@eventhorizonblues.bsky.social
Reposted
One big takeaway from Mamdani bringing YIMBYs into his transition is that advocates can often gain a lot of power by
1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information
2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials
3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government
1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information
2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials
3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government
December 19, 2025 at 7:43 PM
One big takeaway from Mamdani bringing YIMBYs into his transition is that advocates can often gain a lot of power by
1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information
2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials
3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government
1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information
2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials
3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government
Reposted
Political inexperience in Congress has measurable effects on legislative outcomes. Our research finds that when districts elect political newcomers over career politicians, congressional dysfunction tends to increase.
New explainer of our PNAS study:
theconversation.com/amateur-hour...
New explainer of our PNAS study:
theconversation.com/amateur-hour...
Amateur hour in Congress: How political newcomers fuel gridlock and government shutdowns
The public’s frustration with ‘politics as usual’ has led more political newcomers to win office. But amateurs are more likely to view bipartisanship as a concession, not a tool for advancing policy.
theconversation.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Political inexperience in Congress has measurable effects on legislative outcomes. Our research finds that when districts elect political newcomers over career politicians, congressional dysfunction tends to increase.
New explainer of our PNAS study:
theconversation.com/amateur-hour...
New explainer of our PNAS study:
theconversation.com/amateur-hour...
Reposted
but conservatives started to lose an intra-liberal fight and decided to reject society as a concept. the defining question of our time is basically liberalism or barbarism
May 2, 2025 at 8:36 PM
but conservatives started to lose an intra-liberal fight and decided to reject society as a concept. the defining question of our time is basically liberalism or barbarism
HOUSING THEORY OF EVERYTHING MENTIONED
I’ve had a thesis for a while that the sudden increase in the cost of debt is one of the main drivers behind people believing the economy sucks, and my God:
One chart that shows the huge gap between people with a ZIRP-era mortgage vs. those who don't.
From today's newsletter.
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
From today's newsletter.
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
June 17, 2025 at 7:02 AM
HOUSING THEORY OF EVERYTHING MENTIONED
Reposted
There was an old tweet that stuck with me: "If you can easily walk to the coffee shop but your barista has a one hour commute, you don't live in a walkable 15 minute city; you live in a theme park"
as someone who lives nextdoor to both supportive housing and public housing, i need people to understand that the best locations for both are going to be the central neighborhoods in a metropolitan area, where there is easy and reliable access to services and jobs.
May 12, 2025 at 4:21 PM
There was an old tweet that stuck with me: "If you can easily walk to the coffee shop but your barista has a one hour commute, you don't live in a walkable 15 minute city; you live in a theme park"
Reposted
“Rent seeking “ is something that doesn’t get talked about enough by lay people and non-specialist pundits in terms of what makes our political economy the way it is
April 4, 2025 at 1:17 PM
“Rent seeking “ is something that doesn’t get talked about enough by lay people and non-specialist pundits in terms of what makes our political economy the way it is
Reposted
Housing really is a ‘decide if you want to win’ issue for the Democratic Party.
We're all going to be unbelievably fucked if blue states don't start immediately rolling back restrictions on new housing to create a construction boom and build millions of new multifamily homes as soon as possible
March 18, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Housing really is a ‘decide if you want to win’ issue for the Democratic Party.
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The institutional Democratic Party is guided by an almost pathological level of conflict avoidance in almost every direction. “What can we do to make the least number of people mad?” is just a bankrupt way to operate.
March 13, 2025 at 10:23 PM
The institutional Democratic Party is guided by an almost pathological level of conflict avoidance in almost every direction. “What can we do to make the least number of people mad?” is just a bankrupt way to operate.
Reposted
YES, YES IT DOES
Elite consensus and perceptions of elite consensus flow directly through people like Yglesias and drive policy debate and political action by electeds
Elite consensus and perceptions of elite consensus flow directly through people like Yglesias and drive policy debate and political action by electeds
Lol ..Stancil is so online he thinks Yglesias whining about dei actually has a real world effect
March 8, 2025 at 5:52 PM
YES, YES IT DOES
Elite consensus and perceptions of elite consensus flow directly through people like Yglesias and drive policy debate and political action by electeds
Elite consensus and perceptions of elite consensus flow directly through people like Yglesias and drive policy debate and political action by electeds
Reposted
It’s overall obviously good that Dems are increasingly open to abundance agenda stuff like permitting reform, zoning liberalization, & nuclear power, but it does mean education polarization is gonna be even more deeply baked in, because without those there’s basically no smart person GOP issues now
March 6, 2025 at 12:53 AM
It’s overall obviously good that Dems are increasingly open to abundance agenda stuff like permitting reform, zoning liberalization, & nuclear power, but it does mean education polarization is gonna be even more deeply baked in, because without those there’s basically no smart person GOP issues now
Reposted
honestly, it would be good if education depolarized so that when republicans won elections we got things like "the NSF is going to prioritize research with more immediate industrial applications" rather than "science is woke and gay so we're burning it down". but I don't see a way out.
March 6, 2025 at 1:19 AM
honestly, it would be good if education depolarized so that when republicans won elections we got things like "the NSF is going to prioritize research with more immediate industrial applications" rather than "science is woke and gay so we're burning it down". but I don't see a way out.
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Authoritarian mindset doesn’t just dislike complexity, but actively needs to destroy it. A thuggish mercantilist imperialism will be much less effective imperialism, not to mention morally more abhorrent, than the complex systems that indirectly benefits us. But it is more easily comprehensible.
will of course be worse on both counts from the pre-Trump status quo: lots more people will die, and it will actually be less effective at returning goods to the metropole
March 1, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Authoritarian mindset doesn’t just dislike complexity, but actively needs to destroy it. A thuggish mercantilist imperialism will be much less effective imperialism, not to mention morally more abhorrent, than the complex systems that indirectly benefits us. But it is more easily comprehensible.
