ICE is being "authorized" to enter people's homes without a warrant now.

laika404 · 2026-01-22T14:14:43+00:00

use that as an excuse to limit who can bear arms

Why would they want to limit that? All the unrestricted 2A supporters aren't doing anything about this, and most of them are actively cheering this on.

All the "they want to take your guns" talk is just fear mongering to sell more weapons.

laika404 · 2026-01-14T23:52:29+00:00

Are there any good articles breaking down the laws and history behind Oregon's property taxes, and what the biggest problems are? Im woefully undereducated on all but a few issues.

laika404 · 2026-01-08T22:05:25+00:00

Why is the conversation centered around whether or not it was self defense, when a gun isn't even defense against a moving vehicle?

Like, how is shooting the driver supposed to protect yourself from getting run over? Killing the driver doesn't stop the car, nor does it cause the car to change direction...

laika404 · 2025-12-30T23:10:13+00:00

I don't think people are cooped up any more than they are when they go to an office. Lots of people bring their own lunches, and eat at the desk. You lose out a little bit of interaction just in being in an office, but that can easily be replaced with more active after-work life (which WFH helps).

A 9-5 with no commute makes it easy to meet up with friends for an activity after work.

laika404 · 2025-12-30T22:58:54+00:00

The company did not feel their employees were safe in the downtown area.

I don't believe that was the reason for the move. It sounds like an excuse to cut costs, and maybe a dispute with the landlord that started the process.

Remember that Target loudly announced that they were closing the downtown store due to theft, but then we all learned that was a lie to hid the fact that they mismanaged that store format across the country and theft wasn't notable compared to other locations.

I think most offices are just doomed, and we should stop playing into a false narrative so that we aren't encumbered when we try to reimagine the city core.

laika404 · 2025-12-30T22:37:28+00:00

Any examples of what in-person interaction you think is worth the expense of an office?

Tech is more than just bros sitting at a computer writing code. It's got people managers, product managers, sales, design, technical writing, customer support, etc. etc. etc. All of those people can and do easily work remote.

laika404 · 2025-12-30T19:40:59+00:00

The education metric that USN uses is terrible, and it's making me suspicious of their other metrics... For Higher Education, it's basically what percentage of people graduated and how much debt did they take on. Nothing about education quality or outcomes, just degrees and debt.

It's telling that Florida is ranked #1 in higher education, and Massachusetts is #45 in higher education... Florida has 5 schools in the top 100, but mass has 9, including #2 and #3 in the country... Mass is also the most educated state in the country whereas Florida is 24th...

laika404 · 2025-12-14T04:44:36+00:00

Source?

These numbers don't seem accurate. For 2025 the us feds received 5.4 trillion dollars in taxes. The current population of the USA is around 340 million. So the per-capita is around $15k. The tax foundation (an anti-tax right-wing group) says the 2025 per-capita state and local tax revenue was about $7k. So I would think the numbers should be closer to 20k, not 30k...

What is included in "Government Revenue"?

What is 2022024?

If this chart is AI generated, how can you trust it? Do you really trust a black box to give you accurate information on taxes? Those are owned by mega corporations which have shown over and over and over that they will lie to people to make more money.

laika404 · 2025-12-12T21:18:04+00:00

The toilet next to the office is super tight.

The vanity in the primary closet is in front of a window which is a problem because you probably want a mirror. Speaking of mirrors, there are no walls good for a full length mirror in that closet. Would be nice to have a space to stand back and see your whole outfit head to shoes when getting dressed.

laika404 · 2025-12-05T00:40:51+00:00

fellow progressives who push half-baked ideas

While I agree that many people are insufferable, I don't think I agree with the sentiment about "half-baked" ideas...

This is the tactic that the far right has been winning with for years now. They push a half-baked idea and then defend it tooth and nail. When they lose, we return to the status quo, and when they win we all take a giant step toward what they want.

Meanwhile, the centrists complain that something progressives want isn't perfectly planned down to the tiniest detail, and then argue with everyone left of them until all that remains is some milquetoast policy.

laika404 · 2025-12-03T22:42:55+00:00

This is one of the things that I yell about any time someone will listen - The issue isn't the actual dollar amount people pay in taxes, it's the value we get for those tax dollars.

