Ben Olson

@EmpireEnjoyer3 @DavidAFrench @acoyne That’s literally anti-American. Our constitution is designed to ensure civilian control of our military. Go take it up with George Washington if you have a problem with citizens speaking out.

@DavidAFrench @acoyne I do not care. They are casualties in war, there are accidents. The fog of war is real. Don’t speak if you haven’t been an infantryman, a fighter pilot, an intelligence analyst, or a clandestine agent.

We absolutely need to know if this was an American strike. It's looking increasingly like it was, and if so it will be one of the worst individual incidents of civilian deaths in a generation or more.

@Great_Chumpion @EricMGarcia I think you’re overthinking it. Both candidates won with bottom vs top politics. That’s the message.

@benji_olson @EricMGarcia There's a reason why I specified "socialist affordability", lmao They want affordability but may want it through promises of another ideology

It's kind of surprising how despite living in a completely different state with different dynamics, James Talarico basically replicated Zohran Mamdani's coalition: -Latinos -Young people in the cities -Asian-Americans -Upper-class high-educated whites

@cost_of_bums @LoewyLawFirm I think cutting his teeth on the trail could be beneficial for him.

@LoewyLawFirm Yet she got 46% and made her opponent burn millions. Great job to the people who convinced her to run.

She objectively ran the worst major campaign I’ve seen a Dem run here. Truly embarrassing on all levels. #txlege

@Great_Chumpion @EricMGarcia Idk man. Texans want affordability too.

@EricMGarcia I'd argue what unites people in certain demographics is more relative than concrete. In both cases, these demographics want exciting change from where they are, whether it by "socialist affordability" change in NYC, or "Christianity of Love" change in Texas.

@TheChanfron @UrbanCourtyard They do care. We just don’t make it remotely affordable or attainable. So they’re stuck coping with this.

@UrbanCourtyard Most don't care, they like the inside of their car and foreigners can hand them bags of slop through drive-through windows.

I wanna know how many Americans would actually choose this lifestyle over walkable urban lifestyle, if both were options

The 1973 oil crisis hit the Netherlands hard, car-free Sundays, fuel rationing, empty highways. But instead of reverting to the old normal, they rebuilt their cities for people: protected bike lanes, safer streets, less car dependence. A crisis became a permanent transformation.

@KateWalker15 @humantransit “Everybody” also used to smoke cigarettes. Turns out that was dumb.

@humantransit “Everybody” is a rhetorical device used to make a generalization that is broadly true. The public transportation enthusiasts who want Angelenos to trade cars for transit are out of touch with the needs of the *vast majority* of people who live there.

When people talk about what "everybody" does, they are usually describing themselves and their friends. There is no "everybody" in a big city. There are different people with different tastes and needs. Plenty of them want a more walkable and transit-oriented city.

@qbms9197 @JacobAShell Dude America is still awesome. But what if we made it even better?

@JacobAShell If it is so great why do the Chinese wanna come here? Why does Queens have Chinese birthing hotels so their kids can be US citizens. China is so great their own people don't want their children born there.

This is a cope ritual Americans do when they see photos or maps of China's extraordinary high speed rail network. "But we have the interstates! They don't have interstates now do they hah hah" Oh yes they do. I've driven on them. All over China. And their highways are better than ours. Better engineered, more bridges and tunnels, more high-tech. Your GPS can tell you whether there's a dangerous illegal speeder coming up behind you ("watch out! don't worry, we'll get him"). I would love to have Chinese "highway surveillance totalitarianism" here in Philly, crush the Philly Driver's criminal spirit.

@hunterhhedge @mtracey What minimum outcome to you will be with it?

@mtracey I support it. But whether or not people support it ultimately will be dictated by the outcome so I don’t think his Republican support will crater. People forget, Fuentes crowd opposed Trump in the general in 2024. They aren’t even in the tent

Wrong. Trump voters overwhelmingly support this. Wait for the next polling -- I guarantee an overwhelming super-majority of Trump voters will support Trump's war with Iran

@qualvex @cityaestheticss What do you think is a higher risk behavior… riding transit or driving?

@cityaestheticss So they can be murdered by repeat violent offenders who get released from prison?

The growth of all the towers in Austin is incredible and I love to see it… Austin currently has just one new light rail line serving the city At some point U.S. cities need to match skyline growth with transit growth.

@RonaldReich5 @ricwe123 I’m old enough to remember when we invaded Iraq because of their “WMDs”.

@benji_olson @ricwe123 We have no interest in rebuilding Iran. All we care about is eliminating the people who refuse to give up their nuclear ambitions AND have sworn to bring "Death to America."

Imagine starting a major war with Iran over their nuclear program when this is on the official White House website. 😂😂😂

@RonaldReich5 @ricwe123 And what better way to “rebuild” a country than sending more Tomahawk missiles.

