Theo Wolf
@theowolf.bsky.social
Writer, playwright, educator. NYC. Follow me for musings on culture, cities, and ice cream.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
When you are one hundred percent committed to battling anti-semitism:
April 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
When you are one hundred percent committed to battling anti-semitism:
Uh oh, CAPTCHA has developed a taste for flesh.
March 26, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Uh oh, CAPTCHA has developed a taste for flesh.
Had to push through thousands of tourists in Times Square last night. Continues to confound me that in 2025 one of the most popular urban spaces in the world is not pedestrianized.
Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY.
There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.
Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople
There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.
Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople
Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis
City of Madrid significantly boosted the takings of its shops and restaurants last Christmas by banning cars from the CBD, finds an analysis by Spain's second largest bank.
www.forbes.com
March 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Had to push through thousands of tourists in Times Square last night. Continues to confound me that in 2025 one of the most popular urban spaces in the world is not pedestrianized.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
The ability to control mass party opinion this directly is unlike anything I’ve really seen in my time covering politics.
March 7, 2025 at 8:55 PM
The ability to control mass party opinion this directly is unlike anything I’ve really seen in my time covering politics.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Reagan was such a good president that you can see his impact on nearly every measure of America's economy and livelihood ♥️ in that he destroyed everything for everyone and is in hell being tortured by demons right now
![Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Spending
Over Time, from 1970 to 2014
[reagan fucked it up]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:awzzrtrcrvpnxi3ph2sbhxwv/bafkreigoo6hej24xrhel2xwcwz6bj27abtnwqagull3rweydak2xzmsysu@jpeg)
![United States Debt in 2014 Dollars and as Percent of GDP
[reagan fucked it up]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:awzzrtrcrvpnxi3ph2sbhxwv/bafkreigzqvxe3gejxl7bqoplcpaztty5uzv3p646gi4uclmfz7wso3n2lu@jpeg)
![Top Marginal Tax Rate from 1966 to 2014
[reagan fucked it up]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:awzzrtrcrvpnxi3ph2sbhxwv/bafkreifosqgwchxj3sieekssveapq4is4dh67nzqfnpqklmv5hedsds5y4@jpeg)
March 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reagan was such a good president that you can see his impact on nearly every measure of America's economy and livelihood ♥️ in that he destroyed everything for everyone and is in hell being tortured by demons right now
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Worth stating simply what’s happening. An American government is launching a full-scope political & economic assault on an ally repelling an ongoing invasion to compel them to terminate martial law, topple their president, hand over minerals to America & accept a ceasefire w/out security guarantees.
March 4, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Worth stating simply what’s happening. An American government is launching a full-scope political & economic assault on an ally repelling an ongoing invasion to compel them to terminate martial law, topple their president, hand over minerals to America & accept a ceasefire w/out security guarantees.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Democrats should be relentlessly branding Trump for what he is: the most corrupt person to ever hold the office. Instead, @schumer.senate.gov and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social are calling for "decorum" while Democrats yammer about "bipartisan solutions" and repeat MAGA points about "waste and fraud."
SCOOP: Business leaders are paying as much as $5,000,000 to meet one-on-one with President Donald Trump at his Florida compound, sources tell WIRED, while others are paying $1,000,000 apiece to dine with him in a group setting.
People Are Paying Millions to Dine With Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Business leaders are paying as much as $5,000,000 to meet one-on-one with the president at his Florida compound, sources tell WIRED, while others are paying $1,000,000 apiece to dine with him in a…
buff.ly
March 4, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Democrats should be relentlessly branding Trump for what he is: the most corrupt person to ever hold the office. Instead, @schumer.senate.gov and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social are calling for "decorum" while Democrats yammer about "bipartisan solutions" and repeat MAGA points about "waste and fraud."
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Also, Cuomo almost single-handedly cost Dems the House.
He let the GOP gerrymander NY’s Senate to thwart progressives, pushed through an amendment to try to block future Dem maps, & chose conservative judges who blocked Dems from gerrymandering after 2020 while the GOP ruthlessly drew TX, FL, etc.
He let the GOP gerrymander NY’s Senate to thwart progressives, pushed through an amendment to try to block future Dem maps, & chose conservative judges who blocked Dems from gerrymandering after 2020 while the GOP ruthlessly drew TX, FL, etc.
Andrew Cuomo, in addition to being a serial sexual harasser, knowingly sent people with Covid into old folks homes, leading to a massive rate of infection and death for the elderly.
Read and share the @propublica.org story about how Andrew Cuomo killed your elders.
Read and share the @propublica.org story about how Andrew Cuomo killed your elders.
“Fire Through Dry Grass”: Andrew Cuomo Saw COVID-19’s Threat to Nursing Homes. Then He Risked Adding to It.
