Michael Brigham
@michael-ames.bsky.social
kitchen experimenter, design researcher, militant pedestrian, new admirer of grassy hills. Can't find a haircut that suits him.
Reposted by Michael Brigham
WaPo reports that ICE is planning 7 massive human warehouses holding 5,000 to 10,000 people.
Recalls the acting ICE director 2015 statement that he wanted to see a “business”-oriented approach to deportations, “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Recalls the acting ICE director 2015 statement that he wanted to see a “business”-oriented approach to deportations, “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
ICE documents reveal plan to hold 80,000 immigrants in warehouses
The Trump administration wants to build seven large-scale deportation hubs to speed up deportations, internal ICE documents show.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:24 PM
WaPo reports that ICE is planning 7 massive human warehouses holding 5,000 to 10,000 people.
Recalls the acting ICE director 2015 statement that he wanted to see a “business”-oriented approach to deportations, “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Recalls the acting ICE director 2015 statement that he wanted to see a “business”-oriented approach to deportations, “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Reposted by Michael Brigham
Periodic reminder that governmental obfuscation is not just a burr for journos: It runs counter to the public interest. It makes for an ill-informed population with less trust in institutions.
The people who work for you don't want you to have information you own. Be mad about that.
The people who work for you don't want you to have information you own. Be mad about that.
December 6, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Periodic reminder that governmental obfuscation is not just a burr for journos: It runs counter to the public interest. It makes for an ill-informed population with less trust in institutions.
The people who work for you don't want you to have information you own. Be mad about that.
The people who work for you don't want you to have information you own. Be mad about that.
Reposted by Michael Brigham
i cannot escape the sense that what these people are fundamentally opposed to is political leadership
December 20, 2025 at 10:45 PM
i cannot escape the sense that what these people are fundamentally opposed to is political leadership
Reposted by Michael Brigham
just endless streaming terabytes of regenerating digital diarrhea, a biblical deluge of it, falling from the sky, pushing up from our drains, into our emails and our social media and clogging pipes once used for information, in our kids' schools and on dating apps and in aging parents' voicemails
December 18, 2025 at 1:33 PM
just endless streaming terabytes of regenerating digital diarrhea, a biblical deluge of it, falling from the sky, pushing up from our drains, into our emails and our social media and clogging pipes once used for information, in our kids' schools and on dating apps and in aging parents' voicemails
Reposted by Michael Brigham
A friend worked as a lawyer in the civil rights division of the DOJ during Obama’s first term and he said the whole time they were slogging through mud because of incompetent/saboteur W. Bush appointees. This time we gotta do some purges based on qualifications and basic democratic value alignment.
Former FBI official Chris O'Leary explains that part of why it will be difficult for the FBI to recover from the damage of the Trump era is that the experienced agents are leaving and "what's going to be left is loyalists to this administration." Replacing the seasoned professionals will be tough.
December 16, 2025 at 3:51 AM
A friend worked as a lawyer in the civil rights division of the DOJ during Obama’s first term and he said the whole time they were slogging through mud because of incompetent/saboteur W. Bush appointees. This time we gotta do some purges based on qualifications and basic democratic value alignment.
Reposted by Michael Brigham
I mean, this is an execution
December 5, 2025 at 1:03 AM
I mean, this is an execution
Reposted by Michael Brigham
Climate change is killing workers. The fix is simple.
Water. Shade. Rest Breaks.
Our new Health Affairs study: California's heat standard was associated with a 33% drop in heat-related deaths among outdoor workers.
Now it's time for OSHA to adopt a federal heat standard.
tinyurl.com/4wejjhkd
Water. Shade. Rest Breaks.
Our new Health Affairs study: California's heat standard was associated with a 33% drop in heat-related deaths among outdoor workers.
Now it's time for OSHA to adopt a federal heat standard.
tinyurl.com/4wejjhkd
December 2, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Climate change is killing workers. The fix is simple.
Water. Shade. Rest Breaks.
Our new Health Affairs study: California's heat standard was associated with a 33% drop in heat-related deaths among outdoor workers.
Now it's time for OSHA to adopt a federal heat standard.
tinyurl.com/4wejjhkd
Water. Shade. Rest Breaks.
