Some things I've learned about legislative advocacy, and I think my record speaks for itself. 1. Start by asking for everything you want. Stop preemptively negotiating against yourself. The process of passing the bill will whittle it down. Why started with a whittled down product?

Your regular reminder that there ISN’T a “war on cars.” Any objective observation in most cities however, would conclude that for 60+ years there’s been a war on every mobility choice EXCEPT cars. And that’s been bad for EVERYONE, including drivers. Poster via @urbantruth.bsky.social. #UrbanTruth

Kinda? But also I think people don’t really appreciate how candidates like AES were nonviable even like 10 years ago.

Matthew Gertz@mattgertz.bsky.social · 4h ago

My ice-cold boring take that will definitely not go viral is that a primary result with a margin of victory of roughly 1 percent tells you precisely nothing about The Future Of The Party.

It’s crazy how millions of peoples whole conception of the past is based on preserved images of advertisements. People’s predilection to see curated pictures and go “That’s it. That’s what reality is” low grade makes me terrified of AI generated images.

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 15h ago

So this is basically one of the entry points to becoming a reactionary

ATTENTION TO ALL DEM TAX CUT SLOPULISTS

Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen

werewolf elvis: don't get near me when there's a full moon, mama

Forcing cagers to watch an ad for capeshit before they can drive is a story that feels tailored to make me giggle. We should force motorists to watch all kinds of asinine shit before they can move their cars imo

852dude@852dude.bsky.social · yesterday

This sucks ass. When I start my car I want to be able to put my foot on the pedal and drive off. I dont want to watch an ad. A distracting ad. Right in the middle of my console. Again. This sucks ass.

I don’t think there’s a funnier group of car owners for this scenario to happen to than BMW drivers

852dude@852dude.bsky.social · yesterday

This sucks ass. When I start my car I want to be able to put my foot on the pedal and drive off. I dont want to watch an ad. A distracting ad. Right in the middle of my console. Again. This sucks ass.

Zoom has gotten really good at noise cancelling. No one can hear the dogs or the leafblower. It’s been like this for years now even.

"[NYC's] property tax system keeps sending the same message it sent in 1988: there’s no cost to leaving good land idle, so you might as well park a few cars on it." by @danieltrubman.bsky.social danieltrubman.substack.com/p/the-willia...

The Williamsburg parking lot that used to be sixteen apartments

Just as New York passed its biggest pro-housing reform in decades, a prime Williamsburg lot won official approval to remain a parking lot.

danieltrubman.substack.com

The Professional Managerial Class is the revolutionary class and the DSA is their conduit. Which is why the left nimby stuff was so counterproductive. Why are you trying to impoverish your own political base, moron?

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈@josephpolitano.bsky.social · yesterday

DSA-aligned Democrats are now the most pro-free-trade voting bloc in the United States, in an incredible turn of events www.theargumentmag.com/p/who-suppor...

I'll add to this: the people who respond to the public popularity of something they dislike with even more sneering and whiny revolutionary posturing fundamentally don't believe in democracy - otherwise, they'd actually try to be persuasive

Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰@urbanlandrent.bsky.social · yesterday

If something is a political impossibility, then it is for all intents and purposes, impossible. The public loves cops. Therefore, cops get to eat half the municipal budget. I’d like it to be different, but it’s kind of a waste of all our times to talk about other budget priorities as if it was.

Another thing and I’ll let it go, one common refrain you hear about local budget issues is “Well if we just took some money from the cops…” And look, I agree! They cannibalize local budgets. But also: Police accountability activists have shown zero ability whatsoever to make this a possibility!

Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰@urbanlandrent.bsky.social · yesterday

Something that pervades the internet is users encounter a public policy problem, usually around budgeting (I.e. there is currently not enough money devoted to this issue) but then reason things are the way they are by careful consideration and design. I’m calling this phenomenon Occam’s Bludgeon.

Something that pervades the internet is users encounter a public policy problem, usually around budgeting (I.e. there is currently not enough money devoted to this issue) but then reason things are the way they are by careful consideration and design. I’m calling this phenomenon Occam’s Bludgeon.

Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰@urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 2d ago

Starting next week pools are gonna be closed on weekdays in Sac while temps are still in the 100s. One may think “Huh maybe we should raise the tickets above $3-5$ so we can keep the pools open” But user fees are inequitable. So in the spirit of ensuring equal access the pool will be inaccessible.

Starting next week pools are gonna be closed on weekdays in Sac while temps are still in the 100s. One may think “Huh maybe we should raise the tickets above $3-5$ so we can keep the pools open” But user fees are inequitable. So in the spirit of ensuring equal access the pool will be inaccessible.

We can't solve a housing crisis without building more housing. Today we broke ground on the Casanova Residence, which will soon be nearly 100 affordable and supportive homes with on-site services for New Yorkers. Every new home is a step toward a City that everyone can afford.

I’m finding myself continually dumbfounded by the amount of petroleum supply redundancy everyone apparently has. Seems that this Hormuz situation could go on for months longer without any real problems (for Most)

Nikolas Gvosdev@fpriorbis.bsky.social · 2d ago

This also speaks to commodities traders having Ali Baba caves of supplies … follow the use of tankers as floating storage … www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Why don’t we take the demographic collapse and push it somewhere else?

It’s crazy how, even if you are all in on the suburban lifestyle. There is apparently no appetite among greenfield devs for even modestly human centered design. No street trees? No street grids? No walking paths/green belts? No bike lanes? Nothing? The same exact topography from a century ago?

Regime Accountant, CPA ☠️🎢@regimecpa.bsky.social · 2d ago

Love drone footage of new builds in exurban Texas, gives me a very particular kind of dread to look at that is hard to replicate with other photos.

Thank you Mr. Orangutan

this is not true. there was no conspiracy. it didn't matter whether the streetcars were publicly owned (seattle, detroit) or private (los angeles, atlanta). a thread (because i wrote a whole-ass book on this): 1/?

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 3d ago

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

It’s probably rational, on an individual level, to not have children. But also, not meeting replacement level fertility is very very bad for social. I don’t think the political left or right or center have any convincing solutions for this issue.

Q by far the most interesting character in TNG it’s why they kept bringing him back. TNG has among the best pilots of any television show ever because of Q.

Paddy O'Furniture 🫘@goseahox.bsky.social · 5d ago

Q. Once you know the TNG series finale, you can go back through all of his appearances and see that his tormenting Picard was always to keep him alive and put him on the path that stopped the Anomaly

David Bowie - Station to Station, Low, Heroes Sonic Youth - Sister, Daydream Nation, Goo Unwound - Repetition, Challenge, Leaves The Replacements - Let it Be, Tim, Pleased to Meet Me Silver Jews - Starlite Walker, The Natural Bridge, American Water

Mia Murphy 🏳️‍⚧️@miamurphy.com · 4d ago

What's the best three album run from a band? (the correct answer is Moving Pictures, Signals, and Grace Under Pressure by Rush, but I'm excited to learn second place)

“People like complaining and the complaints are mostly unmoored from whether or not they’re willing to do what is necessary to solve the problem” Is something I think a lot of people could stand to internalize a bit. Not all complaints represent some unmet need people just kinda like to complain.

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈@maxdubler.com · 3d ago

Extremely related point: people don’t want to pay more for quality, they want to be cheap and complain!

I love Talarico and hope he wins. But he’s already raised $70M On the flipside, control of critical state legislatures will come down to seats where candidates raise 0.1% of that. I’ve researched the highest leverage swing district candidates you should donate to secure.actblue.com/donate/donat...

Donate to the candidates on the front lines of the fight against MAGA gerrymandering

These are anti-MAGA state candidates in *extremely* close races

secure.actblue.com

I wish we could shake libs out of the consensus position that the progressiveness of a tax policy can be solely evaluated by looking at one side of the ledger I have had many conversations like this “This tax is regressive” >But the revenue is being spent progressively “Had not considered this”