A republic, but not if you keep the Senate

I know this seems like it should be impossible, but both of these statements are true: Trump's judicial nominees all refuse to denounce the January 6 insurrection or say that he lost the 2020 election, and ALSO, some Senate Dems keep voting to confirm those nominees to life-tenured judgeships

Times have changed. Still a long way to go but folks, you really can just do things. "There’s a sentiment that approving this project is not democratic, I have to push back against that,” said Councilmember O’Keefe. “The people of Berkeley want more housing.” www.berkeleyside.org/2026/02/12/b...

In the incredible movie "Lives of Others," artists/performers are continuously confronted by their passive complicity with the authoritarian socialist regime. One advantage we have in the remaining "United" States is, the Confederacy has no talent. Everyone has to pick a side now.

This is incredible. Like the previous few years, near all of the electricity capacity added to the grid was clean energy. The Inflation Reduction Act helped this - it made solar & wind cheaper but it also for the first time had a standalone incentive for grid storage. Look at the growth in storage!

The whole world except the United States knows about how to put crucial government services where everyone can get to them. The crucial service marooned on an inaccessible hilltop culdesac, reachable only by car, is a uniquely USA idea. (Chattanooga, TN, USA)

Going car-free is the best thing most people can do for climate. To reduce car dependency, cities should promote car-free living, supporting compact cities through policy, and investing in public transportation, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and shared mobility options.

Wow. Awesome to see a an expert—whose business depends on responding to trends in the housing market—make the point that less parking is a good thing.

The FBI spying on Democratic Members of Congress on behalf of a Republican White House? Unprecedented!!!!

more like this

The displacement to fire risk areas caused by NIMBYism in the flat, safe areas of the Bay are well-studied. Here's a good primer: cayimby.org/blog/how-urb...

Huh. Republicans ending elections when they lose. nobody could have predicted

AB 1070 will direct state agencies to study how using the residential building code for small, multi-family home projects could accelerate the construction of “missing middle” housing. cayimby.org/legislation/...

First thing I notice about these fire risk maps of the Bay Area is, the safest areas are the wealthiest neighborhoods near the bay that have banned most new, infill housing development. Second thing I notice is, most new housing development is in the least safe areas. carbonplan.org/research/cli...

US Olympic Curling Team member speaks out against ICE: "I'm proud to represent Team USA. But we'd be remiss if we didn't mention what's going on in Minnesota and what a tough time it's been. What's happening is wrong. There's no shades of gray."

"The most important lesson about local speed mitigation tactics is that they save lives; researchers don’t doubt effectiveness. Even better, many residents are eager to see them implemented. The missing link: policymakers courageous enough to do the right thing." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The California state fire marshal was legally obliged to release the single-stair report on January 1. A month later, it's nowhere in sight, and I'm hearing the draft recommends doing the bare minumum. State legislators should just pass the code update themselves. calmatters.org/housing/2026...

In totally predictable form, the Trump administration is putting the final nail in the coffin of US climate policy, leaving the fate of climate in the hands of the remaining U.S. states. At the same time, China is suing the U.S. to force us to act on climate. www.globaltimes.cn/page/202602/...

“Yes, I’m a YIMBY,” Raman said, referring to the pro-housing “Yes in My Backyard” acronym. “I’m a DSA-endorsed — multiple times — candidate." www.latimes.com/california/s...

This is true not just on the general point that he's an idiot but also specifically Starship is never going to work as advertised. The tyranny of the rocket equation doesn't let it pencil out, a launcher heavy enough to be 100% reusable is then too heavy to carry a useful payload.

Not me betting on a narrative-dominant asset theory that's entirely dependent on the price volatility caused by the insane ramblings of a drug-addicted Nazi pedophile.

Okay, I’ve heard all the criticisms. I agree now that my plan to create a Jonestown on Mars was foolish and dangerous. I will instead be building a much more achievable Jonestown on the Moon

Councilmember Yaroslavsky says it's time for the city to stop delaying and make Westwood Boulevard safe la.streetsblog.org/2026/02/09/c...