Reposted
Your regular reminder that the US air & water pollution laws passed in the 60s & 70s -- and the elaborate federal bureaucracy created to administer them -- constitute one of the most successful gov't interventions in history. WILDLY successful. The envy of the world.
February 24, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Your regular reminder that the US air & water pollution laws passed in the 60s & 70s -- and the elaborate federal bureaucracy created to administer them -- constitute one of the most successful gov't interventions in history. WILDLY successful. The envy of the world.
Reposted
Three things that make the U.S. the envy of the world:
1) Professionalized military with strong norm of civilian control
2) Higher education and cutting-edge scientific research
3) Ability to welcome immigrants and attract the “best and the brightest”
All three are under threat.
1) Professionalized military with strong norm of civilian control
2) Higher education and cutting-edge scientific research
3) Ability to welcome immigrants and attract the “best and the brightest”
All three are under threat.
February 22, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Three things that make the U.S. the envy of the world:
1) Professionalized military with strong norm of civilian control
2) Higher education and cutting-edge scientific research
3) Ability to welcome immigrants and attract the “best and the brightest”
All three are under threat.
1) Professionalized military with strong norm of civilian control
2) Higher education and cutting-edge scientific research
3) Ability to welcome immigrants and attract the “best and the brightest”
All three are under threat.
Reposted
The right to move is one of the most foundational rights—but it only works if we allow homes to be built in places where people would like to move.
Fascinating. The author was surprised to find that American's geographic mobility actually strengthened community and social ties, because newcomers were forced to reach out to their neighbors and join local civic groups. People stuck in place turn inward and take a zero-sum view of the world.
The surprising theory that explains modern American life
Why don’t you move?
www.vox.com
February 19, 2025 at 7:52 PM
The right to move is one of the most foundational rights—but it only works if we allow homes to be built in places where people would like to move.
Reposted
developing a sort of descriptive thesis that there is a growing anti-civilization movement coalescing around destroying the pillars of modernity: pharmaceuticals, efficient agriculture, and education and their assumptions are widely culturally accepted
February 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
developing a sort of descriptive thesis that there is a growing anti-civilization movement coalescing around destroying the pillars of modernity: pharmaceuticals, efficient agriculture, and education and their assumptions are widely culturally accepted
Reposted
The problem here is that Dems are not acting like human beings. They are not acting like they care about any of this, or are part of any of this. They act like space aliens constantly looking for a new strategy to convince everyone they're a real human person.
February 14, 2025 at 6:19 PM
The problem here is that Dems are not acting like human beings. They are not acting like they care about any of this, or are part of any of this. They act like space aliens constantly looking for a new strategy to convince everyone they're a real human person.
Reposted
This is the first shoe to drop in the financial repercussions of the LA fires. And it is a very important shoe with broad systemic implications for the insurance and real estate market in California. The CDI now has a consequential decision to make.
www.kqed.org/news/1202543...
www.kqed.org/news/1202543...
State Farm Seeks Emergency Rate Hike in California After LA Fires | KQED
State Farm said its request to California regulators is needed to avert a “dire situation,” raising serious questions about the insurance company’s financial condition.
www.kqed.org
February 3, 2025 at 11:28 PM
This is the first shoe to drop in the financial repercussions of the LA fires. And it is a very important shoe with broad systemic implications for the insurance and real estate market in California. The CDI now has a consequential decision to make.
www.kqed.org/news/1202543...
www.kqed.org/news/1202543...
Reposted
easy to read "insurers stopped covering homes in California right before these fires" as something sinister, but from covering this industry, I gotta say I think it's the opposite: no one is more aware of increased risk due to climate change than insurers
www.businessinsider.com/california-f...
www.businessinsider.com/california-f...
Insurers dropped fire coverage for California homes months ago. Now, wildfires are claiming more houses in Los Angeles.
Some insurers have scaled back their coverage in California because of wildfires over the past few years, creating a challenge for rebuilding.
www.businessinsider.com
January 9, 2025 at 7:34 PM
easy to read "insurers stopped covering homes in California right before these fires" as something sinister, but from covering this industry, I gotta say I think it's the opposite: no one is more aware of increased risk due to climate change than insurers
www.businessinsider.com/california-f...
www.businessinsider.com/california-f...
Reposted
Seventy years of building in the wildland urban interface in California. Apropos of nothing, we should maybe, idk, stop doing that?
January 8, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Seventy years of building in the wildland urban interface in California. Apropos of nothing, we should maybe, idk, stop doing that?
Reposted
California and the Gulf Coast in a dead heat for which insurance market climate change is going to collapse first.
Another fire broke out Tuesday night in the hills above Altadena near Eaton Canyon, prompting a response from firefighters.
Fast-moving fire breaks out above Altadena near Eaton Canyon
A fire that broke out in the foothills near Eaton Canyon around 6:28 p.m. is at about 20 acres, officials said.
www.latimes.com
January 8, 2025 at 6:32 AM
California and the Gulf Coast in a dead heat for which insurance market climate change is going to collapse first.
Reposted
Anyway! If you’re interested in learning more about US vs. European elevator policies, you’re in luck – I wrote a 122-page report about the topic just for you! There’s a section on retrofits starting at pg. 25 (though there’s a lot I left out): static1.squarespace.com/static/634df...
static1.squarespace.com
December 21, 2024 at 8:49 PM
Anyway! If you’re interested in learning more about US vs. European elevator policies, you’re in luck – I wrote a 122-page report about the topic just for you! There’s a section on retrofits starting at pg. 25 (though there’s a lot I left out): static1.squarespace.com/static/634df...