H. Pike Oliver
@urbanexus.bsky.social
Interested in how built and natural environments can coexist and appalled by Trump 2.0. See my blog posts at https://urbanexus.com and learn about master-planned development on the Irvine Ranch in Southern California at https://thebigplanbook.com.
Great perspective on the Russo—Ukraine War open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...
Can the Russo-Ukrainian war end?
Part 2 of a conversation with Phillips O'Brien
open.substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Great perspective on the Russo—Ukraine War open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...
This chart shows that consumer sentiment in the United States is the weakest it has been since at least the back-to-back recessions of the early 1980s.
December 21, 2025 at 8:18 PM
This chart shows that consumer sentiment in the United States is the weakest it has been since at least the back-to-back recessions of the early 1980s.
Two ways to look at U.S. tariff revenue
December 21, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Two ways to look at U.S. tariff revenue
How Democrats Used One Word to Turn the Tide Against Trump www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/u...
How Democrats Used One Word to Turn the Tide Against Trump
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:28 PM
How Democrats Used One Word to Turn the Tide Against Trump www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/u...
Health care premiums are set to spike after Congress leaves Washington for the year with no agreement to extend Obamacare subsidies. The sharp rise disproportionately affects GOP districts.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
December 19, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Health care premiums are set to spike after Congress leaves Washington for the year with no agreement to extend Obamacare subsidies. The sharp rise disproportionately affects GOP districts.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
First freeway ride in a Waymo
December 15, 2025 at 12:13 AM
First freeway ride in a Waymo
Exploring how Irvine Ranch set an enduring benchmark for master-planned communities—integrating land preservation, housing diversity, governance, schools, and major employment centers, including UC Irvine’s research park.
thebigplanbook.com/blog/four-am...
thebigplanbook.com/blog/four-am...
Four American new towns — The Big Plan
Benchmarking the Irvine Ranch against Columbia, Reston, and The Woodlands.
thebigplanbook.com
December 10, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Exploring how Irvine Ranch set an enduring benchmark for master-planned communities—integrating land preservation, housing diversity, governance, schools, and major employment centers, including UC Irvine’s research park.
thebigplanbook.com/blog/four-am...
thebigplanbook.com/blog/four-am...
Matthew Yglesias is correct: The way to build a growing, dynamic city is to stop deliberately stifling growth. That means, in part, saying “no” to rent-seekers, but also actually solving congestion issues with better transportation policy.
www.slowboring.com/p/imagining-...
www.slowboring.com/p/imagining-...
Imagining pro-growth urbanism
Plus my plan to spend $1 billion and the hottest Charles Evans Hughes takes around
www.slowboring.com
December 7, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Matthew Yglesias is correct: The way to build a growing, dynamic city is to stop deliberately stifling growth. That means, in part, saying “no” to rent-seekers, but also actually solving congestion issues with better transportation policy.
www.slowboring.com/p/imagining-...
www.slowboring.com/p/imagining-...
On Dec. 4, '25, Andrew Kolvet of Turning Point USA posted: “Every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean.” Hegseth quoted Kolvet and commented, “Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat.”
December 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
On Dec. 4, '25, Andrew Kolvet of Turning Point USA posted: “Every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean.” Hegseth quoted Kolvet and commented, “Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat.”
The vast majority of immigrants arrested by ICE in its brutal crackdowns have NO CRIMINAL RECORDS. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
ICE Arrest Data Shows Many Immigrants With No Criminal Record
In high-profile operations, more than half of those arrested had no criminal record, an analysis shows.
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:12 PM
The vast majority of immigrants arrested by ICE in its brutal crackdowns have NO CRIMINAL RECORDS. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Reacting to Pete Hegseth's comment during the Cabinet meeting of December 3, 2025. (while the President was sleeping), conservative columnist George Will, writing in The Washington Post, did not mince words. Hegseth, he wrote, “seems to be a war criminal.”
Bulletproof No More
Pete Hegseth: “I watched that first strike live.
joycevance.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reacting to Pete Hegseth's comment during the Cabinet meeting of December 3, 2025. (while the President was sleeping), conservative columnist George Will, writing in The Washington Post, did not mince words. Hegseth, he wrote, “seems to be a war criminal.”
G. Elliott Morris' take on the Tennessee Congressional District 7 election.
What the special election in Tennessee says about the 2026 midterms
Republicans held a Trump +22 seat — but by only 9 points. A swing half as large would give Democrats the U.S. House in 2026, and put the Senate clearly in play
www.gelliottmorris.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:48 PM
G. Elliott Morris' take on the Tennessee Congressional District 7 election.
These are the people who help me understand what is going on during the administration of POTUS47 and assess what to do about it. Click below to view the list.
