Peter Liepmann

@datadrivenfp.bsky.social

2473 Followers 6587 Following

Family doc, Twitter refugee, son of refugee. #COVIDisAIRBORNE We're in Germany 1933 Mors Omnibus Tyrannis The outrage is to distract us from Muskrats looting the US Treasury Ad Hominem attacks =mute

Even if we have an honest president, which in the current environment, I'm sorry, does mean a Democrat, but even if we have an honorable president, the corruption of the system will still be a continual threat because of all the money flowing around. So in the end, the only way out of this, the only reasonably durable solution is to not have so much wealth at the top. If you don't like what's happening to our institutions, if you don't like what's happening to the media, if you don't like the corruption of government, if you don't like the overwhelming of campaigns by big money with nefarious ends, the only lasting solution is to reduce the amount of wealth at the top. Woodrow Wilson: “If there are men big enough to own the government, they're going to own the government.” If we're going to have that much money in the hands of a few hundred people, and in the case of the real top of it, just 15 or 20 people, then you're not going to be able to maintain a truly democratic system of government. Oligarchy is not the only thing wrong with America. It's not the root of all evil. But it's the root of a lot of evil. And until we bring that concentration of wealth at the top down, we're going to be fighting a constant rearguard action trying to save some of what America is supposed to be about. Have a nice day. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/oligarchy-and-the-media
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.512 (e) Standard: Disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings — (1) Permitted disclosures. A covered entity may disclose protected health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding: (i) In response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal, provided that the covered entity discloses only the protected health information expressly authorized by such order; or (ii) In response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, that is not accompanied by an order of a court or administrative tribunal, if: (A) The covered entity receives satisfactory assurance, as described in paragraph (e)(1)(iii) of this section, from the party seeking the information that reasonable efforts have been made by such party to ensure that the individual who is the subject of the protected health information that has been requested has been given notice of the request; or (B) The covered entity receives satisfactory assurance, as described in paragraph (e)(1)(iv) of this section, from the party seeking the information that reasonable efforts have been made by such party to secure a qualified protective order that meets the requirements of paragraph (e)(1)(v) of this section. (iii) For the purposes of paragraph (e)(1)(ii)(A) of this section, a covered entity receives satisfactory assurances from a party seeking protected health information if the covered entity receives from such party a written statement and accompanying documentation demonstrating that: (A) The party requesting such information has made a good faith attempt to provide written notice to the individual (or, if the individual's location is unknown, to mail a notice to the individual's last known address);
1.3 HIGHLIGHTS OF FINDINGS Across all fan/filter test scenarios, the most notable temperature increases were observed at the motor and motor windings. However, all measured temperatures fell below the maximum acceptable thresholds defined by the market safety standard for electric fans (UL 507). Exterior surfaces that can come into direct contact with people remained below 36 °C, which is below the first-degree burn potential of 47.5 °C. Furthermore, an extreme scenario where both the front and back of the fan were blocked for an extended period of 7 hours did not pose any observable fire hazards. And after an initial rise, the temperature remained steady throughout the test. https://www.scribd.com/document/1039398982/DIY-Box-Fan-Report-2021
(e) Standard: Disclosures for judicial and administrative proceedings — (1) Permitted disclosures. A covered entity may disclose protected health information in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding: (i) In response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal, provided that the covered entity discloses only the protected health information expressly authorized by such order; or (ii) In response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process, that is not accompanied by an order of a court or administrative tribunal, if: (A) The covered entity receives satisfactory assurance, as described in paragraph (e)(1)(iii) of this section, from the party seeking the information that reasonable efforts have been made by such party to ensure that the individual who is the subject of the protected health information that has been requested has been given notice of the request; or (B) The covered entity receives satisfactory assurance, as described in paragraph (e)(1)(iv) of this section, from the party seeking the information that reasonable efforts have been made by such party to secure a qualified protective order that meets the requirements of paragraph (e)(1)(v) of this section. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.512
"Hidden jobs" are hidden only from people who have their heads stuck in the want ads and Internet job postings. You will identify the jobs no one else knows about by actively and doggedly investigating the companies you want to work in — not by waiting for them to come to you. Select, don’t settle. Start by picking one target company. Does it seem odd to pick a company rather than job openings? It won’t when you realize that the best jobs aren’t hidden in the ads; they’re hidden in the companies you want to work for. Your challenge is to dig into those companies and ferret out the jobs... https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/
17th Amendment Highlighted: When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies whole text: Seventeenth Amendment The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
A vote is not a valentine, you aren't confessing your love for the candidate. It's a chess move for the world you want to live in. ********* Buffy Summers: Does it ever get easy? Rupert Giles: You mean life? Buffy Summers: Yeah. Does it get easy? Rupert Giles: What do you want me to say? Buffy Summers: Lie to me. Rupert Giles: Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true. The bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats. We always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies and... everybody lives happily ever after. Buffy Summers: Liar.
