Colbey Walker (he/him/his)

Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...

NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.

And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*

Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:

In other words, more than 1 in 10 federal contract dollars the top arms companies receive gets sent straight to their shareholders.

Nice system we’ve got here

The Most Efficient Traveler Isn’t a Bird or a Fish—It’s You on a Bike A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom

Congratulations to bicyclists: you're one of the most efficient movers in the animal kingdom! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...

Record on turntable and sleeve

This Blind Pilot album was on the turntable today. If you haven’t listened to this one you should give it a try. It is amazing!! #vinyl #vinylcommunity #music

"Healthy debate" = when I criticize you

"Cancel culture" = when you criticize me

“Infographic titled ‘How Rich People Pay No Taxes’ from @newmoney.blog. It compares three scenarios: Normal (blue box): CEO earns $1 million salary, pays 40% income tax, keeps $600K. Less Tax (green box): CEO gets $1 million worth of company stock, sells stocks, pays 25% capital gains tax, keeps $750K. No Tax (red box): CEO receives $1 million in company stock, uses the stock as collateral to borrow money from the bank. He spends borrowed money like income, but legally debt is not treated as real income. On paper, he has no income. Stocks appreciate in value, and he only pays capital gains tax if he eventually sells.

The world's richest man does exactly this year in and year out. They all do. #TaxTheRich

#NIH is hanging by a thread. The #CDC has been decimated. #RFK Jr. and Russell #Vought are psychopaths--I don't say this frivolously--they are cold, calculating, inflicting violence on millions through public policy. It is where we are right now. These men are not normal. 1/

Stethoscope Story #8 This is "Stethoscope Story #8" by Albino Squirrel Channel on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Dr. Tarek Loubani, who is in Gaza right now, was invited to give a talk to emergency workers about the attacks on health care facilities in Gaza.

But he was instructed - get this - not to say who was doing the attacking. Take a look at how this hero of a human responded: vimeo.com/1112115018/c...

Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities Active travel can help tackle the climate crisis earlier than electric vehicles – even if you swap the car for a bike for just one trip a day.

Riding bikes is 10X more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities. And that’s just the climate emissions. Doesn’t include the massive public & personal cost difference, the air & noise pollution difference, the massive space difference, etc, etc. Via @theconversation.bsky.social

i cant believe a country that has spent decades measuring success purely by the accumulation of material wealth has lost its moral compass

OpenAI will not disclose GPT-5’s energy use. It could be higher than past models Experts working to benchmark resource use of AI models say new version’s enhanced capabilities come at a steep cost

Friendly reminder that AI data centers are working overtime to help cook the planet. If the fires are scaring you— start using ‘-AI’ at the end of all Google searches to cut out any AI response to your query. Refusal is possible & responsible.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Growing up is realizing that being a billionaire is the moral failure they told you being homeless was.

Senate votes on Israel arms sales v. pro-Israel cash Polygraph | Newsletter n°312 | 1 Aug 2025

The 16 Democratic senators above took four times more money from pro-Israel groups than the 17 Democratic senators who voted for all five of Sanders’ resolutions.

www.stephensemler.com/p/senate-vot...

Bennet, Michael ($187,400) Blumenthal, Richard ($242,913) Booker, Cory ($273,697) Cantwell, Maria ($302,818) Coons, Chris ($88,042) Cortez Mastro, Catherine ($350,867) Fetterman, John ($270,571) Gillibrand, Kirsten ($610,879) Hassan, Margaret ($389,082) Hickenlooper, John ($251,409) Padilla, Alex ($30,850) Peters, Gary ($264,123) Rosen, Jacky ($1,551,797) Schumer, Chuck ($548,657) Warner, Mark ($137,921) Wyden, Ron ($197,974)

Bernie Sanders introduced two resolutions to block arms sales to Israel this week and three in November. 16 Democratic senators voted against all five.

Here are their names, along with how much each accepted from pro-Israel donors last election:

www.stephensemler.com/p/senate-vot...

