can't believe the blackwater nazi tattoo guy did some bad shit

there is a cohort of men who resent the responsibilities and obligations of adulthood — of the fact that you owe things to other people. it is a fundamentally childish impulse that they have reconfigured as the height of masculinity, and i think it informs the parasocial attraction to platner.

Under LA's new "Objective Design Standards" for historic districts, the building on the left would be prohibited, and the building on the right would be encouraged

emmanuel is so ruthlessly cynical that this is basically telling you where the typical democratic voter is on american aid to israel

I'm thinking today about the people I've met and the stories they've shared since the July 4 floods. What happened that day -- and the grief and loss and rebuilding and resilience -- will certainly stay with me. Here are some of their stories:

This is the most purely anti-American thing I've ever heard a politician say, but the media is too obsessed with 3 DSA candidates winning local elections in NY to pay any attention I guess.

I'm a card-carrying DSA member who thinks the United States should be arming Ukraine, and I vote

Mai Vang, endorsed by Sacramento’s local DSA chapter, was among the most enthusiastic votes for abolishing single family zoning in Sacramento asking “How can we get more plexes built in my district” Her incumbent opponent, Doris Matsui, wrote a letter to kill a bike lane project a few years back.

Apropos of this from Jamelle, who has correctly turned off quote posts so I'm just using the screenshot, I was just reading about how Medicare had no chance to pass despite endless hearings and campaigns until Rs got crushed in 64. We can affect these things collectively.

corpus christi boldly asks the question: what if las vegas was detroit

Film from the train. Shot on Ektacolor 400.

one thing you can see on TikTok etc is that there are a lot of young, low info people whose primary exposure to the concept of antisemitism is as a bad faith smear, and my guess is that’s not good.

Brilliant analysis on how adherence to what I've argued ought to be called Pollingism (i.e. survey issue preference and repeat back what's "popular" and eschew what isn't) felled Starmer in UK. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNFi...

headed back home!

The urbanism of Tucson, Arizona

every single movie and show uses the same exact sound fx library train horn and it drives me insane

Taking my first solo long distance train trip in a few years. Austin to Tucson.

The point of American zoning is to put the most people in the worst places for residential, so they don't inconvenience the people rich enough to live in the best places for residential.

It’s unfortunate that this road doesn’t have space for a protected bike lane. Look at all the cars!

great, heartrending thread from gwen:

Hard to overstate what a big problem this is, and it rears its head in basically *any* kind of transportation research you might try to do, at least in the US. Data on non-commute trips is, more often than not, just nonexistent. Unless you have the resources to collect your own data, good luck.

finally, the monument to trans america

An under-examined trend is underway in which the American press is finally, albeit exceptionally belatedly, covering some of the most basic facts about Israel's self-radicalizing political culture.

Every single blue city that's not building more housing is making it harder for queer people to flee hostile states. Quite frankly, I feel like that simple reality should take far more space in progressive/left housing discourse than it currently does.

The Barstow International Gateway project is a prime opportunity to electrify SoCal freight and build the nation's first all-electric railyard. But instead, BNSF is doubling down on dirty diesel, increasing pollution throughout the region. Speak up for electric rail this Saturday at 1 in Barstow!

would anyone be interested in either something written or podcast about the great transgender migration that's going on right now that no one is really talking about. i feel like no one outside of the trans community knows about this at all

Two of these things aren't like the other two things

Some more film photos! Got my latest scans back from the lab today Yashica Mat-124 / Ilford HP4 Plus 125.

Watch Austin — not because of all the splashy, big stuff we’ve done in recent years. Watch Austin because the advocacy is now shifting to handle the fixes, the tweaks, the technical bits. This is the really meaningful stuff that good legislative bodies take seriously. Watch Austin.

Scrolling through the letters of support in the revised Union Pacific/Norfolk Southern merger filing. Lots of #txlege Republicans as expected, but also three Dems: • Eddie Morales (HD74) • Josey Garcia (HD124) • Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (HD120)

It's such a breath of fresh air to see @aoc.bsky.social stand against gutting our tax base.

We need to re-legalize the very cheap, bare bones housing that keeps people off the street. More broadly, we need policymakers to be ok with letting people build types of housing that they would not particularly want to live in.

Let it be known that the students at West Texas A&M who sued the TAMU system to challenge a ban on drag are braver than every tenured professor in a blue state tweeting that it’s unethical to work at a university in the second most populous US state. www.texastribune.org/2026/01/20/w...

Cashing my Polymarket bet that insiders would be arrested for Polymarket bets about Polymarket bets.

came upon the derailment cleanup while running some errands this afternoon downtown, totally crazy to see

got my first scans back!

ok, so, instead of doing the responsible thing and getting ready to move, i've decided to check something off of my bucket list: recreate The Photo

I'm BEGGING for a conversation with any folks who can think of how we get the Smithsonian to open a national transport museum with cool trains, buses, and shit to actually teach and inspire the next generation of transit engineers and planners 😫

I've been harping on this, but the Texas grid continues to have days where renewables make up the overwhelming majority of the fuel mix. This is the famously deregulated Texas grid, with some of the cheapest natural gas in the country, with zero state subsidies for renewables.

I think a lot of people here are way underestimating how difficult it is to break a sexual abuse story *even when everybody kind of knows it* unless you can get victims on record. it is very, very hard.

A modern-day warrior Mean, mean stride Today's Tom Steyer Mean, mean pride

Some MUNI foaming from this week

The 3 US transit agencies with the MOST ridership growth are also the 3 agencies facing the BIGGEST service cuts due to a lack of state funding. Public transit is a great investment. Sustainable funding = better service for a growing number of riders!

The self-censoring nature of many of the most important facts about Trump's presidencies is a load-bearing necessity for his career. The median voter cannot and will not believe that he is as bad as he actually is. They invent a less bad version of him that they can then be persuaded to support.

Mamdani is not just filling the potholes with the crew. He's creating a visual and personal reminder of the dignity inherent in all of these anonymous government jobs.

Hard to fathom, but after biking around San Francisco this afternoon... I think Austin is beating SF on bike lane quality and coverage by a wide margin.