Image showing poor air quality, as stated. from https://map.purpleair.com/air-quality-standards-us-epa-aqi?opt=%2F1%2Fa%2Fm%2Fi%2Flp%2Fa10%2Fp604800%2FcC0#8.12/34.023/-117.975
On several issues, the views of Populist Right are closer to Democratic-aligned groups than to other Republican groups. An overwhelming share of Populist Right (87%) say the U.S. economic system unfairly favors powerful interests; that is more than 40 percentage points higher than any other GOP-aligned group. And Populist Right is the only Republican-oriented group in which a majority (56%) favors raising tax rates on large businesses and corporations. Democratic-oriented groups are largely united in their skepticism toward corporate power and the fairness of the U.S. economic system. Overwhelming shares in all Democratic-oriented groups say that tax rates on large businesses and corporations, as well as on household incomes over $400,000, should be raised. The Democratic coalition – especially Progressive Left and Establishment Liberals – also express very positive views of unions and broadly support for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/11/09/how-the-political-typology-groups-view-major-issues/ "The economic system in this country unfairly favors powerful interests" 71% "The economic system in this country is generally fair to most Americans" 28% "Government regulation of business is necessary to protect the public interest" 55% Business corporations make too much profit 64% How would you rate economic conditions in this country today? 50% Fair, 24% Poor Should tax rates on large businesses and corporations be… Raised a lot 37% Raised a little 29% (Total 66%) "How much, if at all, does each of the following bother you about the federal tax system? "The feeling that some wealthy people don’t pay their fair share" A lot 59% Some 21% (total 80%)! "The complexity of the tax system" A lot 47% Some 35% (Total 82%) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-BjWhA-McZyEvjDp_kry9WPjK07GHrfw7werH4MeGGs/edit?gid=1552753583#gid=1552753583
From 2017- During the past 40 years, generalized trust in the United States has declined markedly. Since the early 1970s, the share of those who respond that most people can be trusted has declined from about 50 percent to 33 percent (see chart). Changes in the composition of the US population, moreover, tend to mask the true extent of the decline. When controlling for changes in US demographics, the decline in generalized trust is even more pronounced, mainly because the population has become more educated, and more educated people tend to trust more. Trust in government shows a similar downward trend. These trends may threaten the effectiveness of public policy and reduce popular support for mainstream political parties. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2017/03/gould.htm
Hundreds of cyclists at 'die-in', Amsterdam, 1972 https://www.dutchreach.org/car-child-murder-protests-safer-nl-roads/ https://usa.streetsblog.org/2013/02/20/the-origins-of-hollands-stop-murdering-children-street-safety-movement
You can see the entire crowd behind the shill at 1:08, all 6 of them.
