Ben Falk
@benjfalk.bsky.social
(Was) Disability+API+QT equity, foundation relations and DEI @UrbanInstitute. @UrbanInst_Union shill. BFA dramaturgy/directing @TheatreSchool. Views mine. FL+DC+CHI. they/them
Good luck to Chris Pappas, scion of the chicken tender, on your run.
March 12, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Good luck to Chris Pappas, scion of the chicken tender, on your run.
Reposted by Ben Falk
NYC>Chicago is legitimately a great corridor for high-speed rail, if states of NY, PA, OH, IN & IL could unite for it.
You could hit:
—NYC—20m
—Philly—6m
—Harrisburg—600k
—Pittsburgh—2.4m
—Youngstown—400k
—Cleveland—2.2m
—Toledo—600k
—Ft Wayne—500k
—South Bend—300k
—Chicago—9m
On a ~straight route
You could hit:
—NYC—20m
—Philly—6m
—Harrisburg—600k
—Pittsburgh—2.4m
—Youngstown—400k
—Cleveland—2.2m
—Toledo—600k
—Ft Wayne—500k
—South Bend—300k
—Chicago—9m
On a ~straight route
This is the Beijing-Shanghai corridor, which takes 4 hours and 18 minutes to cover 800 miles. That’s the same distance as NYC to Chicago, which currently takes 20 hours by train.
(Tansu Yegen)
(Tansu Yegen)
February 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
NYC>Chicago is legitimately a great corridor for high-speed rail, if states of NY, PA, OH, IN & IL could unite for it.
You could hit:
—NYC—20m
—Philly—6m
—Harrisburg—600k
—Pittsburgh—2.4m
—Youngstown—400k
—Cleveland—2.2m
—Toledo—600k
—Ft Wayne—500k
—South Bend—300k
—Chicago—9m
On a ~straight route
You could hit:
—NYC—20m
—Philly—6m
—Harrisburg—600k
—Pittsburgh—2.4m
—Youngstown—400k
—Cleveland—2.2m
—Toledo—600k
—Ft Wayne—500k
—South Bend—300k
—Chicago—9m
On a ~straight route
Reposted by Ben Falk
Some transgender Americans report they’ve been refused a passport altogether — with any gender marker — in recent weeks. “The goal is to make life untenable”: www.vox.com/politics/399...
Trump’s new passport rules are trapping transgender Americans in bureaucratic limbo
“Can I leave the country, and how can I leave the country?”
www.vox.com
February 15, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Some transgender Americans report they’ve been refused a passport altogether — with any gender marker — in recent weeks. “The goal is to make life untenable”: www.vox.com/politics/399...
Reposted by Ben Falk
USDOT is proposing to prioritize areas with high marriage & birth rates for funding.
Our new analysis @urbaninstitute.bsky.social shows this approach would produce a massive redistribution of transportation funding to rich, car-dependent, high white population areas.
www.urban.org/urban-wire/d...
Our new analysis @urbaninstitute.bsky.social shows this approach would produce a massive redistribution of transportation funding to rich, car-dependent, high white population areas.
www.urban.org/urban-wire/d...
February 7, 2025 at 5:05 PM
USDOT is proposing to prioritize areas with high marriage & birth rates for funding.
Our new analysis @urbaninstitute.bsky.social shows this approach would produce a massive redistribution of transportation funding to rich, car-dependent, high white population areas.
www.urban.org/urban-wire/d...
Our new analysis @urbaninstitute.bsky.social shows this approach would produce a massive redistribution of transportation funding to rich, car-dependent, high white population areas.
www.urban.org/urban-wire/d...
Reposted by Ben Falk
The campaign against trans rights is also about stripping away everyone’s protections against discrimination, reviving, as Douglass put it “the moral blindness” of those who “persuade themselves that they are safe, though the rights of others may be struck down.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Attack on Trans Rights Won’t End There
Once legal rights begin to fall, they fall for everyone.
www.theatlantic.com
January 29, 2025 at 6:28 PM
The campaign against trans rights is also about stripping away everyone’s protections against discrimination, reviving, as Douglass put it “the moral blindness” of those who “persuade themselves that they are safe, though the rights of others may be struck down.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Ben Falk
yikes. not sure what to do right now, concretely, but links to advocacy groups in chicago within this article -> boltsmag.org/chicago-immi..., this crowd sourced skeet -> bsky.app/profile/joek..., know your rights & links to local events & organizations -> www.chicago.gov/city/en/dept...
