Rajan Narang
@rdnarang.bsky.social
Working for a just democracy. Both learning and explaining so that we do better with our next opportunity. We’re mobilized, and now it's time for us to organize. Personal account
Pinned
Reposted by Rajan Narang
AOC: "It's not just that Trump is corrupt. It's that everyone participating in this is corrupt. Elon is corrupt. Jeff Bezos is corrupt. Mark Zuckerberg is corrupt."
December 28, 2025 at 7:02 PM
AOC: "It's not just that Trump is corrupt. It's that everyone participating in this is corrupt. Elon is corrupt. Jeff Bezos is corrupt. Mark Zuckerberg is corrupt."
Reposted by Rajan Narang
"Most major equity markets have outperformed the US in 2025 as geographic diversification has, for the first time in many years, benefited investors."
**For the first time in many years**
**For the first time in many years**
In 2025, Europe and Asia ex-China generated almost double the total return generated by the US in dollar terms.
www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundu...
www.edwardconard.com/macro-roundu...
December 28, 2025 at 5:39 PM
"Most major equity markets have outperformed the US in 2025 as geographic diversification has, for the first time in many years, benefited investors."
**For the first time in many years**
**For the first time in many years**
Reposted by Rajan Narang
I think leaving aside whether it's a good strategic idea the reason Dem leaders don't want to talk impeachment isn't because it's not popular in the country, it's because they're worried it's not popular *in a bunch of competitive congressional seats that voted for Trump in 2024*
December 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I think leaving aside whether it's a good strategic idea the reason Dem leaders don't want to talk impeachment isn't because it's not popular in the country, it's because they're worried it's not popular *in a bunch of competitive congressional seats that voted for Trump in 2024*
Reposted by Rajan Narang
much of fitness culture in the US was developed by people who literally entered sports and physical education instead of going to therapy and the attitudes around intensity and effort kinda reflect that. the smiling Jazzercise folks were right and your football coach / PE teacher was wrong
December 28, 2025 at 4:15 PM
much of fitness culture in the US was developed by people who literally entered sports and physical education instead of going to therapy and the attitudes around intensity and effort kinda reflect that. the smiling Jazzercise folks were right and your football coach / PE teacher was wrong
Reposted by Rajan Narang
Meanwhile Ron Johnson today saying immigrants are poor and stay poor so they live on govt handouts. I realize they want you to square it by imagining the govt hands free single family houses to illegal migrants but of course that's bullshit
Turner: "When you look at Biden administration & the weak immigration policies, tens of millions of illegal immigrants came across unchecked & that caused housing supply to go down & costs to go up. With secure borders & our fiscal house getting in order, this is a step toward housing affordability"
December 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Meanwhile Ron Johnson today saying immigrants are poor and stay poor so they live on govt handouts. I realize they want you to square it by imagining the govt hands free single family houses to illegal migrants but of course that's bullshit
Reposted by Rajan Narang
Elkus’s Law: There is no surer way to attract someone saying a thing on the internet than to claim nobody is saying it.
the thing about “no one is saying X” is that many seemingly disreputable opinions actually have a much wider footprint than they appear. often that is because while we choose who we associate with, we don’t really have a great deal of choice — especially online — who we share social space with
December 28, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Elkus’s Law: There is no surer way to attract someone saying a thing on the internet than to claim nobody is saying it.
Reposted by Rajan Narang
“Car bloat”—increasingly oversized automobiles—worsens road safety, affordability and the environment.
Here are some of the stories I wrote in 2025 examining the trend and proposing solutions. 🧵
In @vox.com, I likened car bloat to secondhand smoke (which helped bring down the US tobacco industry).
Here are some of the stories I wrote in 2025 examining the trend and proposing solutions. 🧵
In @vox.com, I likened car bloat to secondhand smoke (which helped bring down the US tobacco industry).
Gigantic SUVs are a public health threat. Why don’t we treat them like one?
The anti-tobacco playbook could help turn the US public against their beloved oversized cars.
www.vox.com
December 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
“Car bloat”—increasingly oversized automobiles—worsens road safety, affordability and the environment.
Here are some of the stories I wrote in 2025 examining the trend and proposing solutions. 🧵
In @vox.com, I likened car bloat to secondhand smoke (which helped bring down the US tobacco industry).
Here are some of the stories I wrote in 2025 examining the trend and proposing solutions. 🧵
In @vox.com, I likened car bloat to secondhand smoke (which helped bring down the US tobacco industry).
Reposted by Rajan Narang
I’ve seen no serious engagement from senior Dems about what, exactly, they plan to do in terms of reasserting congressional power, as in identifying the available tools and thinking seriously about ways to use them to dig us out of the current state of total constitutional collapse.
Pelosi: "Right now, Republicans in Congress have abolished the Congress. They just do what the president insists that they do. That will be over as soon as we have the gavel."
December 28, 2025 at 3:01 PM
I’ve seen no serious engagement from senior Dems about what, exactly, they plan to do in terms of reasserting congressional power, as in identifying the available tools and thinking seriously about ways to use them to dig us out of the current state of total constitutional collapse.
