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astrapaios.bsky.social
Asator
@astrapaios.bsky.social
51 followers 290 following 290 posts
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ositanwanevu.com
I wrote about Renee Good, Venezuela, Greenland, and what it means to be a human being. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
America, JD Vance tells us, is merely a nation like many others ⁠– a “homeland”, he said upon accepting his nomination to the vice-presidency, for “people with a shared history and a common future”. That’s a vision of American identity that would have described bands of cavepeople in skins just as well or better. Stephen Miller’s proleptic defense of seizing Greenland last week suggests the Trumpists themselves know this. “We live in a world, in the real world ... that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he declared. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” Miller’s laws are the laws of animals. It is true, obviously, that high ideals have long been deployed to obscure or justify predation, here and elsewhere. But Miller’s stance and the stance of the administration is that there aren’t, actually, any high ideals worth pursuing or even pretending to – that the human being, in itself, is nothing so much ⁠and that we are, fundamentally and forever, primitives. Against the demands and best aspirations of civilization – western or any kind – they tell us the human being is a creature that yearns for nothing more than blood and soil, which is, of course, just mud. The lust for mud has taken up many guises in our history and has been many given names of late – neo-reaction, post-liberalism, fascism. But the name familiar to most is evil. It was evil – the standpoint that only might matters, that human morality, and our sense of reality itself, must yield to the turfism of the primates with the biggest clubs – that ginned up the propaganda that provoked an act of terrorism against our legislature and the policemen defending it five years ago. It is evil that undergirds pronouncements from the same voices responsible for that attack, in defense of the man who shot Renee Nicole Good, that those who disobey the commands of law enforcement, however unsound or unjust, deserve summary execution – that implies, as Fox’s Jesse Watters and others have, that Good’s killing was of trivial significance because she was a lesbian “with pronouns in her bio”. It is evil that sends innocent men to foreign gulags, evil that condemns hundreds of thousands of destitute people abroad to death without a moment’s discussion or debate about what the country they had depended on might owe them, or the furnishing of alternative arrangements for their wellbeing. The gutting of USAID remains this administration’s worst and least surprising offense against the human conscience – a president who rejects the idea that we might have obligations to all within our society can’t be expected to wonder or worry about whether we have obligations to those outside of it. This is also why, after all the noise and nonsense about the need to depose the Maduro regime, the Venezuelan people are now being told that regime will be left in mostly in place for as long as it takes to secure and extract the country’s resources on our terms – that Venezuela will not see democracy unless and until it is profitable for the United States. Democracy has always been a useless abstraction to those who deny we have basic human entitlements – for those who believe, instead, that the idea of human liberty is a luxury for those wealthy and powerful enough to consider themselves our betters rather than the birthright of all. As many who’ve taken to the streets in protest have noted, the Trump administration’s assaults on liberty here at home are the kinds of abuses that spurred the revolution we will commemorate this year. But no grand revolution is in the offing this time around. The only just and plausible recourse for our situation is politics – understood not merely as the contest to win any given set of elections but as the broader fight to forge a republic that honors and strengthens our humanity. The American project must and will succeed. Its enemies stand for too little. Our lives are worth too much.
January 14, 2026 at 3:26 PM
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mnolangray.bsky.social
A heck of a chart: in every single one of the 10 major US cities that built the most housing between 2017 and 2023, rents for older, existing units fell—often by quite a bit.
January 6, 2026 at 5:18 PM
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bcdreyer.social
This is an almost shockingly wise essay. I'm glad I've finally read it.
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.
open.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 12:34 AM
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mckay4senate.bsky.social
They expect one of us in the wreckage brother
December 22, 2025 at 8:34 PM
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ttcriders.bsky.social
2. The original stated run time of 34 minutes is wrong and was debunked by Metrolinx and TTC staff at least as early as 2024, maybe earlier. They never informed the public of the changing goal.
December 10, 2025 at 11:05 PM
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volts.wtf
Today on Volts: the subset of cleantech known as "electrotech" -- solar, batteries, heat pumps, etc. -- is marching toward inevitable victory, not because it's low-emissions (though it is), but because it's more efficient & cheaper. I discuss the good news with @kingsmillbond.bsky.social.
Clean electrification is inevitable
Kingsmill Bond explains why the global march of "electrotech" has moved beyond the reach of US political interference.
www.volts.wtf
November 21, 2025 at 6:25 PM
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nrvscrcts.bsky.social
"All of [the sites owing money] are owned by MAGA Energy, short for Make Alberta Great Again, which bought 170 wells, 30 facilities and 47 pipeline licences in the area in September 2024."

