it's clear reading this @rtraister.bsky.social piece how little the Democratic Party thinks it erred in running Joe Biden at his age Also this memorable quote: "Many can’t imagine doing anything in which they won’t be heavily staffed and relevant all the time.” nymag.com/intelligence...

I love reading @sigalsamuel.bsky.social's ethical advice column. It's refreshing and I always learn something new www.vox.com/the-highligh...

a sharp @suzmkahn.bsky.social review in @washingtonmonthly.com on After the Spike. Parenting will always have something of an "opportunity cost" but that doesn't mean there's not a lot policy can do to make it a better option washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/02/a...

this part from new Q&A between @ericlevitz.bsky.social and Simon Bazelon really jumped out at me www.vox.com/politics/466...

Spencer Cox has earned a national reputation as a pro-housing politician. It seems like if Utah will be able to fund this involuntary treatment campus (big if, very unclear) it will be paid for by in no small part by moving funds from existing shelters + permanent housing programs

exceptional reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social + Jason DeParle on the new homeless policy shifts in Salt Lake City — which the Cicero Institute casts as “a harbinger of the future.” gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...

"There have been some notable Southern success stories, especially in fourth grade. ... Eighth grade results have been less impressive for these Southern exemplars, though." www.chalkbeat.org/2025/10/28/l... from @mattbarnum.bsky.social in his debut Ideas piece for @chalkbeat.org.

“The pandemic made child care more salient — the glaring absence of it became everyone’s problem — but the urgency faded as offices reopened with blunt return-to-work mandates that assumed child care access had simply sorted itself out.”

Child care tends to get high marks in polls — but it rarely tops voters’ lists of priorities. Even among younger voters, it tends to sits well below health care, housing, and inflation I wrote about what it might take to change that www.vox.com/politics/466... (gift link)

New >> I wrote about @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social's mayoral bid centered on universal child care — and how he’s both framing the issue the way pollsters would advise, and diverging from their playbook www.vox.com/politics/466...

found this very moving and clarifying from @irincarmon.bsky.social www.thecut.com/article/make...

really interesting @chabeli.bsky.social piece on the push (and struggle) to get caregivers spotlighted in Hollywood 19thnews.org/2025/10/holl...

The buzziest political word of the year is “affordability” — it’s the mantra that Democrats across the country have raced to claim as their own ever since the mantra carried Zohran Mamdani to victory in New York City’s mayoral primary. But can “affordability” be more than just a campaign pitch?

There's already some coverage: @rcobooth.bsky.social wrote in @vox.com this morning describing our theory, and placing the Framework in this current political moment, while debating whether affordability can overcome just being another buzzword /7: www.vox.com/politics/465...

I wrote about the Democrats’ new favorite word: Affordability gift link: www.vox.com/politics/465...

new! I wrote about the hottest word in Democratic politics — AFFORDABILITY. Can leaders agree on what's underpinning costs being so high? Can they agree on solutions? www.vox.com/politics/465...

The first look at the scale of Disney backlash after it suspended Kimmel. Wow>> “Antenna estimated a total of 3 million cancellations for Disney+ and 4.1 million for Hulu in September. Both of those figures far exceeded the trailing three-month averages for the services” www.wsj.com/business/med...

“Teens who reported frequent body dissatisfaction after viewing posts on Instagram…saw about 3 times more body-focused/ED-adjacent content than other teens,” the authors wrote www.reuters.com/business/ins...

good piece on a topic that is definitely unnerving to read about

a round up of my recent reporting (and some thoughts on being in the second trimester 🙂) rcobooth.substack.com/p/trumps-ivf...

the president managed to earn lots of positive coverage for his IVF plan that will not help most people afford IVF www.vox.com/policy/46501...

I wrote about Trump's new, lackluster IVF plan, and what he could have done if he were serious about making the treatments affordable www.vox.com/policy/46501...

A quote that stood out to me: “It gives employers maximum flexibility to design benefits that are consistent with their values." Some religiously affiliated employers oppose IVF! And here's more about the conservative alternatives that could also be covered under any of these new insurance

social conservatives are working very hard to try and spin this as a win for them (it's not a win for those who want IVF to be more affordable, either) bsky.app/profile/atru...

this is the dumbest shit i have ever read

"Stardom is not what’s inherently threatening. Combining it with competence is." A great read on @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/m...