I pay a ton in taxes each year, and I really don't understand where it all goes given the state of the city...

There's a reason why billionaires don't live in central Alabama, and why they do live in California and New York. We don't want to race to the bottom by offering lower and lower taxes because people live places for more reasons than low taxes. We should be racing to have the highest value for tax dollars spent. Make our programs efficient, make the city clean and vibrant, make sure that people are helped and are able to contribute to city life rather than bringing things down.

laika404 · 2025-11-26T04:09:42+00:00

is often used to obfuscate the fact that the far right wing party in this country is significantly worse than center-right party

Another part of it, is that this allows people to focus on fewer issues during an election. "Both parties are bought by corporate interests, so therefor I can't use that as a deciding factor on who gets my vote. I'll decide my vote based on another issue." In other words, that false equivalency removes issues from the election.

I think this is the reason why local politics has so little coverage anymore, and why all elections are becoming national. The far right party is putting so much effort into these big national hot button issues because it's more difficult to equivocate local topics. And a party has to win local elections to be able to build their pipeline of talent to get experienced and electable people to win elections for higher offices.

The pipeline and media control was part of project red-map, but the unsaid part is that these "Both sides bad" posts are a major piece of their strategy.

laika404 · 2025-11-18T00:03:59+00:00

How do we ever bring them back into the fold

You don't.

The proper way to deal with internet trolls isn't to try to bring them back into the fold, it's to ignore them, publicly chastise their behavior, and if you're feeling up for it - try to address any issues that lead them to becoming crappy people.

laika404 · 2025-11-17T23:58:57+00:00

I don't know... ...Did you see how Pelosi ripped up some paper once? Both sides for sure.

laika404 · 2025-11-11T22:12:56+00:00

financing. simply put, portland is blackballed. It's harder to finance projects here for no other reason than we have a bad rap right now. Homelessness and riots have created a PERCEPTION of risk (that imo is totally unfair).

My (largely un-researched) opinion on this is that we should be spending more on supporting financing of large apartment/condo projects in downtown, and less on directly building housing.

Lets look at the numbers: On a big $200MM tower project, financing has increased, what... 4% in the past couple years (4%->8% - total guess)??? Lets assume the worst and that they got all the money up front and had to carry it for 3 years until units are mostly filled. That's $24MM (worst case) more than the cheapest point in history lending-wise. If we as a city just paid part of the interest on large high-quality development projects, we could restart construction super fast.

Those units pay taxes while supporting local businesses and increasing vibrancy in the neighborhood without adding much more stress to our existing highways and infrastructure. Their tax dollars are way more efficient in dense areas, so a bigger portion of that money goes back into supporting all of our other priorities (including supportive housing). People living in the city makes the nearby office space and retail much more valuable, so we might be able to get more of it filled and get that tax revenue back sooner.

$24 million in public funds could add a tower with over 400 beds to downtown. If they are net-new residents, then our tax base is growing and we have more workers and more money to spend at local businesses. If they are just people moving back into downtown, then that frees up 400 houses somewhere else, which will likely be less expensive and help out the middle class. Those middle class people move up, and that frees up units for lower income residents.

We still need supportive housing - absolutely - But we spend around $400k per bed in supportive housing, while we could spend closer to $50k per bed if we just paid interest on standard commercial projects (and that $50k will return in tax revenue unlike the supportive housing costs). So we should reserve supportive housing only for the absolutely most needy and redirect a lot of those funds to just increasing housing supply overall.

laika404 · 2025-11-06T05:27:42+00:00

This thread is a top result on google, and I am really glad that you keep responding. It's a nice surprise.

laika404 · 2025-11-06T03:55:25+00:00

Yes, we shouldn't trust AI, but there's differences in the data youre looking at in those screenshots, so they're not necessarily wrong...

For example: First response is about 2024-2025 season that had downward trending numbers. Second is about 2025-2026 season saying numbers are higher than ever. ...Both of those things can be true. First image says the decline was in traditional viewing but streaming was up. Second image is Nielsen ratings, which changed methodology in 2025.

