Greg GRIFFIN

Annotating the Judge’s Decision in the Case of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-Year-Old Detained by ICE (Gift Article) Our critic annotates the barbed wordplay of a decision challenging the Trump administration’s theory of executive power.

Shorter than some social media posts:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Municipal bonds seem generally compatible with an urbanist ethos. We just have to not check up on the cities’ use of them for funding arterial expansions or utilities for sprawl :-)

The Theory That Gives Trump a Blank Check for Aggression

“For Porter, it is not realism that defines the Trump era but rather its ‘corrupt cousin,’ machtpolitik, which pursues power for its own sake and is defined by a “sort of violent exhilaration of destruction, nihilism and vengeance.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/m...

is feeling paranoid that most written text on the Internet is AI generated. Three-word sentences have their place, but they’re everywhere and consuming too much copy. Substack pushing feed, Trump administration are worst culprits at the moment. Gonna bike to lunch 🚲

Opinion | Self-Driving Cars Can’t See Without Their Eyes

Self-Driving Cars Can’t See Without Their Eyes by Nicolas Gourault www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/o...

What mammal might make tracks like these, big set and tiny close together, spaced 2-3’ apart? Cascade range, Oregon. Nordic ski for scale.

👆we miss from our Texas years. We do get to forage from the forest in Oregon, tho (Yellowfoot pictured)

It's not fair that epistemology isn't on the 'menu' for almost everyone. Motion to create a high school curriculum that could be taught by the librarian on the limits and advancement of what we think we know.

Update: logged in again and it worked. Maybe a programmed urgency test?

actually, maybe they don't want me to finish it after all

The dept. of ed. is using bicycling graphics to make the FAFSA fun and cool. Maybe it was leftover from the previous administration 🤷‍♂️
If the goal was to help this parent contributor help, it worked.

I wasn’t here when I-205 was planned 1 mile to the east, serving the same corridor, but that probably had something to do with comfort changing 82nd to the city’s system. Highway richness was achieved.

Reminder that you can update your federal tax withholding to reduce your pre-payments.

Leadership | Homeland Security List of senior leaders at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), their position, and biography – including the current Secretary.

That’s what most of her peers did (www.dhs.gov/leadership).

OMG, I had to look this up to confirm it’s true. I don’t know anything about her, but suggest humbly that this promotion is well deserved after what her parents have put her through.

Zadie Smith Considers Art in the Age of Relentless Progress

“Writing criticism — offering an opinion, putting one’s skin in the game — is a form of stewardship to the commons…” writes
@meganeogrady.bsky.social, reviewing @zadiesmith.bsky.social’s ‘Dead and Alive .’ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/b...

this is amazing!!

Waymo Was Thriving in San Francisco. Then One of Its Driverless Cars Killed a Cat.

Rest in power, Kit Kat.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...

Nisqually Tribe says it won't allow ICE detainees in tribal facilities Chairman E.K. Choke said denying the request was in line with the tribe's values of treating all individuals with dignity, respect and compassion.

Indigenous rights attorney ‘called the outreach “deeply ironic,” noting that the federal government is asking tribes, whose members were the first peoples of the region, to participate in detaining immigrants who arrived more recently.’ www.king5.com/article/news...

Imagine if we managed cities by outcome (fatality reduction), rather than outputs (call responses). Maybe fire & police could get on board w Safe Systems.

Pioneering U.S. Street Photography, With Vienna in the Background

“Don’t shoot until the subject hits you in the pit of your stomach” was her advice to her pupils.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/a...

YouTube video by Portland Bureau of Transportation PBOT Vision Zero Roadway Reorganization Explainer

youtube.com/shorts/OWnLs...

This is what good decisions look like.

Human Transit, Revised Edition

All print books are 50% off at Island Press, including my book Human Transit, the book that welcomes everyone into clear thinking about public transit! Stock up for the holidays! Print edition only (because giving ebooks is no fun)! islandpress.org/books/human-...

‘The Evergreen’: What to do about freeways Every American city — including Portland — is divided by crumbling old highways, and every city is trying to figure out what to do with them. Listen in this week as "The Big Dig" podcast in Boston joins in.

"The Big Dig" podcast from Boston came to town for a conversation with OPB’s Lillian Karabaic, whose "Stop Requested" project looked into public transit across Oregon, about Portland’s own attempts to solve that puzzle and undo the harms of the past.

Opinion | The Promise of the Bronx River Parkway

The Promise of the Bronx River Parkway www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/o...

It’s the biking fitness 💪

Motion to create a new city staff position for Odnarodude stateside.

@bmj.com, a renowned health journal, slams car bloat:

"Cars are becoming steadily larger, [and] with this comes potential harms to health...Action is needed locally, nationally, and internationally to curb sales of new SUVs and to reduce their presence in urban areas."

www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Bicyclist turning across the new 4th Ave bike lane in Portland, OR.

Park Blocks in fall foliage, Portland, OR

Today’s Friday, and downtown Portland is doing alright. Mark me as safe 😜