On several issues, the views of Populist Right are closer to Democratic-aligned groups than to other Republican groups. An overwhelming share of Populist Right (87%) say the U.S. economic system unfairly favors powerful interests; that is more than 40 percentage points higher than any other GOP-aligned group. And Populist Right is the only Republican-oriented group in which a majority (56%) favors raising tax rates on large businesses and corporations. Democratic-oriented groups are largely united in their skepticism toward corporate power and the fairness of the U.S. economic system. Overwhelming shares in all Democratic-oriented groups say that tax rates on large businesses and corporations, as well as on household incomes over $400,000, should be raised. The Democratic coalition – especially Progressive Left and Establishment Liberals – also express very positive views of unions and broadly support for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/11/09/how-the-political-typology-groups-view-major-issues/ "The economic system in this country unfairly favors powerful interests" 71% "The economic system in this country is generally fair to most Americans" 28% "Government regulation of business is necessary to protect the public interest" 55% Business corporations make too much profit 64% How would you rate economic conditions in this country today? 50% Fair, 24% Poor Should tax rates on large businesses and corporations be… Raised a lot 37% Raised a little 29% (Total 66%) "How much, if at all, does each of the following bother you about the federal tax system? "The feeling that some wealthy people don’t pay their fair share" A lot 59% Some 21% (total 80%)! "The complexity of the tax system" A lot 47% Some 35% (Total 82%) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-BjWhA-McZyEvjDp_kry9WPjK07GHrfw7werH4MeGGs/edit?gid=1552753583#gid=1552753583
In the early 1990s, the number of white adults without a college education who were dying from a drug overdose, alcoholism or suicide was fairly low--and the death rates for younger adults were lower than for older adults. But over the past three decades, deaths of despair among whites without a college degree--especially those under age 50--have soared. working-class life in the United States is more difficult than it is in any other high-income country. “European countries have faced the same kind of technological change we have, and they’re not seeing the people killing themselves with guns or drugs or alcohol,” Case says. “There is something unique about the way the U.S. is handling this.” Inequality has risen more in the United States — and middle-class incomes have stagnated more severely — than in France, Germany, Japan or elsewhere. Large corporations have increased their market share, and labor unions have shriveled, leaving workers with little bargaining power. Outsourcing has become the norm, which means that executives often see low-wage workers not as colleagues but as expenses. And the United States suffers from by far the world’s most expensive health-care system. It acts as a tax on workers and drains resources that could otherwise be spent on schools, day care, roads, public transit and more. Deaths rates from suicide, alcoholism and drug abuse among whites surpassed the rates for blacks shortly after 2000, for example. But the black working class is hardly thriving -- and deaths of despair have surged among them in the last few years. Overall life expectancy remains significantly higher for whites than blacks. So, of course, do incomes and wealth. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/06/opinion/working-class-death-rate.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pVA.jTIW.Ne-Ivwj4jLNk&smid=url-share
In Pew Research Center surveys over the past year, most people have told us they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States and that they think the country’s best days are behind us. Most Americans think the country’s best days are behind us Among U.S. adults … All in all, they are __ with the way things are going in this country today (Jan 2026) 29% Satisfied 69% Dissatisfied Thinking about the future of the U.S., they think the country’s best years are: Ahead of us-40% Behind us 59% In recent decades, Americans also have grown less trustful of each other and of institutions including the federal government, both major political parties, the mainstream media, and colleges and universities. Compared with people in other countries, more Americans express gloomy views about how their democracy is working and doubts about whether fellow citizens have good morals. And when asked to look ahead to 2050, upward of half of U.S. adults say they think the economy will be weaker, the U.S. will be less important in the world, the country will be more politically divided, and the American system of government will work worse than it does today. https://www.pewresearch.org/2026/06/12/on-the-countrys-250th-anniversary-the-american-people-are-in-a-sour-mood/
