Someone got the best thing ever for Christmas (IMHO)

In thinking about what you can do this year, keep this in mind: showing up at protests has real impact - - www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I started blogging, don't know how long this will be a thing so I started with the lowest effort of a blogger site, but I wrote up my thoughts about the McGrath Boulevard 25% design. joansliu.blogspot.com/2025/12/grou... bsky.app/profile/joan...

The Supreme Court rejected the federal government’s request to deploy the National Guard in Illinois. It’s time to let our troops go home to celebrate the holidays with their families — and stay home.

Did I use the @transitmatters.bsky.social train tracker to hunt and film the @mbta.com holiday trains on the Orange and Green lines? Why yes I did. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas y'all. And good transit to all traintracker.transitmatters.org?line=Green

Was out in West Roxbury last night and OMG had forgotten Trader Joe's opened up a store right on Centre in the old Walgreens And yes, dinner from Himalayan Bistro was delicious as always. West Roxbury is still mostly a driving destination for me sadly, but at least it's far safer to cross Centre

I count 10 cities in 2025 that are on track to have the fewest murders since at least 1970. Newark is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1956 (though only have data through Oct this year) and San Francisco is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1942.

I lost my daughter Robyn on June 24th, 2019. They were killed while doing bicycle messenger work on New York City, when a speeding & distracted box truck knocked them off of their bike and then crushed them into the road. December 24th is roughly 6 1/2 months from that date.

Happy Holidays from the City of Boston Archaeology Team (Joe, Lauryn, Nadia, and Sarah)! We hope your season is filled with peace, love, and joy. 🤗 Enjoy this silly field wreath, made possible by a site where oyster shells were truly abundant! 🦪

East Boston residents have set up a network to watch ICE - which includes sitting inside East Boston court www.masslive.com/boston/2025/...

Two words: BUILDERS REMEDY (Evidently the existing stick in the legislation was not sufficient) www.boston.com/news/local-n...

First time at the new storefront too

AI falsely labelled him a sex offender. This is why we say don’t use AI. It hallucinates. It gets things wrong. It destroys the environment. Yet people are relying on it for medical advice, legal advice and more. It’s dangerous. Stop using it.

A lot of establishment democrats view the reality that the Republican Party is run by a coterie of traitors, crooks, conmen, and literal goddamn pedophiles as an embarrassment, rather than a giant opportunity. A modern ABSCAM could roll up the entire federalist society.

Someone under an @amtrak.com Acela train at BBY. All Amtrak and @mbta.com CR trains on the NEC stopped at this time while @fire.boston.gov and @police.boston.gov are investigating @universalhub.com @bostonglobe.com

This latest threat to shut down hospital services and interfere with the private medical decisions of health care providers and families is a cruel, political attack on the LGBTQ+ community.

I’m *extremely* appreciative of the major safety improvements that have been made to the BU bridge & nearby over the last year (it’s on my daily commute year round), but the flex posts at both ends were destroyed by vehicles within days, and it’s clear something more is needed for safety here👇

Less than a week after they were installed, many of the flex posts on the BU bridge have been destroyed by vehicles. Appreciate the thought but cyclists clearly need more protection at these intersections.

A man died in Massachusetts custody this December after being beaten while handcuffed. Protesters are using the word "lynched" and I'm inclined to agree, although the implications are dire. Five other people have died at this facility this year.

The view from traffic-congested Boston:

The next time there's a fight over reclaiming space from cars, one thing that gives me hope is that we will have a new mayor who will point to what happened with congestion pricing — and Citi Bike, 14th Street, etc. — and tell the naysayers that they are almost always wrong.

Being held *pre-trial* should not be a death sentence. Any incident of that having is criminal. That it happens as often as it does is damning. @mayorwu.boston.gov @ruthzee.bsky.social @massgovernor.bsky.social @massago.bsky.social

The Trump Administration is attempting to ensure the CFPB runs out of money completely this January, effectively defunding the agency and stripping away one of the strongest safeguards working families have against fraud and corporate abuse. Not on my watch. We're suing.

"While over half of the households in the US want to live in walkable places, less than 8 percent of the built environment is walkable...In the postwar period, the United States spent billions of dollars on roads while other countries spent billions on high-speed rail to link big cities."

If you ever stacked cups in gym class, blame my dad: defector.com/if-you-ever-...

I wish the city of Boston was doing this work. We have a crash map. We know where the dangerous places are. What are we doing to prevent the injuries and deaths we know will result from unsafe roads? #VisionZeroBoston @wutrain.bsky.social @gigi4district1.bsky.social @ruthzee.bsky.social

Cambridge focuses on improving safety at high-crash intersections | Click on the image to read the full story

Wait, there are Flock Cameras in Boston? I thought this was only a Brookline thing? @universalhub.com @dotnews.bsky.social @stacos.bsky.social @welcometodot.bsky.social @fortpointer.bsky.social

This is 404 Media's @jasonkoebler.bsky.social waving at himself through a Flock camera; one of 60 we learned was left exposed to the open internet. Not only could anyone with a link livestream it, but some admin portals were open with no login credentials required. www.404media.co/flock-expose...

“Flock's ambitions go far beyond license-plate surveillance,” EFF’s @cooperq.com told @404Media.co. “Flock's goal isn't to catch stolen cars, their goal is to have total surveillance of everyone all the time." www.404media.co/flock-expos...

This is what we’ve been warning about. Trump’s attacks on the media are having their intended effect: increasingly compliant elements of the corporate media are unwilling or afraid to take him on — which poses a direct threat to a free press.

And again yesterday

Happy Winter Solstice!

Flexposts added to BU Bridge! - video by MassBike

The City of Boston says its bike lane initiative appears to be working.

Donate $150 or more before the end of the month for a chance to receive a limited-edition screen-print poster designed in honor of bicyclists lost in traffic crashes. Prevent more such tragedies by supporting MassBike’s work - donate now! massbike.org/support_poster

Breakthrough of the year? Renewable energy www.science.org/content/arti...

Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.

Ok but who did the deed? The Hulk? #BostonVehicularViolence

Burgum is not dumb. He's lying and selling out our future to prop up his buddies in the fossil fuel industry.

Man arrested on charges he ran down an elderly woman using a walker to cross South Huntington Avenue www.universalhub.com/2025/man-arr... #Boston #JamaicaPlain

As someone who used to have a long car commute, I can just feel the crushing weight of that in so many of these comments. It takes a toll. And yet we still have not built the requisite housing or transit connections to reduce this commuting burden.

Was thinking about the blackout in San Francisco and now how @waymo.bsky.social made roads impassable As @eschatonblog.com noted emergency vehicles can't get though! 2 ways to make streets more resilient in case the robots need a nap 1. Dedicated bus lanes! 2. Emergency responders on bikes

I’m shocked that 30 people have died in ICE detention this year (per agency).

So Bari Weiss’s first real editorial intervention at CBS is to repress coverage of American concentration camps.

Amazing work from whoever was up in N6914W over Ohio … www.flightaware.com/live/flight/...

Since his appointment, RFK Jr. has pursued a brutal vision of American health that several experts liken to a sort of eugenics. Kennedy has made it clear that certain deaths are acceptable or even preferable to a world where every child is vaccinated. Read more: www.theverge.com/health/66136...

Not every street needs cars #CarLiteBoston

the vice president is a klansman