More than four out of five Americans, 83%, said they were concerned about the cost of groceries, with 46% saying they were very concerned. Some 47% said they were worried about being able to pay their rent or mortgage, 64% said they were worried about affording an unexpected medical expense. About 48% said they believed they would have trouble affording an unexpected $500 bill without borrowing. One in four said it would be "very difficult" A quarter of those surveyed said they spent at least three hours a day worrying about their finances and ability to afford basic necessities. Another 25% of respondents said they or someone in their household had skipped meals in the past year in order to make ends meet, and 26% said they had fallen behind on their monthly bills over the past year.

Fuck the stock market reports, this is what real life is like

Final CBO score of the "big beautiful bill" is out

Largest Medicaid cuts ever - in fact, at least 4 times the size of the previous largest; $894-$990 bn cut

Kicks 10 million off health insurance

Largest SNAP cuts ever, $197 bn cut

Still increases the deficit by $3.4 trillion from huge tax cuts

YouTube video by Working Dog Productions How to Fix Traffic Congestion In Australia | Utopia

IMPORTANT: If you can watch only ONE video about why more & wider roads won’t solve traffic congestion no matter how many billions you spend, watch THIS one. Then share it with EVERYONE.

Jevons Paradox isn’t a rock band.

Via Australia’s great show “Utopia” on ABC TV. youtube.com/watch?v=xtO_...

It’s amazing that capitalists are literally knowingly setting the planet on fire and that’s still not enough for people to be done with capitalism

Foreign medical residents fill critical positions at U.S. hospitals, but many now face visa issues Some hospitals in the U.S. are without essential staff because international doctors who were set to start their medical training this week were delayed by the Trump administration's travel and visa…

Some hospitals in the U.S. are without essential staff because international doctors who were set to start their medical training this week were delayed by the Trump administration’s travel and visa restrictions.

YouTube video by Dr. Glaucomflecken Health Insurance Companies Don’t Care About You

I made this video 2 years ago. I had a lot of people tell me I was being dramatic. Now we know UNH are pushing nursing home to get residents to sign DNRs. I’m so glad people are waking up.
youtube.com/shorts/ZZtHN...

People assuming that the government doesn't work is the result of ~50 years of nonstop conservative slander and propaganda with minimal pushback. Big Tech guys coming in and expecting to find massive fraud with no real value seems like a case of projection

I’m still baffled at how America took one of the basic principles of the presidency — the occupant shouldn’t be able to benefit financially from the office — and just said, nah, that just doesn’t count for this one guy.

The 19 richest U.S. households saw a $1 trillion wealth increase in 2024, a rise that exceeds the size of Switzerland’s economy.

These 19 households now control $2.6 trillion in wealth — almost as much wealth as the bottom 50% of American households.

If this isn't an oligarchy, what is?

The Smart People said "Abolish ICE" was too radical. Then ICE kidnapped students, sent innocent people to a mega prison, broke into a car to take a mom from her daughter, and tried questioning elementary kids while lying that they had parents permission.

Ask yourself: which part is more "radical"?

Less Traffic, Faster Buses: Congestion Pricing’s First Week (Gift Article) Early data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority suggests that traffic has dropped around Manhattan’s core.

“There’s so much evidence that people are experiencing a much less traffic-congested environment,” said Janno Lieber, the MTA CEO. “They’re seeing streets that are moving more efficiently, and they’re hearing less noise, and they’re feeling a less tense environment around tunnels and bridges.”

IT'S WORKING: Initial Data Show Congestion Pricing Has Stemmed The Tide of Years of Increasing Traffic - Streetsblog New York City Congestion pricing has led to a 7.5-percent drop in traffic in the Central Business District below 60th Street, the MTA said on Monday.

“It has been a very good week here in New York. There’s less traffic, quieter streets — and I think everybody’s seen it."

Travel times on bridges and tunnels into central Manhattan dropped 34%, and traffic volumes in the area 7.5% during the first week of decongestion pricing.

Last summer was LA's hottest ever. this "rainy" season, southern california got just 2% of its normal rainfall. These devastating fires aren’t random—they’re fueled by a warming, drying atmosphere caused by burning fossil fuels. This is a climate emergency.