We're working with @metroabundance.bsky.social to collect cost drivers in California building codes and standards above and beyond national model codes/standards. See here for more – please circulate among architects, engineers, etc. in the state! admin.centerforbuilding.org/wp-content/u...

"The Ukrainian campaign knocked out more than 30 and 45 per cent of Russia’s actual and nominal capacity, respectively," bruh? www.ft.com/content/3990...

How Putin’s refinery dream became Ukraine’s target

Damage to Russian refineries still visible from space months after strikes

ft.com

Firefighters in Spain and France are racing to contain wildfires threatening Madrid and Bordeaux.

Spain and France Race to Contain Fires as Next Heat Wave Builds

Firefighters in Spain and France are racing to contain wildfires threatening Madrid and Bordeaux, as Europe’s fourth heat wave of the summer hinders efforts to bring the blazes under control.

bloom.bg

New GAO report examines how driver blind spots endanger pedestrians and cyclists—and asks why USDOT has done nothing about it. www.gao.gov/products/gao...

A 12-year run of building code updates raised apartment construction costs by nearly 10%, adding $222 to the break-even rent developers need in LA. www.huduser.gov/portal/pdred...

This is right. It is another symptom of the problem I identified in On Operations: the U.S. military knows how to employ violence. It doesn’t know how to do so strategically. It doesn’t know because it deliberately trains and educates its people that they don’t have to know.

Gerry Doyle@mgerrydoyle.bsky.social · last wk.

the problem here isn't military, it's the way the military was used. what was the desired outcome? could that be achieved by long-range strike alone? (answer to the first question is a series of question marks, answer to the second is "no")

"The Odyssey" was a fine movie but its politics were a bit iffy. wouldve been way better if at the end the Odysseus turned to the camera & said "The FOMC shoudn't have raised rates in 2015" & then specified that they should have waited until Q2 2017.

Also the Navy Warfighting Concept he signed was 95% done before Franchetti was fired. He stole her homework too.

Professa Murray@kalimurray.bsky.social · last wk.

Hegseth fired Admiral Lisa Franchetti, with this guy, www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/u....

www.lemonde.fr/en/environme...

Thousands of firefighters are battling the monster blaze near Bordeaux. Their commanders are dealing with a huge coordination challenge

Exhausted firefighters, most of them volunteers, wage a titanic battle in grueling conditions with little time for rest.

lemonde.fr

Boy I hope this bit from my Gallipoli chapter, which I’m in the middle of writing, isn’t prescient.

Bass promoting fare-free LA metro is a really funny example of a politician attempting to pander but instead landing on a proposal that, within the community of people who care a lot about the issue, is a specific shibboleth for not knowing what you're talking about: bsky.app/profile/mayo...

Mayor Karen Bass@mayor.lacity.gov · 2w ago

As Chair, I’ll build a long-term financial plan to make Metro fare-free. I’ve fought for a world-class transit system my entire career because public transit should create opportunity for everyone.

Unchecked wildfires raging in France's southwest and near Spain's capital Madrid have forced nearly 260,000 to flee. France hustled 197,000 people from around Bordeaux, likely the country’s biggest peacetime evacuation, the government said. u.afp.com/SrXU

A gentle reminder. We are all birthright citizens for the law recognizes that our parents are irrelevant to the question of our status.

Mrs. Betty Bowers@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 2w ago

Marco Rubio is against birthright citizenship. But Marco Rubio *is* a birthright citizen. Ted Cruz is against birthright citizenship. But Ted Cruz was born in Canada. He only got US citizenship by a birthright citizenship law because of his US mother. They are both shameless hypocrites.

I'll be honest: I have never decided not to take public transit because it is too expensive. when I decide not to take public transit it is because it is too slow or too infrequent or too logistically complicated or does not serve the places I want to go

Mayor Karen Bass@mayor.lacity.gov · 2w ago

As Chair, I’ll build a long-term financial plan to make Metro fare-free. I’ve fought for a world-class transit system my entire career because public transit should create opportunity for everyone.

It's honestly kinda crazy when you read 1930s debates about UI design - people designed it around entirely different goals than anyone would suggest today. www.niskanencenter.org/creating-a-m...

Matt Darling@besttrousers.bsky.social · 2w ago

(they didn't know this in the 1930s, because Keynes hadn't invented macro)

And it's (part of) the reason the construction industry has so much trouble. We incentivize firms to be small and specialized, so they don't have the big productivity gains from vertical integration. www.searchlightinstitute.org/research/the...