We’ve received reports of ICE enforcement activity in Chicago today. Please know that Chicago police were not involved. My team and I are working closely with City officials. It's important that everyone understands their rights. You can access the Know Your Rights resource guide at www.chicago.gov.
January 27, 2025 at 2:50 AM
yikes. not sure what to do right now, concretely, but links to advocacy groups in chicago within this article -> boltsmag.org/chicago-immi..., this crowd sourced skeet -> bsky.app/profile/joek..., know your rights & links to local events & organizations -> www.chicago.gov/city/en/dept...
Reposted by Ben Falk
Tomorrow is the big day (when stats showing crime declines and real wage increases suddenly become not fake)
January 20, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Tomorrow is the big day (when stats showing crime declines and real wage increases suddenly become not fake)
Reposted by Ben Falk
gwangju,,,, welcome to the commonwealth
January 4, 2025 at 5:45 PM
gwangju,,,, welcome to the commonwealth
Reposted by Ben Falk
Excellent overview of how and why the Supreme Court's trans healthcare case could impact sex discrimination and gender inequality writ large.
"Tennessee’s argument would call into question the longstanding freedom we all enjoy to live our lives as we wish, regardless of sex."
"Tennessee’s argument would call into question the longstanding freedom we all enjoy to live our lives as we wish, regardless of sex."
Opinion | The Supreme Court Case Over Trans Youth Could Also Decimate Women’s Equality
The principle of sex equality itself is at stake.
www.politico.com
December 24, 2024 at 6:34 PM
Excellent overview of how and why the Supreme Court's trans healthcare case could impact sex discrimination and gender inequality writ large.
"Tennessee’s argument would call into question the longstanding freedom we all enjoy to live our lives as we wish, regardless of sex."
"Tennessee’s argument would call into question the longstanding freedom we all enjoy to live our lives as we wish, regardless of sex."
Season five of Borgen: Birgitte defends Greenland against Trump, who wants in on the oil exploitation deal from season four.
December 24, 2024 at 8:23 PM
Season five of Borgen: Birgitte defends Greenland against Trump, who wants in on the oil exploitation deal from season four.
Reposted by Ben Falk
American media continues to be lazy and use words like "surge," "wave," "flood" etc. etc. to describe migration.
"Increase" or "decrease" are just fine, American newsrooms.
Keep perpetuating fear. And this applies to all major news outlets, no matter their ideological bias.
"Increase" or "decrease" are just fine, American newsrooms.
Keep perpetuating fear. And this applies to all major news outlets, no matter their ideological bias.
December 13, 2024 at 7:11 PM
American media continues to be lazy and use words like "surge," "wave," "flood" etc. etc. to describe migration.
"Increase" or "decrease" are just fine, American newsrooms.
Keep perpetuating fear. And this applies to all major news outlets, no matter their ideological bias.
"Increase" or "decrease" are just fine, American newsrooms.
Keep perpetuating fear. And this applies to all major news outlets, no matter their ideological bias.
Reposted by Ben Falk
A trans person who attempts suicide but lives to transition can report suicidality. A trans person who completes suicide before transitioning will appear in statistics as cisgender. It's not that hard to understand.
December 7, 2024 at 1:52 PM
A trans person who attempts suicide but lives to transition can report suicidality. A trans person who completes suicide before transitioning will appear in statistics as cisgender. It's not that hard to understand.
Reposted by Ben Falk
Basically it seems the conservative justices will freely cherrypick both history and European laws to support a preferred outcome, but ignore them in all other cases. Which is not a legitimate way to do originalism or comparative legal analysis!
December 4, 2024 at 4:10 PM
Basically it seems the conservative justices will freely cherrypick both history and European laws to support a preferred outcome, but ignore them in all other cases. Which is not a legitimate way to do originalism or comparative legal analysis!
