Robert Cruickshank
@robertcruickshank.com
Digital Strategy for California YIMBY, Chair of Sierra Club Seattle. Personal account -- what you see here represents my own opinions, for better or worse.
So…Noem is going to prison for quite a long time, for many reasons, leading off with this:
The first official confirmation that Noem herself made the decision not to turn the planes around. A couple hundred men were tortured as a result — and soon after, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Trump admin’s Alien Enemies Act process was a total violation of due process.
BREAKING:
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “
November 26, 2025 at 2:34 AM
So…Noem is going to prison for quite a long time, for many reasons, leading off with this:
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
Want to support the peaceful movement for #Cascadia autonomy? Read my latest essay and then sign up for alerts from @cascadiademocratic.bsky.social www.cascadia-journal.com/what-next-fo...
What next for Cascadia?
If you've been reading this newsletter for a while you know I'm more than a little outspoken about the need to consider autonomy or outright independence for Oregon and Washington as the US continues ...
www.cascadia-journal.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Want to support the peaceful movement for #Cascadia autonomy? Read my latest essay and then sign up for alerts from @cascadiademocratic.bsky.social www.cascadia-journal.com/what-next-fo...
LA would get even more responses than just 19% if it were actually affordable. It’s got a perfect climate and lots of economic opportunity. It should house 3x-4x its current population and bring more political power to CA while being more affordable and sustainable.
Bluesky: “Obviously the housing crisis is the only reason anyone would choose to live outside of NYC”
Actual Americans: “Vegas, baby!”
Actual Americans: “Vegas, baby!”
November 25, 2025 at 8:28 PM
LA would get even more responses than just 19% if it were actually affordable. It’s got a perfect climate and lots of economic opportunity. It should house 3x-4x its current population and bring more political power to CA while being more affordable and sustainable.
Also a @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social idea that is both urgently needed and likely to succeed
Turns out Mamdani's controversial proposal for government-run supermarkets isn't so novel. Other cities also are toying with the idea to bring fresh, affordable food to communities that do not have easy access to it. Good WSJ read (gift link)
www.wsj.com/real-estate/...
www.wsj.com/real-estate/...
Inside Atlanta’s First Government-Funded Supermarket
The goal is for the store to become profitable without any government subsidy within three years.
www.wsj.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Also a @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social idea that is both urgently needed and likely to succeed
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
The alternative to an SRO isn't a larger apartment; the alternative is a tent.
Relegalize SROs. Relegalize single stair buildings to enable larger, family sized homes. Legalize townhomes everywhere. Legalize ADUs everywhere. Legalize apartment buildings in more places. Yes to all the homes.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/n...
The ‘New’ Solution for the N.Y.C. Housing Crisis: Single-Room Apartments
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:07 PM
The alternative to an SRO isn't a larger apartment; the alternative is a tent.
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
Americans yearn for social democracy
Those who say government should increase spending on:
Veterans: 73%
Social Security: 71%
Medicare: 66%
Education: 60%
Medicaid: 57%
Environment: 50%
SNAP: 47%
Defense: 39%
Foreign Aid: 20%
YouGov / Nov 24, 2025
Veterans: 73%
Social Security: 71%
Medicare: 66%
Education: 60%
Medicaid: 57%
Environment: 50%
SNAP: 47%
Defense: 39%
Foreign Aid: 20%
YouGov / Nov 24, 2025
November 25, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Americans yearn for social democracy
I’m still using an iPhone 12 I bought in fall 2020. The improvements since then have been merely incremental. At some point I’ll upgrade but there’s no urgency to spend all that money for so little gain.
stupid young people, stop buying a new phone every year if you don't want to be broke. wait no, not like that.
November 25, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I’m still using an iPhone 12 I bought in fall 2020. The improvements since then have been merely incremental. At some point I’ll upgrade but there’s no urgency to spend all that money for so little gain.
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
NEW: Some SPS-related reading for the upcoming holiday weekend, including the new Superintendent's contract, more legal action against SPS for neglecting student safety, and concerns about SPS denying special education services.
Issue 6 -- Holiday Reading
A roundup of the latest SPS news as we go into the Thanksgiving weekend.
thebulletinsea.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:03 PM
NEW: Some SPS-related reading for the upcoming holiday weekend, including the new Superintendent's contract, more legal action against SPS for neglecting student safety, and concerns about SPS denying special education services.
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
Funded inclusionary zoning is good!
Good news: New data suggest that Portland's inclusionary zoning program is finally working as intended, after being fully funded in 2024 www.sightline.org/2025/11/25/p...
Portland’s Inclusionary Zoning Program Is Finally Performing, New Data Suggests | Sightline Institute
Because for the first time, the city fully funded it.
www.sightline.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Funded inclusionary zoning is good!
