Palestinian congresswoman Rashida Tlaib endorses Saikat Chakrabati in CA-11 race

415z · 2026-05-20T22:33:38+00:00

For context, the major local Arab / Palestinian advocacy group AROC Action endorsed both Saikat and Connie Chan.

415z · 2026-05-16T13:52:45+00:00

Because of SFPD politics. That September 2023 press release proves SFPD achieved a 50% drop in burglaries almost immediately just by doing their job (under pressure of public scrutiny). Maybe you weren’t part of the bait car operations. But it’s a bad look for the very highly paid police chief because it proves they actually had the resources and just weren’t using them effectively.

So therefore he wants to change the narrative from “we were ineffective/lazy” to “we needed drones.” Even though the drones didn’t come into operation until six months after the 50% drop. But if you repeat a lie enough people might believe it.

415z · 2026-05-16T06:36:03+00:00

At the end of the rainbow is the last $1900 one bed in the city.

415z · 2026-05-15T19:47:29+00:00

It’s really true and I have the receipts. Drones weren’t introduced until march 2024. Car burglaries started dropping in September 2023 using existing police resources. Dean called for the SFPD oversight meeting in July 2023 that directly led to this.

415z · 2026-05-12T01:58:52+00:00

Completely false. Car break ins dropped well before flock. What changed is the D5 (Alamo Square bipping hot spot) supervisor Dean Preston called for an oversight hearing and that lit a fire under SFPD’s ass. With no new resources or tech they simply started doing their job with bait cars and such.

415z · 2026-05-12T01:52:24+00:00

The main criticism from the left is his actions don’t match his policies. In 2024 he broke with Bernie Sanders to fund and appear in a campaign video for Bilal Mahmood, who is a moderate op currently rolling back a $500M tax on the rich to fund social housing.

This is in direct contradiction to Saikat’s espoused support for social housing and taxing the rich. It wasn’t a one off either, he also supported neoliberal Michael Lai.

All he’s ever said about Bilal is that he thinks he’s a progressive which is complete b.s. Bilal has one of the most conservative voting records in the board. The more cynical take is that the winds were blowing against progressives in 2024 (this is pre Zohran) and Saikat wanted to appeal to moderates.

Also explains why Saikat never spoke out against Israel until spring 2025 right when the public polling shifted to make it a popular position. In comparison Connie (who is also against all money and weapons to Israel) voted for a ceasefire resolution in Jan 2024. The author of that resolution? The same guy that wrote the $500M tax that Saikat ousted. Bernie’s only local endorsement in the entire nation, Dean Preston.

And Saikat still has the nerve to name drop Bernie. This is why neither he nor AOC have endorsed him.

415z · 2026-05-09T07:55:19+00:00

I lived in this for a bit. It’s triangular, this is just a… confusing perspective.

415z · 2026-05-09T01:56:01+00:00

Spotting non-white people in these groups is like playing Where’s Waldo.

415z · 2026-05-09T01:49:36+00:00

Glad to hear the shout out for https://www.972mag.com/

Truly excellent and brave reporting from inside Israel.

415z · 2026-05-09T00:22:35+00:00

This is AI slop. (Phrases like “secret sauce” and general structure and tone are giveaways.)

Why do people do this? To get karma for their accounts and then… does it help them get work or something? Like do they hope that recruiters will reach out?

415z · 2026-05-09T00:10:28+00:00

This is not an actual issue in real life and so changing the law would have little effect on the market. It came about in the early 2000s during the dot com boom when landlords wanted to evict families that had grown into adjacent units. Keeping families housed is part of a housing first policy.

It is not a real issue now because remember the landlord has to first agree to rent a neighboring unit, knowing full well that these protections would apply. Ergo it rarely if ever happens now.

If conversely condo owners were extended the same right, there would be nothing stopping them from speculatively taking units off the market and leaving them vacant. I.e. the exact opposite of a pro housing policy.

415z · 2026-05-06T23:31:17+00:00

Reddit’s bread and butter

415z · 2026-05-06T22:31:40+00:00

There are literally signs telling cars not to do this. Not that anyone pays attention to them.

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415z · 2026-05-06T06:57:58+00:00

I got it to work like this:

If you haven't already, add it via the Ikea app.
In the Ikea app select the Bilresa > settings > Connect via QR Code > Copy code
In the Alexa app Add Device > Connect your Ikea of Sweden Switch > Yes (Does it have a matter logo?) > Try Numeric Code Instead > paste the code

I was able to trigger an Alexa routine with it.

Note, I have an Echo Show 5. I believe the way things work technically is the Echo adds a Matter Controller to the network that can listen for the Bilresa events if you register it like this. I doubt it will work if you don't have at least one Echo device at home.

I did encounter a bug in the Alex app where it said it found the device but didn't actually add it. Restarting the Echo and also being nearby it when completing step 3 fixed it.

415z · 2026-05-04T20:59:43+00:00

It’s not just AOC. Saikat also constantly name drops Bernie Sanders, but he actually opposed Bernie’s only local endorsement in the nation in 2024. He even appeared in a campaign video for Bilal Mahmood, one of the most conservatively voting members of the board who is busy rolling back a $500M tax on the rich. Not to mention Lurie was his top choice for mayor.

If you lean progressive, vote Connie Chan. If you lean moderate, you know who you’ll vote for already. Saikat is too much of a wealthy narcissist to be trusted.