@ricwe123 imagine being so stupid as to not understand the word "rebuild"

@Celsius233Books @jack @blocks hey @grok, what's happened to Twitter (X) average revenue since Elon Musk took over?

This is the elon firing 80% of Twitter moment. The whole world saw, in real time, that it had literally 0 negative impact on the product and the user experience. Expecting the same with Block. Only time will tell if it’s the correct decision. None of the people fired by elon built a new Twitter, goes to show they didn’t care enough about the product or the users. Hope the ones affected in this layoff land well and maybe create a competitor.

we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company. #### today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are being asked to leave or entering into consultation. i'll be straight about what's happening, why, and what it means for everyone. first off, if you're one of the people affected, you'll receive your salary for 20 weeks + 1 week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of may, 6 months of health care, your corporate devices, and $5,000 to put toward whatever you need to help you in this transition (if you’re outside the U.S. you’ll receive similar support but exact details are going to vary based on local requirements). i want you to know that before anything else. everyone will be notified today, whether you're being asked to leave, entering consultation, or asked to stay. we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but something has changed. we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. and that's accelerating rapidly. i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. i chose the latter. repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead. i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. a smaller company also gives us the space to grow our business the right way, on our own terms, instead of constantly reacting to market pressures. a decision at this scale carries risk. but so does standing still. we've done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here, and we've pressure-tested those decisions from multiple angles. i accept that we may have gotten some of them wrong, and we've built in flexibility to account for that, and do the right thing for our customers. we're not going to just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here. communication channels will stay open through thursday evening (pacific) so everyone can say goodbye properly, and share whatever you wish. i'll also be hosting a live video session to thank everyone at 3:35pm pacific. i know doing it this way might feel awkward. i'd rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold. to those of you leaving…i’m grateful for you, and i’m sorry to put you through this. you built what this company is today. that's a fact that i'll honor forever. this decision is not a reflection of what you contributed. you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward. to those staying…i made this decision, and i'll own it. what i'm asking of you is to build with me. we're going to build this company with intelligence at the core of everything we do. how we work, how we create, how we serve our customers. our customers will feel this shift too, and we're going to help them navigate it: towards a future where they can build their own features directly, composed of our capabilities and served through our interfaces. that's what i'm focused on now. expect a note from me tomorrow. jack

@MaxEricThiel @Crime_Penguin Planes are great, especially for long hauls. But HSR is superior for tighter corridor travel. Plenty of room for both.

@Crime_Penguin Planes are also very cheap, they need 2 miles of runway and a radar tower. you don't need hundreds of miles of tracks, bridges and tunnels of every location.

There was no grand conspiracy against trains. For a long time railroads had a monopoly. When Americans were presented with alternatives (planes, cars, buses) they chose to use them. Why are people so desperate to claim they were victimized by a shadowy cabal?

@bucks_cyber @Crime_Penguin Wait. Do you think highways are… profitable??

@Crime_Penguin It is because they don't have a narrative for the function of profit and loss. They believe in central planners. Train aficionados exist but this level of delusion coincides almost 100% with socialism they narrow focus on a single metric

@badjin_rank @CompletedStreet You are correct, I’ve never seen that. But I have seen hundreds of T-Bone accidents at stoplight intersections.

@CompletedStreet You have obviously never watched someone go 'roundabout'... in the wrong direction.

Roundabouts are the closest thing to a cure-all. -Better traffic flow -Lower injury and fatality rates -Lower maintenance costs -More aesthetic than traditional intersections We need more of them.

@AUFanInNC42 @huskyjayhawk @KasperStats I just want to less kids to die on our streets bro. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. If you have better and proven ideas, I'm all ears.

@benji_olson @huskyjayhawk @KasperStats Might be a good idea to convince people who have had bad experiences with them to try them in other circumstances instead of just telling them they're wrong then. Turns out backlash against progress can happen when it's forced with too heavy a hand or without buy in.

This is a great lesson about tradeoffs. It's true that roundabouts cause more accidents; that's why governments build them. They cause *more* accidents, but at lower speeds and safer angles. It's better to have twice as many collisions at 20mph and 30° than at 50mph and 90°.

@AUFanInNC42 @huskyjayhawk @KasperStats I don’t think roundabouts are a cure all or should replace every stop light. But I think they are way more effective than you’re giving them credit for and more of our country should embrace them.

@benji_olson @huskyjayhawk @KasperStats It frustrates me that people argue for all or nothing, that they're only better or worse, instead of admitting that roundabouts have limited use. They're effective where appropriate, but they shouldn't replace all normal intersections.

@AUFanInNC42 @huskyjayhawk @KasperStats Here’s an article from like 20 years ago when the town had just one roundabout. They’ve gone on to add 10 more since. sierrasun.com/news/ten-years…

@AUFanInNC42 @huskyjayhawk @KasperStats Some historic articles that I think explain it: sierrasun.com/news/local/why…