Ben Teresa

"A few years ago I received a DM from Zohran Kwame Mamdani. Only recently did I discover its existence. It was a very unusual DM—especially coming from a local assemblyman who would soon be running for higher office. He had very little name recognition at the time, and could have benefited from publicity. But unlike the thousands of messages I’ve received from people with something to promote, Zohran did not ask to be featured on Humans of New York. Instead he asked if he could introduce me to taxi drivers that were struggling beneath the burden of debt. Coming from a man with political ambitions, this self-denying request was so strange as to be almost singular. I don’t endorse politicians on Humans of New York. But I’ll endorse a good man. And it was a good man who cleared 30 minutes from his schedule yesterday to swing by Grand Central and visit Dear New York’s Vanderbilt Hall Exhibition. Nearly fifty-student artists were visiting that day with their families, and I thought a surprise visit from this widely-loved future mayor would be a special memory for all of them. Before Zohran’s arrival I was convinced I’d made a terrible mistake. The exhibit was filled to capacity with adult visitors. Dear New York is self-funded so there was very little staff and security for crowd control. In the crush of people I was almost certain this special day for the kids would devolve into thirty minutes of selfie requests. But everyone rose to the occasion."

black text on white background "Hundreds of adults quickly cleared the room and stood outside the exhibit. Eleven very notable adult photographers are also featured in the show, but even they took a step back, so that these students could briefly have the stage to themselves. Each child stood by their work and Zohran was able to meet all of them, one at a time, and honor their contributions to the most-visited art show in New York City. Thanks to everyone who ceded the stage yesterday to make this moment possible. Thank you Zohran for literally sitting down on the floor so that these young artists could feel so tall. Thanks for continually centering other people in your life and work. And thank you, for being such an important part of Dear New York."

A large group of children and adults pose together indoors in front of a sign reading "DEAR." A man in a suit sits cross-legged in front, surrounded by smiling kids. The background features an ornate architectural detail.

I thought this was lovely.

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Absolutely brutal.

CBS News: Some NYPD officers worry about Mandani becoming NYC mayor the Free Press reports.

Promoting the editor-in-chief's personal side project. Zero named sources in a story that promotes the editor-in-chief's personal political position. Misspelling the subject's name. It took one day for CBS News to become a conservative blog.

www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...

apparently “bari weiss doesn’t actually know what journalism is” extends to getting basic facts like the name of a subject right

🧵1/3

I've argued against a 25-year extension of all the (already) 20+year-old tax increment financing districts (TADs) in Atlanta. Someone sent me an email from "Atlantans for Safety" arguing against my explanation for why extending the TADs is a bad idea. Their email & my responses are (next)...

That would be amazing. And I'm sure would break some brains. Policy presentism is an affliction of elite policy expertise

Yes. "training" was a recommendation of the Kerner Commission, over 50 years ago. And if you read their policing recommendations, they're basically identical to today's proposed reforms.

This South Side Weekly report on the Chicago building raid is well worth reading. Most striking to me are the indications of collusion between federal authorities and the building owner and management to effect a mass eviction at the blighted property. southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

for any UVA folks that follow me you should circulate this among your networks balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

Why Is It So Hard to Become a US Citizen? - American Immigration Council “Why don’t they just get in line?" It's a question often directed toward undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

"Why don't they just apply for citizenship?"

This is a question often directed toward undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

But the pathway to American citizenship for the vast majority is long, complex, and financially draining.

An “immigration judge” is not an actual judge in the judicial branch. They are a DOJ employee.

As Judge Young, an actual judge, made clear in one of the truly essential parts of his Tuesday ruling. www.lawdork.com/p/judge-will...

How to Lie with (Political) Statistics - Boston Review Inside the data wars over Democratic strategy.

To the Democratic pollster and data pundit, “moral claims and exercises of imagination, claims about what is possible come with glaring asterisks. New tactics and strategies are by definition unvalidated, and in that sense they are admittedly a risk. But there are risks the other way, too.”

Unreasonable: Report from Virginia Poverty Law Center and RVA Eviction Lab Unreasonable: The Dramatic Rise in Attorney Fees Charged to Tenantsin Virginia Residential Eviction Proceedings is a report from the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) and the RVA Eviction Lab. In …

A new report by @vplc.bsky.social and the RVA Eviction Lab looks at attorney fees in eviction cases:

In 2024 in VA, judges awarded nearly $18 million in fees to landlord attorneys, a 48% increase from 2019, even as eviction judgments fell 19%.

rvaevictionlab.org/2025/09/27/u...

well they're putting all the juices into the baby

Chart shows Detention Population, Among Those Arrested by ICE in the Interior, by Criminal Record. The chart shows three lines; Prior conviction, pending criminal charges, and no criminal record. From 2019 through September 2025, the largest group is people with criminal convictions, with much further down people with pending charges. But starting in January, those without criminal records spikes dramatically. In July it crossed pending charges and in the latest data it jumps above criminal convictions.

🚨NEW: For the first time in history, the single largest group of people arrested in the interior and sent to ICE detention is people with NO criminal record.

As of yesterday's data release, 40%(!) of those arrested in the interior and detained by ICE had no prior conviction or pending charges.

This is what Douthat does now with his boring ass podcast. He has fascists on and launders their shit.

I was wondering about things like that, such as the unpermitted closure of a public street. I know nothing about Broadview but the Mayor's statements have seemed not great in this regard.

Tenants Seek to Unionize One Private Equity Firm's Entire Housing Portfolio By organizing renters across Capital Realty Group’s affordable housing complexes, the Tenant Union Federation hopes to bring sectoral bargaining to negotiations with large landlords.

In the last six weeks, the Tenant Union Federation launched seven (7) majority tenant unions, across five (5) states, representing 1000 units of housing owned by Capital Realty Group, a New York-based corporate landlord. The first portfolio organizing of its kind...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

I promise you that E. Klein doesn't have a clue as to how to get anyone out of this current fascist predicament. He really doesn't and he is demonstrating it in public for any sentient being being to see. You follow his lead at your peril and everyone else's. Don't be misled.

one of my big takeaways from RCM budget model is that it quite the black box, and it's used to justify everything (cuts) but no one seems to be able to explain why certain decisions are RCM budget friendly while others are not.

I think more smart people should be clear that "cultural issues" are really just labor discipline and therefore not distinct from "economic issues".

If there's one piece of research that came out in the last year that I think all housers should read, it is probably this brief.

*Affordable AND available* and the need for more income-restricted *deeply* affordable housing for those most vulnerable to housing instability, eviction, & homelessness.

"the era of landlordism should be brought to a responsible close" Michael E. Stone (1993).

On fascism and racism, Langston Hughes said, "Fascism preaches the creed of Nordic supremacy."

He also noted, "Fascism is a new name for that kind of terror the Negro has always faced in America... This kind of terrorism is extending more and more to groups of peoples whose skins are not black."

Yeah, no. I am not anti-abundance (with a small a), but if the capital-A Abundance "movement" keeps platforming nazis (or goes on their podcasts like one of the authors of the book did) in some quest for "bipartisanship" especially at *this* point in time? FFS.

what the fuck

The president is sending the military to control American cities and if you're a reporter who's framing that illegal power grab as "pushing the boundaries of constitutionality" or "acting boldly to fight crime" or whatever, please go find another line of work where you won't get us all killed.

I'm not sure what happens to these election data guys. Jain's trajectory is problematic; Silver was lost long ago. Enten seems like a total gameshow host now. The only one who seems to get it is GElliott.

This statement alone is enough to nullify any and all obligations to accept the legitimacy of his authority.