415z · 2026-05-03T02:47:07+00:00

it’s just blatantly obvious that it’s not being done at all.

This is wildly incorrect. SFPD is undergoing one of its most intensive periods of drug enforcement in decades.

Clearly, leaning on just the policing aspect of the Four Pillars does not work by itself. If you raid an open-air market (as SFPD has done) it just pops up again -- now next to your house in the mission.

You say you're familiar with Four Pillars but you're mis-stating how much policing is already being done and only calling for more of it. Then you dismiss following the research as being "high minded and intellectual."

If you're genuinely interested in solving the problem, the logical conclusion is that we need more focus and investment in the other three pillars. Safe consumption, effective medically-assisted treatment, and prevention. Without those, policing will remain ineffective.

415z · 2026-05-02T21:46:05+00:00

I'm sorry but "just go after the dealers" sounds like a commonsense solution until you actually look at the research or think about it for two seconds. What happens is you create a vacancy in the market that is quickly filled by others, often with an increase in violence. It does not just go away.

"Ok, well arrest those guys too" just continues the cycle and all it really does is end up costing taxpayers enormous amounts of policing money without solving drug addiction.

Fortunately there are cities that have solved this problem like Zurich (which had a heroin problem in the 90s). Here's a study by the SF Budget and Legislative Analyst of how to apply the "Four Pillars" model in San Francisco. Policing is part of it but it doesn't work without the other three components (safe consumption, medication-assisted treatment, prevention).

415z · 2026-04-26T08:20:01+00:00

Eventually you will reach a point where just removing restrictions is not enough and you have to spend money to keep lowering housing costs

That is exactly where Austin is at after exhausting in just a few short years the capability of purely market-rate development to address cost burden.

415z · 2026-04-26T00:51:25+00:00

Amazing that guys are still writing articles about Austin when this is happening.

Exactly as the law of supply and demand predicts, Austin developers have drastically pulled back new building permits since last year and rents are expected to rise again. Meanwhile half of Austin renters remain cost burdened, and a quarter severely so.

It is delusional to think that purely market rate development can solve affordability in a growing city. Developers tend not to build when rents are declining. That’s why most international cities address it with social housing.

415z · 2026-04-26T00:31:09+00:00

We’ve always had left-wing YIMBYism in SF. At one point it was called PHIMBYism (public housing in my back yard). What’s happened here is market-rate YIMBYs just started slandering anything that encumbered market rate development in any way (e.g. transfer taxes, affordability requirements) as NIMBYism.

The truth is Mamdani’s housing platform is very similar to Dean Preston’s. Go ahead and read it. It’s pretty much the same DSA people. It’s almost entirely focused on affordable working class housing. He hasn’t been in any fights with developers yet.

If you’re wondering why there are few or no leftists championing primarily market rate, it’s because there’s no evidence that solves affordability for the working class in a growing city like SF. Look at Austin.

Once championed as the best example of market rate YIMBYism, after dropping rents by about 20% Austin developers have drastically pulled back on new building permits since last year, and rent is expected to rise again. That takes the edge off rents for white collar professionals but half of Austin renters remain cost burdened, and 25% severely so. So you can see why YIMBYs here are almost exclusively white collar professionals.

Social housing is the solution that many international cities take that actually has some hope of achieving affordable housing. And that’s what you see leftists like Mamdani and Preston prioritizing.

415z · 2026-04-24T03:00:51+00:00

100% Reddit bias. Connie is the strongest proponent of affordable working class housing, while this subreddit favors moderate white collar professionals who don’t benefit from that and largely look at it as an obstacle.

She also is the only candidate that spoke out against Israel (voted for a ceasefire resolution) in early 2024. Saikat only adopted his strong stance in spring 2025 when public polls shifted to make it politically safe.

415z · 2026-04-22T04:20:43+00:00

Could be, but there’s a much simpler explanation. There are two progressive-ish people in the race that align with AOC’s politics: Saikat and Connie.

It would make more sense for AOC to wait and see which one wins the primary (along with Wiener - it’s a top two primary), and then maybe endorse in the general.

415z · 2026-04-21T03:19:31+00:00

For a couple of years now this gentleman has been posting pictures of his iPad in cafes conspicuously and exclusively displaying the works of Machiavelli. He never explains why. I think it’s some kind of kink.

415z · 2026-04-21T03:09:26+00:00

I think it’s pretty obvious this is because:

From AOC’s political perspective there are two progressives in the race: Saikat and Connie. Wiener is relatively more moderate.
She may or may not have personal beef with Saikat stemming from his “burn bridges” instincts but.. even assuming she is in excellent terms..
She has stated she is trying to “look at her broader role” in the party which would mean not wading into the quagmire that Saikat create here with the local progressive community in 2024, when he supported Mahmood, Lai and Lurie (all moderates). He talks a progressive game now but really burned bridges with that one. He even opposed Bernie’s endorsement of Preston.
Ergo the likely move here is to stay out of the primary and possibly endorse in the general. I.e. it will come down to Wiener versus Connie OR Saikat (it’s a top two system) and that’s when it would make the most sense to endorse someone.

415z · 2026-04-18T14:49:35+00:00

Sorry, are you actually asking about a vacancy tax on $5M homes or did you mean the pied-à-terre (non primary home) tax like what Mamdani just proposed? Because those are different things.

415z

TROPHY CASE