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Reposted by Stephen Jacob Smith

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 4h

Make sure you read the report about how Stephen Miller deported Waco's favorite Mexican restaurant owner.

www.texastribune.org/2025/10/07/t...

A picture of Sergio Garcia and George W and Laura Bush. It is signed, To Sergio Garcia with best wishes.

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Reposted by Stephen Jacob Smith

3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 7h

Newark mayor Ras Baraka's administration is proposing downzoning some parts of the city back to R-1 single-family zoning:

newark.legistar.com/LegislationD...

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 14m

“Car inspectors tell Yle that the root cause of the problem is that EVs are often built on platforms that do not sufficiently support the weight of the car, including the battery, and the wear and tear of the structures over time.”

Christian Breyer @christianonre.bsky.social · 23h

Electric cars fare worse in Finnish car inspections – up to half of Tesla's flunk - yle.fi/a/74-20186654 - considerable quality issues of Tesla detected, other EV manufacturers perform well

Electric cars fare worse in Finnish car inspections – up to half of Teslas flunk

EVs are gaining popularity in Finland – but perform significantly worse in inspections than petrol, diesel or hybrid cars of the same age. Teslas have by far the highest test failure rate.

yle.fi

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 32m

Yes

Reposted by Stephen Jacob Smith

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 13h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 10h

The guy blowing the trumpet (lol) makes me suspect there’s a bit more to it than that, but, there is also clearly a train with passengers on it passing through a station whose platform does not have a proper floor, which is not something I’ve ever seen in NYC at least.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 10h

A few people have asked, so: yes, comments from the general public are welcome! The email address was created for that. If you have technical comments, great. If you just want to register nonspecific support or opposition to changes, that’s helpful too.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 10h

Is a two-month shutdown necessary? I was watching a TikTok of the platforms on the M13 being rebuilt ahead of GoA4 upgrades, and they were pouring concrete with a basic metal and mesh barrier and the trains still running. It made me wonder if we go overkill with this stuff. @a320lga.bsky.social

Quelques fermetures mais c’est pour la bonne cause ! On vous dit tout 🚇 #ratp #ratpsansfiltre

TikTok video by RATP Officiel

www.tiktok.com

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 10h

So the argument always has to be “I am establishing X risk, and Y risk is equivalent, so you should accept Y.” This is going to look pretty similar to “You don’t like Y, so we should fix X risk.” But that’s not what I’m saying!

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 10h

I think building code reform is often going to make you nervous, because there is no stated acceptable level of risk, so to argue for changes, you have to identify a risk in the existing code and then prove that you’re not proposing to exceed it

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 10h

The “if you give a mouse a cookie” ramifications of sprinklers are very understudied…

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 11h

And that two-thirds-or-90% number is primarily based on 13R and 13 systems in commercial and multifamily occupancies – not 13D ones in single-family occupancies with larger smoke compartments. AND it doesn’t correct *at all* for other building features of occupant socioeconomics. It’s VERY suspect.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 11h

**applies a proprietary adjustment to the data

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 11h

It’s about a two-thirds decrease according to the raw NFIRS data. NFPA then applies proprietary and adjustment to the data to arrive at the 90% figure that gets cited, and they will not share the details of how they do that.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 11h

But to a much lower standard than the 13/13R systems in multifam…no monitoring or supervision. I am skeptical that new single-family houses in California have fire death rates as low as new multifam, since they have more occupants per smoke compartment.

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Reposted by Stephen Jacob Smith

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 14h

Caltrans has released a cross section for the ultimate (raised viaduct) version of SR-37.

Now maybe I'm just being paranoid, but if you were building a road that you planned to keep at 4 lanes wide, I don't think it would look like this.

Cross section of 114' wide bridge structure with each direction having a 12' outside shoulder and a 10' inside shoulder.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 12h

It’s not risk aversion though, it’s bias against apartments. America accepts more health and life safety risks in its built environment than any high-income country on earth.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 12h

It will be tough to get very far with building code reform without calling out what’s going on though. We are killing people and making urban housing unaffordable because of this basic failure to see the big picture.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 12h

The extreme nannystatism towards apartments has a glaring loophole that most Americans – including most firefighters, building officials, and fire protection engineers – exploit: live in a house! Even where sprinklers are required in new houses (California), most live in old houses without them

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 12h

Given all the features (like sprinklers – not common abroad) that we've loaded apartments up with, I doubt fire risk would increase by allowing very small footprint buildings to have a single exit. But this data raises a bigger question: are we too intolerant of more genuine fire risk in apartments?

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 12h

I can't stop thinking about this. We're pursuing zero fire risk in multifam, while tolerating much more in single-fam. People respond by building and living in single-fam, where they're exposed to not only one of the highest fire death risks in the developed world, but also TONS more car crash risk

Emily Hamilton @ebwhamilton.bsky.social · 13h

Love this new report on buildings' relative fire safety from @alexhrwtz.bsky.social and Pew colleagues.

www.pew.org/en/research-...

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 13h

Oh wait no, he’s the dumb-looking one on the other side, phew 😅

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 13h

Please don’t tell me he’s the hot one. I won’t be able to handle that information.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 13h

This is what Americans graduate to when they decide they wanna be fancier than dumping a can of jarred sauce into a pot of strained pasta

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 13h

I wonder if they’re especially receptive here because they perceive these as commercial and not personal vehicles (honestly kinda strange that a business would risk this? seems like a lot of effort and risk for something that makes you money)

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