Noah Mitchell-Ward

BIG news: The California Democratic Party just endorsed @scottwiener.bsky.social’s landmark housing bill #SB79, which legalizes multifamily homes near major public transit statewide!

This marks a major shift in state politics: California Dems are *finally* embracing a party that builds!

just thinking about it makes me so angry. the worst kind of open race baiting in american politics since george wallace.

Let’s talk about driver solidarity: whenever there’s a news piece or social media post about a driver clearly at fault for hitting a pedestrian or cyclist, other drivers flood the comments to justify the driver’s actions and victim blame the person who’s been hit. Like clockwork. Why is the case?

The fact that literally zero outlets ever cover crime decline as a story is a huge reason. (And before you yell at me, we do!)

Trump, Miller, Noem et al are disappearing innocent people to a concentration camp to be tortured. They know this is what they're doing. Everyone who has touched this policy belongs in prison.

A good way to think about the housing crisis is landlords pocketing essentially all the consumer surplus the last 40 years

Politicians being more concerned about where people park their scooters than where people park their cars gives the whole game away

Bar chart of highest electricity to natural gas cost states in US. Washington at the top of the list as the lowest cost ratio state.

Bar chart of highest electricity to natural gas cost states in US. Michigan at the bottom of the list.

Fun (bummer) fact about my home state from this NYTimes article about heat pumps - Michigan has the highest cost ratio of electricity to natural gas, 5.1x

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

thinking about the dems who said we can't abolish ICE as the Department of Education gets wiped off the map

Cuomo said he would make affordability a cornerstone of his general-election campaign but would run on the notion that he will actually be able to make the city more affordable while Mamdani will only talk about it. “It’s about not just connecting with the perception of the problem. It’s finding the real solution and then having the ability to do it. You don’t want someone who just connects. That’s step one. What you really want is the problem-solver, and I can actually do that.” So what would he do on housing affordability? “There is no real answer,”

Great stuff

Pre-2009, the number of 1st-time homebuyers roughly increased & declined in parallel with the number of housing units completed.

Over past 15 years, that connection disappeared. Even though the # of housing units completed increased 2011-2024, the # of 1st-time homebuyers flatlined—then collapsed.

ICE handcuffs 71-year-old grandmother, a U.S. citizen, at San Diego immigration court An ICE agent accused the woman of pushing her. After she spent hours in custody, she denied that to NBC Diego on Wednesday.

These people are out of control.

www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/i...

I'm guessing there's no plan for any expansion of our limited smelting capacity, so get ready to enjoy more expensive appliances, HVAC equipment, and wiring (among other things). The one brightside is this may increase interest in alternatives such as:
www.prweb.com/releases/dex...

I feel like the renewables industry and all their lobbyists had the wool pulled over their eyes with this backdoor move to gut the tax credits via Treasury guidance on CODs.

The most pessimistic version of how this turns out is about just as bad as the initial House bill, if not worse.

I Don't Know How To Explain To You That You Should Care About Other People Our disagreement is not merely political, but a fundamental divide on what it means to live in a society.

www.huffpost.com/entry/i-dont...

The republican reconciliation bill likely used LLMs extensively

www.jonathanbennion.info/p/potential-...

It’s one thing to say they want to deport 20 million people, it’s even one thing to go nuts brazenly doing whatever you can as the executive branch to make it happen, but the fact that they’re going to give ICE an additional 45B shows how committed they are to seeing this through.

This version is so bad that I feel like I'm being trolled.

law professors have been unable to understand why people are actually concerned about this case. it’s not about nationwide injunctions per se, it’s about a court that waited until the issue hurt the GOP, and then intervened on behalf of one of the most egregious constitutional violations we’ve seen

see, the thing *i’m* genuinely worried about is that RFK will effectively ban vaccines

And Rudy's giveaway to Staten Island costs the city ~$150m a year, every year, for forever.

Local + Express bus would be another $900m-$1b a year, otherwise known as an entire congestion pricing.

council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-co...

www.mta.info/document/165...

I'm imagining ICE doing to NYC what it's doing to LA — and the people of NYC responding the way people are in LA — and it all happening under Mayor Cuomo. He'll side with ICE, DHS and, of course, the NYPD. This man, who hates the city and doesn't live here, can not become mayor. Don't rank him.

So needed

France, which is kicking New York's butt in terms of building transit and has powerful unions, would like a word with Mr. Barro.

See also "the community."

Things not looking good for the Efficient Market Hypothesis

The thing they all really want to do is deliver their content (and to be clear, this is incredibly racist content) to people as if it is unbiased and just a whole machine, while the creator is still standing around, whispering in the ear about the contours of what it should say.

yeah i am pretty much on the side of primary everyone

"I have concerns about daylighting. Will there be a loss of parking?"

"Will there be consultation about proper placement [of universal daylighting]?" umm the placement is in the bill - it's approaching *every* crosswalk.

"A major concern is the lack of parking"

Someone please primary Chris Banks.