“My biggest fear is going to the hospital." Pregnant immigrants are terrified ICE will show up outside the doctors' office or at the hospital. So they're skipping the care necessary to ensure a healthy birth. Some experience dangerous complications as a result. 19thnews.org/2025/10/preg...

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

"The rental debt strike borrows from the successful student debt playbook: small groups generating national media attention, moral framing that shifts blame from individuals to institutions, and strategic targeting of powerful actors’ alleged misconduct." www.vox.com/policy/46235...

New: We're sparking a coordinated form of economic resistance that has never been done in the housing space. We're organizing a debt-strike. Rental debtors around the country will refuse to pay their back-rent debt to a giant corporate landlord. And we're going to win.

Tomorrow activists are launching a novel rent debt strike against one of the largest corporate landlords in the country. I report on their strategy and national goals

Housing in America is about to get more expensive, thanks to new tariffs imposed by President Trump that will take effect on October 1. The new tariffs include a 50% tax on imported kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, 30% on upholstered furniture, and 25% on heavy trucks used in construction.

the president keeps talking about making America “affordable again,” but his trade and immigration policies take an axe to homebuilding in the middle of a housing shortage even more tariffs coming on Wednesday www.vox.com/policy/46311...

Trump's tariffs and his administration's deportation raids are making housing so much more expensive. Even more tariffs take effect on Wednesday. I wrote about it all here: www.vox.com/policy/46311...

HUD is looking to target 20,000 mixed-status households (16,000 of those with children), promote work requirements, and time limits on housing aid www.propublica.org/article/trum...

been thinking about this very smart @bdmcclay.bsky.social post all morning www.notebook.bdmcclay.com/p/men-men-me...

YIGBY suffered some losses this year. Housing bills in Colorado, New York, Texas, Virginia all failed. Florida's passed, but substantially watered-down. I looked at what happened in each state, and checked in on how California's nearly 2-year old YIGBY law is going www.vox.com/policy/46279...

there's a separate federal YIGBY bill to provide technical assistance/grants to churches interested in housing development. Today's bill though proposes to override local zoning rules that bar faith institutions from building homes on their own land

News from me today: YIGBY (Yes-in-God's Backyard) is entering its federal preemption era www.vox.com/policy/46279...

"And so when we’re thinking about how important these resources are for improving child outcomes, we need to remember that if we don’t have equal inputs, we cannot expect equal outcomes." A good interview between @rcobooth.bsky.social and @christinajcross.bsky.social. Read on.

"when it comes to income, Black two-parent families had about 60 percent of the income of white two-parent families and only 25 percent of the wealth" www.vox.com/policy/46177...

Even though roughly half of Black children in the US grow up in 2-parent households, social scientists have largely ignored these families for decades. I talked with @christinajcross.bsky.social about her new book—and what her research means for debates about marriage kids and inequality

there's been a lot of complacency that the far-right wouldn't, or couldn't, come for birth control but the playbook of blurring it with abortion has been out there years I wrote this last year: bsky.app/profile/jess...

The context Fed Governor Cook declared her Atlanta property as “vacation home,” documents show | Reuters share.google/ThhdhTBFM7pm...

When I was asked to comment on the Lisa Cook situation, my only comment was that we don't know what happened. We don't know if it was a mistake, we don't know what her loan officer put in the docs or why, because all we had was two pages of documents presented out of context. Now we have context.

I wrote about Charlie Kirk’s death, mourning and conflict, Shabbat and shiva www.vox.com/politics/461... (gift link)

"Studley, who specializes in tax preparation for OnlyFans creators, called the inclusion of digital creators a 'huge win' for the adult segment of the market — and a surprising move coming out of an administration aligned with social conservatives." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

seeing too many headlines that New Mexico is about to make child care universal and free. that's not what it's doing. the gov. announced that as of November 1 all families can compete for the same limited # of child care slots and subsidies. the goal of universal is commendable, but NM isn't there

I wrote about why vacant houses are not quite as promising a solution to the housing crisis as they first sound (but also what we should/could still do about them) www.vox.com/housing/4607...