hahlen.bsky.social
@hahlen.bsky.social
An extremely rare case (in the US at least) of the final design looking better than the concept art
Just a little throwback since we heard 2026 is the new 2016… ♥️
January 16, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Right wingers don’t even like Ben Shapiro anymore Gavin. He has no motion. Who is this for Gavin
January 15, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Unfortunately elections aren’t decided nationally. They’re decided by a few districts in a few states. The competitive authoritarian playbook isn’t to bluntly cancel or rig the overall election. It’s to disrupt and/or manipulate the vote at those critical points. The DHS goons are capable of that.
Folks, Trump has brought the full force of ICE to bear on a mid-sized city and he can't even stop the demonstrations there. He's not going to be able to cancel the midterm elections by fiat or station his goons outside more than a handful of polling places.
January 15, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Reposted
This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.
one of the most effective weapons we have against fascism is mockery, especially when its really funny
It occurs to me all the yelling at ICE in MPLS isn't merely funny. Getting made fun of like this is awful for morale. ICE is losing field officers faster than it can wave them through training, and a big part of it is how little of this these little weasels can take.
January 12, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Reposted
So many in media are ill-equipped to interview officials about what’s happening because they begin with the presumption of legitimacy and don’t know enough about history or U.S. foreign policy to foment intelligent pushback and hold officials accountable.
January 4, 2026 at 11:32 PM
The VIA Rail Canada ritual: passengers standing in line half an hour before departure, 7 employees standing by as if guarding the baggage scale
December 21, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted
Blows my mind it hasn't even been a full year of congestion pricing in NYC yet. Years of cranks whining about it and then you just DO IT and everything is instantly better and everyone gets used to it and moves on. We should do good things more often!

PS - T-minus 12 days to Streets Mayor Mamdani!
I refuse to shut up about this: NYC started charging $9 to bring a car into our most transit-rich zone, the haters & trolls predicted doom, but traffic evaporated instantly and here’s Times Square tonite (even after the holiday tourists have left). For a better future, build transit & price driving!
December 20, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted
Anyway, I think Dems are right to believe subsidy expiration, because many Americans will suffer and maybe die, is going to hurt Republicans in the midterms. A less harmful way to do well in elections, though, is to offer voters a compelling vision for why they should vote, affirmatively, for you.
November 10, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I believe that car dependence and suburbia are significant causes of American political decline. Day to day benign interactions with different people build trust. Seeing them do the same things as you and the emotions on their faces build empathy. Interactions in traffic are hostile, impersonal.
i think if you ride public transit enough you learn that most weird behavior is not dangerous, and conversely i think driving a car teaches you that everyone is trying to kill you at all times
October 29, 2025 at 5:59 PM
I blame TikTok for normalizing this behavior and also making it so much more obnoxious. Everyone’s scrolling endless looping videos instead of silent posts now, with their brains completely off. And the noise pollution of TikTok sounds meta is so much worse than a regular video or music.
people playing music/videos on their phone speakers in public is more than just mildly annoying and is instead a leading indicator of the decline of community and empath
Do you have any extremely niche, but serious, ethical stances?
October 20, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted
The American centrist punditocracy has decided that what the US transit industry needs are endless lectures about the importance of security.

These writers misunderstand the problem, and are making things worse. 1/

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Other Reason Americans Don’t Use Mass Transit
People will take buses and trains only if they feel safe while riding them.
www.theatlantic.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:58 PM
There is literally no good that comes from this. Why do we let a couple freaks get mega rich by creating society destroying technology
October 15, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Reposted
The #1 piece of advice that TransLink's CEO offers other North American transit agencies:

Provide frequent service
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
The transition from Norfolk Southern track to Amtrak/SEPTA track at Harrisburg should instantly convince anyone that railway nationalization is necessary and important. It feels like stepping forward in time a half century or entering a proper country.
October 11, 2025 at 6:14 PM
On a completely sold out Pennsylvanian from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. Almost like there should be more than one (1) train per day between two dense cities with high transit ridership 250 miles apart. FlixBus/Greyhound has 16-18 daily trips charging a minimum of $46 a month in advance.
October 11, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Reposted
Daughter of Robin Williams, Zelda Williams 💔
October 6, 2025 at 8:45 PM
One of the City Center rail stations of all time
October 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Final thoughts on SLC. The UTA is a really impressive transit agency and there’s lots of good TOD recently completed and under construction around the region. But the walkability and overall urban fabric is still pretty bad thanks to being masterplanned with slavish devotion to cars.
October 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
UTA has a new “BRT” service in Ogden branded as OGX. It connects the Frontrunner regional rail station to Weber State University and a major hospital. It features a mixture of mixed traffic running, dedicated center-running lanes and a dedicated ROW on the university campus.
September 30, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Sacramento LRT uses high-floor vehicles, but many stations are on street, while even stations on dedicated ROW use this tram-style design without platforms and with the ‘inner’ track closer to the entrance paved over to facilitate access to the ‘island platform’ and ‘outer’ track.
September 29, 2025 at 12:24 AM
In approximate order

The Yard
Bootleg Football
The Layover
Fantasy Football with Josh & Hayden
The Urbanist Agenda
dating apps should just make men list their top 5 podcasts
September 17, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Reposted
My sense is that most Americans had not heard of Charlie Kirk until yesterday. The first and perhaps only thing they're going to hear about him from the most trusted and important voices in American politics is that he was a model and constructive participant in good-faith political discourse.
September 11, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Hoping for more of this and less talk of free bus fares. Follow the Swiss model, not the failing American suburb model!
Mamdani: We need to make public transportation so good that “no matter how much money is in your pocket, you say: I’m gonna use this.”
September 7, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Reposted
Not sure I've ever written anything that has made men so mad. badfaithtimes.com/self-censors...
Self Censorship Is Actually Good
Being an asshole is a choice.
badfaithtimes.com
September 5, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted
Trump-supporting economist who is anti-union is also at the Abundance conference as a speaker lmao
September 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM