona may be LA County's seventh largest city but it still is small town enough to have city council members post their home addresses on their public declaration forms.

"We started a war of aggression for no reason & commenced it by accidentally bombing an elementary school & killing over 100 kids." That simple fact is so horrific that it's just kind of bouncing on the surface of our collective consciousness. We can't absorb its full implications & significance.

We have to first start making bus terminals as nice as airports. Greyhound's previous owner has sold off so many of them for its land value.

Form emails were never very effective, and now that at least one firm is forging them and others are using AI, they're going to soon have zero impact. If you want to impact a policy decision, write your own message. It doesn't need to be long, or well researched, just share your thoughts.

What a joke. FBI agents are not street brawlers. They interview witnesses, uncover documents, analyze intelligence, and testify in court, usually while wearing a suit and tie. Just one more frolic for Kash at taxpayer expense. variety.com/2026/politic...

An offensive push-poll from my congresswoman @repdexteror.bsky.social! "Are you paying more for gas?" Yes or No. No way to convey how we feel about paying more for gas! My answer is: "Yes, but not enough!" You represent most of Portland, Congresswoman! Not everyone here is a motorist!

I'd like to see Frank Martin will his team to the NCAA tournament. He hasn't been there for a while but if UMass can win out they can get there. The biggest hurdle is already defeated.

My congresswoman agrees that the we need all homes, including build to rent single family ones to give options for those who want a house but don't want or need to buy it.

All the other despots and dictators who have hosted Olympics and World Cups have known they're supposed to say all athletes from all the countries will be welcome and safe. That hosting is a chance to show how their country is powerful yet benevolent. Not Trump, he can't even get that part right

Glendale candidate for city council believes that BRT and SB79 apartments are an “existential threat” to his city. And of course he made his cash in “value add” real estate. This version of Republican NIMBYs are segregationist above all else, even capitalism.

Showing this to myself in 2022 and having an aneurysm

Tribes got Rob Bonta to ban Vegas style banked games like blackjack and baccarat at "card clubs". Small cities like Hawaiian Gardens and Commerce get defunded and the exclusive rights voters gave tribes to run Nevada-style casinos are protected. calmatters.org/commentary/2...

The Pechanga tribe used their casino money to do a documentary about why tribal consultation is necessary. This incident and others is what led to the passage of AB 52. (Ironically I happened to watch it while in the casino hotel at a CEQA workshop.) mountainthatweeps.com

Imagine not filling the SPR when oil went negative. @schumer.senate.gov 🤡

Someone just posted about how they don't care if their students use AI as long as the text conveys the ideas the students meant to convey. The thing is, you don't know exactly what you think until you write it. And if some prefab thing pops up, you're liable to decide that was what you thought.

oh my god the left-NIMBYs in LA are comparing mixed income housing on what is currently a warehouse to… Japanese internment. beyond parody

always fun to bring up Gavin Newsom's grandfather was Pat Brown's campaign manager for SF District Attorney which launched his political career. with Gavin termed out, the 75-year old Newsom-Brown-Newsom loop is now closed

The big champion of this was former state senator from San Diego Steve Peace and his "Independent Voter Project". Peace was the father of energy deregulation which caused rolling blackouts and Enron to gouge Californians 25 years ago. Yet another shitty part of his legacy.

I'm kind of confused that UC Berkeley's Citrin Center and the IGS are both doing polls now. One is partnered with Politico and the other the LA Times, and both are under the auspices of the political science department.

@bikinginla.bsky.social I know you take every bike death personally but here is another one mynewsla.com/crime/2026/0...

Gold Runner 2026-27 draft business plan - Oakley station opening and vending machines coming to trains cdn.sjjpa.com/wp-content/u...

The Wasatch Front is on my list of places to possibly move to. The LDS are more likely to go away if you tell them you don't want to be proselytized, and we could use less alcohol and gambling in our modern lives (although there are enough bars and coffee shops for me).

Politically, this is incredibly stupid, but as a policy matter it’s also incredibly stupid. The Democrats!

On the old place we had years of discourse on how it is just and righteous to smash a Starbucks window. Possibly even a moral imperative to smash a Starbucks window.

"It seems weird" is how I would describe a large number of administrative decisions taken by Mayor Muriel Bowser Presents and now that she's Diminishing and Going Into The East I look forward to a lot more people saying so! bsky.app/profile/maus...

“Look, it’s not quite clear what’s happening, but there is at least some possibility that there are currently mines in the Strait of Hormuz” seems like exactly the sort of thing that’s going to make insurance companies chill out

Flashback to the 2024 Republican National Convention 👇🏽

NIMBYs in Rancho Cucamonga want to stop apartments from being built within walking distance of the local community college. The city is already sprawled into the foothills but heaven forbid we build infill in a gap. www.dailybulletin.com/2026/03/08/r...

Picking tomatoes in a community garden is not the same as getting paid $2/box of strawberries in 96 degree heat for 10 hours a day.

The Vegas Loop carried 16,400 passengers per day during the expo. For context, London’s Elizabeth Line carries ~800,000 per day. Even Victorian steam trains in 1860s London moved 3–4× more people per hour than Elon. In case you didn’t already know: cars in tunnels aren’t the future of transit…

there’s a structural reason here. mamdani’s response was to take an opportunity to make content - and therefore give the rest of the media some easy meta-content - and turn it down. he put governing ahead of content. our political media hates nothing more than someone who denies them easy content.

OTOH, Speed 2, “truly a rousing ocean liner story” youtu.be/MVCH76FYWE4?...

On March 10, 1997 I walked into the Daily Bulletin for my first day on the job (after 10 years at three previous newspapers). And 29 years later, I’m still here and still lovin’ it. Thanks for reading, whether it’s for 29 years or 29 days.

Happy Calvin's Dad day to those who celebrate

A truly awful story for all involved. One thing not mentioned in any of the coverage I've seen: Why does an 18-year-old need what is presumably a very large pickup truck? If we had smaller, safer cars an innocent prank might not have ended in a teacher's tragic death.

Different revolution, but this is "Let them eat $21 smoothies" territory.

I think the change is people *justifying* it to other people. Normally there would be some guilt about this and you would never admit this kind of theft to strangers, now it's rationalized and normalized.

Listen I used to sometimes steal cheese from the grocery store when I was in college and kind of broke. This doesn't make me a monster but was also mildly antisocial behavior that I am ashamed of now! I was being stupid and shitty.

People in Las Vegas are now struggling to afford new homes, although to be fair part of it is because the older neighborhoods are aging rapidly. apnews.com/article/hous...

Unironically we need to return to Clinton-era levels of income taxation.

Wall Street Journal on how the pricing for Altanta exurbs and the city has flattened, because a) Atlanta is a city that builds homes and b) Atlanta also sprawls to hundreds of square miles and no roads run in straight lines. www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

With this change and the enhanced child tax credits a family of four making $140k pays no income tax at all, which takes roughly 60% of families that size off the tax rolls completely.

This is a deeply unserious idea. Cutting taxes is a race to the bottom that’s going to turn into even more austerity. People don’t like taxes generally but they don’t like taxes even more if they don’t feel like they’re getting anything in return and losing services will only make things worse.

American politics has drifted towards this collective position that the country doesn’t need tax revenue to run. And while I’ve been anti-austerity-mongering my whole adult life having grown up in the wake of the bungled response to the GFC, this stuff makes me feel like a deficit hawk lmao

Finish the regular season undefeated and your first thought is to go taunt the road student section, brilliant