Pro‑democracy media voices in the USA — Urbanexus
A diverse chorus of historians, veterans, analysts, and strategists is shaping a multifaceted defense of democracy in 2025.
www.urbanexus.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM
These are the people who help me understand what is going on during the administration of POTUS47 and assess what to do about it. Click below to view the list.
After the Washington Post first reported on November 28, 2025, that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a command to “Kill them all” in a September attack on the high seas, which led to a second strike that killed survivors, Hegseth posted a juvenile cartoon making light of his own crime.
Hegseth's second strike didn't render the first one less murderous
And making light of the carnage is ghoulish
sabrinahaake.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:53 PM
After the Washington Post first reported on November 28, 2025, that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a command to “Kill them all” in a September attack on the high seas, which led to a second strike that killed survivors, Hegseth posted a juvenile cartoon making light of his own crime.
Hegseth’s new second-strike story shoots himself in the second foot …
Hegseth: Not In the Room Where It Happened
Defense secretary claims he left meeting monitoring Sept. 2 boat strike because he had a thing
thefuckingnews.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Hegseth’s new second-strike story shoots himself in the second foot …
Question: …does the administration deny that that second strike happened? Or did it happen, and the administration denies that Secretary Hegseth gave the order?
Answer (from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt): The latter is true.
thefuckingnews.substack.com/p/trump-thro...
Answer (from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt): The latter is true.
thefuckingnews.substack.com/p/trump-thro...
Trump Throws Military Overboard
The White House and secretary of defense say it was totally legal what that military guy did absolutely on his own
thefuckingnews.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Question: …does the administration deny that that second strike happened? Or did it happen, and the administration denies that Secretary Hegseth gave the order?
Answer (from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt): The latter is true.
thefuckingnews.substack.com/p/trump-thro...
Answer (from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt): The latter is true.
thefuckingnews.substack.com/p/trump-thro...
If Democrats regain power in 2028, which seems increasingly likely, they can’t do another Merrick Garland, repeating their past mistake of letting past lawbreaking go unpunished. Demanding accountability is the only way to restore faith in government.
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/doge-was-a...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/doge-was-a...
DOGE Was a Harbinger of Trump’s Assault on Decency and Privacy
Democrats will have to repair the damage
paulkrugman.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:25 PM
If Democrats regain power in 2028, which seems increasingly likely, they can’t do another Merrick Garland, repeating their past mistake of letting past lawbreaking go unpunished. Demanding accountability is the only way to restore faith in government.
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/doge-was-a...
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/doge-was-a...
In September 2025, eleven people were deported from the USA to a secretive detention camp in a forest in Ghana--Bundase Training Camp, some forty miles from Accra. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Disappeared to a Foreign Prison
The Trump Administration is deporting people to countries they have no ties to, where many are being detained indefinitely or forcibly returned to the places they fled. Sarah Stillman reports.
www.newyorker.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:08 PM
In September 2025, eleven people were deported from the USA to a secretive detention camp in a forest in Ghana--Bundase Training Camp, some forty miles from Accra. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
When journalist Mary Bruce asked “the Bone Saw Prince,” Mohammed bin Salman, about intelligence concluding that he ordered the Khashoggi murder, Trump answered. “He knew nothing about it! You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking something like that.”
sabrinahaake.substack.com/p/power-and-...
sabrinahaake.substack.com/p/power-and-...
Power and shame: Tracing Trump's billions through the Bone Saw Prince
Journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Jan.
sabrinahaake.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:03 PM
When journalist Mary Bruce asked “the Bone Saw Prince,” Mohammed bin Salman, about intelligence concluding that he ordered the Khashoggi murder, Trump answered. “He knew nothing about it! You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking something like that.”
sabrinahaake.substack.com/p/power-and-...
sabrinahaake.substack.com/p/power-and-...
In 1800, most of the world was desperately poor. In 1980, nearly half the world was desperately poor. Today, something like 9 percent of the world is desperately poor.
thedispatch.com/article/capi...
thedispatch.com/article/capi...
What About the Poor?
In discussing what’s wrong with capitalism, its effect on poverty is left out.
thedispatch.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:16 AM
In 1800, most of the world was desperately poor. In 1980, nearly half the world was desperately poor. Today, something like 9 percent of the world is desperately poor.
thedispatch.com/article/capi...
thedispatch.com/article/capi...