Austin Wu
@austwu.bsky.social
360 followers 490 following 810 posts
(vague lyrics about history or economics) 🚰 https://linktr.ee/austwu
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Reposted by Austin Wu
govpritzker.illinois.gov
Greg Bovino, Kristi Noem, and DHS need to answer for their unchecked attacks on Chicago residents.

ICE is an out-of-control danger to our peaceful communities.

The images from the Sun-Times today speak for themselves.
An ICE agent throws a tear gas canister at protesters at East 105th Street and South Avenue N in East Side.

Photo Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times Federal immigration enforcement agents detain a protester during a skirmish at East 105th Street and South Avenue N in East Side.

Photo Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent points a crowd control weapon at a protester Tuesday at East 105th Street and South Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood.

Photo Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times A Chicago Police Department officer washes his face after being exposed to tear gas during a protest at East 105th Street and South Avenue N in East Side.

Photo Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Reposted by Austin Wu
streets.mn
"People should ask experienced transit riders in their lives for tips on how to get started, or reach out to advocacy organizations in their communities for advice on bus routes and protected bike lanes. Move Minnesota recommends trying transit for special events and building from there."
How easy is it to be car free in the Twin Cities? A new campaign urges more people to try.
The transportation nonprofit, Move Minnesota, is starting the “No Car, No Problem” campaign to urge Twin Cities residents to use transit instead of car.
sahanjournal.com
Reposted by Austin Wu
umichnews.bsky.social
Trump has illegally threatened to deny federal workers back pay. It would also violate the 2019 law that Trump signed. @umichlaw.bsky.social prof Samuel Bagenstos discusses w/MSNBC: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-shutdown-back-pay-federal-employees-rcna236163
"The new threat to deny back pay to federal workers at the end of the shutdown is yet another lawless abuse attempted by this White House. It demonstrates, once again, that Trump’s interest is not in resolving the impasse so much as it is in punishing those he believes to be his enemies," wrote Samuel Bagenstos, professor of law and public policy.
Reposted by Austin Wu
unlivingmetal.bsky.social
Around 3pm they turned on the overhead wires and operated the train under its own power for the first time! So cool to see the letter boards light up and the bell of the bombardier ring at Southwest Station.
austwu.bsky.social
this is what the midway should look like

(inscription reads "building the welfare society"; south korean poster from the ~1980s depicting the dunchon jugong apartment complex, with 5,930 homes)
Reposted by Austin Wu
yonahfreemark.com
Trump admin has frozen or cancelled $28 b for projects, almost all in Dem districts. Small amount of frozen funds in GOP districts are in predominately Dem states (CA, OR, WA, CO, MN, IL, NY, MD), or in predominately Dem cities (St Louis, Atlanta, Greenville) www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Trump admin is freezing or cancelling billions of dollars in funding for projects in Democratic areas.
Reposted by Austin Wu
deadcarl.bsky.social
Tapping the “moral courage” sign

This is why Clausewitz says mere intelligence isn’t enough: a smart person can easily be paralyzed by the endless possibilities they can imagine
sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com
a couple of people have criticized this "but what if you do bad things with all that power" but like. look around you. the right has already grasped the power at hand and is using it. "republicans use the state to advance their goals; democrats unilaterally disarm" is not a sustainable equilibrium!
sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com
one thing that has been obvious for a while is this aspect of the authoritarian internationale: they recognize that their allies abroad are not *countries* but *political movements* within foreign countries.

time we liberals woke up and recognized this--because it's the truth.
Reposted by Austin Wu
deadcarl.bsky.social
This “paralysis through analysis” is something I think has been present in the cultural left (so to speak) for a long time now. Critique and conversation are appropriate left coded behavior, action and power are eschewed as too Nietzschean
deadcarl.bsky.social
Tapping the “moral courage” sign

