iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

"For the first time ever, more people are employed by remodeling companies than by single-family and multifamily developers combined." (h/t @josephpolitano.bsky.social) www.theargumentmag.com/p/americas-e...

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Other countries have politics as complex as our own.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

This essay is published anonymously. I am in principle opposed to anonymous essays, here's why we made an exception:

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

So, she spent thousands out of pocket to flee to Virginia for an abortion, realizing that somehow, shockingly, despite her relative wealth and privilege, she had become one of those people without adequate health care.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Our author was already a mother. She mourns for a world where she could have seriously considered staying pregnant.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Over 40, with an IUD still in place, she scrambled to get an ultrasound as the clock ticked away on her freedoms.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

eh looking at the actual underlying data that doesn't seem that clean

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

doesn't seem implausible to me? Poll isn't granular enough to be certain but do you have an alternate hypothesis?

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

I do think that this is largely a proxy for costs in general. There was not some major tax increase in 2020, people are just reacting to inflation! There's a lesson here... lowering people's costs is a necessary prerequisite to raising taxes! Can I interest you in a little YIMBY-ism?

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

The problem, of course, is local "democracy".

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

This has been one of the most frustrating dynamics of YIMBY politics -- a long, hard fought legislative battle gets thwarted by a NIMBY district court judge. Yes, the judge is often overruled later but as we know well, housing delayed is housing denied.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

This morning, OG YIMBY @profschleich.bsky.social argues that the pro-housing movement needs to focus more on the problem of state trial court judges.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

The thing about housing discrimination is that everyone is incentivized to go along to get along. Developers are repeat players and don't want to rock the boat, so if cities don't want affordable housing for families, they won't even propose them.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

The Fair Housing Act bans discrimination against families w/ children but nobody cares so landlords and investors openly share tips on how to break the law

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Small n, so not claiming this will be representative but here's the ratio of where our traffic came from for the Mad Libs debate between Bruenig & Piper

This shows traffic sources, email opens (31%), twitter (26%), substack app (17%), direct (16%), email (4%), bsky.app (2%), google (2%), other <1%

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

I don't know why you're reading so much into this. I liked basically every comment that engaged reasonably thoughtfully. I liked these comments from people disagreeing with me too. Do I need to put "RETWEETS ARE NOT ENDORSEMENTS" in my bio like a boomer lmao

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

my favorite part of reading old speeches is when they insert "loud and long continued applause" we've gotta start doing this again

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Wow if only I'd addressed that prominently on our about page. But if you'd like it in your words exactly: Of course not. Liberal values include protecting people's civil rights.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Well, sure I didn't go back to that house, but I don't go try and convince the people calling me the N word. I'm explicit in my piece that it's the bystanders I'm talking to. The analogy to canvassing is can I never go back to that neighborhood/town/county/state?

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

like I just got this obviously misogynistic reply on this website... should women flee from any space where they hear language like this? As I said, I don't begrudge anyone who has decided it's too much for them, but I don't think "avoid bigotry" is a good rule for anyone committed to persuasion.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

I do think this is the best argument against staying on twitter, which I acknowledge in my piece.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

The article explicitly states this btw

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

I think it would be good to look at the whole transcript! My guest explicitly argues in favor of vaccine mandates and says Polis went too far.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Begging people to remember that border crossings surged in *2019* under Trump's most intense anti-immigration policies. Why? Because people immigrate largely due to economic factors and deterrence policies don't work. These are both from 2019:

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

If Biden's welcoming stance to immigrants was so crucial than why did southwest border encounters begin skyrocketing before he even became president??

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Rachel (@rachelmcohen.bsky.social) read three housing books (including mine) and it seems to have made her more pessimistic about solving the housing crisis 😭 t.co/IwZhyMpMyM

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

And yet as Democratic governors jockey to lead the #resistance to Trump, none have tied their party’s waning influence nationally to the decisions by state and local officials to restrict the supply of housing.

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Jerusalem Demsas @jerusalem.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Population migration to red states from blue ones isn’t an act of God, it’s the direct result of failed housing policies in Democratic led states.

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