amb

@amb.fyi

3517 Followers 3629 Following

how can we stroppy strangers live together without doing each other too much violence? | homes not highways | born 350ppm | still got hope so i think we’ll be fine in these disastrous times | he/they | www.amb.fyi 📍stj, pdx, or

In a poll of 7,000 football fans published just a few months ago, in March 2026, 91% of respondents said the sport is better off without VAR and 81% said they preferred watching matches without the technology. 92% said VAR killed the “spontaneous joy” of celebrating a goal. Just 2% agreed with the statement that “VAR makes football more enjoyable.” Since its implementation in the UK’s Premier League, YouGov polls have consistently found that large majorities of viewers believe VAR “works poorly.” In other words: It’s a ubiquitous automation and surveillance system, adopted and maintained by those in positions of power with promises of progress and improvement, despite inspiring widespread disdain among those it is promoted it as serving (football players and fans). Its public poll numbers are in the gutter. It even has its own instantly identifiable acronym. VAR is, there is little doubt, the generative AI of the football world.
That tension was most clearly articulated by Senator Khan Pham, who has been one of the primary negotiators tasked with trying to get a transportation package across the finish line in Oregon, with the most recent proposal to shore up transportation revenue statewide recently repealed by Oregon voters. "Having been in the trenches of the transportation package struggle in Salem last year, I am here this morning to say that it will be challenging to pass a package that meets our state's basic needs if I am also expected to raise additional billions of dollars for current and future cost overruns of an oversized highway bridge project," Senator Khan Pham told the Oregon Transportation Commission in May. "Every additional billion committed to this project is funding unavailable for preservation, maintenance, safety, and transit needs across Oregon."
In all these ways, Big Oil has played an integral role in facilitating right-wing authoritarianism in the United States. And we can expect that these efforts to tear our democracy apart will only grow more intense in the coming years, as our energy transition becomes more economically inevitable and the tactics needed to suppress that transition become more repressive.
But unlike TV or the radio, our social media feeds continue to look like — and market themselves as if — they’re still powered by real people. And there are really on two outcomes here. One possibility is we just slowly accept that nothing we see online anymore is genuine and accept that social media is just a new worse version of TV now. The other, much more interesting possibility, is that people realize the internet is infinitely big and you can always just make a new version of it. I’m not a huge sports guy, but I think that’s also true for basketball and every other cultural institution that feels totally and completely locked in amber by huge corporations right now.
“My opponent is the most extreme radical that Democrats have ever nominated,” Paxton said in his victory speech. “He's even running a vegan campaign, whatever that is. He goes by a few names that you may all have heard of. Some people know him as Tofu Talarico. Some people call him Six-Gender Jimmy. I've even heard some people call him James Talafreako. And others refer to him simply as Low-T Talarico.”
TriMet is one of many transit agencies nationwide navigating a funding crisis. Rising costs and declining revenues are forcing difficult decisions about service across the country. In 2024, we asked the Legislature to increase transit funding through the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund. When that funding did not pass in 2025, we announced a $300 million annual budget deficit. Between July 2025 and March 2026, TriMet reduced expenses by about $150 million through •Reduced bus frequency on nine lines during lower ridership hours •Pausing planned future bus service increases •Internal spending cuts •A staffing reduction Even with those cuts, rising costs and falling revenues have outpaced our savings and pushed our deficit to $224 million today. •Transit operating costs are up 56% on average since 2019, including rising fuel costs •Payroll tax, fare and federal revenues are not keeping up with cost increases The TriMet Board has adopted a budget with $1.14 billion for service, operations, capital/maintenance projects and other requirements, begins July 1, 2026. It reduces overall spending by about $64.5 million, mostly through 170 employee layoffs and eliminating hundreds of other positions. The reductions will affect both union and nonunion staff. These cuts reduce the long-term deficit, but a $160 million gap remains. Without new funding, TriMet will need to make extreme cuts to our service. We must reduce service levels by at least 10% by July 2028 to bring them in line with operating revenue. That means further service cuts will be proposed this fall for 2027. We’re not cutting service by choice. We’re resizing the agency and the service we deliver based on the revenue we’re receiving. Let lawmakers know how important transit is to you. Visit trimet.org/budgetcuts to learn more about these cuts.
I spend all my time thinking about how are we going to make the brand better? How do we make a better experience for the fans? The most important thing you can do is win. Make the players accessible. Let them see their personalities. If we can make the arena experience better, the parking experience better, the food better. My investment is that I obsess over trying to improve this product. I think having someone that thinks about it all day, every day — it’s all I think about — that’s about as much as you could possibly invest.
“We’ve had ongoing conversations with local and state officials about our intentions and want to collaborate to serve Portland,” the Waymo spokesperson said. “We’re looking forward to working further with local and state officials on our shared safety and accessibility goals for the city’s residents and visitors.”