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Expedition Works

@expeditionworks.bsky.social
130 followers 272 following 1.3K posts

Led by Randy Plemel, we’re a service, experience, environments, and systems design consultancy. We focus on resident engagement and livable communities. Listen to 🎙️ Journey with Purpose 🎙️ jwp.news

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 03/03/2026
The FPEs did it the way I thought it should be done for the MN study, and came to the conclusion that seven stories and 6,000 sq. ft. per floor puts fewer people at risk in case of catastrophic failures than a big double-loaded corridor building www.dli.mn.gov/sites/defaul...
dli.mn.gov
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Henry Grabar @henrygrabar.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
new from me: a story about VACANCY CHAINS, the idea that underlies the argument that more housing is good even if you can't afford it www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
theatlantic.com
High-End Construction Really Does Help Everyone
A new rung at the top of the housing ladder permits people lower down to climb up.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12/02/2026
easy slogan for the next democratic presidential candidate is “i will reform the corrupt supreme court and repeal citizens united”
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
“When Citizens United was decided in 2010, billionaires had spent $18 million on the 2000 election, $13M 2004 and $16M in 2008. Then came the deluge. In 2012 it was $231M, and nearly doubled again in next three election cycles —to $682M in 2016, $1.2 billion in 2020 and $2.6 billion in 2024.” Gift:
nytimes.com
Opinion | Affordability and the ‘Epstein Class’ Will Define American Politics
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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I genuinely cannot believe the degree to which we are pissing away this generational breakthrough, even given the fuckmuppets who are involved www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
nbcnews.com
FDA declines to review Moderna's mRNA flu shot
Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Food and Drug Administration has taken an aggressive stance against mRNA technology.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
We saw this pattern in infrastructure cuts during the shutdown, cuts alleging social services fraud, cuts to contractors under DOGE: all targeted to blue states. It is an obviously partisan abuse of power, brazen and on a scale we simply have not seen before. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/a-year-on-...
graph shows more DOGE contract cuts in blue states
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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
“It does not get much more textbook-example racist than gleefully depicting two Black people – one of whom is a former US president who Trump routinely says he wants to jail for fake reasons – as apes or monkeys.” Anyone w pulse in media/politics should be questioning his health/mental capacity.
open.substack.com
BREAKING: Madman President Promotes Racist Video of the Obamas as Apes
Trump’s policies and actions are fueled by explicit racism and election denial. The Obama-ape video encompasses both.
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Chris Sommerfeldt @c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Also in Playbook: Council Speaker Julie Menin will announce at today's ABNY breakfast that the Council will make the Big Apple's outdoor dining program year-round again. Menin's team says the most likely path is passing @cmrestler.bsky.social's 2025 bill. www.politico.com/newsletters/...
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
A perfectly ordinary idea in urban planning — being able to walk to everyday places — has been twisted into something that sounds dystopian. This isn’t about conspiracies. It’s about how we talk about cities, trust, and freedom. jwp.news/the-most-bor...
jwp.news
The Most Boring Idea That Somehow Became Dangerous
You should be able to get to the things you need — groceries, school, a park, a doctor, maybe a bar — within a short walk or bike ride. That’s it. No force fields. No checkpoints. No microchips. Ju…
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Why do people agree to on the record interviews with Isaac Chotiner? He’s very good, and his subjects alway (always) look horrible. Either he has some mysterious distortion fields or people think they can win here. BREAKING: You aren’t better than @ichotiner.bsky.social
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Joey Blue @jp262.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
ICE was granted $75 Billion in last year’s Big Bullshit Bill. Yes, billion, with a B! The current funding bill would provide ADDITIONAL discretionary funding for this agency that they don’t need. How are Republicans not being pinned down and forced to answer what these funds would actually fund? 🤷‍♂️
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 30/01/2026
The City’s Budget is our future. And you deserve to know how it works.
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🎃GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE🎃 @golikehellmachine.com · 29/01/2026
this is a straightforward impeachable offense for trump, vance, rubio and every other person down the line who enabled it and the framers would have thought impeachment for it did not go nearly far enough
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
It is wild to me that a military incursion to steal another country’s resources so the president can have a personal slush fund in Qatar is like the 5th most scandalous thing currently happening.
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
An entire community of thousands, here legally, having been demonized with deranged lies about eating pets, is about to be arbitrarily DECLARED illegal so they can be forcibly ethnically cleansed. I don’t want to hear one more fucking word about comparisons to Nazi Germany being overwrought.
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James Brandt @jamesbrandt.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
I will simply never recover from reading this sentence: "Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
We’ve identified four subspecies. Yes, subspecies. And no, this isn't satire. It’s taxonomy. typology.city/type/control...
typology.city
The Bollard - Typology City
Massive pieces of rock, concrete, steel, or other durable materials deployed to demarcate pedestrian zones, secure perimeters, and intercept vehicles.
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
🚧 WHAT IS A BOLLARD, REALLY? Is it a planter? A post? A blunt urban force field? Welcome to the world of Protectus bolus—NYC’s most quietly aggressive street furniture. 🧱Concrete, 🪨granite, 🧯metal, or 🌿planted, these fixtures do more than mark space—they defend it.
typology.city
The Bollard - Typology City
Massive pieces of rock, concrete, steel, or other durable materials deployed to demarcate pedestrian zones, secure perimeters, and intercept vehicles.
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
You can also join my newsletter list, where this article originally lived: jwp.news/subscribe
jwp.news
Newsletter
While we think a great way to keep up is through purchasing issues of our journal, we want to make sure there are other ways to communicate with our readers. Some highlights: Public sector team min…
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Here's some actionable tips on how you should join a Community Board, and why: jwp.news/a-short-fiel...
jwp.news
A Short Field Guide to Joining a Community Board
Community boards aren’t glamorous and they aren’t as powerful as people assume. Apply to join a community board to show up where the leverage is, understanding how decisions actually get shaped, an…