The foundation of conservative politics is grift, exhibit no. 3,231,863

#ableg #abpoli #cdnpoli
thenarwhal.ca The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · Nov 5
In Alberta, landowners can’t deny oil and gas wells on their properties, but they’re entitled to compensation. Some companies fail to pay those bills — and rural Albertans are tired of waiting. They're also tired of that repayment, eventually, coming from taxpayers. thenarwhal.ca/alberta-land...
Rural Albertans face growing problems with oil and gas wells | The Narwhal
The Alberta government is pushing a new plan to deal with years of regulatory failure. Alberta landowners aren’t convinced
thenarwhal.ca
November 5, 2025 at 5:28 PM
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sansculottid.es
Today is Tridi the 23rd of Messidor in the year 233.
Messidor is the month of harvest.
Today we celebrate beans.#JacobinDay

More information on beans
An old time-y illustration of a Beans.
July 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM
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lolennui.bsky.social
groimes you haeve to come get me at Geetmo
June 5, 2025 at 7:15 PM
astrapaios.bsky.social
In a few years, the MTA, TTC, an TfL will be run by a rotating triarchy, ruled by Andy Byford, Mandeep Lali, and one yet undiscovered corner of the trinity
May 29, 2025 at 5:54 PM
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yimbyland.com
TEXAS PASSES 6-STORY SINGLE-STAIR BILL! 🤠

- Legalizes 6-stories, 4-units/floor, in TX state building code
- Cities that adopt standard amendments to state building code would by-default legalize 6-story single-stair apartments
- Paves way for streamlined adoption by cities
May 27, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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rzaichkowski.bsky.social
Do you support #TTC #RapidTO lanes on Bathurst and Dufferin Streets? If so, please sign this letter from @ttcriders.bsky.social and share widely! I used to frequently use the 29/929 Dufferin route and know the lanes would help the over 40,000 riders who use it daily. #TOpoli www.ttcriders.ca/lanes
Bus Lanes Now
www.ttcriders.ca
May 27, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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stephenjacobsmith.com
Chinese HSR does Beijing-Shanghai – which is about the distance as NYC-Atlanta – in just over four hours, and gets six times the ridership of airlines. $1.8 billion in net profit last year. scmp.com/economy/chin...
‘More convenient’: why China’s travellers are ditching planes for bullet trains
More passengers on busy Beijing-Shanghai route are choosing high-speed rail, which offers flexibility, comfort and stable internet access.
scmp.com
May 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
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jm-mcgrath.bsky.social
basically the root of the housing crisis is that in the real world everyone acknowledges that adults have trade-offs regarding home quality, location, and price, while planners (both elected and otherwise) believe deep in their bones that those choices should be illegal
rmtransit.bsky.social Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · May 27
A lot of the talk about the housing crisis and what type of housing people would be willing to live in is laughably out of touch. I'd live in a seriously flawed unit if it meant affordability personally - meanwhile people are debating flooring materials
May 27, 2025 at 1:09 PM
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holz-bau.bsky.social
over on @dwell.bsky.social - @sustainabletall.bsky.social writes about spain's incredible social housing & cooperative movements, walking away from sterile, banal double loaded corridors

www.dwell.com/article/why-...
Why Is Spain’s Social Housing So Well-Designed?
The country is trying to reverse its legacy of under-investing in public housing by churning out projects that defy expectations of the building type.
www.dwell.com
May 27, 2025 at 2:37 PM
astrapaios.bsky.social
Repost with an image of your favourite James Bond (wrong answers only)
Columbo
April 12, 2025 at 11:57 PM
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maxdubler.com
Looking at apartment neighborhoods in Los Angeles (left) and Edinburgh (right) shows us how allowing taller buildings (four stories vs two) makes it possible to have much more green space.
Aerial view of two story apartment buildings in Los Angeles showing high levels of lot coverage and little green space. Aerial view of four story perimeter apartment blocks with generous interior courtyards.
December 10, 2024 at 5:15 AM
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adashtra.bsky.social
Wake up babe a new "I called your tailor" dropped
November 22, 2024 at 7:50 PM