Allison Lirish Dean

To defeat Trumpism, the administrative state must once again become a powerful force for good in ordinary Americans’ lives. My latest for @currentaffairs.bsky.social www.currentaffairs.org/news/make-bu...

I know this is an obvious thing to say but we should talk more about what a racist this guy is. He’s as racist as George Wallace or Strom Thurmond but unlike them he often escapes having racism mentioned as a leading cause for all his decisions.

It’s a nice spring day, but hardly peak cherry blossom crowds down by the National Mall and Tidal Basin. But the 15th Street protected lane that the Trump administration will start tearing out next week was still busy with people on bikes and scooters; locals and tourists alike.

I worry a shared affinity for transit (see below) or shared desire to reduce highway investment (strong towns) leads planners to uncritically accept narratives from conservative orientations. Once again, sharing this great piece by @ear2thepavement.bsky.social www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/09...

If you haven’t read this piece by @ear2thepavement.bsky.social @currentaffairs.bsky.social do so now. It is a great break down of the conservative underpinnings of Strong Towns, the infiltration of urbanist politics by the right, and how to contend with their sometimes workable ideas.

bsky.app/profile/equa...

The total number of measles cases has surged to over 600 in South Carolina. Last April, our reporting found that national rates for four major vaccines fell significantly in recent years. In fact, measles vaccination rates were below herd immunity in most states in 2023: https://propub.li/4a61hjh

Right you don't dismantle the Stasi because you have disagreements about policing and security, you dismantle the Stasi because it's the fucking Stasi.

there's no reforming ICE, there's no democracy while ICE exists

interesting that a single face-to-face contact turned this nonvoter into a voter

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Good piece, contains some real fire, unlike a lot of what gets written these days.

If you’re a grown ass man in full tactical gear asking a child to show you ID or proof of citizenship you failed at life. Utterly & completely failed. Loser.

DHS says they have a “list” of around 1,400 people to round up in what they’re calling “Operation Catch of the Day” — a completely disgusting and inhumane name for their terror campaign in our state.

The author of a controversial memo from centrist think tank Searchlight telling Democrats to abandon the slogan “Abolish ICE” is a senior advisor for WestExec, a D.C. shadow lobbyist for corporations in the defense, surveillance, and immigration enforcement industries. prospect.org/2026/01/19/a...

Another odd take from Strong Towns www.strongtowns.org/journal/2025.... Yes! problems with some fed programs, but let's address problemed incentives/capital emphasis not all go it alone. @ear2thepavement.bsky.social explains their conservative orientation www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/09...

I’m not a pollster or a statistician, but as a reasonably educated consumer of statistical information it feels like there is a lot of misleading spin in the anti-Trump polling world. Trump’s net approval is not “plummeting” but has been very stable for awhile now.

US highway spending is a mess. Yale prof @zliscow.bsky.social & colleagues found that South Carolina’s DOT spends $375,500 repaving a mile of highway – more than twice as much as North Carolina. In @bloomberg.com, I spoke with Liscow about the wild inefficiencies of state DOTs.

Republicans in North Carolina today adopted a new congressional map, favored by President Trump, that is expected to shift one seat toward the GOP. www.newsobserver.com...

As the saying goes, “just one more lane will fix it.”

A report by an environmental group says millions of tons of discarded U.S. electronics are being shipped overseas each month — much of it to Southeast Asian countries not prepared to safely handle hazardous waste.

Luxembourg touts free transit in an FT ad. And they’re not even socialist!

Throughout my entire experience in Israeli detention, I saw countless cracks beneath the surface. For every ostensible manifestation of strength and vitality, there was a corollary sign of weakness, stupidity, decline, or all three. www.currentaffairs.org/news/my-time...

a reminder that ICE received an astonishing influx of money with the megabill this summer: boltsmag.org/how-the-gop-...

A fascinating election to watch in two weeks — the CW is that policing has receded as an issue, but here’s a data point otherwise:

THIS is who the White House nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel: “MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell.” “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.” GIFT: www.wsj.com/opinion/paul...

WELL HOW ABOUT THAT "A millionaire levy in Massachusetts has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing significant high-profile departures from the state." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A higher percentage of New York City Jews are voting for Zohran Mamdani than Jews nationwide who voted for Donald Trump, and yet the latter are treated as a substantial voice in American Jewish culture, while the former are almost totally ignored by mainstream American Jewish organizations.

Mamdani is already getting the criminals out of NYC!

The ghost of William Whyte hates this trend. You should, too.

Federal agents many in masks at Broadway and Canal moments ago questioning a man, a bunch more agents just walked away. "Can i call my mom," the man asks, he's now being loaded into a car and being driven away. More TK @thecity.nyc

National Guard deployment in DC is costing $1 million/day www.cnn.com/2025/08/28/p... They’re there each time I step out of the Metro, idling in groups with nothing to do Meanwhile, around the corner, people are sleeping on the street, nowhere else to go, as Trump cuts funding for homeless people

I found this @currentaffairs.bsky.social piece by @lilysanca.bsky.social really helpful in understanding debates about the police and about the “defund” movement in particular: www.currentaffairs.org/news/now-is-...

Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. By @nicolefoy.bsky.social

What Trump has to say to American farmers is that they have to understand it is more important to save his friend Milei who has a big election coming up. Peasants. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Ho boy. Happy Monday. Would love to hear someone like @lukewsavage.bsky.social tear into this one: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/o...

Why are these three politicians at the top of this article? I know what Mamdani’s message is, and to some extent AOC’s, but what is Hakeem Jeffries’ “message”? Is there a single regular person who can articulate it?

#nokings

I understand what this sign is trying to convey, but am not crazy about it because 1938 in America was actually the New Deal era, the strongest social-democratic aspects of which we would do well to return to in robust form if we ever get past Trumpism and neoliberal austerity.

At some point the Democratic Party will have to learn that its failing communication strategies are a reflection of the fact that it is an institution with almost no real infrastructure. jacobin.com/2025/08/demo...

Hey @demgovs.org — you promised you weren’t asking for money but then asked for money, so basically lied to bait me into this survey. This is a bad thing to do because it sends the message that you don’t care what people actually think. No wonder the Democratic Party is historically unpopular.

Hey @nytimes.com, did you change your headline, and change "Islamophobic attacks" on Mamdani to just "attacks," because Elise Stefanik and the GOP bullied you into it? Really? Why are they no longer Islamophobic attacks, as your headline originally and correctly stated?

BTW, Life After Cars is one of three(!) new books arguing that society and the planet would be better off if we had fewer automobiles. I wrote this essay about them a week ago.