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Community boards aren’t glamorous and they aren’t as powerful as people assume. Apply to join a community board to show up where the leverage is, understanding how decisions actually get shaped, and use your position to push for more homes, safer streets, and a city that works for more people.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
“We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower.” “With Donald Trump’s actions in Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela, a foreign enemy could not invent a better chain of events to wreck the standing of the United States.” Via @wired.com and @vermontgmg.bsky.social
wired.com
We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower
With Donald Trump’s actions in Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela, a foreign enemy could not invent a better chain of events to wreck the standing of the United States.
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Thomas Ableman @freewheeling.info · 25/01/2026
Police mistakes happen, and they're big news. But if you think about a scenario in which US Government is proven to be lying about killing its own people, that would be one of the biggest news stories of the century. And it's happening. And it's not being reported as what it is.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
I’m old enough to remember when the right wing in the United States insisted that gun rights “trumped” everything else, so having an unused legal gun wasn’t a reason for immigration officers to murder you. Also, that the reason for those gun rights was to protect from an out-of-control government.
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 24/01/2026
I have spent my entire adult life being lectured by Republican politicians and conservative legal movement types about how important it is to preserve the sacred constitutional right to self-defense of *specifically this person* and then secret police murdered him in the street
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
This comes from our regularly published Newsletter, Journey With Purpose, which you can signup here: jwp.news/newsletter/
jwp.news
Newsletter
While we think a great way to keep up is through purchasing issues of our journal, we want to make sure there are other ways to communicate with our readers. Some highlights: Public sector team min…
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
If you’re interested in urban change, housing, and civic process — without the lazy shortcuts — I wrote this out in full here 👇 jwp.news/dont-look-ri...
jwp.news
Don’t look ridiculous by using the word “Transplant”
Lately, more neighborhood debates are framed around “transplants,” people who moved in later, from somewhere else. The word sounds descriptive, but it quietly does deep harm: it marks outsiders, as…
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
People moving in don’t cause displacement: policy failures do.
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Historically, every “authentic” neighborhood was once accused of being ruined by newcomers. Cities didn’t succeed despite churn. They succeeded because of it. If change feels too fast or too unequal, the fix isn’t social gatekeeping. It’s policy: more housing, tenant protections, better services.
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Underneath the anger is something real: loss. Familiar routines change. Informal control erodes. That grief deserves acknowledgment, but misdirecting it at people who moved in doesn’t solve anything.
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
That move isn’t about where someone is from. It’s about seniority as authority — the idea that being here longer means your voice should count more. Cities don’t work that way. Belonging isn’t inherited. It’s civic. You live here, you participate, you belong.
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
What looks like a fight about newcomers is really a fight about who gets to define problems. “Transplant” often shows up the moment someone names noise, trash, safety, or services out loud.
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Lately, more neighborhood debates blame “transplants” for everything that feels different or worse. The word sounds descriptive. It isn’t. It quietly assigns blame and treats time lived as legitimacy.
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Andy Sellars @sellars.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
All the evidence one would need to impeach both Rubio and Noem was just posted to the AAUP v. Rubio docket. @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Tell me what’s false about this statement?
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Brandon - "Fietser" @americanfietser.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
When we restore democracy and swiftly prosecute every member of this fascist administration, which we have to or tyranny is just on hold again, I hope other countries can help us catch and detain the cockroaches as they attempt to flee prosecution by leaving the US.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
This guy went to work today, put a mask on, kidnapped a 5 year old child, and then used him as bait so both he and his father could be sent behind bars
A masked ICE officials with a 5 year old child
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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this: America's problems are solved problems. Just not here. What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
Screenshot of a data visualization titled “The Cost of American Exceptionalism,” subtitled “What would change if the U.S. matched the OECD average?” The page explains that each card shows how outcomes would change if the U.S. matched the average of 31 peer democracies. Below, a section labeled “Economy & Inequality” displays eight cards comparing U.S. figures to OECD averages. Highlights include: +$19K per household per year in redistributed income and +$96K in redistributed wealth if the top 1% matched OECD shares; a 71% lower CEO-to-worker pay ratio (from 354× to 101×); 50 million more workers with union coverage; 26 million more people with health insurance; $2.1 trillion saved annually in healthcare spending; $691 less per person per year in prescription drug costs; and intergenerational economic mobility being twice as high. Each card shows the U.S. value alongside the OECD average.
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Pew Research Institute (2023): • Red State Texas has about 2.1 million undocumented immigrants • Red State Florida has 1.6 M undocumented immigrants • Blue State Minnesota has 130,000. And yet only Minnesota is being occupied by masked thugs over "immigration." It's *not* about immigration.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 18/01/2026
Deutsche Bank here with the good stuff. Game on.
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
This is due to Republicans and Brett Kavanaugh.
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
The thing that really makes Minneapolis different, other than the fact that they straight up murdered someone, is that they've dropped all pretense that this is just about immigration. The state has declared war on its own people, or at least those people who live in cities.
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Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · 14/01/2026
Perennial reminder of this excellent paper about how secret police forces are swamped with underachievers “We don’t want clever people. We want mediocrities.” (Ungated summary here ajps.org/2019/10/08/w...)
Why Underachievers Dominate Secret Police Organizations: Evidence from Autocratic
Argentina