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter
U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate.
www.cnbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:47 PM
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
What she said
Impeach, convict, remove.
And if our current leaders won’t do it, they need to step aside for people who will.
And if our current leaders won’t do it, they need to step aside for people who will.
November 25, 2025 at 6:48 PM
What she said
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
A roundtrip LAX-JFK flight in the late 60s was around $3K in today’s dollars. The people who wore suits on those flights were the people who regularly wore suits. Complaining about informally-dressed fliers is complaining that the wrong sorts of people are flying today.
November 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
A roundtrip LAX-JFK flight in the late 60s was around $3K in today’s dollars. The people who wore suits on those flights were the people who regularly wore suits. Complaining about informally-dressed fliers is complaining that the wrong sorts of people are flying today.
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
Why are we assuming that we want to maintain car volumes? To meet our climate, public health and road safety goals as a city, there is no reason any on or off ramp in #Seattle should require multiple lanes. #Rainier
If you want to be angry, watch (starts at 1:05): youtu.be/Lr-C4k0EEf4?...
If you want to be angry, watch (starts at 1:05): youtu.be/Lr-C4k0EEf4?...
Judkins Park Community Advisory Group Meeting 4
YouTube video by wsdot
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Why are we assuming that we want to maintain car volumes? To meet our climate, public health and road safety goals as a city, there is no reason any on or off ramp in #Seattle should require multiple lanes. #Rainier
If you want to be angry, watch (starts at 1:05): youtu.be/Lr-C4k0EEf4?...
If you want to be angry, watch (starts at 1:05): youtu.be/Lr-C4k0EEf4?...
No new contract yet for Rothrock?! Hopefully they sign him!
NEWS | We have announced our 2025 roster decisions. The roster currently sits at 22 players.
READ MORE ➡️ sndrs.com/rd0fb5lo
READ MORE ➡️ sndrs.com/rd0fb5lo
November 25, 2025 at 5:03 PM
No new contract yet for Rothrock?! Hopefully they sign him!
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
"In her most specific pledge, she wants a bus lane on Denny for the chronically late No. 8 Metro route."
LET'S GO! 🚌🚌📯
LET'S GO! 🚌🚌📯
This whole article is great but I especially love this: “a lot of people on the progressive left do have a sophisticated understanding of what it’s going to take to deliver on a bold progressive agenda…it’s not just about only talking to your friends and using the mayor’s office as a soapbox.”
Seattle’s next mayor is willing to meet with anyone, including Trump
Katie Wilson wants a mayor's office that reaches out proactively, that has open lines to grassroots organizations and that builds political support from the ground up.
www.seattletimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:53 PM
"In her most specific pledge, she wants a bus lane on Denny for the chronically late No. 8 Metro route."
LET'S GO! 🚌🚌📯
LET'S GO! 🚌🚌📯
This whole article is great but I especially love this: “a lot of people on the progressive left do have a sophisticated understanding of what it’s going to take to deliver on a bold progressive agenda…it’s not just about only talking to your friends and using the mayor’s office as a soapbox.”
Seattle’s next mayor is willing to meet with anyone, including Trump
Katie Wilson wants a mayor's office that reaches out proactively, that has open lines to grassroots organizations and that builds political support from the ground up.
www.seattletimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This whole article is great but I especially love this: “a lot of people on the progressive left do have a sophisticated understanding of what it’s going to take to deliver on a bold progressive agenda…it’s not just about only talking to your friends and using the mayor’s office as a soapbox.”
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
The Atlantic & Vanity Fair only ever assign RFK Jr profiles to people who want to fuck him because nobody else can stomach the idea of lying to help him. He's an elderly nepobaby on a mission to kill as many children as possible before he dies, to leave the world more plague-ridden than he found it.
November 25, 2025 at 11:36 AM
The Atlantic & Vanity Fair only ever assign RFK Jr profiles to people who want to fuck him because nobody else can stomach the idea of lying to help him. He's an elderly nepobaby on a mission to kill as many children as possible before he dies, to leave the world more plague-ridden than he found it.
Ugh. Really sad to see Sound Transit hacking away at the ST3 system rather than figuring out how to build the way Europeans do.
My main takeaway from this event is that dropping Avalon Station is as good as a done deal.
I'm having a hard time figuring out who the audience for this West Seattle light rail visioning event is. After remarks by CM Mosqueda and Dow Constantine, Sound Transit is presenting board-level info (what's a "tail track"?).
This would be a good onboarding briefing for a new board member but...
This would be a good onboarding briefing for a new board member but...
November 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Ugh. Really sad to see Sound Transit hacking away at the ST3 system rather than figuring out how to build the way Europeans do.
Long prison sentences for these agents and the people giving them the orders
ICE kidnapped a 17-year-old U.S. citizen named Christian Jimenez. Jimenez, a high school senior born in Newberg, Oregon, was driving on his school’s lunch break when ICE/CBP agents stopped his car, smashed his window, and abducted him on November 21, 2025.
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
November 25, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Long prison sentences for these agents and the people giving them the orders
You absolutely love to see this. So glad there are some Senate Dems willing to fight back. I would love to see my own Senator @murray.senate.gov join this club.
Chuck Schumer Faces Pushback From a ‘Fight Club’ of Senate Democrats
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:51 AM
You absolutely love to see this. So glad there are some Senate Dems willing to fight back. I would love to see my own Senator @murray.senate.gov join this club.
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
Living in the US in 2025: The government that hates green tech says your e-bike battery might explode if it gets wet, but the company says, nuh uh, only if it gets REALLY wet. And now you, a person who needs their e-bike and also doesn't want their house to burn down, has to figure out what to do.
Not trying to stan Rad here, but should we be a little skeptical of a CPSC that was gutted this year by an administration that hates green tech?
www.13abc.com/2025/05/14/d...
www.13abc.com/2025/05/14/d...
DOGE dismantles Consumer Product Safety Commission
When a product turns out to be dangerous, or even deadly, it’s recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
It’s a watchdog group that’s now being dismantled by DOGE.
www.13abc.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Living in the US in 2025: The government that hates green tech says your e-bike battery might explode if it gets wet, but the company says, nuh uh, only if it gets REALLY wet. And now you, a person who needs their e-bike and also doesn't want their house to burn down, has to figure out what to do.
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
this is because people want to turn their cities into museums of their own past. they don't want the future. they want to turn into dust reflecting on how awesome they used to be
It’s really incredible how we decided that cities should no longer be physically shaped by the industries that carry them. I wrote this about the tech industry’s lack of a built legacy in Manhattan over a decade ago, but it could be written 10x over in the Bay Area newyorkyimby.com/2014/12/how-...
How New York City is Robbing Itself of the Tech Industry's Built Legacy - New York YIMBY
With strict limits on growth in Midtown South and on the Brooklyn waterfront, tech giants are leaving little architecture behind for future generations.
newyorkyimby.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM
this is because people want to turn their cities into museums of their own past. they don't want the future. they want to turn into dust reflecting on how awesome they used to be
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
I have long had an obscure, complex theory about Susan Collins that explains these things.
Susan Collins is terrible and anyone who ever suggested she is a moderate is a liar or a rube.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Susan Collins is terrible and anyone who ever suggested she is a moderate is a liar or a rube.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
In case anyone is wondering what kind of campaign Collins intends to run next year, now we know. No achievements, only hate:
Susan Collins backs referendum to overturn Maine’s protections for transgender students
www.bangordailynews.com/2025/11/24/p...
Susan Collins backs referendum to overturn Maine’s protections for transgender students
www.bangordailynews.com/2025/11/24/p...
Susan Collins backs referendum to overturn Maine’s protections for transgender students
Collins' office said she signed onto the petition because she agrees with President Donald Trump’s interpretation of Title IX.
www.bangordailynews.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:15 PM
I have long had an obscure, complex theory about Susan Collins that explains these things.
Susan Collins is terrible and anyone who ever suggested she is a moderate is a liar or a rube.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Susan Collins is terrible and anyone who ever suggested she is a moderate is a liar or a rube.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Reposted by Robert Cruickshank
Learning that Annemarie Gray (no relation) of Open New York, NYC's YIMBY group, has been appointed to Mayor-elect Mamdani's housing transition team. This is FANTASTIC news!
November 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Learning that Annemarie Gray (no relation) of Open New York, NYC's YIMBY group, has been appointed to Mayor-elect Mamdani's housing transition team. This is FANTASTIC news!
I want Democrats to pledge they will prosecute everyone involved in this. No more "turning the page," no more "looking forward not backward." Everyone from Trump and Miller on down to the ICE agent in the field should face the inside of a prison cell.
A Wash Post review found instances of parents arrested near campuses in at least 10 states so far this year. Actions near campuses—which include shooting a man, releasing tear gas and engaging in a car chase—have prompted lockdowns. @justinemcdaniel.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
In cities targeted by ICE, empty desks and school disruptions follow
One in 5 students in Charlotte missed school after a recent ICE crackdown began. It’s the latest city where schools felt the impact of Trump’s deportation effort.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:54 PM
I want Democrats to pledge they will prosecute everyone involved in this. No more "turning the page," no more "looking forward not backward." Everyone from Trump and Miller on down to the ICE agent in the field should face the inside of a prison cell.