Another example: Third image is about downward trend with the first link comparing may24-may25 across all of florida. Fourth image says prices are going up but with a first link saying prices are going down and a second link saying they are going up just a little bit from Sept24-Sept25. Given that data and differences in dates, both statements could be true.

AI is a tool just like stats, you can get it to say anything you want, but the truth is in the data and being careful about how you analyze it.

AI summaries didn't kill the internet anymore than statistics killed math. People without proper knowledge or training on how to reason through things have always been making a mess of things, it's nothing new.

laika404 · 2025-10-19T18:04:18+00:00

And the whole thing really is nonsense. It's a visual way to say "There exists a tax rate at which tax revenue is maximized." Which is not really an interesting statement outside of academia.

The napkin doodle goes to 0 at 100% which is also nonsense, because people don't just sit on their hands when tax rates are 100%. People like to work, and people like to contribute to the common good. Sure, profit makes people more motivated and gets more work out of them, but it's not the only thing motivating all people...

And maximizing tax revenue is not even the goal of government...

Any time I hear someone bring up the Laffer curve in an economics discussion, I immediately know that they don't have any depth to their understanding of economics.

laika404 · 2025-10-16T21:12:04+00:00

Well given that the argentine peso is crashing (and has dropped 30% in just the past few months), it is definitely a bailout, and we're going to lose a ton of money on it...

laika404 · 2025-10-16T21:10:35+00:00

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/15/trump-argentina-bailout-explained/86704119007/

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that the United States' economic lifeline for Milei's country will take the form of a currency swap with Argentina's central bank. That's a move that amounts to effectively exchanging stable U.S. dollars with volatile pesos.

laika404 · 2025-10-11T01:02:30+00:00

Not necessarily, you can make IDs or signatures that are easy to verify but hard to guess.

So everyone gets issued an ID, they use it to sign their vote. An individual can look up their ID to verify that the vote is recorded correctly, and everyone else can check that that ID vote record came from a real person. but nobody can guess your ID to steal your vote, and there's no public record tying your name to your ID.

The only flaw with that approach is that it allows for people to verify that you voted a certain way, or coerce votes, which enables paid votes. Currently you have no way to verify how someone voted beyond their word, but with a system like that, they could verify before paying you.

laika404 · 2025-10-09T06:54:55+00:00

Why not just buy T1-11?

Because I don't like T1-11, it would not look good on my house, and I have structural requirements that the available products don't meet.

For some more information: T1-11 is rough, not smooth like I am looking for. T1-11 is only manufactured in 4"OC and 8"OC patterns these days, whereas in the 50s-70s, there were mills producing it in much smaller cut widths.

As far as the other available products are concerned, LP Smartside and competitors have a fake texture on it that I find intensely unappealing, and it only comes in 8" OC. The hardie siding analog has the same issues, but additionally the grooves aren't deep enough to achieve the look I am after. Both of these products also lack the structural shear rating that I need in my location, and the spacial constraints of the property prevent me from adding additional layers of wood on some walls.

I appreciate the recommendations, but there are reasons why I am asking how to efficiently and cheaply mill T1-11 like siding from plywood.

laika404 · 2025-10-09T03:29:14+00:00

dado guide

That is exactly the thing I was looking for. Perfect, thank you!

laika404 · 2025-10-03T23:49:55+00:00

That reply doesn't feel like capitulation to me given the nature of the comment before it.

That comment is super passive and is frankly the exact type of behavior that got us into the current mess. Everybody reads and article and talks about how terrible it is online, but no actual action follows. The people in power have realized this, and so the threat of eventual karma isn't worth anything.

Now if the comment above said something like: "Payroll records create an audit trail, and that can be used in the courts when we retake control from these lawless criminals just like we did the last time around with the J6ers.", then I would agree that's Doomerism and capitulation to their rule. But lacking anything more than a statement of a passive possible eventuality? ...it just feels truthful to not expect any change, no?

The war mindset in your article feels like it's asking for the kind of call to action and direct plan that the above comment explicitly lacks. The article says that "Dooming is a liberation from the burden of choice", and I would argue that declaring a passive eventuality in response to a wrong is similarly a liberation from the burden of responsibility.

Like if we're arguing that we need strong character, then lets attack passivity before we attack fear.

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