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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 14m

The 13th amendment is discriminatory. It's race-neutral on its face, but in reality it only freed black people from slavery.

- John Roberts, in the not-so-distant future.

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 36m

Be sure to look at The Education of Henry Adams. He had long talks with Lyell (while assisting his father, Lincoln's ambassador to London) & wrote up Lyell's ideas for US audience. But was troubled by inconsistency with what he'd learned from Louis Agassiz's glacial geology course at Harvard.

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Reposted by Ben Ross

Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 3h

Particularly relevant, On Here, to the progressive vs moderate divide in the Democratic Party. A subject on which we now have also the Media of Beefs.
Where the left-right divide on economics, which cuts diagonally across the progressive-moderate divide, gets entirely obscured.

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 3h

Particularly relevant, On Here, to the progressive vs moderate divide in the Democratic Party. A subject on which we now have also the Media of Beefs.
Where the left-right divide on economics, which cuts diagonally across the progressive-moderate divide, gets entirely obscured.

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Reposted by Ben Ross

Ben Harris @benharris1.bsky.social · 4h

Counterpoint: Pedestrians should be able to wear whatever they choose and not worry about the risk of being run over, injured or killed by a driver.

Maryland Department of Transportation @marylanddot.bsky.social · 21h

Hey Marylanders! Darker evenings don’t mean more danger on our roads. Just a little extra caution — bright clothes, headlights on — can make a huge difference.

Let’s keep each other safe. Be the difference!

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Reposted by Ben Ross

𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚎 🚇 @taras-grescoe.com · 5h

In #Switzerland, fine for a speeding driver is based (1) on how far over the limit the driver is going
(2) on how much the driver earns.

One man caught driving his Ferrari at 137 km/h the in an 80 km/h zone in a village near St. Gallen was fined 300,000 Swiss Francs (today, $375,000 US).

🇨🇭🧵

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

That bike lane has flex-posts. It's separated from the motor vehicle lanes by a crosshatched zone, not just a line.

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

You know what Big Bill Haywood, founder of the IWW, said when he was criticized for his taste for 25 cent cigars?

"Nothing is *too good* for the proletariat."

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Reposted by Ben Ross

Jarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social · 1d

Seattle's transit agency is pivoting away from battery electric buses, and looking to reinvest in a well-tested technology: trolleybuses. 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

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

There's a third group. People like @davidshor.bsky.social & @adamjentleson.bsky.social are trying to reshape opinion by raising salience of anti-elite economic issues. Media & online anti-popularists both wrongly conflate them with pro-corporate "moderate" pollsters like Mark Penn.

Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 1d

As I read this, I keep thinking over and over again about the two major groups I see in politics and policy spaces: folks who take opinion polls as gospel and folks who see them as indicators of what people believe at the moment that can be *shaped* into something else.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

we’ll see how his mayoral tenure shakes out but i am convinced that Mamdani has the juice. not just the charisma to win an election but the temperament to govern and the measured pragmatism of someone who genuinely believes what they’re saying and wants to accomplish real things.

Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

Very good Maryland transit news that I had missed. The MARC Penn Line will go all-electric by the time the new Frederick Douglass tunnel opens. Reverses the recent policy of buying diesel locomotives. www.masstransitmag.com/rail/mainten...

MDOT MTA to begin MARC train storage facilities project at Martin Maintenance Yard

The facility improvements will support MDOT MTA’s future commitment to operate electrified trainsets on the Penn Line.

www.masstransitmag.com

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

Meanwhile, in the US, DSA calls for continued conflict until Israel is destroyed. Statement implicitly characterizes the very existence of Israel as "genocide." www.dsausa.org/statements/u...

Until Palestinian Liberation - Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)

Earlier this week the Palestinian resistance announced that a ceasefire agreement has been reached and would entail the end of this intensified stage of the genocide. This will not end Israel’s assaul...

www.dsausa.org

Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

Wonderful to see fighting stop & living hostages free. But like most of what Trump does, the hype far exceeds the reality.
Hamas already cracking down on opposition in Gaza. That's fine with Netanyahu, who enabled Qatar to fund them before 10/7 and still prefers them to a 2-state solution.

Max Boot @maxboot.bsky.social · 1d

Netanyahu refuses to release Marwan Barghouti, the most popular Palestinian leader—and the one most likely to bring about a two-state solution. Hamas refuses to disarm. The two enemies are united in opposition to a two-state solution. That makes lasting peace unlikely. wapo.st/3W5yhAx

Opinion | Why the Gaza ceasefire won’t lead to lasting peace

“A new Middle East” will require sacrifices that Israelis and Palestinians show no sign of making.

wapo.st

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

*John Adams, of course.

Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not sure people's memory about this is so bad. Repeal of ACA has become intensely unpopular. Republicans are now undermining rather than repealing to conceal what they're doing.

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

So far it's looking like I got this right. bsky.app/profile/benr...

Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 6d

I can't imagine an Egyptian government being fine with Egypt running Gaza. The 2nd & 3rd phases look to me like vaporware. This looks to me like Trump strongarming Bibi into a hostages for cease-fire & withdrawal deal with Hamas left in control.

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

This account has 29 followers and 28 posts. High probability that this is a paid provocateur account of some sort.
Plenty of real people are spreading antisemitic tropes online. It's important to distinguish between them and the campaigns of provocation & disruption which are bad in a different way.

Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

How is that different from an ALJ today?

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 1d

Long before he became their editor-in-chief, Josh Kraushaar had, along with journalists like Matt Bai & Josh Barro, a centrist-Democratic perspective intensely hostile to the party's economic-populist and progressive wings.

Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 2d

I haven't seen anyone mention Marbury v Madison in this connection.
JQ Adams appointed Marbury to a job with a 5-year term. Marbury sued to get the document from Madison, Jefferson's SOS.
If Madison (who knew something about original intent) thought Jefferson could fire Marbury, there'd be no case.

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 2d

An additionally annoying aspect of the antisemitic "Israeli cuisine" meme:
It's a remarkable lack of self-awareness when Christians, or for that matter anyone in a Christian majority culture, accuses Jews of cultural appropriation.

Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 2d

The media has a left-wing cultural bias but a much stronger right-wing economic bias. Issues important to lower-income workers like minimum wage, workers comp, overtime pay, get little coverage. Macroeconomic issues are mostly covered from viewpoint of stock market.

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Reposted by Ben Ross

JB stan account @johnbrownstan.bsky.social · 2d

There's no world where Netanyahu ends the war for Biden before the election because he wanted Biden to lose.

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 2d

Certainly not the first French head of state behind bars. I recall a certain Louis.

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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 2d

I see local governments & transit agencies committing to concessions to buy off local objectors, before they understand the costs. It's important to retain design flexibility.

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