Today at The Argument we're publishing something very different. A mother in Georgia wrote to us after her IUD failed. Her email said: "…if our policies weren’t so illiberal, I very well might have decided to stay pregnant." www.theargumentmag.com/p/an-abortio...

This was a very persuasive piece that changed my mind!

I feel like everyone has just memory holed the liberal backlash to immigration under Biden.

almost as good as the freedom of speech guy speaking up in opposition to taxes to pay for a new school because the old one burned down

I liked this take on the Abundance conference www.theargumentmag.com/p/a-tale-of-...

"The hard right’s only cohesive goal is to shred liberal values, and the movements that flow from them. To ally with these groups is to court self-destruction." @jerusalem.bsky.social www.theargumentmag.com/p/a-tale-of-...

Truth Nuke

There's something so telling about the Trumpist right's insistence that using a slur for people with a disability is a sign of bravery

In which I spent $425 to hear a couple guys say "retarded" www.theargumentmag.com/p/a-tale-of-...

The biggest problem American liberalism faces is how to maintain high levels of immigration while respecting the democratic will of the public. I have an idea. www.theargumentmag.com/p/liberals-d...

I do think that this is largely a proxy for costs in general. There was not some major tax increase in 2020, people are just reacting to inflation! There's a lesson here... lowering people's costs is a necessary prerequisite to raising taxes! Can I interest you in a little YIMBY-ism?

Ok we've made fun of deficit hawks forever but @jhweissmann.bsky.social has a convincing case that if you care about social welfare programs you actually do need to start worrying about the debt! www.theargumentmag.com/p/how-i-lear...

“The intellectual victory of the YIMBYs can sometimes obscure how precarious our position really is: A whole edifice of opposition to land-use reforms is still in place — people in power with formative political experiences and assumptions from a prior era.” Recommended reading!

This morning, OG YIMBY @profschleich.bsky.social argues that the pro-housing movement needs to focus more on the problem of state trial court judges.

This article on two Swiss rent control regimes is the most diabolical thing I’ve ever read on the topic. Basel does it by regulating cap rates?!?! Swiss state capacity must be insanely high – not sure this is how I’d use it, but you do gotta hand it to them www.ey.com/en_ch/insigh...

I have a new essay @theargument.bsky.social on the increasingly challenging problem of NIMBY state trial court judges.

“Many communities across the U.S. have adopted a form of legal housing discrimination that ensures cheap places to live for... Gen Xers and Boomers, while leaving families with children nowhere to turn.” www.theargumentmag.com/p/no-country... By @jerusalem.bsky.social #housing+ #urbanism+ #urbanism

After my "case for staying on Twitter" got a bunch of interesting responses, @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com demanded that I debate him. www.theargumentmag.com/p/mad-libs-g...

Kelsey Piper's idea to fix the housing market is so insane... so insane it just might work. www.theargumentmag.com/p/ai-broke-j...

Thought that this was an interesting read. Not something I was aware of. As a child of parents, we all need to do our part:

A big reason why so many school districts in NJ have dramatically dropping enrollment. Now they're FAFO because the state aid is correspondingly cutting school aid.

fantastic article (as usual) on a topic you can't unsee as soon as you actually pay attention to the market for new builds -- so much of it is 55+

“I know it’s exhausting, but when I think about our work here, especially if you have dedicated funding, it’s just easy to lose sight or maybe feel too comfortable in the growth patterns — but you can’t let your foot off the gas." www.vox.com/policy/45890...

The realtor showing me my current apartment was super-clear that the landlord doesn't want to rent to families with kids.

The Fair Housing Act bans discrimination against families w/ children but nobody cares so landlords and investors openly share tips on how to break the law

Small n, so not claiming this will be representative but here's the ratio of where our traffic came from for the Mad Libs debate between Bruenig & Piper

my favorite part of reading old speeches is when they insert "loud and long continued applause" we've gotta start doing this again

I say this extremely seriously: one of the main skills children have to learn to be adults is to do things they *don't* find interesting. This is both because many necessary things in life are boring and because sometimes interesting things take time and effort first.

Here are the pieces we have run so far, ask yourself if this is a left-punching magazine or people are just wishcasting to avoid the possibility that reasonable people can disagree on some questions.

Still stuck on this one. David *admits* Twitter is a good way to reach people who could get value from his (excellent!) podcast yet somehow... it's dumb for others to think it's a good way to reach people who could get value from our articles?

This is not my experience at all tbh. Also I'm learning it really depends how you use these apps. On Twitter I only get notifications from people I follow; here only from people who follow me.

I'm not very compelled by this argument since there were tons of people (including me!) tweeting a ton about Kilmar/no-due-process deportations etc. I think whatever water you swim in affects you more than you think. But I find it odd the inconsistency of how this is applied.

Sure I don't think it's irrelevant to my *happiness* but if the bar for speech/activism/public discourse was whether it made you feel like garbage or not... that would eliminate HUGE swaths of political engagement!

I do think this is the best argument against staying on twitter, which I acknowledge in my piece.

yes this is my point! I'm okay with being "up to my neck in a rotting cesspit" if I thought it could help the world. I'm open to the idea that I'm actually doing nothing, but if there's one takeaway from my piece it's that the fact that I feel like garbage while I'm on twitter is irrelevant.

I'm sure this will be popular. www.theargumentmag.com/p/we-have-to...

Look at the difference between NorCal and SoCal. In the Bay, out of the 11 Senators repping urban areas, 8 voted yes. In LA County, out of 13 Senators only 4 voted yes. The LA delegation is killing housing bills.

Last chance to reserve a spot to hear Marc Dunkelman and Jerusalem Demsas in conversation at NYU Marron (370 Jay Street) at 4pm on 6/4. We will have tea, cookies, coffee, and books. Only 3 of 4 will be free. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I enjoyed this discussion today. I learned a lot from my fellow panelists (even those I disagreed with). And as moderator, @jerusalem.bsky.social wasn’t afraid to challenge us with tough questions. I find that approach super generative.

60 Minutes could find no criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans the U.S. sent to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador. https://cbsn.ws/4clubLP

Important to stand up for the idea of liberal democracy over ethnostates now more than ever - no exceptions.

If you want public transportation to create jobs, just build more and better public transportation and it will encourage more job agglomeration in your metro area. This, and not workfare in capital construction in operations, creates jobs.

Really enjoyed this conversation with @jerusalem.bsky.social about our new paper on politicians' theories of voting behaviour. Such a thrill to be a guest on one of my favourite podcasts! www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

*APRIL 9* join @ggwash.org for a screening of a new documentary about the housing crisis, followed by a panel moderated by yours truly. if you missed our book talk with @jerusalem.bsky.social last fall, you should turn up! RSVP here: lu.ma/qxws9mad

It finally happened: one of my infusion center nurses changed her mind on congestion pricing. Her family said she must be happy about the Trump admin trying to kill it, but she said actually, she may have changed her mind, since it now only takes 25 mins to get to work compared to an hour previously

A great lede for what continues to be one of the best essays written about municipal government by Jerusalem Demsas. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Monstrous www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/h...