ACA 22 -- the bastard child of the CA state legislature and failed negotiations that would require all special purpose taxes to require a 2/3rds threshold -- will be Prop 43 on the November ballot. When you're talking to friends and neighbors, remember to tell them to vote no on Prop 43!

the grievances in the declaration are like: * trump did it * trump did it * entirely irrelevant in 2026 * trump did it * extremely problematic language there buddy * trump did it

As climate change advances and the US population shifts to the Sunbelt, American culture needs to adapt and develop celebrations to help cope with "it's too hot to go outside". Western culture does a good job with the winter equivalent but sorely lacking on the summer bad weather holiday front.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. -US Declaration of Independence

the correlation between "area quickly added housing density" and "Democratic insurgent toppled incumbent" is pretty interesting!

Hawk tuah the polls

Last year the California legislature passed Senate Bill 79, which legalized multifamily housing within a half mile of major public transit stops across California. This legislation was nearly a decade in the making. As of today, is officially active! Let the building begin!

Californians watching DSA and progressives sweep primaries in the rest of the country

I'm so thankful to Becky and her mom for their trust, generosity, and strength in front of the Supreme Court. No matter what the Court says, Becky is a hero for standing up for herself and trans girls like her. Doing what's right, even when the odds are against you, is the definition of courage.

Donald Trump, rentier president. King of the landlords, savior of the homevoters

Remember in late 2024 when Institute for Progress @ifp.bsky.social guys were all on x dot com talking about how Trump was about to usher in an age of permitting reform to ease the affordability crisis?

I would die for the Ikea bisexual couch

Are there any actually good proposals for tech/social media regulation? Every proposal seems to be forced de-anonymization/age verification or some sort of giveaway to entrenched actors but has anyone actually proposed a solution (e.g model legislation) to the real problems?

Israel’s genocidal leadership is proudly saying that they want to ethnically cleanse, occupy, and illegally annex Lebanese land. All of this is going on with the US government’s support. Congress can put a stop to it by passing Rashida Tlaib’s Lebanon War Powers Resolution tomorrow.

i find any conversation about “college educated” voters interesting because i think there’s an implication there that doesn’t align with reality. a college education used to mean stable, well paying work—but for a long time now, that hasn’t been the case for so many people.

Israel’s military shot and killed 54 Palestinian children in the West Bank in 2025, and not a single Israeli soldier has been held accountable. Not only does Israel’s military kill children with impunity—Israel’s top military commander boasts about the killings.

Missed this story last week

High transit costs are bad because they reduce the number of transit projects we can build. That's the problem. I'd rather pour money into $1B/mi subways than ICE or endless wars. But since neither party really cares to invest into transit, we have to bring costs down.

The Constitutional Crisis started in 2000. You've been living through it your entire adult life. The reason politics feels hopeless is by design — conservatives broke our democratic form of government to guarantee that the people cannot act against them and are continuing to break it.

Gold Runner ran out of snacks by Merced, before most of the train filled up. 7 hours until my next chance to get home. This wouldn't have happened with a CAFE CAR.

Today is a good day to remember that authoritarianism is not inevitable, overthrowing fascists is possible, and good things can still happen. www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...

Graduation robes are the example of this that really grinds my gears most. WHY are we wearing thick black robes and hats sitting in the sun in 90+ degree heat and humidity?! It makes absolutely no sense.

OP is completely right, and it's remarkable the extent to which American life, even in climates that have always been hot, are still built around the same Anglocentric norms. Why does everything close at 8 or 9 pm, just when it becomes pleasant to go outside? Why are suits mandatory?

If you're a centrist, I want to know, do you believe wealth concentration and climate change are issues? How should they be addressed in a timely manner, assuming you have the majority needed to do w/e?

This Day in Labor History: June 26, 1894. The American Railway Union, headed by Eugene Debs, called a nationwide boycott in solidarity with their striking members at Pullman, Illinois. This turned a small strike into a challenge over corporate control over America. The government crushed it!

let's goooo!

