Shane Phillips

I disagree with Congressman Gonzales that 5-year-old American citizen children are helped in any way by their kindergarten classmates being kisbnapped and disappeared by marked, armed thugs.

Okay, multiply it however many times it needs to reach at least 10%. Don't mind me though, this isn't something I feel strongly enough about to actually set aside money for.

This is such pathetic petty tyrant bullshit. People should point and laugh at this guy every time he goes out in public.

And I'm not including Tesla "Full Self Driving" level tech as autonomous vehicle mileage, FWIW.

I'm not sure where I'd stand on Waymo being 5x larger by 2035 -- I'd probably bet a lot on it though. But I'd bet a lot on autonomous vehicle mileage being 100x larger, and probably at least 1000x larger.

Episode 107: A Better Mortgage with Kevin Erdmann (Incentives Series pt. 9) - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies Fixed-rate mortgages are expensive, but adjustable-rate mortgages are volatile — but do they have to be?

The idea here is that by giving up our ability to speculate on the possibility of falling interest rates, we could significantly lower those rates without sacrificing year-to-year payment stability. It's a better alignment of interests between lender and borrower. www.lewis.ucla.edu/2026/02/05/1...

Episode 107: A Better Mortgage with Kevin Erdmann (Incentives Series pt. 9) - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies Fixed-rate mortgages are expensive, but adjustable-rate mortgages are volatile — but do they have to be?

This week we had @kevinerdmann.bsky.social back on UCLA Housing Voice to talk about his pitch for a new loan product: the fixed-amortization, adjustable-principal mortgage. A super interesting idea, and definitely worth your time. www.lewis.ucla.edu/2026/02/05/1...

The time Matute Remus moved a building in Guadalajara The unbelievable story of Guadalajara's greatest feat of engineering, and the man who made it all possible.

Sounds a bit like Juan Matute's grandfather (or maybe great-grandpa)! mexiconewsdaily.com/culture/the-...

I guess it depends on how much it costs to relocate. If we're talking $300,000-400,000 all in, start to finish, I could see it working in a good number of cases. If it's a lot more than that then it'd mainly be limited to stuff like historic preservation IMO.

The reporter mentioned a particular interest in this as a tool, small but not meaningless, in wildfire recovery. My intuition is that demolition isn't as common as people imagine, especially of structurally sound, quality housing, but it's not something I can speak authoritatively on.

I had a reporter reach out to me about the potential for relocating rather than demolishing homes, presumably mainly those slated for redevelopment. It's something I've only read a tiny bit about. Anyone out there know more, especially if you've researched the topic?

Trump openly admitting FBI raid in Fulton County was a prelude to interfering with the midterms and attempting to seize control of state and local voting process

In the single location where the city has decided to allow apartments in a well off single family neighborhood, near Expo/Bundy, it’s been a huge success: no one got displaced, homeowners got huge payouts, & we’re getting hundreds of new apartments next to the Expo Line.

At least in cases where the pre-redevelopment rent was higher than the income restricted level, both the tenant and developer are better off, and it actually incentivizes the developer to make sure the original tenant comes back and stays as long as possible.

Seems like the win-win is something like: displaced tenants get a similar sized unit in the new building at their previous rent-stabilized rent, but it's in a deed-restricted unit which isn't properly income restricted until that original tenant household leaves.

San Diego Unified School District has quietly embarked on a massive program to build educator housing.

The focus has been on maximizing the number of units affordable to staff, not on deepest means-tested affordability.

voiceofsandiego.org/2026/01/29/w...

If our "environmental protection" frameworks can stop an affordable housing project but can't stop a detention center or a highway expansion we really need to start talk about ripping things up root and branch.

Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com

Frozen Potomac River with broken ice

Frotomac

DM me? We used to get hundreds of highly qualified applicants for a single job posting. Good prosecutors are increasingly hesitant to work for this DOJ.

So, now we're at the "arresting journalists" stage of America's very rapid decline into fascism.

Trump: "People that own their homes -- we're gonna keep them wealthy. We're gonna keep those prices up. We're not gonna destroy the value of their homes so that somebody who didn't work very hard can buy a home."

I had a relative who literally hid with Anne Frank in that attic. If you cannot be accused of exaggerating, it’s too late. Once they’re marching kids into gas chambers, it’s too late.

Comments in Support of Councilmember Raman's Measure ULA Reform Proposal — Better Institutions Measure ULA needs fixing, and these changes will make a real difference.

Dusted off the old blog and organized (some of) my thoughts on Councilmember Raman's Measure ULA reform proposal. It's an important step forward and it has my personal support. www.betterinstitutions.com/blog/2026/1/...

I hadn't thought about how aging as a society would contribute to higher credit scores, but that totally makes sense. If the 75th percentile person is 65 years old in 2025 but was 57 in 2003, and the median has increased from 40 to 45, etc., then that's gonna result in higher scores.

I think it's important context for sure, and may temper any conclusions you'd want to draw from Kevin's analysis of mortgage debt/origination by credit score, but only modestly IMO. That huge jump in average FICO from 2007-2009 is especially telling.

@michaelwiebe.bsky.social we didn't have time for my question about this in the interview, but one caveat to note is that credit scores have increased across the board pretty significantly over the past two decades. Got some pushback over LinkedIn over this www.federalreserve.gov/econres/note...

Episode 106: Mortgage Lending Standards with Kevin Erdmann (Incentives Series pt. 8) - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies We built too much housing in the mid-2000s, right? Kevin Erdmann says no, explaining how this misunderstanding is at the root of unaffordability today.

Today on UCLA Housing Voice, I talk with @kevinerdmann.bsky.social about about the mid-2000s housing market pre-crash, resulting changes in federal mortgage lending standards, and their catastrophic effects on homeownership, rental affordability, and production. www.lewis.ucla.edu/2026/01/21/1...

Here's a regular white guy (literally "Chad") not a protester. because, "It seemed pointless, or just a way for people to expiate their sense of guilt." Chad witnessed something shattering. And, that all changed in a moment.

Excellent article!

All 10 shots were fired AFTER they removed the gun from Pretti’s waist. Every single shot was fired after he was disarmed.