John

it’s not too hard to understand the distinction between “that’s not who we are (aspirational)” and “that’s not who we are (historical)” especially when the latter is often worst-case historical; see also Langston Hughes on America

Found in the Densho Digital Repository

A photograph of a Japanese American soldier standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Date unknown, the photograph was likely taken by George Nakamura.
🗃 #skystorians

It’s great that the grand jury said nix, but the attempt was a significant escalation.

The purpose is to disincentivize investments in vaccine development

Support 1000 Units in DTLA! On Thursday, the City Planning Commission is meeting to vote on several major projects.Together, we have a massive opportunity to help get this housing built. One project seeks to transform underused ...

I just wrote a @yimbylosangeles.bsky.social letter: Support 1000 Units in DTLA!. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/supp...

Nithya is the exact candidate we need to fix LA’s incompetence and NIMBYism.

She could be a zohran-level candidate who creates a new consensus around progressive urbanism

I think Zohran understands, unlike a lot of his very online supporters, that actually running a functional NYC administration is going to be a lot more effective victory for "the Left" than anything else he can do, and that doing that is in no way, shape, or form something you can take for granted.

We aren't going to fix transit and build high speed rail in this country by funneling more money to it. We need policymakers to make some serious policy and we need to make and remake institutions.

The article is about burdensome regulations on apartments (zoning, building code) vs SFH.

And so far the replies are complaints about privacy, renting, not having a garden.

As if those personal experiences and preferences justify unrelated regulations around staircases and sprinklers!

Graph showing FAIR plan liability growth rising 230% since 2022.

The current exposure for the California FAIR plan (California’s insurer of last resort) sits at $724 billion. Its liability almost doubled in two years and is now more than double the state’s annual budget. In its most recent financial reporting it had about $1.5 billion on hand.

Climate change risk index and municipal bond disclosures of United States drinking water utilities - Communications Earth & Environment 67 million customers across the US rely on drinking water utilities that face higher climate risk than accounted for, which exposes major gaps in climate adaptation and resilience planning, suggests a...

🚨Our new paper led by Dr. @zialyle.bsky.social looked at how climate change poses risks to US drinking water utilities & if their bonds disclose these risks to investors. Utilities serving 67 million people have high risks, but 36% of their bonds don't mention climate: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Everyone needs to read “Waging a Good War.”

It’s short, informative, and explains the brilliant tactical reasoning that the civil rights leaders used - including “intentionally getting arrested.”

A young Fred Korematsu

A photo of Fred Korematsu in his later years

"It may take time to prove you're right, but you have to stick to it."
- Fred Korematsu

Jailed for refusing to abide by FDR's Exec Order 9066, he took his case against internment all the way to the Supreme Court - and lost. Remember him on Korematsu Day, January 30th. 1/

the ideal for a social democrat is to do radical shit but come off as nice guy doing normal things

I've interacted with Brett over the past few years. He's been professional, knowledgeable, and strikes me as a dedicated civil servant.

Los Angeles is the epicenter of unsheltered homelessness in the Western Hemisphere and the city just voted to continue stifling apartment construction so that Valley/Westside segregationists can keep their single-family neighborhoods and a grab bag of cranks can pretend they're building Red Vienna.

new-ish working paper on Los Angeles' mansion tax argues that the revenue estimates are severely overstated.

the paper argues that somewhere between 2/3 and *all* the direct revenue generated by the tax is offset by tax decreasing transaction volume.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Los Angeles won’t be tweaking its ‘mansion tax.’ Now the debate is likely to go statewide The ballot measure do-over for LA's 'mansion tax' was intended to ward off a statewide anti-tax crusade.

Outrageously stupid decision by the LA City Council, perhaps the worst governing body in the United States of America.

we’ve got a ways to go until 2030 so this could change but it’s pretty much an across the board disaster if it doesn’t

building more housing isn’t just good policy, it’s existential politics

A picture is worth 1000 words, but this is a graph showing the interest rate the federal government pays on its borrowing. Rates hovered around 5% from 1793-1875, and from there declined to 2% before world war i. They spiked up to 4% and from there declined again until the end of world war ii, again back down to 2%. From there they climbed and climbed and climbed, hitting 10% in the early 1980s. From there they fell and fell and fell and fell. They were a bit under 5% before the Great Recession. And then they plummeted to 2%. They stayed there until 2023, and now they're at around 3.5%.

I have a paper coming out next week on how much the fiscal outlook has deteriorated under Trump

I wanted to share one of the graphs early. We spent 14 years w/ very low borrowing rates. That is no longer the case

That part isn't Trump's fault (higher deficits are), but it's something to reckon w/

An IRS Schedule D Form 1040 (Capital Gains and Losses) form Tear-away effect reveals an illustration of four "Long Tom" guns on a tropical beach, one firing, the others smoking (WW2-era illustration)

Finally working on something for @sodrock.bsky.social

Bros acting like Minnesota wine moms are reading “Street without joy” and “learning to eat soup with a knife” in their book clubs lmfao

Support New Homes Through Measure ULA Reform Measure ULA was passed to fund affordable housing and homelessness prevention, but flaws in its design are penalizing new housing far more than the measure is funding it, killing the very projects tha...

I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: Support New Homes Through Measure ULA Reform . Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/supp...

Hot, Cheap, and Out of Control The green tech revolution is canonically chaotic good

New post: thechinalab.substack.com/p/hot-cheap-...

On Being American DHS and The Soul of the United States

Here. I couldn't think of anything better to say.

othermeans.io/p/on-being-a...

Since July, I've tracked at least 2,300 cases in which federal judges have ruled ICE has illegally detained people without bond or due process.

This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I’m a big fan of civilization. Rule of law, public health, universities, science, all good things. Great stuff. It may not be ‘politically correct’ to say this but I’m also a fan of what civilizations have done to idiot barbarian hordes who attempted to trample on those things.

A political community only thrives when there are members of that community who are willing to display the civic virtue necessary to sustain our highest ideals. If America continues to be a free republic filled with other citizens I’m proud to call neighbors—it will be because of people who have been willing to endure risks. It is an awful thing to have to confront a paramilitary in the street who can gun you down for doing nothing more than recording them. It is, however, intolerable to live in a nation where the citizenry no longer believes in the righteousness of doing so.