We got Trump’s version of how the closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans went earlier (“really great”). Burgess Everett, Semafor’s congressional bureau chief, reports: The Senate GOP meeting with Trump is not going well. ‘A total cluster f#ck,’ one person said Trump is mad about the war powers resolution passing yesterday and he and [Bill] Cassidy are going after each other Cassidy was the only senator who clashed with Trump today, per Sen Cramer. No one argued with him about filibuster: there was seemingly nothing new to say Trump not happy there were absences during yesterday’s war powers vote https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/jun/24/mamdani-new-york-primaries-midterms-democrats-republicans-trump-250-anniversary-politics-latest-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6a3c31228f0857cd8160873e#block-6a3c31228f0857cd8160873e
AQ map showing minimal smoke (now) from the warehouse fire. The red area in Compton is a different source. https://map.purpleair.com/air-quality-standards-us-epa-aqi?opt=%2F1%2Fa%2Fm%2Fi%2Flp%2Fa10%2Fp604800%2FcC0#9.44/33.9899/-118.0466
Classic 'hard' science fiction, in the tradition of 'change just one thing' alternate history. What if Chemist Clara Haber had left her abusive husband and kept him from stealing her genius? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13486371-cuttlefish
Single box fan/filter w data showing reduction in particulates and benefits of shroud to prevent recirculation. 1-2" MERV13 filters are effective https://www.patientknowhow.com/safe.html
https://map.purpleair.com/air-quality-standards-us-epa-aqi?opt=%2F1%2Fa%2Fm%2Fi%2Flp%2Fa10%2Fp604800%2FcC0#10.63/34.0887/-118.1957
“In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Guida: How do empires usually fail? Schwartz: Empires usually die from suicide related to their own successes. . Elites in a reasonably stable and successful society come to believe that they don’t need the state, and so they basically termite the state, hollow it out, in order to engage in status competition with other elites. Guida: Do you agree with Walter Scheidel’s argument that, historically, leveling — i.e., reduction in inequality — almost always requires some form of cataclysm (war, revolution, state collapse or epidemic)? Schwartz: Yes, the Scheidel argument is broadly correct. But I don’t think that we are doomed to have a cataclysm. There are plenty of very positive things occurring right now, including, most important, a huge shift in energy production away from fossil fuels toward renewables, as Ember and Tim Sahay and Kate Mackenzie have demonstrated. Scheidel’s argument https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691271842/the-great-leveler?srsltid=AfmBOopJ-c2UGTT--T_nALTp13wcIHpHOcy8XAgCTGif3AlRQMs7pVJ4 reduction in inequality almost always requires some form of cataclysm https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4939891 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/opinion/american-empire-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rlA.lCla.lbdKsEphlBxR&smid=url-share
The Clean Air Act at 40: A Clear Track Record of Success The Clean Air Act is a genuine American success story and one of the most effective tools in U.S. history for protecting public health. It has sharply reduced pollution from automobiles, industrial smokestacks, utility plants, and major sources of toxic chemicals and particulate matter since its passage in 1970. The law has saved tens of thousands of lives each year by reducing harmful pollutants that cause or contribute to asthma, emphysema, heart disease, and other potentially lethal respiratory ailments. Despite continued gloom-and-doom forecasts by polluters and their corporate lobbyists, the Clean Air Act has consistently provided huge health, economic, and environmental benefits to our communities over the past four decades that far outweigh any small costs associated with controlling lifethreatening toxic pollution. Millions of Lives Saved The first 20 years of the Clean Air Act programs from 1970 to 1990 in prevened more than 205,000 premature deaths in the year 1990 alone. The 1990 amendments have provided significant additional benefits—nearly 2 million lives have been cumulatively saved from 1990 to 2010, according to NRDC’s analysis of data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent report, “Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2020.” https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/cleanairactsuccess.pdf (cont in next alt text)
The zoom feature means I can make it wide for max 'being seen' or narrow for max 'seeing road surface'. https://www.ebay.com/itm/188144274246 This one came w a 2mm pin charger.
This looks like the ALDI front light with the horizontal cutoff like a car hi beam. I took the photo from an ebay listing-which DOESN'T say /show whether it's USB-C or other. The rear lights in this set are ok but not great, IF they're the same as ones I got 3 years ago. eg https://www.ebay.com/itm/298316691787
Is auto-renewal required for membership? Yes, our membership is a subscription that renews automatically
Street Space For 60 People: Car, Bus, Bicycle Pic and quote below used on 'Best Ever Quotes About Cycling' quickrelease.tv/?p=486 +++++ From Energy and equity: Toward a History of Needs. Ivan Illich, New York: Pantheon, 1978: "The bicycle uses little space. Eighteen bikes can be parked in the place of one car, thirty of them can move along in the space devoured by a single automobile. It takes three lanes of a given size to move 40,000 people across a bridge in one hour by using automated trains, four to move them on buses, twelve to move them in their cars, and only two lanes for them to pedal across on bicycles. Of all these vehicles, only the bicycle really allows people to go from door to door without walking. The cyclist can reach new destinations of his choice without his tool creating new locations from which he is barred. "Bicycles let people move with greater speed without taking up significant amounts of scarce space, energy, or time. They can spend fewer hours on each mile and still travel more miles in a year. They can get the benefit of technological breakthroughs without putting undue claims on the schedules, energy, or space of others. They become masters of their own movements without blocking those of their fellows. Their new tool creates only those demands which it can also satisfy. Every increase in motorized speed creates new demands on space and time. The use of the bicycle is self-limiting. It allows people to create a new relationship between their life-space and their life-time, between their territory and the pulse of their being, without destroying their inherited balance. The advantages of modern self-powered traffic are obvious, and ignored." ++++++ https://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/6440857817 Pic originally taken by the City of Münster press office, Germany
Wages for the vast majority of workers have stagnated since the 1980s while productivity has grown. We investigate two coexisting explanations based on rising market power: 1. Monopsony, where dominant firms exploit the limited mobility of their own workers to pay lower wages; and 2. Monopoly, where dominant firms charge too high prices for what they sell, which lowers production and the demand for labor, and hence equilibrium wages economy-wide. Using establishment data from the US Census Bureau between 1997 and 2016, we find evidence of both monopoly and monopsony, where the former is rising over this period and the latter is stable. Both contribute to the decoupling of productivity and wage growth, with monopoly being the primary determinant: in 2016 monopoly accounts for 75% of wage stagnation, monopsony for 25%. https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2022/CES-WP-22-45.pdf
https://www.coreysdigs.com/real-estate/who-really-owns-the-u-s-housing-market-the-complete-roadmap/
Before 1920, half of all children died before adulthood.
cyclists 'Die-in', Amsterdam. 1970s how the Netherlands got its biking culture. It involves a collaboration between the rich and communists, parents and anarchists, young and old, fighting against car-focused planning. Using phrases like “Stop de kindermoord” (Stop the child murder) and “De fiets is niets” (The bike is nothing), people rallied together: blocking roads for cars, leaving white painted bikes out to be used as communal property and even painting a red bike path in the middle of the night and sending an invoice to the government. In October 1971, a young girl died after getting hit by a car. Her father, Vic Langenhoff, was a prominent journalist at the time. In an article, he wrote about how there was no focus on protecting the safety and health of kids because there was no business interest in pushing to make the roads safer and better. “Is there no pressure group? Then let’s make one!” In the end, money ended up being a big factor in the decisions that were made. Studies showed that creating the infrastructure needed for the cars would cost billions and when in 1973 the oil crisis hit the Netherlands, the government ended up implementing car-free Sundays to combat the fuel shortage. This showed the country that daily lives could go on without cars and that they might even be better that way. For the whole story, you can listen to 99% Invisible on most podcast platforms, or read the article that goes along with the episode here: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/de-fiets-is-niets/