Our new Health Affairs study: California's heat standard was associated with a 33% drop in heat-related deaths among outdoor workers.
Now it's time for OSHA to adopt a federal heat standard.
tinyurl.com/4wejjhkd
Reposted by Michael Brigham
Talking to housing advocates in the last few weeks has gotten pretty bleak. Various versions of "everyone's acting like the crisis is over, and it's really really not." www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Feds to reduce housing spending by half, build only 26,000 homes: Budget watchdog | CBC News
Spending on housing programs will decline by more than half over the next four years with the federal government’s $13-billion signature housing initiative leading to the construction of just 26,000 n...
www.cbc.ca
December 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Talking to housing advocates in the last few weeks has gotten pretty bleak. Various versions of "everyone's acting like the crisis is over, and it's really really not." www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Reposted by Michael Brigham
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Bookselling is like the most "people go to the store and buy what looks cool to them without a particular agenda" type business left, and your purchases have a huge influence on what is ordered, what is displayed, and what is recommended.
November 29, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Reposted by Michael Brigham
Mamdani is going to bring him that snowglobe that plays "Memories" from CATS and we're going to get government grocery stores nationwide
November 20, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Mamdani is going to bring him that snowglobe that plays "Memories" from CATS and we're going to get government grocery stores nationwide
Reposted by Michael Brigham
of course there is a long list of prosecutions that need to happen after 2028 but i think a very high priority if not the highest should be a thorough investigation into every single death in ICE custody
criminal or civil penalties i don't care, there needs to be accountability here
criminal or civil penalties i don't care, there needs to be accountability here
"A Chinese immigrant was found dead in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, with his hands and feet tied behind him, an attorney has alleged."
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
Man detained by ICE found dead, hanging with hands and feet tied—attorney
The Chinese national died in Pennsylvania in August, but his family's requests for answers from DHS have gone unmet.
www.newsweek.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:20 AM
of course there is a long list of prosecutions that need to happen after 2028 but i think a very high priority if not the highest should be a thorough investigation into every single death in ICE custody
criminal or civil penalties i don't care, there needs to be accountability here
criminal or civil penalties i don't care, there needs to be accountability here
Reposted by Michael Brigham
we need to put to rest the idea that the mass suburbanization of the US was inevitably natural, and admit that americans only seek out this lifestyle because the US has heavily subsidized it over the last century to attainability for a sizeable population, to the benefit of certain industries.
Right, this is true, but the OVERWHELMING evidence of the past 100 years of American life is that vastly more people want space and a car than a smaller unit and a car-free lifestyle. This is mostly why the suburban share of US population has grown relentlessly for the entire 20th and 21st century
Some people put a premium on space in my experience, others put a premium on not having to have a car and not being isolated out in the suburbs
November 19, 2025 at 4:30 AM
we need to put to rest the idea that the mass suburbanization of the US was inevitably natural, and admit that americans only seek out this lifestyle because the US has heavily subsidized it over the last century to attainability for a sizeable population, to the benefit of certain industries.
Reposted by Michael Brigham
Can we not add nearly 100 pages of design guidelines for development along each 2km stretch of road? Please?
secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
secure.toronto.ca
November 18, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Can we not add nearly 100 pages of design guidelines for development along each 2km stretch of road? Please?
secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Reposted by Michael Brigham
it is almost as if accommodating and conceding to far right ideas legitimizes them and signals to voters that the far right is a legitimate choice for governance
The Danish Social Democrats are currently on course for their worst election result since at least the Second World War, despite their brand of far-right accommodationism being touted as a blueprint for other centre-left parties.
Oh
November 18, 2025 at 2:24 PM
it is almost as if accommodating and conceding to far right ideas legitimizes them and signals to voters that the far right is a legitimate choice for governance
Reposted by Michael Brigham
Seriously, what is wrong with these people?
November 16, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Seriously, what is wrong with these people?
