Jesus Christ. I was still a kid back then, taking the bus for a buck 25 in LA. Our fares are still scandalously cheap.

I could never trust Porter and I thought I could after watching her speak at a YIMBY LA speaking event but I really think left-NIMBY brain is some kind of permanent disease. Just gotta give up on these people forever and move on.

Hi, what is your stance on ULA reform?

An mRNA treatment for PANCREATIC CANCER was in trials, among many other uses. Choosing to end this research is choosing to sentence millions to an early, painful death

Same for when cagers whine about car alternative transportation improvements

There’s no such thing as “the bad guys” that can be applied to an entire population of people. You have the moral reasoning of a child.

isn't the fundamental theory of NIMBY just that they're misanthropes who hate any kind change & especially new people, & that traffic, parking, "affordability" are just the socially acceptable cover reasons. Gone are the days of saying "keep the riff raff out" & local elected taking you seriously

This is one of the most societally useful things I can think of

People! Citizens of the universe! Guests of the galaxies! Rulers of the terrestrial sphere! You do not want to vanish without a trace! Live then, live, live, with all your might! Live, my people! Live, my good kind. You have made the first leap— conquered implacable gravity. Now defeat the woes of this world, that your children may remember you! Rivers—nourish the fields! Cities-rise up on riverbanks! Let the Earth like a heart burst forth, gripped by its watery veins! We will find— we must find!— all the answers to that one question: the terrestrial path, the extension of the trail to the stars, conquered this day.

a bit of a poem by kazakh writer olzhas suleimenov for a moment of triumph over space and many evil, pointless woes

What's going on with Elizabeth Warren? On the perils of economic populism

This is a post about why Elizabeth Warren seems so strangely ill-equipped for this moment in American politics, but it's really about the limitations of left-populism as an answer to right-populism. publiccomment.blog/p/what-s-goi...

That's because it's priced in

Is it even for fossil fuels at this point? Just completely inexplicable reasons at this point.

publiccomment.blog/p/what-s-goi...

She's so unserious. Can't wait for people to completely forget this pie-in-sky person ever existed in a few months.

Great to see Janice Hahn advocating for more Metro riders on the Metro board. It's currently almost entirely comprised of politicians.

trellis with greenery shading a window on a warm day

shade is good folks

She's got the juice

@adamtooze.bsky.social has a list of five things China should do to gain hegemony. I agree with all of them and ideally would add a pledge to not use force against Taiwan. The problem is I’m not sure China wants to be a hegemon.

An underrated addendum to the Bowling Alone story is that North America's largest bowling operator (Bowlero) is a publicly traded company whose business model involves buying mom and pop alleys, shutting down the leagues, and trying to attract casual, higher paying, one-off players.

Yeah...

1. Here’s a thread on #NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) and the challenges of change in cities:

First off, although it might feel that way, NIMBY isn’t unique to your city, and it’s (probably) not worse in your city than anywhere else. It’s also not surprising, since it’s largely about human nature.

Our city basically doesn't believe they have to listen to the HCD. I've heard so many stories. Part of the issue is HCD doesn't have the technical resources and manpower to get LA to do much beyond a little tweaking. Eventually you get YIMBY Law and similar orgs try to enforce housing law instead.

Not hating Bass's guts challenge: impossible

Nithya for Mayor Nithya Raman is running for Mayor of Los Angeles.

Yeah she joined late, after Beutner dropped out, it is what it is. She's knocking it out of the park currently. My goal is ultimately to unseat Bass. Raman is the most viable candidate in my eyes to do this. Have you seen the update platform on her website? www.nithyaforthecity.com#the-platform

Nithya for Mayor Nithya Raman is running for Mayor of Los Angeles.

Nithya's housing platform is so good. Hard to overstate how rare it is to get the exact right person up for the exact right job at the exact right time. She actually knows what she's doing, which is something that we haven't experienced in the mayor's office in AWHILE

a man wearing a hoodie and a yck shirt talks to another man ALT: a man wearing a hoodie and a yck shirt talks to another man

I've never been more motivated to volunteer for Nithya and unseat Bass so badly.

The ironclad law of American politics: gas price goes up, presidential approval goes down

Would be better if Huang joined Raman's team at this point, imo. I don't know if anyone else noticed but Huang was nodding along vigorously to a lot of what Raman was saying throughout the debate. They have much more common than they do in disagreement.

Is it possible to have a nuanced discussion around red light cameras without just reverting to the thought-terminating cliche of calling them "surveillance state (sp)". Raman already provided a rebuttal to Huang's claims during the debate.