Dan Simmons had bad politics, but if you haven't read Hyperion you're really missing out. Truly one of the sci-fi greats. arstechnica.com/culture/2026...

Cover of The Lancet: @thelancet.com www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

When you put it like this, a $75 million bribe to Melania and gutting the Washington Post seems like a small price to pay.

#Hoboken has insightful data from our Curb Study report, showing a less pronounced but similar condition on our streets. Although 80% of households don’t drive to work, almost all of our public street space is used for storing cars that are used 1-2x per week.

The 3 million-plus people applying for immigration status changes will now be required to provide the government with their social media handles. This expansive new requirement poses a serious threat to constitutional rights. bit.ly/4aE5uKa

We’re back, baby!

Reading this story—about how the Pentagon has been given so much extra money it's struggling to spend it all—while thinking about the formerly homeless tenants I've spoken with in recent weeks whose housing vouchers are being discontinued for "lack of funds."

Another day, another paper showing new market rate housing reduces displacement and increases housing opportunities for low income families.

At some point the “one size fits all” cliché becomes an argument against policymaking, period. If every single instance of a social problem is irreducibly unique and special, what’s the point of trying to address it in aggregate?

As an e-bike guy, we need to address the anti-chairlift bias inherent to this Game

California told LA to allow apartments near transit. LA's answer: a 70-page delay strategy. What an insult. cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2...

🚨 shingled high rise alert. I repeat: shingled high rise alert. 🚨

How is it possible that Kristi Noem still has this job. Imagine if you’re a family member or a shipmate of this guardsman. www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...

The drunk uncle theory. You don’t argue with the casually homophobic uncle at Thanksgiving dinner to change his mind; you argue so that the closeted cousin at the kids table knows there’s safe people and better possibilities out there

Today T6 Nord tramway opened in Lyon. The project isn't very big (just 5.5 km) but the timeline is just impressive: the project was launched in 2020, 3 years for planning, design, public consultation, permitting and contracting and less than 3 years for construction. youtu.be/XiJesxVJXFo?...

The bill cuts the stretcher requirement in small bldgs at risk of having no elevator at all (up to 6 stories, 24 units), as well as ordering the building code council to reconsider the issues of elevator hoistway opening protection and two-way visual comms. Tens of thousands in savings per building.

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.

Hotel Lay

It’s a list of some of the most affordable metro areas

RON JOHNSON: Did you ever encourage people to go out there and exercise their First Amendment rights? KEITH ELLISON: I freely admit being in favor of the First Amendment

This is what we’re doing to people. We are the bad guys.

“Ring is rolling back many of the reforms it’s made in the last few years by easing police access to footage from millions of homes in the United States … police have used Ring footage to spy on protestors, and obtained footage without a warrant or consent of the user”

The Bad Bunny halftime show was so perfectly and authentically joyful. It was a celebration in its purest form.

I disagree with Congressman Gonzales that 5-year-old American citizen children are helped in any way by their kindergarten classmates being kisbnapped and disappeared by marked, armed thugs.

This is such pathetic petty tyrant bullshit. People should point and laugh at this guy every time he goes out in public.

This week we had @kevinerdmann.bsky.social back on UCLA Housing Voice to talk about his pitch for a new loan product: the fixed-amortization, adjustable-principal mortgage. A super interesting idea, and definitely worth your time. www.lewis.ucla.edu/2026/02/05/1...

I had a reporter reach out to me about the potential for relocating rather than demolishing homes, presumably mainly those slated for redevelopment. It's something I've only read a tiny bit about. Anyone out there know more, especially if you've researched the topic?

Trump openly admitting FBI raid in Fulton County was a prelude to interfering with the midterms and attempting to seize control of state and local voting process

In the single location where the city has decided to allow apartments in a well off single family neighborhood, near Expo/Bundy, it’s been a huge success: no one got displaced, homeowners got huge payouts, & we’re getting hundreds of new apartments next to the Expo Line.

San Diego Unified School District has quietly embarked on a massive program to build educator housing. The focus has been on maximizing the number of units affordable to staff, not on deepest means-tested affordability. voiceofsandiego.org/2026/01/29/w...

If our "environmental protection" frameworks can stop an affordable housing project but can't stop a detention center or a highway expansion we really need to start talk about ripping things up root and branch.

Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com

Frotomac

DM me? We used to get hundreds of highly qualified applicants for a single job posting. Good prosecutors are increasingly hesitant to work for this DOJ.

So, now we're at the "arresting journalists" stage of America's very rapid decline into fascism.

Trump: "People that own their homes -- we're gonna keep them wealthy. We're gonna keep those prices up. We're not gonna destroy the value of their homes so that somebody who didn't work very hard can buy a home."

I had a relative who literally hid with Anne Frank in that attic. If you cannot be accused of exaggerating, it’s too late. Once they’re marching kids into gas chambers, it’s too late.

Dusted off the old blog and organized (some of) my thoughts on Councilmember Raman's Measure ULA reform proposal. It's an important step forward and it has my personal support. www.betterinstitutions.com/blog/2026/1/...

Today on UCLA Housing Voice, I talk with @kevinerdmann.bsky.social about about the mid-2000s housing market pre-crash, resulting changes in federal mortgage lending standards, and their catastrophic effects on homeownership, rental affordability, and production. www.lewis.ucla.edu/2026/01/21/1...

Here's a regular white guy (literally "Chad") not a protester. because, "It seemed pointless, or just a way for people to expiate their sense of guilt." Chad witnessed something shattering. And, that all changed in a moment. Excellent article!

All 10 shots were fired AFTER they removed the gun from Pretti’s waist. Every single shot was fired after he was disarmed.

It's the least important part of his response, but I don't even believe the claim that he's been to a protest.

So, "if you call us gestapo, we can murder you."

i think this attitude — that all opposition is illegitimate and nothing we do can be questioned— is probably pervasive in the white house and helps explain why they keep making terrible political choices

The director of the FBI just reiterated the Trump uber-message: We can kill you. Alex Pretti was not attacking the agents. If he was resisting as he was being assaulted by them, under no law enforcement protocol is that alone cause for a summary execution. This is police-state tactics.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

Really hard to put into words how much this TRO says about how lawless the Trump administration is, but I tried to do so tonight at Law Dork — discussing the many lightning-fast litigation moves today in Minnesota after the ICE killing of Alex Pretti. www.lawdork.com/p/the-ice-ki...

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

lol NRA