Map of cities that have used the decoder. These are just a few of the communities that have used the Finance Decoder to spark conversations their cities have needed for years. This isn’t just a tool for finance pros—it’s for elected officials, city staff, and anyone who cares about building a place that can stand the test of time. Try the Finance Decoder for yourself, and discover what your city’s spreadsheets have been trying to say all along. https://archive.strongtowns.org/journal/2025/5/21/this-tool-makes-municipal-finance-fun
“In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Over the past 20 years, Paris has undergone a major physical transformation, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces. Part of the payoff has been invisible — in the air itself. Airparif, an independent group that tracks air quality for France’s capital region, said this week that levels of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) have decreased 55 percent since 2005, while nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen 50 percent. It attributed this to “regulations and public policies,” including steps to limit traffic and ban the most polluting vehicles. ...The change shows how ambitious policymaking can directly improve health in large cities. Air pollution is often described by health experts as a silent killer. Both PM 2.5 and nitrogen dioxide have been linked to major health problems, including heart attacks, lung cancer, bronchitis and asthma. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2025/04/12/air-pollution-paris-health-cars/
Americans, of course, have never exactly agreed on why this country was founded or what it stands for. Fierce arguments over those questions have long divided families and roiled politics, and even once produced a bloody civil war. But throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th, a simplistic patriotic narrative prevailed. “Providence designed that on this continent should be seen an example of democratic government,” a textbook explained to young students in 1872, **“which means government ‘of the people, for the people, by the people.’ ” Americans defined their nation in this way, by their commitment to a common creed—of equality, rights, and opportunity—and to a corresponding set of democratic ideals that they were modeling for the world.** In practice, they generally fell short of those principles, sometimes seeming to pursue their abnegation more than their fulfillment. But the white men who built their fledgling republic around an idea, instead of around a common ancestry, opened the possibility that any who subscribed to its creed could become a citizen. Over time, other Americans demanded that the nation live up to its ideals and recognize their equality. For more than two centuries, our creedal nationalism has been a source of strength, binding together Americans of diverse faiths and backgrounds.
Graph showing child mortality in multiple countries all approximately 50% until ~1920 when it dropped precipitately due to clean water and adequate food plus vaccines and science. https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy-how-is-it-calculated-and-how-should-it-be-interpreted Child mortality https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality-in-the-past
Ms. Fifield, who is affiliated with Independent Women, a conservative group, insisted that her political beliefs had nothing to do with her choice to come forward. She worked briefly on Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential campaign and before that for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Ms. Fifield said she had not been paid by any campaign or political entity since Ms. Haley’s campaign. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html?unlocked_article_code=1.n1A.5-zn.beXfqEkSCHzd&smid=url-share
The consistent persecution of every higher form of intellectual activity by the new mass leaders springs from more than their natural resentment against everything they cannot understand. Total domination does not allow for free initiative in any field of life, for any activity that is not entirely predictable. Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society” (1958 ed.)
The consistent persecution of every higher form of intellectual activity by the new mass leaders springs from more than their natural resentment against everything they cannot understand. Total domination does not allow for free initiative in any field of life, for any activity that is not entirely predictable. Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society” (1958 ed.)
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-madison-square-garden-new-york-city-1 https://www.nationofchange.org/2025/03/05/since-1975-79-trillion-has-been-redistributed-from-the-bottom-90-to-the-top-1/