So atmospheric CO2 right now is at levels not seen in 5 million years. Even if we stopped emitting tomorrow, we're still stuck with a warmer climate than any human has experienced. Adaptation vs mitigation is an AND, not an or

So atmospheric CO2 right now is at levels not seen in 5 million years. Even if we stopped emitting tomorrow, we're still stuck with a warmer climate than any human has experienced. Adaptation vs mitigation is an AND, not an or

Regarding 2, one big ridership factor at least in CA is that our biggest, densest cities are losing population and becoming wealthier thanks to land-use policy, and we aren't investing in transit service and infrastructure in the areas where population is growing.

The ideology in question is opposing fascism. This horrific action is a shot across the bow at all of us—everyone who cares about their neighbors, who dares to dream of a better world, who opposes ICE terror and authoritarian repression. We cannot allow the state to disappear them.

We really need more passenger trains. Our autocentric lifestyles are just a capitalist ploy to keep us all controlled by big tech, automotives and the oil & gas industry. usa.streetsblog.org/2026/06/18/d...

This piece misses the key climate angle of our socialist mayors - that they are running on urbanist platforms to tackle transportation emissions, the US's largest source of GHGs - in favor of a lot of lazy left-punching, while also flubbing on pre-2024 eco socialism heatmap.news/daily/mamdan...

That article in The Walrus was designed in a lab to make me insane

Piece by me this week - looking at the surging number of killings by police in the United States: www.economist.com/united-state...

The defining feature of politics since 2024 is a small group of ultra-wealthy people declaring war on expertise. I don't think making evidenced based-policy anti-populist in orientation is smart or savvy politics.

a hobby horse of mine is getting celebrities and even *elected democrats* to stop telling people to "Vote" in an unqualified fashion. tell people to vote *for you* or door shut the fuck up. this includes nonpartisan sites like vote.org

The pervasiveness of holey, single-pane windows, no shade structures, and floor plans seemingly designed to minimize cross ventilation even on brand new buildings in the Sun Belt drives me bonkers

Good morning. Juneteenth morning.

Wow just imagine if ceqa and labor standards weren't kneecapping our ability to build clean energy so we weren't getting our ass kicked by texas, where, uh...

We need all sorts of fundamental reforms at the federal level. It would be nice if CA could lead on implementing them in the state. Thinks like this, plus moving to proportional representation and a unicameral legislature for the state.

let's say you're right; republican victory in 2032 is inevitable. are we wasting those 2-4 years on Gavin Newsom or Kamala Harris or are we trying to fix everything we can?

Real missed opportunity for Riverside to renew its transportation sales tax without changing the allocation to transit, which at only 12% is less than every other SoCal County. Want more Metrolink service? Put your money where your mouth is, RCTC. www.pressenterprise.com/2026/06/11/w...

Been thinking about this bit from @stano.bsky.social a lot in light of Metrolink cuts. Having already banished much of their workforce to "servants quarters" in the IE and High Desert by refusing to build housing, LA and OC now cut their transit. everyoneiswelcome.substack.com/p/everywhere...

🤞Hoping🤞 that the @uaw.org someday brings back this necktie President Walter Reuther rocked at a constitutional convention back in circa 1949. The tie is protesting the anti-union Taft-Hartley law, and was available in three different color combos👔. Photo from the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.

How is Georgia beating California on this

There are few things more fake than the imagined constituency among LGBT people to "drop the T" that you apparently need to see people post about every pride.

Kyron Shakeel Swaso, 35, spoke with L.A. TACO following his deportation to Belize, in what he says was an act of retaliation for organizing a hunger strike at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The full story: lataco.com/deported-ade... By Izzy Ramirez

There's a bunch of stuff that used to be big political memes that we all stopped talking about despite still being relevant problems. Money in politics. Lobbyists. The Post-Truth age. What's up with that?

Are liberal communities more NIMBY than conservative ones? In new research, I examine how housing supply changed in US cities & counties from 2000–20. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... One key finding: Liberal places build *more* housing in their existing neighborhoods than do conservative ones.