A nursing home in Troy, New York, followed the governor’s order to accept patients being treated for COVID-19. Six weeks later, 18 residents were dead of the disease.
www.propublica.org
March 1, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Also, Cuomo almost single-handedly cost Dems the House.
He let the GOP gerrymander NY’s Senate to thwart progressives, pushed through an amendment to try to block future Dem maps, & chose conservative judges who blocked Dems from gerrymandering after 2020 while the GOP ruthlessly drew TX, FL, etc.
He let the GOP gerrymander NY’s Senate to thwart progressives, pushed through an amendment to try to block future Dem maps, & chose conservative judges who blocked Dems from gerrymandering after 2020 while the GOP ruthlessly drew TX, FL, etc.
One of the many costs of a car dependent society. Elderly people who should not be operating heavy machinery and children yearning for freedom have no choice but to drive.
We need to nuance this post by looking at who gets hurt. The deaths linked to older drivers in the post below are disproportionately the older drivers killing themselves; whereas younger drivers disproportionately kill their passengers and other road users
March 1, 2025 at 3:57 PM
One of the many costs of a car dependent society. Elderly people who should not be operating heavy machinery and children yearning for freedom have no choice but to drive.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
The actual dynamic as I understand it is that they hire a handful of fundraising consultant firms (disconnected from the comms shop) whose incentives are to raise as much money as fast as possible and that leads to them eating the politician's seed corn whenever they can to make their numbers
February 24, 2025 at 6:15 PM
The actual dynamic as I understand it is that they hire a handful of fundraising consultant firms (disconnected from the comms shop) whose incentives are to raise as much money as fast as possible and that leads to them eating the politician's seed corn whenever they can to make their numbers
Reposted by Theo Wolf
History rhymes encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/t...
February 21, 2025 at 9:34 PM
History rhymes encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/t...
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Maybe I wasn’t clear about this. I wanted more egg and no plane crash, not many plane crash and no egg.
February 17, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Maybe I wasn’t clear about this. I wanted more egg and no plane crash, not many plane crash and no egg.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
You'd think the media, acting to support their own interests in greater transparency, would've made a big issue out of this contrast during the election. Instead they used the visitor logs to print a false A1 story in the New York Times alleging that Biden had Parkinson's, timed to maximally damage
So, conservatives pressured Obama into becoming the 1st POTUS to release visitor logs. Bush didn’t do it before him. Trump didn’t do it after him. But Biden did.
Trump is back again & not releasing them again. A reminder of how asymmetric our politics are
Trump is back again & not releasing them again. A reminder of how asymmetric our politics are
Trump White House will not release visitor logs - Washington Examiner
For months, transparency advocates have pressed Trump to disclose who he and his staff will be meeting with on a routine basis, which former President Joe Biden did monthly.
www.washingtonexaminer.com
February 11, 2025 at 6:41 PM
You'd think the media, acting to support their own interests in greater transparency, would've made a big issue out of this contrast during the election. Instead they used the visitor logs to print a false A1 story in the New York Times alleging that Biden had Parkinson's, timed to maximally damage
Reposted by Theo Wolf
This is what DOT was doing instead of focusing on getting enough air traffic controllers on the clock.
NEW: Yesterday, the Department of Transportation issued a memo that says DOT and DOT-supported programs should "give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average." www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.go...
www.transportation.gov
January 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM
This is what DOT was doing instead of focusing on getting enough air traffic controllers on the clock.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Trump, Vance, Hegseth, and Combs all said they were briefed on the collision, so they all knew about this internal FAA report when they went on TV to blame minorities for the crash.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
January 30, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Trump, Vance, Hegseth, and Combs all said they were briefed on the collision, so they all knew about this internal FAA report when they went on TV to blame minorities for the crash.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
Reposted by Theo Wolf
It doesn't matter how egregious or obviously racist Trump's lies are, they just write down whatever the guy who averaged 20.9 "false or misleading statements" every day during his first term says and print it.
January 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
It doesn't matter how egregious or obviously racist Trump's lies are, they just write down whatever the guy who averaged 20.9 "false or misleading statements" every day during his first term says and print it.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Media framing of events is a choice. Trump frames event in way that I think most reporters understand is nonsense.
Don't have to repeat it.
There is a real story about what happens to state capacity over the next 4 years that is better told through specific events like this rather than in abstract.
Don't have to repeat it.
There is a real story about what happens to state capacity over the next 4 years that is better told through specific events like this rather than in abstract.
January 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Media framing of events is a choice. Trump frames event in way that I think most reporters understand is nonsense.
Don't have to repeat it.
There is a real story about what happens to state capacity over the next 4 years that is better told through specific events like this rather than in abstract.
Don't have to repeat it.