Reposted by Rajan Narang
Chicago resisted. Protests came with a price. Bruises from pepper balls and fits of sickness from the tear gas. But also the shattering of illusions and loss of faith that what they witnessed could not happen in America. It did and is happening in America www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...
64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz
President Donald Trump’s federal immigration enforcement operation led to most surreal autumn in Chicago history. What happened during those 64 days will be remembered for a long time.
www.chicagotribune.com
December 28, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Chicago resisted. Protests came with a price. Bruises from pepper balls and fits of sickness from the tear gas. But also the shattering of illusions and loss of faith that what they witnessed could not happen in America. It did and is happening in America www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...
😂😂😂
December 28, 2025 at 9:15 AM
😂😂😂
Reposted by Rajan Narang
I’m not sure it’s even possible to know for sure, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that by dollar value Trump is more corrupt than all other American elected officials combined, past and present.
December 27, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I’m not sure it’s even possible to know for sure, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that by dollar value Trump is more corrupt than all other American elected officials combined, past and present.
Reposted by Rajan Narang
Carmakers have known all along that dashboard touch screens kill and maim hundreds of thousands of people.
They didn't adapt them because of "consumer demand" for touchscreens. They adapted them because they're cheaper than knobs and dials.
Extend this ethic to all US car manufacturing.
They didn't adapt them because of "consumer demand" for touchscreens. They adapted them because they're cheaper than knobs and dials.
Extend this ethic to all US car manufacturing.
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses.
Rejoice! Carmakers Are Embracing Physical Buttons Again
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its…
wrd.cm
December 28, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Carmakers have known all along that dashboard touch screens kill and maim hundreds of thousands of people.
They didn't adapt them because of "consumer demand" for touchscreens. They adapted them because they're cheaper than knobs and dials.
Extend this ethic to all US car manufacturing.
They didn't adapt them because of "consumer demand" for touchscreens. They adapted them because they're cheaper than knobs and dials.
Extend this ethic to all US car manufacturing.
Reposted by Rajan Narang
There were all the same stories about NYC and Mamdani and all the billionaires leaving and yet...
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/14/n...
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/14/n...
December 28, 2025 at 4:30 AM
There were all the same stories about NYC and Mamdani and all the billionaires leaving and yet...
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/14/n...
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/14/n...
Reposted by Rajan Narang
It's really cool and great that "men whose SO broke up with them over their gambling addiction" is such a large demographic that advertisers are targeting them
December 28, 2025 at 2:51 AM
It's really cool and great that "men whose SO broke up with them over their gambling addiction" is such a large demographic that advertisers are targeting them
Reposted by Rajan Narang
Republics are already unusual, rare, beautiful things, historically speaking. A republic composed of some small sliver of every country, people, language and culture is an even more wondrous, special thing. And to have it have succeeded so remarkably.
To betray that...I have no words.
To betray that...I have no words.
December 28, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Republics are already unusual, rare, beautiful things, historically speaking. A republic composed of some small sliver of every country, people, language and culture is an even more wondrous, special thing. And to have it have succeeded so remarkably.
To betray that...I have no words.
To betray that...I have no words.
Reposted by Rajan Narang
We face a terribly difficult task: restoring power to the legislature at the expense of the executive, restraining the judiciary's attempts to defeat this, & ensuring by these means that whoever comes after the next administration cannot simply choose to undo it all.
“America is dangerously close to a world in which all federal policy hinges on the outcomes of presidential elections, no matter how narrow the margin of victory,” Zachary S. Price argues:
Trump’s Power Grab Over the Budget Is Breaking the Constitutional Design
If this pattern holds, the result will be more wild swings in policy across administrations.
bit.ly
December 28, 2025 at 3:07 AM
We face a terribly difficult task: restoring power to the legislature at the expense of the executive, restraining the judiciary's attempts to defeat this, & ensuring by these means that whoever comes after the next administration cannot simply choose to undo it all.
Reposted by Rajan Narang
I just taught my lecture course on mid-20th c US history, which starts with Harding and concludes with Nixon.
For the first time, I had to pause and stress that those scandals were actually shocking at the time and, what’s more, that Americans actually demanded people be held accountable.
For the first time, I had to pause and stress that those scandals were actually shocking at the time and, what’s more, that Americans actually demanded people be held accountable.
All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.
Corruption so pungent, it wafts right off the page:
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
December 27, 2025 at 9:30 PM
I just taught my lecture course on mid-20th c US history, which starts with Harding and concludes with Nixon.
For the first time, I had to pause and stress that those scandals were actually shocking at the time and, what’s more, that Americans actually demanded people be held accountable.
For the first time, I had to pause and stress that those scandals were actually shocking at the time and, what’s more, that Americans actually demanded people be held accountable.
Reposted by Rajan Narang
Massive comms challenge for people who care about voting rights and 2026: make sure people understand these new voter suppression laws re: the timing of mail in voting so that their votes won't be lost — esp. difficult because the laws vary across states, creating ambiguity that can be exploited.
Until Trump began conspiracies about mail voting, Republicans were fully on board with GRACE PERIODS for ballots to arrive as long as postmarked by Election Day. They passed it overwhelmingly in KS, OH, & elsewhere.