Reposted by Ben Falk
I also can't get over the conservative justices favorably citing European laws about transgender health care when they vociferously refuse to consider other nation's laws and traditions when dealing with issues on which the U.S. is an outlier, like gun violence and the death penalty.
December 4, 2024 at 4:06 PM
I also can't get over the conservative justices favorably citing European laws about transgender health care when they vociferously refuse to consider other nation's laws and traditions when dealing with issues on which the U.S. is an outlier, like gun violence and the death penalty.
Reposted by Ben Falk
i think this is right and i will observe that this is essentially the position the court took in plessy v. ferguson, which held that the constitution has no bearing on inequalities of social power
There is a stance I will call "Kavanaugh neutrality" that says the Constitution is "neutral" between vulnerable people and the power of the state and so we will watch and shrug while the vulnerable are beaten up in our presence. #Skrmetti
December 4, 2024 at 3:48 PM
i think this is right and i will observe that this is essentially the position the court took in plessy v. ferguson, which held that the constitution has no bearing on inequalities of social power
Reposted by Ben Falk
UNANIMOUS ratification iktr 🙂↕️🙂↕️
We are excited to announce that Urban Institute and Urban Institute Employees Union have reached a historic collective bargaining agreement. Learn more in the full press release.
www.urban.org/press-releas...
www.urban.org/press-releas...
Urban Institute and Urban Institute Employees Union Reach Historic Collective Bargaining Agreement
www.urban.org
December 2, 2024 at 5:13 PM
UNANIMOUS ratification iktr 🙂↕️🙂↕️
Extremely proud to have been part of this process from our organizing committee all the way thru to this first union contract! 💪
We are excited to announce that Urban Institute and Urban Institute Employees Union have reached a historic collective bargaining agreement. Learn more in the full press release.
www.urban.org/press-releas...
www.urban.org/press-releas...
Urban Institute and Urban Institute Employees Union Reach Historic Collective Bargaining Agreement
www.urban.org
December 2, 2024 at 4:56 PM
Extremely proud to have been part of this process from our organizing committee all the way thru to this first union contract! 💪
Reposted by Ben Falk
We are excited to announce that Urban Institute and Urban Institute Employees Union have reached a historic collective bargaining agreement. Learn more in the full press release.
www.urban.org/press-releas...
www.urban.org/press-releas...
Urban Institute and Urban Institute Employees Union Reach Historic Collective Bargaining Agreement
www.urban.org
December 2, 2024 at 3:30 PM
We are excited to announce that Urban Institute and Urban Institute Employees Union have reached a historic collective bargaining agreement. Learn more in the full press release.
www.urban.org/press-releas...
www.urban.org/press-releas...
Reposted by Ben Falk
The real horseshoe theory is less ideological than it is attention-seeking narcissists coalescing around hatred of the liberals in their upper-class milieu and the liberal institutions that get in the way of them realizing their personal hero's journeys.
yes yes we all know what he means but always funny when people use the word “establishment” in a way that excludes the last 8 years of Republican Party leadership, a dozen billionaires including the richest man in human history, Fox News, etc
November 29, 2024 at 10:32 PM
The real horseshoe theory is less ideological than it is attention-seeking narcissists coalescing around hatred of the liberals in their upper-class milieu and the liberal institutions that get in the way of them realizing their personal hero's journeys.
Reposted by Ben Falk
One of the perks of working at Urban is the wide range of policy issues my colleagues care about - a complex web of topics that influence equity and well-being across communities. Follow along
go.bsky.app/8vqjVD2
go.bsky.app/8vqjVD2
The Urban Institute on Bluesky
Join the conversation
go.bsky.app
November 27, 2024 at 2:40 PM
One of the perks of working at Urban is the wide range of policy issues my colleagues care about - a complex web of topics that influence equity and well-being across communities. Follow along
go.bsky.app/8vqjVD2
go.bsky.app/8vqjVD2
Did we ever get an answer on growth v proficiency from DeVos? Is it worth just doing a re-run of that hearing with McMahon?
November 24, 2024 at 7:52 PM
Did we ever get an answer on growth v proficiency from DeVos? Is it worth just doing a re-run of that hearing with McMahon?