There is a real story about what happens to state capacity over the next 4 years that is better told through specific events like this rather than in abstract.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
The throughline that I keep returning to is:
-they collectively decided that Musk’s takeover of Twitter went *great*.
-so they’ve taking that same approach to the entire federal bureaucracy.
-instead of server crashes and error messages, medicaid breaks and a plane full of kids crashes.
-they collectively decided that Musk’s takeover of Twitter went *great*.
-so they’ve taking that same approach to the entire federal bureaucracy.
-instead of server crashes and error messages, medicaid breaks and a plane full of kids crashes.
REPORTER: Is there an acting FAA director?
DUFFY: *walks away*
(The FAA director resigned on the day of Trump's inauguration under pressure from Elon Musk)
DUFFY: *walks away*
(The FAA director resigned on the day of Trump's inauguration under pressure from Elon Musk)
January 30, 2025 at 5:43 PM
The throughline that I keep returning to is:
-they collectively decided that Musk’s takeover of Twitter went *great*.
-so they’ve taking that same approach to the entire federal bureaucracy.
-instead of server crashes and error messages, medicaid breaks and a plane full of kids crashes.
-they collectively decided that Musk’s takeover of Twitter went *great*.
-so they’ve taking that same approach to the entire federal bureaucracy.
-instead of server crashes and error messages, medicaid breaks and a plane full of kids crashes.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Pete Buttigieg sets the record straight.
January 30, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Pete Buttigieg sets the record straight.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
Dear the Media,
When something bad happens in an area under the executive branch's purview, and the White House goes "uh... a Black or gay person must've done it," you do not need to accept that. You're allowed to follow up in pursuit of the factual reason, not the bigoted excuse.
Love,
The public
When something bad happens in an area under the executive branch's purview, and the White House goes "uh... a Black or gay person must've done it," you do not need to accept that. You're allowed to follow up in pursuit of the factual reason, not the bigoted excuse.
Love,
The public
January 30, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Dear the Media,
When something bad happens in an area under the executive branch's purview, and the White House goes "uh... a Black or gay person must've done it," you do not need to accept that. You're allowed to follow up in pursuit of the factual reason, not the bigoted excuse.
Love,
The public
When something bad happens in an area under the executive branch's purview, and the White House goes "uh... a Black or gay person must've done it," you do not need to accept that. You're allowed to follow up in pursuit of the factual reason, not the bigoted excuse.
Love,
The public
Reposted by Theo Wolf
"Trump appointed a road rules cast member to be in charge of airline safety and this is the result" that's all true and a one-sentence narrative that is completely damning to the ears of someone who isn't paying much attention to politics. Take the layup.
January 30, 2025 at 5:27 PM
"Trump appointed a road rules cast member to be in charge of airline safety and this is the result" that's all true and a one-sentence narrative that is completely damning to the ears of someone who isn't paying much attention to politics. Take the layup.
Reposted by Theo Wolf
I missed this entirely:
The FAA Administrator criticized Space X’s safety record and threatened fines.
Musk demanded he resign.
He did.
On January 20th.
www.thedailybeast.com/faa-chief-mi...
The FAA Administrator criticized Space X’s safety record and threatened fines.
Musk demanded he resign.
He did.
On January 20th.
www.thedailybeast.com/faa-chief-mi...
FAA Chief Quit on Jan. 20 After Elon Musk Told Him to Resign
Michael Whitaker had only been in the role for a year but the SpaceX chief accused him of “harassment.”
www.thedailybeast.com
January 30, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I missed this entirely:
The FAA Administrator criticized Space X’s safety record and threatened fines.
Musk demanded he resign.
He did.
On January 20th.
www.thedailybeast.com/faa-chief-mi...
The FAA Administrator criticized Space X’s safety record and threatened fines.
Musk demanded he resign.
He did.
On January 20th.
www.thedailybeast.com/faa-chief-mi...
This should be the front page headline of every mainstream news outlet. You can 100% bet if Biden had done this it would be. But remember, they wanted Trump to be elected and did everything in their power to ensure it happened.
➡️ January 20: FAA director fired
➡️ January 21: Air Traffic Controller hiring frozen
➡️ January 22: Aviation Safety Advisory Committee disbanded
➡️ January 28: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees
➡️ January 29: First American mid-air collision in 16 years
Making America Great Again!
➡️ January 21: Air Traffic Controller hiring frozen
➡️ January 22: Aviation Safety Advisory Committee disbanded
➡️ January 28: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees
➡️ January 29: First American mid-air collision in 16 years
Making America Great Again!
January 30, 2025 at 4:09 PM
This should be the front page headline of every mainstream news outlet. You can 100% bet if Biden had done this it would be. But remember, they wanted Trump to be elected and did everything in their power to ensure it happened.
We're #1! We're #1!
January 22, 2025 at 5:33 PM
We're #1! We're #1!