David Watkins

I would like to believe MTG's recent turn against Trump was motivated by cynical calculation to advance her political career, because then we could expect others Rs similarly situated to reach similar conclusions. Alas, I suspect she's just an idiosyncratic conspiracist following her muse.

The theory is that if we're going to spend federal money on transit, we should direct that money to jurisdictions that are interested using land use law to allow, rather than prevent, more people from being able to use it.

It's wild that the city in the US making the most significant investments in public transit expansion is also the city with the deepest, most unwaivering commitment to the principle that as few people as possible should be allowed to leave near transit stops.

Hand to God when I posted this I didn't realize quite how right I was (didn't know it was written by the ultimate nepo baby)

Never has that Norm McDonald "I know this may seem harsh" meme been more apt

The answer to the question "Can you see a large body of water when you look out the window?" is a strikingly effective predictor of voting behavior in Seattle.

Many (most?) rich kids slumming it as artists in their 20's can meet income/asset guidelines because the primary assets they have access to, and will eventually inherit, are not yet in their possession.

I thought she explicitly said she's not planning to run when she accepted the appointment, but I could be misremembering.

In King County, yes they absolutely do. (I'd be shocked if that were not the case in the vast majority of jurisdictions.)

Something like this was inevitable, and I'm sure there's more to come, but I figured it'd be a fringe-major leaguer journeyman. Clase hadn't made big money yet but it's not hard to imagine him getting an 80-100 million dollar contract in the next few years.

(Malta and Montpellier are partial cases, free to residents but fares still apply to anyone who doesn't reside there. I am not aware of any similar schemes in the US.)

This article suggests fare-free transit is "normal" in Europe; it's far more common in the US.

Europe: Tallinn, Luxembourg, Dunkirk, Komarno (17th largest city in Slovakia)
US: Kansas City, Lawrence, Albuquerque, Chapel Hill, Alexandria, Worchester, Missoula, dozens of smaller systems.

Turns out everything bagels are kinda tasty I guess

Or maybe not? Seems to be some conflicting info about remaining votes.

bsky.app/profile/elec...

Yeah, unless I'm missing something in the math here I assume she meant 54k, not 44k.

bsky.app/profile/elec...

(Assuming you mean 5) it should just be a normal administrative change, but apparently there's language in the charter that suggests it needs to be voted on.

Public Administration AbstractThis chapter considers the place of administrative state actors and the choices they face in republican political theory. Under Philip Pettit’s inf

I'll do a brief thread about this in the next few days, but I just noticed my contribution to the Oxford Handbook of Republicanism, on the place of Public Administration in Republican theory, has gone live. Happy to send a PDF to interested parties w/o access.

academic.oup.com/edited-volum...

The desperate shamelessness of the lies you'll tell to cling to the powers that make you petty tyrants of your little fiefdoms is something to behold.

Fortunately NYC voters can see what's going on here. They're going to legalize building affordable housing in NIMBY districts. That's a good thing.

Ventured out into the wilds of East Dayton this afternoon to try Taqueria La Cuchilla. Well worth it; cachete (torta) and al pastor (taco) both exceptional. The creamy/spicy avocado sauce they give you is something I had no idea how much I needed in my life.

I think the underrated mechanism is "slack." Where housing is plentiful and cheap, people have more of it--more space, spare bedrooms, etc. So people who might become homeless where housing is expensive and slack is rare are more likely to find a place to crash with friends/family

No, different brand, don't recall which (saw at store earlier today; wanted some kiwi but not 3 lbs so I didn't buy)

Dayton OH: $9.49 for 3 lbs

Happy Middle Housing Day in Berkeley. As of today, multifamily housing up to 3 stories at 70 units per acre is byright and ministerial on all Berkeley lots in the flatlands and foothills for the first time in history, stretching from Kensington to Oakland.

It's so trivially easy to envision how FUBAR the car market would be if we tried to do this with new cars. (And new cars are a much larger fraction of the overall car market!)

I don't have a lot of strong views on how PhD programs should be organized but "there should be some kind of general all-subfields 1st semester course that isn't methods" and "this article should be taught in it" are two things that seem clear enough to me.

Definitely one of the most important articles I read in grad school, it made my own thinking so much clearer and sharper. But I only encountered it because I did Comparative as a secondary exam field, it wouldn't have come up for theory.

Perhaps probabilistically it increases the odds, but I don't think it's necessary or sufficient to create a widespread specific of a crisis among the public.

Some people who say this are just lying hacks, but I think it also comes from people who exemplify being "too online," as in "these annoying YIMBYs are all over the internet and I keep losing arguments to them, therefore I conclude their power must be hegemonic"

two adorable young cats in a chair, willow a tortoiseshell and nova a black kitty.

Apparently, it's national cat day. Here's Willow and Nova, stealing my chair just seconds after I made the mistake of getting up.

Pleased to see DSA's better angels prevail on a very important vote. If you're voting for Mamdani and want his mayoral term to be successful on his own terms, passing these propositions is not optional.