Mark McKibbin

✝️🏳️‍🌈. Political Historian. Pragmatic Progressive. Board @sacyimby. Email: [email protected]. Check out my article on the Electoral College! Link in Bio.

[Mark McKibbin @markmmckibbin]

It's been a terrible news day, so it's an apt time for GOOD NEWS FRIDAY.

Last week, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) approved a land use plan that will help the Sacramento region remain eligible for half a billion $ in state grants.

A thread on the details

[Mark McKibbin @markmmckibbin]

You deserved to lose tonight, Congressman Kiley.

You voted to cut $1 trillion from children's health care, blocked the release of the Epstein files, pretended you cared about gerrymandering only AFTER it started to affect you, & begged your own party to save you from the consequences of your choices.

Enjoy your "retirement" in disgrace.

[Ashley Zavala @ZavalaA]

NEW: Within minutes of Prop 50 passing, Rep. Ami Bera announces he’s running for California’s gerrymandered District 3 against Rep. Kevin Kiley.

Dr. Richard Pan, also a Democrat, announced his candidacy for the seat a few weeks ago.

[Son of a Doug @rosevilledad]

@KevinKileyCA Ami Bera for District 3!!

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

California should be an advertisement for what Democrats can do with power. But for too long, it's been an advertisement for the opposition.

Rising home prices in the state have contributed to several crisis: an affordability crisis, a homelessness crisis, and an exodus crisis, as the state’s population growth has sagged in recent years as families leave for cheaper states.

@GavinNewsom has a huge opportunity to rewrite California's modern history by signing and implementing SB-79. It would announce a new era for housing, growth, and affordability in California. It would be a sign that Democrats can fix big problems and be courageous, even when many people—including those inside the coalition—fight to preserve the status quo.

I hope he makes the right decision.

[Son of a Doug @rosevilledad]

@KevinKileyCA Now you have a chance to have your first ever in person town hall.

Come explain your decision to protect those named in the Epstein files.

Come explain why you embrace the hate and chaos of MAGA.

[Steven Dennis @StevenTDennis]

The two things Democrats really want:
*an ACA extension
*an end to Russ Vought and Trump deciding on their own whether to spend money appropriated by Congress.

If those 2 things were on the CR - neither of which have anything to do with illegal immigrants, I think every D would vote for it.

[West Coast Pelican @wcpelican]

@KevinKileyCA Kiley has given up on his bill to stop mid decade redistricting. It was all a sham.

And he still hasn’t signed the discharge petition to release the Epstein files. Who is he protecting?

[House Sacramento @SacYIMBY]

SB 79, the most important housing bill in California history, is on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk right now. But he’s being pressured by donors and NIMBYs to veto it.

Call the governor’s office at [phone] and ask him to please sign SB 79.

[Mark McKibbin @markmmckibbin]

@KevinKileyCA “Gavin Newsom is tired of losing to ‘us’”

My dude, you couldn’t even manage to win your home county when you ran against Newsom in the 2021 recall.

The only person tired of losing to you is whoever has to restock the hair gel aisle after you clean out the store’s inventory.

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

BREAKING NYT:

Trump just fired a U.S. attorney who insisted on following a court order.

Michele Beckwith, the top federal prosecutor in Sacramento, was fired hours after she reminded a Border Patrol chief to abide by court-ordered restrictions on immigration raids. https://t.co/VoPxyINvNP

[Mark McKibbin @markmmckibbin]

@KevinKileyCA You voted to cut health care, food aid, & education funding for millions of poor children three months ago so you could kiss Donald Trump’s ring. Thus, I would kindly appreciate if you would GTFO your sanctimonious high horse about California’s poverty & illiteracy rates.

[Star Wars Holocron @sw_holocron]

ANDOR writer Dan Gilroy has released a statement critiquing the Trump administration and commenting on the parallels between the show and Disney’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel.

“As one of the writers on the Disney+ drama Andor, we spent six years thinking about a fascist takeover of a galaxy far, far away. Six years thinking about ordinary beings as an authoritarian regime comes in for the kill. Many people saw parallels between Andor and the real world. I see them as well, particularly in the events of the last week.

Donald Trump’s tools of governance, coercion and intimidation, have found focus on Hollywood. Faced with a social media firestorm, fear, and an FCC head threatening “they can do this the easy way or hard way,” Disney suspended Jimmy Kimmel for speaking his mind. I deeply disagree but acknowledge it was a difficult decision. If you believe otherwise, wait until fate knocks on your door and demands you choose between conscience and hardship — because if you work in this industry that day is coming.

The suspension bought time, but not much. Disney now stands at a crossroads: terminate Kimmel’s contract and become pavement for the road to a brave new Trumpian world; or stand for the First Amendment and take the onslaught. There’s not much at stake, just free speech, the oxygen that sustains life in this town.

Trump’s aim is to control what we make and say. The concept seems far off and abstract. Neither is true. Is it hard to conjure a new oversight office or cabinet seat? Is it difficult to picture Trump toadies deplaning at LAX with binders of banned topics and mandated alternatives? You’ll meet them when you have to pitch for approval or get grilled about subversive co-workers.
Regardless of how the jack-booted attack on Jimmy Kimmel is resolved, this isn’t a skirmish. It’s a siege. The first thing Putin did after taking power was silence shows that criticized him. Artists are censored first because they fear us most. The fact this isn’t new doesn’t diminish the shock of the last few days. The majority in Hollywood believed their job was entertainment — the bolder souls attempted to inject theme and commentary — but for everyone this has suddenly become Westworld real.

Whether you’re reading this on line at Blue Bottle or killing time before your 3 o’clock Zoom or staring at a glowing screen unable to sleep, we have all become characters in a story where our actions carry actual weight and consequence. Our industry faces the most sophisticated, venomous, creeping evil in America’s history. There’s no standing above this conflict. No impartial observers. If you’re on the sidelines you’ve made a choice and must live with it.

Their goal is to instill fear, to make you feel helpless, hopeless, to break you down. Don’t let them. Educate yourself. Organize. Speak truth to authority. Because the story’s not written — the pen is in your hand.”

[Senator Scott Wiener @Scott_Wiener]

That “legacy” is heavy-handed political control over everything that happens in the district: micro-managing small businesses, making them beg for permits & crushing new housing production.

I’m proud of Supervisor @DannySauter for challenging this broken & corrupt status quo.

[Mark McKibbin @markmmckibbin]

@JusticeHorn_ Your ongoing commitment to body bagging toxic Demfluencers is truly admirable & I salute you for it.

[Mark McKibbin @markmmckibbin]

@joshua_hoover Very grateful for your support of SB 79. Thank you, assemblymember!

[M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray]

Senator Cabaldon praises the author's leadership on this issue — this reform is years in the making. "This bill started as a YIMBY dream," and praises that it has turned into actionable policy.

[Chris Elmendorf @CSElmendorf]

Things I never thought I would see, or say. Big props to Sen. Wahab!

[Jordan Grimes (on Bluesky @cafedujord) @cafedujord]

@BuffyWicks @RickChavezZbur @alex_lee Asm. Hoover is up now. Says he wants to challenge Republican colleagues to vote for this bill, and that the best thing we can do to solve California's affordability crisis is to build more housing!

[Son of a Doug @rosevilledad]

Do the right thing, @KevinKileyCA, and sign the petition.

Your district is watching.