But now Trump hates it.
So 4 red states—KS, OH, ND, UT—all banned it this year.
But now Trump hates it.
So 4 red states—KS, OH, ND, UT—all banned it this year.
Ohio Bans Grace Periods for Mail Ballots, Fulfilling Trump’s Wishes - Bolts
Ohio is the fourth GOP-run state this year to ban ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive after. A Supreme Court case could force that policy nationwide next year.
boltsmag.org
December 27, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Massive comms challenge for people who care about voting rights and 2026: make sure people understand these new voter suppression laws re: the timing of mail in voting so that their votes won't be lost — esp. difficult because the laws vary across states, creating ambiguity that can be exploited.
The New York Post somehow managing to drag the child development discourse to new depths
I *know* I shouldn’t share the NYPost but I got served this BUTT PHRENOLOGY article
!!!!
And people should know that we have entered the era of BUTT PHRENOLOGY
!!!!
!!!!
And people should know that we have entered the era of BUTT PHRENOLOGY
!!!!
How a bigger-looking butt could be a sneaky sign of autism and ADHD
Your backside might reveal a thing or two about your brain.
nypost.com
December 28, 2025 at 1:20 AM
The New York Post somehow managing to drag the child development discourse to new depths
This is one of the most important divides in progressive politics -- those who believe that every effect of voter contact can be accurately tested and seamlessly replicated, vs. those of us who believe that authentic connections are better than the best script
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/u...
When the Democratic Door-Knocker Has Something Unscripted to Say
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2025 at 8:55 PM
This is one of the most important divides in progressive politics -- those who believe that every effect of voter contact can be accurately tested and seamlessly replicated, vs. those of us who believe that authentic connections are better than the best script
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/u...
Reposted by Rajan Narang
More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’, study finds
More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’, study finds
Low-quality AI-generated content is now saturating social media – and generating about $117m a year, data shows
More than 20% of the videos that YouTube’s algorithm shows to new users are “AI slop” – low-quality AI-generated content designed to farm views, research has found.
The video-editing company Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world’s most popular YouTube channels – the top 100 in every country – and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 27, 2025 at 5:06 PM
More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’, study finds
Reposted by Rajan Narang
We are getting to the point where white collar criminals are thinking, "why take the plea deal my high-priced lawyer negotiated when I can just bribe the President and skip jail altogether?"
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
December 27, 2025 at 6:27 PM
We are getting to the point where white collar criminals are thinking, "why take the plea deal my high-priced lawyer negotiated when I can just bribe the President and skip jail altogether?"
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
Reposted by Rajan Narang
It is not just the corruption of Trump pardoning someone who was making him richer. It is also a two-tier justice system where the rich can buy freedom.
Binance paid the lobbyist $800K for the pardon, and were offering lobbyists success fees of up to $6 million.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Binance paid the lobbyist $800K for the pardon, and were offering lobbyists success fees of up to $6 million.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
December 27, 2025 at 6:21 PM
It is not just the corruption of Trump pardoning someone who was making him richer. It is also a two-tier justice system where the rich can buy freedom.
Binance paid the lobbyist $800K for the pardon, and were offering lobbyists success fees of up to $6 million.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Binance paid the lobbyist $800K for the pardon, and were offering lobbyists success fees of up to $6 million.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Reposted by Rajan Narang
this is about NJ and in NJ this is actually extremely normalized, which is another weird quirk of New Jersey campaigning: mutual aid type stuff is so normalized that even the machine makes heavy use of it as a campaign tactic, and it works (this is Brian Stack's superpower)
The left coalition in my city made a bloodbath of the extremely well-entrenched incumbents via a strategy that heavily leveraged using campaign offices as mutual aid sites
Turning campaigns into mutual aid hubs isn’t good for campaigns or mutual aid! Your campaign manager should be entirely too busy to schlep around 5600 tampons!
December 27, 2025 at 4:31 PM
this is about NJ and in NJ this is actually extremely normalized, which is another weird quirk of New Jersey campaigning: mutual aid type stuff is so normalized that even the machine makes heavy use of it as a campaign tactic, and it works (this is Brian Stack's superpower)
Reposted by Rajan Narang
I hate that we’re having to think in these terms, but the evidence seems to be bearing out that steep fare hikes are less damaging to ridership than service cuts.
2025 was brutal for US transit. Agencies faced budget deficits, flat ridership, and open hostility from the White House.
I wrote a series of stories outlining ways to help transit endure.
Lesson #1: Whatever you do, don’t cut service. Riders will leave – permanently.
Here are a few others 🧵
I wrote a series of stories outlining ways to help transit endure.
Lesson #1: Whatever you do, don’t cut service. Riders will leave – permanently.
Here are a few others 🧵
The Last Thing US Transit Agencies Should Do Now
Rising costs and widening deficits as pandemic aid runs out are challenging bus and train operators in many cities. But cutting service needs to be a last resort.
www.bloomberg.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:37 PM
I hate that we’re having to think in these terms, but the evidence seems to be bearing out that steep fare hikes are less damaging to ridership than service cuts.