Reposted by Michael Brigham
This will not be news to regular readers, but it's worth noting whenever Toronto council debates housing (or transportation or neighbourhood amenities) that just three of the 25 wards absorbed three-quarters of the city's population growth between 2016 and 2021
November 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
This will not be news to regular readers, but it's worth noting whenever Toronto council debates housing (or transportation or neighbourhood amenities) that just three of the 25 wards absorbed three-quarters of the city's population growth between 2016 and 2021
Reposted by Michael Brigham
Almost everywhere in the City of Toronto has fewer people that it did 50 years ago
November 15, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Almost everywhere in the City of Toronto has fewer people that it did 50 years ago
Reposted by Michael Brigham
The Holy Father is the candidate of the Holy Spirit, and also a cinephile
Some inspiring words on cinema in the streaming era from the Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
November 15, 2025 at 5:47 PM
The Holy Father is the candidate of the Holy Spirit, and also a cinephile
Reposted by Michael Brigham
This is awesome but its also the wards that need it the least. I'd be thrilled to see a store open on my street.
But the suburban wards where folks have to drive to pick up milk and eggs are the ones who actually need this! The arguments against have been so detached from reality.
But the suburban wards where folks have to drive to pick up milk and eggs are the ones who actually need this! The arguments against have been so detached from reality.
Mayor Olivia Chow's motion to allow neighbourhood corner stores in all wards in the Old Toronto & East York Community Council area CARRIES 25-1.
November 13, 2025 at 11:10 PM
This is awesome but its also the wards that need it the least. I'd be thrilled to see a store open on my street.
But the suburban wards where folks have to drive to pick up milk and eggs are the ones who actually need this! The arguments against have been so detached from reality.
But the suburban wards where folks have to drive to pick up milk and eggs are the ones who actually need this! The arguments against have been so detached from reality.
Reposted by Michael Brigham
legitimately i think one of the core failings of centrist pundits is that they have come to define themselves by what they are against--to chart their intellectual course by who they think is being annoying this week--instead of by recourse to genuine principle
November 13, 2025 at 10:29 PM
legitimately i think one of the core failings of centrist pundits is that they have come to define themselves by what they are against--to chart their intellectual course by who they think is being annoying this week--instead of by recourse to genuine principle
Reposted by Michael Brigham
"We don't want successful businesses or things to do in our wards" - every Toronto City councillor, apparently.
Councillor Shan moves to exclude three streets in his ward. He worries the retail spaces created won't just be small shops selling ice cream to locals, but things like "beef patties that are so popular that people from the 905 will come to get it." That'll just add to traffic problems, he says.
November 13, 2025 at 5:45 PM
"We don't want successful businesses or things to do in our wards" - every Toronto City councillor, apparently.
Reposted by Michael Brigham
This is the crux. There is an entire cohort of municipal politician in Canada who actively don't like that they live in cities (reflective of a lot of voters).
Someone really needs to do a ranking of all of the anti-city city mayors in Canada
November 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
This is the crux. There is an entire cohort of municipal politician in Canada who actively don't like that they live in cities (reflective of a lot of voters).
Reposted by Michael Brigham
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
November 11, 2025 at 1:42 AM
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
Reposted by Michael Brigham
I was having a conversation recently about what can push a certain Ontario provincial agency to become better at at value-for-money in delivering projects. Political pressure to do so was my answer.
I regret to inform you that Ontario's voters simply don't care that their money is misspent.
I regret to inform you that Ontario's voters simply don't care that their money is misspent.
(⭐️ Support Me By Subscribing/Donating ⭐️)
Ontario Provincial Polling:
PCPO: 51% (+8)
OLP: 23% (-7)
ONDP: 19% (-)
GPO: 3% (-2)
Others: 4%
Abacus / Nov 6, 2025 / n=1000 / Online
(% Change with 2025 Election)
Check out more ON details on @338Canada at: www.338canada.com/ontario
Ontario Provincial Polling:
PCPO: 51% (+8)
OLP: 23% (-7)
ONDP: 19% (-)
GPO: 3% (-2)
Others: 4%
Abacus / Nov 6, 2025 / n=1000 / Online
(% Change with 2025 Election)
Check out more ON details on @338Canada at: www.338canada.com/ontario
November 11, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I was having a conversation recently about what can push a certain Ontario provincial agency to become better at at value-for-money in delivering projects. Political pressure to do so was my answer.
I regret to inform you that Ontario's voters simply don't care that their money is misspent.
I regret to inform you that Ontario's voters simply don't care that their money is misspent.
Reposted by Michael Brigham
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here