Graph showing going from 0=>1% Affordable Housing reduces total housing by almost 20% "the cost of producing the ELI units (and forgone rents) make many housing developments financially infeasible, even with the density and other development incentives the TOC program provides." Each BLM unit kills 1.8 Market rate units. Figure 2 in article shows adding 1% ELI units kills 22 market rate units for EACH ELI unit. "The main takeaway from this exercise is that minor changes in rent can produce large additional costs for renters in the aggregate. In the 5 percent IZ scenario, only 0.3 percent faster annual rent growth—2.8 percent over 9 years—increases private market renters’ aggregate costs by an estimated $550 million in year 10. This is a very small incremental rent hike, and a plausible consequence of building 89,000 fewer market-rate units over a decade. The 25 percent IZ scenario yields 63 percent reduction in market-rate housing production, yet the estimated value of IZ produced ELI units would be fully offset by only 0.9 percent faster annual rent growth." https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inclusionary-Zoning-Los-Angeles-April-2024.pdf
The consistent persecution of every higher form of intellectual activity by the new mass leaders springs from more than their natural resentment against everything they cannot understand. Total domination does not allow for free initiative in any field of life, for any activity that is not entirely predictable. Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society” (1958 ed.) (Source)
THEY ONLY CALL IT CLASS WAR WHEN WE FIGHT BACK sign
Article IV Section 3 New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-4/
There are other factors at work pointing to an attempt by Trump to stave off defeat. At the top of the list: Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, issued Sept. 25 last year. The memorandum effectively grants the Department of Justice, the Treasury, the I.R.S. and other federal agencies a license to label left-wing groups as domestic terrorist organizations and directs the Department of Justice to prosecute them “to the maximum extent permissible by law.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/opinion/trump-midterm-elections-2026.html
Republican Steve Hilton leads the California governor's race with 20% of likely voters, according to a new poll. Democrat Tom Steyer is in second place with 18% of likely voters, followed by Republican Chad Bianco at 12%. A different poll released the same day found Hilton tied with Democrat Xavier Becerra at 18%. The top issues for voters are the cost of living, homelessness, and housing. Republican Steve Hilton is leading among likely voters for California’s crowded governor race, and Democrat Tom Steyer is close behind, according to a new poll. If voters had to choose a gubernatorial candidate for June’s primary today, 20% said they would cast a ballot for Hilton, while 18% said they would vote for Steyer, a SurveyUSA poll sponsored by KGTV-TV and the San Diego Union-Tribune released Monday, May 4, shows. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/california/2026/05/05/california-governor-race-tightens-new-poll-analysis/89946665007/
Protected 2-way bike lane w person on bike coming passing person on mobility scooter, another in distance. Bus off to side, person waiting for bus in shelter, trees and multistory buildings
https://trafficsafety.sites.unlv.edu/trend-14-1-slowing-down-for-safety-addressing-the-impact-of-speeding/
I’m no stranger to building housing. I’ve done it before. I co-founded Beneficial State Bank with my wife Kat Taylor, a mission-driven Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Beneficial State Bank has spent nearly two decades serving communities abandoned by Wall Street and working to directly dismantle the legacy of redlining and disinvestment. To date, we have financed over 17,000 affordable housing units. California used to build more than twice as many units as it does now. We need to return to that historic level of production. We can build 1 million homes over four years and fundamentally transform affordability in our state. Building should be easy. We should bring the same innovation and technology synonymous with California to our housing crisis. And above all else, our housing system should work for working people. Here’s how I’ll do it. I’ll make building easier. We must build every type of home to meet the needs of every Californian: from shelters and transitional housing, to encouraging and supporting the building of apartments and starter homes, as well as single family homes. To do this, we need to make it easier to finance projects, bring certainty and speed to construction, and slash fees and taxes that destroy affordability. the investments were made through Farallon years ago, Steyer says he ordered the sale, he no longer manages the firm, and he has since worked against private‑prison contracts in California https://factually.co/fact-checks/politics/tom-steyer-investment-ties-private-detention-operators-campaign-use-7c67c3 Affordable housing makes housing MORE expensive: https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inclusionary-Zoning-Los-Angeles-April-2024.pdf EACH BLMR unit kills 1.8 market units, contributing to higher rents, not lower. If public entities want low cost housing, the best way is to allow more MARKET rate housing, because supply/demand lowers rents. Or just build low rent public units.
