Al Urim

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

I am not on Indigenous land.

[Jack @tracewoodgrains]

and I’m proud to be an American
where at least I know I’m free
🇺🇸 🦅 🎶

[nihilism disrespecter @meaning_enjoyer]

you can laugh but this is how we build housing

[StripMallGuy @realEstateTrent]

It happened again this morning, and it’s sadly becoming a joke at this point.

I walked into Starbucks, and the shelf that just a couple of days ago was full of holiday merchandise for the new season was completely empty.

Again.

When I asked the barista, they confirmed it: someone walked in, calmly cleared the shelves, and walked out without a care.

They of course aren’t allowed to stop them - that would be nonsensical.

The barista told me that even if they call the police, it takes hours for them to arrive, and nothing happens anyway. This is just the new normal.

The folks at Target told me the same thing when I watched a guy fill two entire bags and just calmly walk out with a smile on his face as he was surrounded by security that could do nothing to stop him.

Some might say, "So what? Starbucks or Target are massive companies, and a few missing holiday items don’t matter."

But it does matter. It makes order meaningless. It erodes the social fabric—the part of society that values integrity and accountability.

What do kids think when they see this? What does it mean to the person who saves up to buy a special Starbucks mug as a gift for their uncle? It sends the message that stealing is fine, that rules don’t apply, and that no one cares.

I don’t know what to do, but shrugging this off feels like a massive failure. Starbucks will restock the shelves, and they’ll just be cleared again. There are no consequences, so the thieves will keep coming back. And where does that leave us?

A seemingly minor crime like this has far-reaching implications. It’s not just about stolen mugs—it’s about the creeping normalization of lawlessness.

Years ago, New York City adopted a policy to address graffiti immediately. Graffiti may seem like a small crime, but tackling it sent a big message: small acts of disorder would not be tolerated. Crime rates dropped because the city prioritized order.

Now, I find myself dreading the day I have to explain to my son why some people can just walk in and take what they want, or why we pay for the subway while others effortlessly jump the turnstile. These small acts of defiance aren’t harmless—they chip away at our society, slowly at first and then all at once.

We need to bring back the lessons learned from the graffiti-removal days. This can’t go unchecked—it needs to stop, no matter if the resources it would take are great. The short-term expense is worth it.

The costs of not doing something now is too high.

It's not too late.

[Armand Domalewski @ArmandDoma]

I think this is the most damning result for Democrats. The people who had the most direct experience with Democratic governance—fucking HATED it. We have to do better

[Armand Domalewski @ArmandDoma]

every single blue city saw huge shifts to the right and center, and yet some people are still convinced it’s all just curable with that right messaging tweaks.

housing is expensive as shit and you can’t walk downtown without getting screamed at by a crazy person. we need CHANGE

[Mike Solana @micsolana]

crime in california: once again illegal, fyi

[Three Year Letterman @3YearLetterman]

America is going to be just fine

[nic carter @nic_carter]

almost every smart person I talk to in tech is in favor of aerosolized sulfates to increase the earth's albedo in order to deal with climate change. people are absolutely fed up with the lefty approach of using climate as a pretextual cudgel to install socialism.

[Senator Adam Schiff @SenAdamSchiff]

Kicking a patron out of a restaurant for no reason other than their Jewish ancestry is blatant antisemitism.

No one should be turned away because of their faith. This kind of bigotry has no place in California.

https://t.co/YpAd1ruijX

[Three Year Letterman @3YearLetterman]

The candidates are garbage

[anton 🇺🇸 @atroyn]

“kids shouldn’t read too much because they’ll run out of books” is like something a roald dahl villain would say

[Mason @webdevMason]

In any sane city this gets charged and rigorously prosecuted as both a robbery and assault of a child

[Jack @tracewoodgrains]

I harp on this topic a lot. Why? Because while because "children should be provided opportunities matching their ability" is correct and popular, it's opposed and dismissed by a huge proportion of the people making and enforcing policy around it. That must change.

[Jack @tracewoodgrains]

Equity-focused people will say advanced kids have plenty of options in their ideal systems, and in a sense, they do: plenty of well-funded, comfortable schools wholly uninterested in “further privileging the privileged” by encouraging accelerated kids to move beyond age peers.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

Cultural appropriation is good

Assimilation is inevitable and fine

Don't know what the hell y'all were thinking in the 2010s

🇺🇲

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

@DavidOC17377827 I was born not knowing anything, I have to learn stuff or else I don't know it

[Seth Frantzman @sfrantzman]

The pro-Hamas crowd is trying to portray Sinwar’s death above ground as some kind of heroic last stand. The fact is he strayed outside with several of his men when he believed the IDF was focused on Hezbollah. He ordered the massacre of a 1,000 people, most of them civilians and the hostage taking of children and the elderly.

[Sheel Mohnot @pitdesi]

Breed wants to exacerbate the housing crisis with a huge expansion of rent control

She says she wants to protect our "low-income population." That isn't what it is for & she's the perf example:

She makes $468k (highest $ mayor) yet still lives in a rent-controlled apt herself!

[Jack @tracewoodgrains]

this is something I can certainly get behind, as long as people recognize the core of Lee Kuan Yew’s approach was not an iron fist for the sake of an iron fist, but excellence-focused pragmatism centered around solving the practical problems of the day

https://t.co/CZLd360I2b