Jane Jacobs' idea of safety through "eyes on the street" has never been more true.

Trump regime in a nutshell. Complaint to DOL IG charges married Secretary, an ex-congresswoman, had "inappropriate relationship" with subordinate & got goverment to pay for personal travel. New DOL IG is married ex-congressman who put mistress on government payroll. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/b...

A very odd part of the housing debate is that the people who oppose replacing old run-down buildings with big new buildings because the old buildings are affordable are also the people who deny that "filtering" causes new buildings to get less expensive as they age.

Where we learn there was actually $100K in the Cava bag

What's behind the affordability crisis? In large part, it's automobile dependence. It used to be that housing or rent was a household’s biggest expense, far exceeding any vehicle-related cost. But now those things are neck and neck for a lot of people.” [gift link] wapo.st/3Lkugqb

ICE is WHIPPING through my suburban neighborhoods — not uncommon to see them going 50 mph — race through red lights, veer across multiple lanes to get to off ramps, no blinkers. They’re going to hurt or kill someone (else)

What's behind the affordability crisis? In large part, it's automobile dependence. It used to be that housing or rent was a household’s biggest expense, far exceeding any vehicle-related cost. But now those things are neck and neck for a lot of people.” [gift link] wapo.st/3Lkugqb

ICE caught shooting & lying yet again. In Maryland case, ICE says van driver tried to run over agents & passenger was injured when car crashed into tree. Local police now report that injured man was arrested hours earlier & was in ICE vehicle at time of crash. www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

More #PurpleLineprogress! Top two photos are first pictures I've seen of the underground chamber for the new Red Line entrance that will connect to the Purple Line (and to the street 1 block from me). Bottom two are the Purple Line station, a little farther in than I can see when I walk by.

ICE caught shooting & lying yet again. In Maryland case, ICE says van driver tried to run over agents & passenger was injured when car crashed into tree. Local police now report that injured man was arrested hours earlier & was in ICE vehicle at time of crash. www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

🧵In my expert opinion as a researcher of vehicle ramming attacks, what has been publicly described in the video evidence does not support the claim that Renee Nicole Good was attempting a deliberate ramming attack when she was shot in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. 1/7

When **Trump voters** were asked who should decide the future leadership of Venezuela, only 9% said the United States and 91% said the people of Venezuela. This is very far from a blank check for Trump, even among MAGA. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

"Primary every Democrat" is exactly the wrong response to these anonymous quotes. The very purpose of going anonymous is to prevent us from knowing who to primary. The aim is to deflect anger away from the party's right wing. The party is a coalition. Attacking it as a whole doesn't move it left.

The outcome of New York's congestion pricing. All the good things that were predicted. And a very telling good thing that wasn't predicted. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... Models predicted that traffic would get worse outside the zone. It got better. More evidence the models are just plain wrong.

My grandmother, who had no formal education but was a very wise woman, said that any time anything bad happens anywhere in the world, someone will blame the Jews. dsadevil.blogspot.com/2026/01/thin...

The level of out-of-the-gate opposition to Trump on Venezuela, from both elite and, apparently, the population, is far above any US military action in my lifetime and probably in the country's history.

So who dragged Trump into the hole he's now in, by convincing him that Delcy Rodriguez would let him "run" Venezuela? A bunch of rich, self-important Venezuelan exiles in Houston? In this administration, that can hardly be ruled out. Or did Putin have a hand in it? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/w...

I can't think of a clearer example of history repeating itself, first as tragedy and then as farce, than Bush's invasion of Iraq and Trump's whatever-it-turns-out-to-be of Venezuela.

So what do they next? Has Trump or Hegseth even thought about that?

French prosecutors open an investigation into Grok's "undressed" deepfakes.

This distorts history. 20th century Jewish anti-Zionism was centered in the wealthiest part of the community. The Jewish Socialist movement, led by Forverts & Jewish unions, believed in Jewish solidarity. ILGWU & ACWA immediately endorsed the Balfour Declaration. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"Cost" riders make choices, so you can build ridership by getting more of them. The cost difference between owning & not owning a car is already huge. So investments in convenience (frequency & span of service, especially) will usually shift the trade-off much more than cheaper fares.

It feels like the emphasis has gradually been shifting since around April or May from "free" to "fast."

TACO!

My theory of American Hierarchy Social Status: 1. Single family home owner 2. Townhouse owner 3. Apartment (condo) owner <gap> 4. Single family home renter <gap> 5. Townhouse renter <huge enormous gap> 6. Apartment renter 7. Homeless 8. Insects and rodents

They already have the name, they just don't have the politics that match the name. Mike Harrington's Democratic Socialist Organizing Ctee, DSA's forerunner, picked that name to distinguish itself from left-authoritarians, ultraleftists & 3rd-party advocates. (I was in the room.) 1/2

If you want to charge people for "trip generation" there's a very straightforward tool for that: congestion pricing.

I wrote about these "de facto alliances between upscale nimbys and real estate interests" 12 years ago. (hey, the book is on sale) www.amazon.com/Dead-End-Sub...

Rapes & assaults by drivers who Uber kept on the road after multiple complaints of sexual misconduct. Many complaints don't trigger action bc Uber can't tell if driver or rider told truth. Uber could gather more data, but doesn't to avoid being classed as employer. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/b...

WMATA goes elbows out against the competition. Great to see a transit agency act like a top-tier transport enterprise, not an "alternative." Kudos to @wmatagm.bsky.social who promotes this attitude throughout the organization.

Purpose of the "forbid everything by default, allow building through variance" zoning regime is to reconcile reality with legal fiction. In theory zoning is rational & rule-based. This regime creates a different reality: decision by arbitrary vote of either elected officials or nearby homeowners.

Imran Ahmed's organization was founded to fight left-wing antisemitism. But he also called out Elon Musk's toleration of hate speech & RFK Jr's anti-vax campaigning. So now the Trump administration is trying to bar him from the United States. [gift link] www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...

Guilty parties here are Republicans from Trump on down who sit out this fight, not just those who actively defend the antisemites. The Republican no-enemies-on-the-right problem is now much worse than the progressives' no-enemies-on-the-left problem. www.timesofisrael.com/ben-shapiros...

Operators of for-pay electric car charging stations don't want to pay for costs of necessary inspections. marylandmatters.org/2025/12/23/m...

The Port Authority has removed its battery-electric buses from service at Newark Airport. The problem seems to be that the manufacturer, Proterra, went out of business in 2023, and now parts are not available for service. www.nj.com/news/2025/12...

“A politician must earn my vote” is really the ultimate triumph of consumerism. No conception that voting is a collective power. Just an empty belief that a vote is a type of currency that one uses to purchase a politician.

Capturing the surplus value created by housing shortage for union construction labor instead of subsidized housing has big advantages. * No long-term cross-subsidy which becomes unaffordable as building ages & rents go down. * Builds political power for more construction.

I suspect Roberts, Barrett, and maybe Kavanaugh are looking at the polling data & Trump's behavior and want to restrain Trump just enough to convince a few Democrats not to expand the Court after the Dems win the 2028 election.

Woman who starts riding a bike not sure if she should be a poor unemployed loser who can't afford a car or an elite smug entitled asshole with a toy, asks neighbourhood Facebook group to help out.

This very sad story points up one of the many downsides of automobile-dependence. It's become normalized that an elderly person maintains access to a car as they begin to experience (temporary or permanent) dementia. www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Brilliant piece about economics of sprawl & much more. "At an individual level, we understand that an easy mistake is to let one's cost structure increase faster than one's means. But our economic measures don't consider that we might do this as a society." drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/11/12/r...

Uber receives a report of sexual misconduct by driver every 8 minutes. Their criminal record check for a new driver costs $7. They do the $13 version only where state law requires it. Conviction for speeding at 95 mph, even in a 25 mph zone, does not disqualify. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/b...

I don't buy the sex part of this. All nimbys (left, center & right) prefer apartments geographically isolated from 1-family homes to duplexes in 1-family areas. The rental units in duplexes are subject to neighbor shaming & the apt complexes are not. I think it's just that apartments are low-class.

Uber receives a report of sexual misconduct by driver every 8 minutes. Their criminal record check for a new driver costs $7. They do the $13 version only where state law requires it. Conviction for speeding at 95 mph, even in a 25 mph zone, does not disqualify. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/b...

As AVs deploy and circle for passengers (or for their owners avoiding paying for parking), we will see traffic jams with empty cars regularly. We won't need a blackout. missionlocal.org/2025/12/sf-w...

One more thing. Economic statistics count commutes as consumption. So someone today who drives an hour each way to work at a cost of $1000 per month is said to have a much higher standard of living than someone in the 1960s who earned (inflation-adjusted) $1000 a month less & walked to work.

Economists say young families today are richer than in 1960s. Young families disagree. Why? 1. Housing costs too much. 2. Can't have kids bc housing costs too much. 3. Not accumulating wealth bc housing costs too much. 4. Had to move bc housing costs too much. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/u...

Striking statistic from WMATA. 42% of Montgomery County residents who ride Metrorail during morning rush hour walk to the station. An extraordinarily high number for a US suburb. 28% by car; 24% by bus. A credit to county's transit-oriented development. Also reflects post-covid drop in park & ride.

Office building in downtown DC (18th & K) under conversion to hotel.