Registration and Voting Congressional Elections by Sex1978-2018 Showing ~65% registration and 50% turnout, sl more among women https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2020/comm/participation-congress-election.html
Drawing on decades of scholarly work, the report finds that replacing current winner-take-all elections with a proportional system of representation could curb gerrymandering; increase the share of competitive congressional seats; expand the ability of racial minorities to elect candidates of their choice; allow conservatives and liberals to gain representation in proportion to their actual support within a state; decrease dangerous levels of polarization; and lessen political extremism and the risk of political violence, among other effects. As one scholar concludes in a global study of democratization, “if any generalization about institutional design is sustainable,” it is that winner-take-all electoral systems “are ill-advised for countries with deep ethnic, regional, religious, or other emotional and polarizing divisions.” Towards Proportional Representation takes stock of the House’s winner-take-all system and options for amending federal law to address its deficiencies. “Unlike many other big, structural reforms that require constitutional amendment, the House could adopt a more proportional system for its elections through regular lawmaking,” says Beau Tremitiere, a co-author and counsel at Protect Democracy. “This report intends to be a guide for understanding the current statute’s history and the critical considerations Congress should grapple with in amending it.” Against an analysis of the statute’s history and the benefits and risks of change, the report outlines a roadmap for reform—identifying key policy choices and policy design principles to guide future lawmaking. https://protectdemocracy.org/work/proportional-representation-ucda/ https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/70/for-a-better-democracy-proportional-representation/
Nuclear is one of the safest energy sources No energy source comes with zero negative impact. We often think of nuclear energy as being more dangerous than other sources because these low-frequency but highly-visible events come to mind. However, when we compare the death rates from nuclear energy to other sources, we see that it’s one of the safest. The numbers that have died from nuclear accidents are very small in comparison to the millions that die from air pollution from fossil fuels every year. As the linked post shows, the death rate from nuclear is roughly comparable with most renewable energy technologies. https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy https://ourworldindata.org/what-was-the-death-toll-from-chernobyl-and-fukushima
Street image showing Protected bike lane behind curb and a row of trees and new sidewalk area on same level as road, separated by a line of paint (where Class 2 bike lanes usually go).
The lack of responsibility is built into the City Charter. Tell me more about what you mean by that. The people who originally wrote the charter a hundred years ago intentionally designed the system to diffuse authority, which therefore diffused accountability. So it’s really difficult to know who is in charge of any given thing. A clear example is that the department heads have 16 bosses. They report to the mayor, but in each of the council districts, the council members think that the department heads report to them. That they ... have to make the council member happy with what’s going on in their district, whether it’s trimming trees on a particular street or fixing a sidewalk in front of a constituent’s home, the general managers [of city departments] are subject to extreme and constant political pressure. That distracts them from fixing the system so that we’re doing a better job, so that there are fewer resident complaints, so that a constituent wouldn’t have to go to their council member to get their street fixed. The street would get fixed every 10 years. But if you have 16 bosses and and a continually shifting set of priorities, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to put in place systemic solutions. And in terms of who do you blame: Do you blame the general manager? Do you blame the mayor? Do you blame your council member? Do you blame the lack of resources that the city has to allocate? The answer is yes. What needs to change? What I advocated is designing the city to work in the 21st century, which means a chief operating officer who works for the mayor to make sure the city runs effectively across 44 departments. We don’t have such a person now. It means a chief financial officer. The responsibilities of a chief financial officer are [currently] divided between four different offices in the city, so it’s difficult, again, to point to one person who’s in charge of keeping the city fiscally sound. https://lnkd.in/g8WZsdAH
A semi random Paris street scene. A 6-floor apartment building, separated bike lanes, Trees & mini park, first floor stores. People living here can walk or bike to work+less stress, less congestion, cleaner air, healthier ppl. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Paris,+France/@48.8320342,2.3274388,3a,90y,204.9h,100.62t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2SK3cRp5xy3v1cywNOUVeg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-10.61819499596507%26panoid%3D2SK3cRp5xy3v1cywNOUVeg%26yaw%3D204.9040394666267!7i16384!8i8192!4m7!3m6!1s0x47e66e1f06e2b70f:0x40b82c3688c9460!8m2!3d48.8575475!4d2.3513765!10e5!16zL20vMDVxdGo!5m2!1e1!1e4?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDQyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Bear w AK74 Support the right to keep and arm Bears
Ordinary ppl dancing in a narrow street. Dancing In The Street Forever Changes Your View Of Public Space https://plazaperspective.com/dancing-in-the-streets/ “One may judge of a king by the state of dancing during his reign.”
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), military alliance established in 1949 that sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II. https://www.britannica.com/topic/North-Atlantic-Treaty-Organization
75% of LA is SF zoned https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/18/upshot/cities-across-america-question-single-family-zoning.html?smid=pl-share