Matthew Petersen

for those of us for whom the build-up to Iraq was politically formative, one of the most disturbing lessons from this war seems to be that in fact if you don't bother to spend months building consent it actually goes down *better* with the public. you can just start blasting and nobody will care.

Criminal.

There’s been plenty of snow this winter & across DCR‘s West Region, there are plenty of groomed trails for you to enjoy the winter recreation of your choice! Check the link for the park alerts dashboard before you head out to cross-country ski, snowshoe, fat bike, or snowmobile! bit.ly/DCRAlerts

A surcharge for millionaires? This plan would tax the rich, eliminate taxes for half of U.S. workforce The middle class would receive a tax cut as part of the proposal, which is expected to be unveiled next week.

The middle class would receive a tax cut as part of the proposal, which is expected to be unveiled next week.

Congratulations! Well deserved

Corporate Media Buries Story of US and Israel Killing 168 in Girls School Attack No front-page stories in NYT, WSJ, WaPo. No mention on NBC and CBS Sunday Shows. No stand alone segments on Evening News shows. A death count on par with the OKC bombing is relegated to the back page.

I wrote about how the US and Israel carried out an attack on an Iranian girls school on par with the OKC bombing and US media relegated it to a back page story. No stand alone evening news segments, no front page stories, it made A11 in the NYT then everyone moved on.

Can AI Replace Social Science Researchers? No. No it can't. Come on, now.

‘We are instead adding these tools after decades of shredding the university system, along with a year-plus of full-frontal assault. That is basically the worst precursor for the introduction of this particular new technology!’

By @davekarpf.bsky.social

It's bananas

Who remembers Mỹ Lai?

Congress Allocates $80 Million to Build Blue Hill Ave. Busway - Streetsblog Massachusetts Combined with existing pledges of funding from other federal, state, and local sources, the project is now fully funded for construction.

SCOOP: The Blue Hill Avenue center-running busway project, endorsed by @mbta.com and @mayorwu.boston.gov, is now fully funded for construction.

Congress Allocates $80 Million to Build Blue Hill Ave. Busway - mass.streetsblog.org/2026/03/05/c...

Excellent news - this project is long overdue. I began the effort in earnest in 2009; now looking forward to @wutrain.bsky.social getting it done. Bus riders on some of #mapoli’s busiest routes will have better access to opportunities and resources.

A picture of PEW poll on global attitude survey, saying the % who rate the morality and ethics of people in their country as good vs bad, where the US has the worst rankings and Canada the best

Americans: we live in a fallen state—embroiled by sin, cheating, lying, and evil. You cannot trust anyone, not even those who claim to know you best

Canadians: I love my neighbors and my friends!

The declyne of readinge ys caused by manye thinges. One major cause ys a systematic & decades-long devaluinge of literature at all levels of educacioun. We kan not put instrumentalitye above meaninge and still thrive. Fundinge the humanityes ys key to a just societye of well-informed citizens.

The very existence of commercially available glasses with Internet-connected cameras sold by Meta, a company built entirely on hiding the costs of services in negative privacy externalities, is an indictment of U.S. tech law and policy. This is an unfixable product from a fundamentally bad company.

Maryland, New Mexico Become Latest Blue States to Ban Local Contracts with ICE - Bolts Governors Lujan Grisham and Moore signed laws barring local sheriffs and police from partnering with ICE’s 287(g) program, joining a string of eight states with similar prohibitions.

To underscore just how unusual it is for a blue state like Massachusetts to be formally partnering with ICE, note that a majority of D-trifecta states now ban 287(g) agreements with ICE. Among those that do not, Massachusetts is the only one with a state-level 287(g).

boltsmag.org/maryland-new...

The relative lack of suburban bus service feeding to the rapid transit network in Boston is stark. I do think that that is one of our biggest gaps in terms of transit service. We should have much more bus service connecting to the ends of the subway system and to the commuter rail

US Sen. Ron Wyden wants answers from Trump administration on wildfire preparedness Lawmakers across the West are nervous about a potentially destructive wildfire season at a time when federal firefighting agencies are strained.

Oregon's snowpack is meager so far, and fears are growing that this summer's wildfire conditions will be dire. With about half of the state's land managed by the federal government, Sen. Ron Wyden is pushing the Trump administration to provide some answers on its plans to do to prepare.

Buses To Replace Stairs At 3rd Street Station Shuttle buses will replace the stairs at 3rd street station while they undergo repairs. Expect delays of 30 minutes.

Buses To Replace Stairs At 3rd Street Station

The Diameter Of The Bomb The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters and the diameter of its effective range about seven meters, with four dead and eleven wounded. And around these, in a larger circle of pain and time, two hospitals are scattered and one graveyard. But the young woman who was buried in the city she came from, at a distance of more than a hundred kilometers, enlarges the circle considerably, and the solitary man mourning her death at the distant shores of a country far across the sea includes the entire world in the circle. And I won’t even mention the crying of orphans that reaches up to the throne of God and beyond, making a circle with no end and no God.

amichai.

Was listening to something yesterday reflecting on capitalism. They said that capitalism isn't primarily about accruing wealth but about power, control, and ownership.

Sometimes, the Bad Thing Near Me is actually bad

Major victory in my home county! The landfill is terribly sited, and my dad served on an advisory committee that recommended against expansion.

Benton County commissioners deny Coffin Butte landfill expansion in major reversal Benton County commissioners have denied the application to expand the Coffin Butte landfill in a major reversal of their decision last year.

Benton County commissioners late last year approved an expansion of Coffin Butte landfill. On Tuesday, they voted unanimously to reverse that decision.

this is not an amount of money any individual or household should be able to have and we have to abolish both billionaires as a group and the economic system that makes them possible

it should be a fundamental precept of governance that if you care more about what happens in whatever you imagine to be the next world than you do about what happens in this world, you should not be in charge of what happens in this world

Text "Low Fare Fare-Free Transit. Some Recent Applications by U.S. Transit Systems." Prepared for U.S. Department of Transportation Urban Mass Transportation Administration. Illustrations of people with growing numbers with reduced and free fares.

this is so ghoulish and disgusting

The answer to problems in sociotechnical systems is not always "more software", "better software" or "open source software".
A lot of the time the best solution is _less software_ and sometimes even _no software_.

Mourners attend a funeral for girls and staff who lost their lives when a primary school in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province was hit on the first day of US-Israeli attacks on Iran. [Anadolu]

A woman hold a photograph of pupils during the funeral.[Anadolu]

Mourners carry Iranian flags as they gather for the funeral in Minab. [Anadolu]

Coffins draped with Iranian flags are carried on trucks during the funeral. [Anadolu]

Iran mourns 165 girls, staff killed in school strike during US-Israel war https://aje.news/t0pz7y

And almost never meaning that government should seek to outcompete business or displace private enterprise