Allison Lirish Dean

I’m not a pollster or a statistician, but as a reasonably educated consumer of statistical information it feels like there is a lot of misleading spin in the anti-Trump polling world. Trump’s net approval is not “plummeting” but has been very stable for awhile now.

American Roads Are Paved With Inefficiency Why do US highway projects cost so much? A researcher finds some surprising sources of infrastructure inflation, and points to ways to make road work more affordable.

US highway spending is a mess.

Yale prof @zliscow.bsky.social & colleagues found that South Carolina’s DOT spends $375,500 repaving a mile of highway – more than twice as much as North Carolina.

In @bloomberg.com, I spoke with Liscow about the wild inefficiencies of state DOTs.

Republicans in North Carolina today adopted a new congressional map, favored by President Trump, that is expected to shift one seat toward the GOP.

www.newsobserver.com...

As the saying goes, “just one more lane will fix it.”

Watchdog report says American e-waste is causing a 'hidden tsunami' in Southeast Asia A report by an environmental group says millions of tons of discarded U.S. electronics are being shipped overseas each month — much of it to Southeast Asian countries not prepared to safely handle hazardous waste.

A report by an environmental group says millions of tons of discarded U.S. electronics are being shipped overseas each month — much of it to Southeast Asian countries not prepared to safely handle hazardous waste.

Nor is it a good reflection on local dem leadership, who cannot manage to express unhappiness, much less contempt, over Cuomo's contemptuous candidacy.

My day on RIPTA thanks to
@govdanmckee.bsky.social
-finding the 71's frequency has been cut almost in half
-waiting 19 min for the R-line at 9:30am
-packing onto an extremely overcrowded 22 because its frequency is slashed
-barely missing the 75, so I took the 72 which is 3x farther from home.

Free public transport* + Fast-tracked career growth You do the math. +First country in the world to provide free public transport. The wisest investment is in yourself.

Luxembourg touts free transit in an FT ad. And they’re not even socialist!

My Time as a Prisoner of Israel Like hundreds of other activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, I was abducted by the IDF and held in Ketziot prison. There, I saw firsthand that Israel’s “strength” is more fragile than it seems.

Throughout my entire experience in Israeli detention, I saw countless cracks beneath the surface. For every ostensible manifestation of strength and vitality, there was a corollary sign of weakness, stupidity, decline, or all three. www.currentaffairs.org/news/my-time...

a reminder that ICE received an astonishing influx of money with the megabill this summer: boltsmag.org/how-the-gop-...

A fascinating election to watch in two weeks — the CW is that policing has receded as an issue, but here’s a data point otherwise:

Opinion | Paul Ingrassia’s ‘Nazi Streak’ The Trump nominee’s repellent texts are a lesson for young MAGA.

THIS is who the White House nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel:

“MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell.” “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.”

GIFT: www.wsj.com/opinion/paul...

There should never be screens in taxicabs.

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...

WELL HOW ABOUT THAT

"A millionaire levy in Massachusetts has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing significant high-profile departures from the state."

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A higher percentage of New York City Jews are voting for Zohran Mamdani than Jews nationwide who voted for Donald Trump, and yet the latter are treated as a substantial voice in American Jewish culture, while the former are almost totally ignored by mainstream American Jewish organizations.

Mamdani is already getting the criminals out of NYC!

The rise of the Business Improvement District, especially in New York, has also contributed to this trend of hostile or absent seating through a shift in emphasis on gearing space toward private consumption and away from facilitating the spontaneous public gathering of different groups of citizens.

The ghost of William Whyte hates this trend. You should, too.

Federal agents many in masks at Broadway and Canal moments ago questioning a man, a bunch more agents just walked away. "Can i call my mom," the man asks, he's now being loaded into a car and being driven away. More TK @thecity.nyc

Exactly!!

National Guard deployment in DC is costing $1 million/day www.cnn.com/2025/08/28/p...

They’re there each time I step out of the Metro, idling in groups with nothing to do

Meanwhile, around the corner, people are sleeping on the street, nowhere else to go, as Trump cuts funding for homeless people

elements of a deteriorating status quo. [end]

public about why they are taking those stances, and include people in shaping a government response to the material problems they face. This is very different from a politics that unethically asks us—as this editorial does—to be satisfied with merely splitting the difference between various

capitalism, but you wouldn’t know it from this piece. The problem isn’t that our politics isn’t centrist enough, it’s that it revolves around pandering and polling to determine an ever-shifting "center," as opposed to a politics in which leaders take principled and informed stances, help educate the

to socialism”? What does that mean? Many Democratic Socialists represent capitalism fused with elements of social democracy (like universal healthcare, well-funded education, and affordable housing). There is something called “market socialism.” Socialism isn’t just one thing and neither is

Thread: There are so many problems with this NYTimes piece, starting with the assumption that being a "centrist"—whatever that is right now—is somehow "non-partisan" and a virtue unto itself. Being a "centrist" is just as ideological or "partisan" as anything else. Also, voters “prefer capitalism to

Yes. I don’t, on principle, link to it!

Now is Not the Time to “Moderate” on the Police Prominent mayoral candidates are distancing themselves from “defund” and instead offering “cops and more” public safety plans. But that approach neglects the victims of police brutality and risks furt...

I found this @currentaffairs.bsky.social
piece by @lilysanca.bsky.social really helpful in understanding debates about the police and about the “defund” movement in particular: www.currentaffairs.org/news/now-is-...

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.

They’ve had their necks kneeled on.

They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.

At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.

By @nicolefoy.bsky.social

“Young lady”