One of my former grad students has related research showing that, when young people get involved in political organizations, it's often because those organizations have events with free food and a chance to hang out with friends. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Mobilizing Potential: Pathways to Engaged Citizenship - Qualitative Sociology

Conventional wisdom assumes that people participate in democracy because they care about politics. However, this is not always the case. This article illustrates how civic associations mobilize divers...

link.springer.com

You're all too angry and it's making you stupid

Keith Edwards@keithedwards.bsky.social · 2w ago

A petition is going viral demanding Gov. Beshear use his powers as governor of Kentucky to install a Democrat to Mitch McConnell's seat. Sign it to demand he uses it: petition.edwardswire.com/beshear

The Harris County DA's office says it will treat ICE killing Lorenzo Salgado as a criminal investigation: www.texastribune.org/2026/07/13/t...

Harris County to fund independent investigation into ICE shooting

Harris County officials say they will fund an independent investigation to identify the ICE agents involved in Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's killing.

texastribune.org

hello all!! Big Drop Today we are launching a manifesto for our framework for the next US supply-side economic consensus -- The Productive State -- at Forces of Production www.forcesofproduction.com/p/the-produc...

The Productive State

On Governing The Supply Side

forcesofproduction.com

From a "lessons learned" slide on somebody going through the US code/standard development process for the first time. This is very accurate. They love to follow a logical thread and hate to read a study and look at data.

This r/LosAngeles thread speaks to how the culture of housing is changing: 1. Applicant proposes a 10-townhouse SB 684-11123 project, preserving the existing home. 2. Preservationist-NIMBYs stand up opposition campaign/website. 3. Comments overwhelmingly pro-housing. www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles...

From the LosAngeles community on Reddit: Save Angelino Heights public safety petition

Explore this post and more from the LosAngeles community

reddit.com

“We should be grateful that Ronaldo Salgado Araujo came to live here in the United States, to build houses for Americans, and to raise three American sons. As his son said, he had sought to live the American Dream and to help others to do so.” www.thebulwark.com/p/an-america...

An American Life Cut Short

ICE ended Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s American Dream.

thebulwark.com

I think this an underrated YIMBY angle: absent a lot more (revenue-generating) infill development, there's about to be a tidal wave of suburban bankruptcies and/or significant service scalebacks in the coming decades.

David Roberts@volts.wtf · 4w ago

Washington has an utterly insane provision in its constitution saying that cities can only increase property taxes by 1% a year, and predictably, a bunch of cities are going broke.

It’s New Foods Day for the Minnesota State Fair and this, to me, is the promise of America www.mnstatefair.org/new/food

Korea Herald - The US has officially reached out to major South Korean shipbuilders to assess their naval vessel design and construction capabilities. www.koreaherald.com/article/1...

US sounds out Korean shipbuilders on Navy warships

The US has officially reached out to major South Korean shipbuilders to assess their naval vessel design and construction capabilities in a sign that Washington

koreaherald.com

Every budget headline in CA, every month, for the past 2 years in spite of basically everyone in state government doing doomsday prepping.

The people in charge of your city’s streets do not care if their road designs kill people, so long as traffic flows freely.

Grant Henninger@granthenninger.com · 4w ago

Two years ago, I was removed from the Anaheim Planning Commission because of a fight with the city’s traffic engineer. I wanted him to prioritize safety. He wanted to ensure cars could move quickly through our city. The city council of the largest city in the county backed his vision of our roads.

Interesting YouTube video where a small developer itemizes the cost of moving from the "residential" code to the "building code." Some caveats here are that this is not really the incremental cost of the model codes (model codes require 13D sprinklers in the "residential" building, state/local...

I Built a Quad. Here Are My Real Costs. (Real Estate Development and Build to Rent Training)

YouTube video by RehabValuator

youtube.com

Congrats to @grayflood.bsky.social and @groundwork.bsky.social on putting forward such an ambitious proposal to build a federal public power institution that can balance economic development and decarbonization. BIG and NECESSARY roles for public coordination, development, and finance here:

Grayson Flood@grayflood.bsky.social · last mo.

Big Tech has a dirty little secret: you’re paying for their AI boom. My new paper from @groundwork.bsky.social shows how federal lawmakers can hold Big Tech accountable, build the affordable grid we need, and lower bills now. 🧵