Secretary Howard Lutnick lied to the country about his ties to Epstein. Now we learned that they were in business together. He has no business being our Commerce Secretary. He should resign. www.politico.com/live-updates...

The best way to stop the killings on our streets is to hold people accountable every time they endanger others (even if the penalty is small). It’s not long prison terms for reckless drivers after they run people down. That’s one lesson we should take from the remarkable success of speed cameras.

Analysis finds that “comparing a single day before the speed camera implementation with one day after, average speeds came down at every single one of those 15 corridors last month. It also found that the share of vehicles speeding by more than 10 miles an hour over the limit fell by a whopping 78%“

San Francisco is showing that speed cameras actually change driver behavior and make streets safer. This is what effective safety policy looks like. More cities, including San Mateo, should get on board.

ICE sacked some tiny Idaho town and deported ~4 percent of the population at a stroke, it's liable to collapse the local economy www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...

Something to keep in mind the next time the city tries to repurpose parking and drivers complain that every last car is necessary at all times. The storm was two weeks ago.

Part e-bike and part van, this new class of pedal-powered vehicles is overhauling last-mile delivery—and the fabric of car-centric urban life. “I do think we're asking a fundamental question of who is entitled to space in the city?" insideevs.com/features/786...

You are so Nashville if your kid's 1.5 mile ride to school requires a practice run on a Sunday morning, stringing together a convoluted route of sidewalks and alleyways because there's not a shred of bicycle infrastructure to keep her safe.

I've written about the overarching post story, causes, underlying pattern. But the failure of Lewis or Bezos to even show up, literally or figuratively, on a day of devastating cuts epitomizes the profound lack of character and accountability that is so common place today within the American elite.

Monstrous.

Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas is just a delight on every level

Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY. There was also a 71% drop in air pollution. Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople

there should be a "Mission Accomplished" banner over his head

Will Lewis, CEO of the Washington Post, resigns. [gift link] www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/t...

I think the reality is that Mamdani had to choose between being the best mayor for NYC and the best leader for a broader socialist movement and he’s chosen the former - as he was elected to do

more addressing the other site than anything I've seen here, but Zohran never once promised to spearhead a class-struggle mayoralty or be absolute in his anti-zionism and if the DSA left was going to condition their support on such they should have said so instead of claiming his victory as theirs

I almost got hit by a driver in front of my neighborhood’s elementary school. He didn’t stop as he was exiting the school property despite a tight turn and big stop sign. I’m of course in favor of all traffic calming we can do, but how do we get dangerous drivers to give a damn about pedestrians?

I sincerely hope that JD Vance gets this reaction every single place he goes.

Another way to think about the predictable abandonment of electric car targets by the North American car industry and their captive governments is: One electric car is equivalent to removing one gasoline car from the road, but also -- removing one gasoline car from the road does the same thing.

crypto wouldn't be falling like this if trump was president

There are a lot of peer-reviewed journals that publish research on the basic economics of housing supply and affordability, so if somebody is putting out white papers rather than peer-reviewed research, it’s probably because it’s low-quality work www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/r...

There was once a plan to run a bus lane and a protected bicycle lanes down Westwood Boulevard. It might have been one of Los Angeles' great promenades. Instead, NIMBYs killed the proposal, and now it's a round-the-clock car sewer where people randomly die in extremely violent ways.

To suburban drivers used to having 100% of road space in their suburb, having to slow down a bit in the city because a pedestrian is crossing feels like oppression. I believe this helps explain some of the state laws preventing blue cities from doing traffic calming or road diets

👀 Apparently, Ross Douthat invited Seth Harp to debate him on Douthat's "Interesting Times" NYT podcast. Harp says that the episode was recorded, Douthat got crushed, and RD/NYT decided not to publish it. What? x.com/sethharpesq/...

AOC: We are going to have to reckon, as a country, with this time. And I hope that that reckoning includes prosecution of people who are involved with the lawbreaking and human rights violations they are knowingly engaging in right now.