Adam Scharpf
Christian Gläßel

Abstract: Autocrats depend on a capable secret police. Anecdotal evidence, however, often characterizes agents as surprisingly mediocre in skill and intellect. To explain this puzzle, this article focuses on the career incentives underachieving individuals face in the regular security apparatus. Low-performing officials in hierarchical organizations have little chance of being promoted or filling lucrative positions. To salvage their careers, these officials are willing to undertake burdensome secret police work. Using data on all 4,287 officers who served in autocratic Argentina (1975-83), we study biographic differences between secret police agents and the entire recruitment pool. We find that low-achieving officers were stuck within the regime hierarchy, threatened with discharge, and thus more likely to join the secret police for future benefits. The study demonstrates how state bureaucracies breed mundane career concerns that produce willing enforcers and cement violent regimes. This has implications for the understanding of autocratic consolidation and democratic breakdown.
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
The Supreme Court only cleared the way for Kavanaugh Stops four months ago and ICE now openly engages in violent racial profiling, snatching anyone who looks non-white and treating them as presumptively guilty of a crime. Remarkable how quickly our liberties can be crushed when courts go along.
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
There is a crisis of impunity. The Musk/Grok stuff is just one f many examples of people who are counting on there never being any consequences. And it all makes me just incandescently mad.
theatlantic.com
Elon Musk Cannot Get Away With This
If there is no red line around AI-generated sex abuse, then no line exists.
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Frost: For so long, the right wing has held up patriotism as a vibe, as an aesthetic. But patriotism is more than bald eagles and flags and beer. Patriotism is about loving the people who live in the damn country — every single one of them.
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Murphy: The United States Congress should not fund a Department of Homeland Security that is not obeying the laws of the United States of America
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Jon Collins @jcollins.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
People who aren't in Minnesota might not know that if you drive or walk past pretty much any school, there's going to be a group of people, parents and childless, standing guard to make sure the kids are safe from feds. It's pretty remarkable. And very disturbing. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
mprnews.org
Twin Cities students walk out, decry ICE as surge continues
Hundreds of Twin Cities high school students walked out of school Monday to protest federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Officials are increasingly concerned about high absenteeism in some sc...
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Trump yells “fuck you” and flips off an auto worker in Michigan who yelled “pedophile protector” www.tmz.com/2026/01/13/t...
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Expedition Works @expeditionworks.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
This is a military crackdown on the president’s perceived enemies.
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