Caleb Smith

Progressives in the Pacific Northwest are lapping their CA sibs in the race for good housing policy. The latest: An Oregon ban on unfunded inclusionary zoning, with Democratic Socialists leading the charge! 1/3

Here are the project costs for Jubilo Village, a 95-unit affordable housing development in Culver City, CA. $827,242 per unit, and per the developer, only $365,799 per unit is hard cost. No state incinerates capital quite like California. Truly remarkable work, guys.

LA: ~$10K per homeless person in 2019. ~$62K in 2024. +480%. LA County homeless pop: +23%. RAND’s count finds LA’s official figures understate the pop by 32%. Floor estimate, excludes LAPD, mental health teams, county and state spending.

Terrible policy. Stop with the gimmicks: Suspending a gas tax, a one-time billionaire’s tax, these are all temporary distractions from systemic issues like housing affordability. It’s like you’re running for middle-school class president and promising a pizza party

Politicians talk all day about making California more affordable. At tonight’s debate, I’m challenging them to suspend the gas tax so working people aren’t paying for a war they have nothing to do with.

Sometimes the most effective amici are the surprising ones. Magicians Penn & Teller (with the UT Clinic) just filed an amicus brief for a Texas death-row prisoner convicted partly on “hypnotically enhanced testimony,” arguing it’s the same technique they use to trick audiences.

"There's literally no reason for this," Schatz said. "They wrote it wrong." "Anyone who wants to build housing and then provide it for rent is going to be forced to sell after seven years. ... They will not have made their money back."

News: the Hereditary Peers Bill has tonight finally passed the Lords, ending centuries of tradition. Expect a handful of life peerages for a smattering of hereds.

One of the reasons medieval Europeans were a level beyond any of their rivals (aside from technology) is because the young men began training for the BUSINESS of KILLING PEOPLE from the age of 6-8 years old! You sent your six year old son off to train with a PROFESSIONAL KILLER

Gerrymandering is a plague on democracy, one that Gavin Newsom has brought back to California. But there’s a way we can fight back and protect our democracy from his partisan games: by removing partisanship from the equation. Today, I filed for reelection as “No Party Preference.” This means I will not have a party affiliation on the ballot or as an officeholder. That’s how it already is with most offices in our state: mayors, city councilors, school board members, county supervisors, sheriffs, and DAs are all nonpartisan. As an elected representative, I’ve always seen my role as being an independent voice for our community, holding politicians in Sacramento and Washington accountable to serve my constituents. I answer to you, not party leaders. That’s the kind of representation I believe the newly-drawn Sixth District deserves. It is no secret I’ve been frustrated, at times disgusted, by the hyper-partisanship in Congress. In the last year it’s led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, a massive increase in healthcare costs, and of course, a pointless redistricting war. The epidemic of gerrymandering has spread from Texas to California to states all across the country. Both parties are complicit. If there is one thing Americans agree on, it is that political division has become a serious problem for our country. We need to find ways for politics to bring us together as Americans rather than tear us apart as partisans. That means, for example, finding pragmatic solutions to make life more affordable rather than each side blaming the other for why it isn’t. We are also living in a moment of dramatic transformation, where technological change could bring incredible opportunities along with unfamiliar risks and dislocations. The ordinary rituals of partisan politics are simply inadequate in these extraordinary times – are simply incapable of meeting this generational challenge. Our ability to work as one team, serving all Americans, is now more important than ever.