If we want to make homeownership more attainable in California, we have to start building condos again. Today, we barely do. Here's why that matters — and why I'm working on reforming California's construction defect laws. 🧵
Really important story here. The civil rights community is recognizing that the world after Callais has changed, "fair districting" is a chimera, & proportional representation is the only path for the House to look like America. Paul Starr writes about this shift, & a way to pass it that's feasible.
Proportional Representation Gets a New Look - The American Prospect
Supreme Court decisions and unrestrained partisan gerrymandering are focusing attention on a fundamental election reform. But one version is more feasible than the others.
prospect.org
didn’t have “Trump invokes never-used Smoot-Hawley authority” on my 2026 Bingo card but here we are tax.thomsonreuters.com/blog/after-i...
Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 2w agoohmygod they actually did it, it's 338 tariffs, holy fuck www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
lower down payments means more money for banks and existing landowners. and a million dollar loan is $8k/month, which is hardly affordable! mainstream CA Democrats will propose anything so long as it doesn’t address the root cause of the housing crisis—grossly inadequate supply
Ned Resnikoff@resnikoff.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis is the one specific housing policy idea Porter floats in the above interview.
“freeze housing insurance” is not a serious answer. that’s probably the best way to make the insurance crisis even worse I want to like Becerra but his positions on housing, CA’s #1 issue, are just not acceptable
Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social · 3mo ago24/ To Becerra: Name one cost you'll lower and how Becerra: Freeze utility rates and housing insurance. To Bianco: Views on LPRs, Flcok and other mass survelliance Bianco: PRO. LPRs a game changer.
1/ I guess i'm going to loosely blog the CA governor's debate? First Q: whether or not to cut gas tax. Steyer: blames war, windfall oil company tax instead Porter: wants to "move away from it" posits as green measure Mahan: attacks others, "reform tax" Becerra: no, need for infrastructure
✨Schrödinger’s Crosswalk ✨, joint work with a terrific interdisciplinary team, under submission to law reviews now. It’s a bit unconventional (6,600 words, including a table, plus maps) but, we hope, appealing for the right journal.
ICE shot and killed a woman on camera today. We all saw the video. The Trump administration is lying.
a few candidates have talked about this but any Dem planning to run in 2028 should make it explicit: the next DOJ will, in fact, go after you if you’re funding this awful ballroom, or any other pay to play deals you make with this administration
Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 8mo agoDimon on why JPMorgan Chase is not funding WH Ballroom: We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.
Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.
this sex pest, who texted with Jeffrey Epstein up to one day before his arrest, is still a University Professor at @harvard.edu what kind of message does this send aspiring young women economists? www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jef...
thecrimson.com
Fall 2017: Then-NYT reporter literally warning Epstein that someone is "digging around again."
![From:
Thomas Jr., Landon
Sent:
9/27/2017 2:47:47 PM
To:
Subject:
Got another call from Connelly..
Importance:
High
Jeffrey Epstein [jeevacation@gmail.com]
He is digging around again -- not clear if its another book/or expanded paperback version. Was asking me all sorts of questions about why you hired Ken Starr. I told him I had no idea - I think he is doing some Trump-related digging too.
Anyway, for what its worth...
Landon Thomas, Jr.
Financial Reporter
New York Times
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/landon_ir thomas/index.h
tml](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreia6463yzmb2suqn5rbfslvtta667av3ryynaetbsl7x6tniezyawu)
Out today in HLR, my piece Skrmetti Beyond Scrutiny. What happened, what it means for trans rights and sex equality more broadly: harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...
Skrmetti Beyond Scrutiny - Harvard Law Review
In United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), a state law that prohibits transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming care.
harvardlawreview.org
to be clear: the government's claim - validated by the Court - is that it would *irreparably harm* the president to not misgender trans people
Mark Joseph Stern@mjsdc.bsky.social · 9mo agoNEW: On the shadow docket, the Supreme Court lets Trump resume misgendering trans Americans on their passports, claiming "the government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment." All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
![This case concerns an Executive Branch policy requiring
all new passports to display an individual’s biological sex at
birth. The United States District Court for the District of
Massachusetts preliminarily enjoined the Government
from enforcing the policy, and the First Circuit declined to
stay the injunction pending appeal. The Government then
filed this stay application. Applying our familiar stay fac-
tors at this preliminary stage, we grant the application.
Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends
equal protection principles than displaying their country of
birth—in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to
a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential
treatment. And on this record, respondents have failed to
establish that the Government’s choice to display biological
sex “lack[s] any purpose other than a bare . . . desire to
harm a politically unpopular group.” Trump v. Hawaii, 585
U. S. 667, 705 (2018) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Nor are respondents likely to prevail in arguing that the
State Department acted arbitrarily and capriciously by de-
clining to depart from Presidential rules that Congress ex-
pressly required it to follow. See 22 U. S. C. §211a.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreiacrtgoecxjy5y7ojz7xzbun4c4nwutjcvqn4qb4p25ldpt6va5lu)
What this order makes clear is that plaintiffs can collect a mountain of animus, the district court can write extensively about the record, and the Supreme Court will just go “nuh uh.”
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 9mo agoBREAKING: The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to enforce its anti-trans and anti-nonbinary passport policy during litigation. The unsigned, four-paragraph order effectively reverses two lower-court decisions. The Democratic appointees dissent. More to come: www.lawdork.com
![SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 25A319
DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, ET AL. v. ASHTON ORR, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR STAY
[November 6, 2025]
This case concerns an Executive Branch policy requiring
all new passports to display an individual’s biological sex at
birth. The United States District Court for the District of
Massachusetts preliminarily enjoined the Government
from enforcing the policy, and the First Circuit declined to
stay the injunction pending appeal. The Government then
filed this stay application. Applying our familiar stay fac-
tors at this preliminary stage, we grant the application.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreievxyvqikl7wmrg5jkqhsrta5l5xfq272x7caunvxka7vtuzp7hoa)
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification. I glanced down at the message. “Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began. So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
what a photo, days after the largest street mobilization in generations calling for “no kings”, amidst a government shutdown when all non essential govt activities are supposed to stop
Jonathan Edwards@jonathanreports.bsky.social · 10mo agoScoop: Trump has started demolishing the White House's East Wing facade to build his ballroom. The president had claimed construction of the $250 million building wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure. /W @ddiamond.bsky.social wapo.st/4hqBNiU
[VICTORY ALERT] Governor Newsom has signed SB 79, which will make it legal to build multi-family housing near high quality transit! Our statement: cayimby.org/news-events/...
cayimby.org
massive contrast between real free speech issues in 2025—masked govt goons abducting grad students for politically incorrect op-eds and shooting pastors praying outside govt sites versus the Supreme Court’s pick of a free speech “issue”—wildly popular bans on conversion therapy
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 10mo agoThe first Law Dork oral argument report of the new Supreme Court term is a doozy: Chiles v. Salazar, over Colorado’s conversion therapy ban.
this rural Hallingdalsveien segment of Norwegian route 7 has better pedestrian infra than like 99% of US state highway milage lol
880% AMI affordable housing development in Palo Alto $60M project to build 37 studios/SROs, 8 1BDs, and 5 2BDs. that’s $1.1M per bedroom the construction cost crisis is REAL
further, it looks like the Trump DHS made the Harvard announcement **AFTER** a district court issued a preliminary injunction barring DHS from revoking intl students' SEVIS records storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
George Pearkes@peark.es · last yr.Yeah this is gunna get struck down *DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY RELEASES STATEMENT ON HARVARD *US CITES HARVARD 'PRO-TERRORIST CONDUCT' W/ FOREIGN ENROLLMENT *INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT HARVARD LOSE LEGAL STATUS: DHS *DHS SAYS HARVARD CREATED 'UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT' ON CAMPUS
if Republicans succeed in taking away CA's power to set auto emissions standards—and poison tens of millions of CA'ns in the process— @governor.ca.gov and the Legislature MUST pursue an aggressive VMT reduction policy. no more freeways, dense infill housing, etc etc
Mark Joseph Stern@mjsdc.bsky.social · last yr.Update: This happened last night—Senate Republicans went nuclear, overruling the parliamentarian and blowing up the filibuster to repeal California's vehicle emissions standards. Many Republicans will likely cite this precedent as reason to bypass the filibuster to pass the reconciliation bill too.
the GOP is overtly and brazenly looting the public fisc. most of this administration needs to be prosecuted and incarcerated for bribery, corruption, and similar. no exceptions; no leniency. this needs to be the cornerstone of the Democratic platform in 2028. www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...
FRA invites Musk firm Boring Co. to advise on Baltimore tunnel already under construction: news report - Trains
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration is seeking input from tunneling firm Boring Co., founded and controlled by Elon Musk, regarding construction of a new Northeast Corridor rail tunnel in...
trains.com
Ryan Mac 🙃@rmac.bsky.social · last yr.As Elon Musk laid waste to the federal government, the Department of Transportation quietly met with and consulted his tunneling firm, the Boring Company, a $6 billion Amtrak tunnel project connecting Baltimore, DC and Virginia. Our latest: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/t...