This is why Clausewitz says mere intelligence isn’t enough: a smart person can easily be paralyzed by the endless possibilities they can imagine
sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com
a couple of people have criticized this "but what if you do bad things with all that power" but like. look around you. the right has already grasped the power at hand and is using it. "republicans use the state to advance their goals; democrats unilaterally disarm" is not a sustainable equilibrium!
Reposted by Austin Wu
sameyler.bsky.social
The lesson, which we should already know, is that confining fascists behind a cordon sanitaire is a condition for the exercise of democracy. Authoritarians simply cannot be folded into electoral politics for all the reasons in this thread. They make it impossible for democracies to credibly commit
atherton.bsky.social
This is not to say that elections don't matter; they clearly do, and democracy requires them, and in every case I'd rather my side win than lose. But if I'm working on the question of what to do *while in power*, it's going to be heavily biased towards *how do we ensure electoral defeat isn't fatal*
Reposted by Austin Wu
opinionhaver.bsky.social
"we drilled down on the actual impact of Colorado state senate bill 486 on judicial clerk staffing levels in civil cases, using a discontinuity in the rollout to show that this increased judicial caseloads, leading to" vs. "what does the bill or rights even mean? here's a blog post of my takes"
Reposted by Austin Wu
eaglebeaverman.bsky.social
Every Republican under 30 is a Nazi. Every single one. No exceptions. No, not even that guy who you think is your friend. He’s being nice to you in person but talks about how you shouldn’t have rights in his discord chat.
Reposted by Austin Wu
chicagotrans-plant.bsky.social
The Broadway upzoning passes the land use commission 15-2. Loud cheers break out
Reposted by Austin Wu
shutupmikeginn.bsky.social
i love when i overthink a problem so profoundly that i actually do uncover something new at the bottom that puts me at ease. it wasn't an anxiety spiral, i was simply swirling down towards the answer-hole
Reposted by Austin Wu
matthewdownhour.bsky.social
(Arguably the biggest problem with neoliberalism is that it refuses to centrally plan things that should be centrally planned, like railroads and internet connections and a healthcare system, because it has such an aversion to spreadsheet centralization)
austwu.bsky.social
holy shit, bikes and transit aside, we need to retvrn to more reasonable vehicles
1995 toyota camry wagon
Reposted by Austin Wu
austwu.bsky.social
American Century of Humiliation
collie.bsky.social
At some point the public will realize that China is racing past us in every way that matters and I don’t know what that will do to the country
sharonk.bsky.social
The Chinese are likely going to return to the moon before Americans and it's going to hit the American space establishment like a nightmare
Reposted by Austin Wu
collie.bsky.social
Second crack will be when Air France buys Comac airliners
Reposted by Austin Wu
theurbanist.org
After pivoting away from an aggressive schedule for battery-bus adoption, Metro plans to focus attention on the tried-and-true trolleybus network. But limited staff, delays obtaining materials, and permit timelines mean expansions will be some time coming.

Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/13/m...
Metro Plans Trolleybus Investments, with Long Implementation Timelines » The Urbanist
# After pivoting away from an aggressive schedule for battery-bus adoption, King County Metro plans to focus attention on the tried-and-true trolley network. But limited staff, delays obtaining materi...
www.theurbanist.org
austwu.bsky.social
(of course, such an integration would require people in minneapolis to acknowledge the existence of saint paul, which might be a tall order to ask for)
austwu.bsky.social
this would be a great opportunity for @metrotransitmn.bsky.social to have some holiday buses

(these from @translink.ca in metro/vancouver)
austwu.bsky.social
>With the defeat of the reactionary Idahoan despots, the Doug Flag flies triumphantly over all of Cascadia.
Reposted by Austin Wu
prisonculture.bsky.social
The Regime's goal is to grind everyone down. Plain & simple. Our goal is to refuse this by taking turns to fight where and how we can. When one group needs to bow out, then another group needs to step in and so on. We don't all have to do everything. We can all do something though. Stay in the fight
austwu.bsky.social
we used to be a real country etc. etc.
trainsfan.bsky.social
Christ, just heard the number that Metro Transit's gonna have to pay to demolish the Northstar stations.

TWENTY
MILLION

and that DOESN'T include the money owed to the FTA. Fiscal responsibility my ass!