ohtheurbanity.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

“Trump didn’t come out of nowhere and he wasn’t forced on America. America chose this, after seeing who he was.” I’ve made a blog on Substack to provide a Canadian perspective on the Trump era. If you find it interesting, please share or subscribe.

submitted 4 hours ago • 4 comments

The Trump administration’s revealed belief is that American workers & businesses are so economically inept that not only can they not compete against China, but they cannot compete against unionized European autoworkers or Canadian steelworkers or Korean chipmakers. I have more faith in Americans.

submitted 30 minutes ago • 6 comments

How upzoning reduces land costs: Auckland's THA zone allows 5-storey buildings, where before, ~1-2 storeys was allowed. Hence, the stock of 5-storey-zoned land increased significantly. This creates more leverage for 5-storey builders over landowners, reducing land prices.

submitted 47 minutes ago • 1 comment

No administration in American history, not Jackson w/ Indian removal, not Lincoln in Merryman, not FDR over the New Deal, not Truman in Youngstown, not Nixon over the tapes, not Bush with Guantanamo, has openly defied a court order like this, much less one unanimously endorsed by the Supreme Court.

submitted 1 hour ago • 22 comments

Look he's destroying the economy and the rule of law but you have to understand the alternative was Kamala Harris constrained by a Republican Senate

submitted 1 hour ago • 6 comments

"As of April 10, 2025, his approval rating is 45.7%. After threatening allies, starting a global trade war, tanking the stock market, and sending people to prison camps in El Salvador without a trial, 45.7% of Americans say “I approve, that’s my guy”."

submitted 1 hour ago • 1 comment

I thought about this a lot during a recent trip to Canada. Doesn't matter that I have always opposed him, the stench clings to us all.

submitted 2 hours ago • 1 comment

If they were serious (or smart) about reducing dependence on China in case of a war, they would embrace rather than attack Mexico, Canada, Europe, etc.

submitted 2 hours ago • 6 comments

Today feels different. Everyone I know who has been active or engaged or at the very least supportive and following this war, is just angry. Furious. That includes me. And looking for some place to direct that anger into.

submitted 3 hours ago • 5 comments

Daniel Rickenmann, the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, knows he is taking a risk by criticizing President Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. Rickenmann, a Republican, said “But I've got to make sure that I stand up for my community.”

submitted 3 hours ago • 0 comments

“Trump didn’t come out of nowhere and he wasn’t forced on America. America chose this, after seeing who he was.” I’ve made a blog on Substack to provide a Canadian perspective on the Trump era. If you find it interesting, please share or subscribe.

submitted 4 hours ago • 4 comments

Canada’s the 51st state but suddenly El Salvador’s sovereignty is inviolable. 🤷🏻‍♂️

submitted 4 hours ago • 4 comments

The bipartisan belief that America would be a better place if other people worked in a factory. www.ft.com/content/8459...

submitted 5 hours ago • 201 comments

This recent @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social “Bike Boom! Transit Doom?” episode, gave great context during this week's deluge of delegations at #HamOnt GIC, in support of Hamilton Bike Share (HBS)! Here's a 🧵 of some of the many Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) mentions. youtu.be/k-DxvGmbdcE?...

submitted 8 hours ago • 1 comment

Why is it even framed in terms of “pressure”? It’s not like El Salvador wanted him specifically and is reluctant to give him up. He’s only there because the US sent him.

submitted 22 hours ago • 6 comments

If I was China, I would say fuck you, we are putting a big honking export tax on every iphone and computer until you stop this shit.

submitted 23 hours ago • 4 comments

The El Salvador renditions bother me more than maybe anything else Trump is doing (domestically at least). Sending people without a trial to a foreign prison that you say you can’t even get people back from is a five-alarm fire of authoritarianism. Truly a “what the fuck is happening?” moment.

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

This is the simplest and perhaps the most important question in urban design. Toronto has been getting it backwards for 20 years.

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

Best European cities to visit in October?

submitted 1 day ago • 19 comments

We’ve lived in Quebec for long enough that visiting Ontario and hearing everyone speaking English feels weird and not like home.

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

“French ready to offer Rafale fighter jet to Canada; other alternatives to F-35 available” (Ottawa Citizen, April 11, 2025) #Rafale #F35 #NATO #Eurofighter #Gripen

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

I was just writing a chapter about the new trade environment, and I'm tempted to delete everything and replace it with this.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

That’s a clip from this video!

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

A helpful guide to the current state of US trade policy:

submitted 1 day ago • 218 comments

Mon starter pack fait maison avec de l'IH (intelligence humaine).

submitted 1 day ago • 5 comments

Here's an updated look at all Trump's 2nd-term tariffs, accounting for today's exemption for phones & computers The overall US tariff rate is now 25%, down from 29% pre-exemption but still 10x what it was before Trump took office (1/3)

submitted 1 day ago • 29 comments

Seattle Link light rail: 3 lines, 43 stations, 30M annual riders Vancouver SkyTrain: 3 lines, 54 stations, 150M annual riders

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

I really can’t get over the fact that it took so many major U.S. companies and institutions less than 100 days to Orbanify and become vessels for Trump

submitted 1 day ago • 19 comments

Uncertainty has increased more than ever, per FT:

submitted 1 day ago • 34 comments

A new Alien Registration Rule, effective today, states any foreign national needs to carry a copy of their passport and most recent I-94 at all times and inform DHS of a change of address within 10 days of moving or be at risk of a fine up to $5k and 30 days in prison: www.mintz.com/insights-cen...

submitted 1 day ago • 46 comments

Claiming your sovereignty is under attack by an “invasion” of cartels, asylum seekers, and unauthorized immigrants, at the same time you literally demand territory from multiple neighbours. America First, baby! Great Powers are the only ones that get to have sovereignty.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

L'égoïsme et le pas-dans-ma-cour ne passeront jamais inaperçus - qu'importe les arguments insouciants et désinvoltes utilisés par la petite bourgeoisie crasse. On est devant une poignée de citoyens qui participent à aggraver la crise du logement.

submitted 2 days ago • 6 comments

Visiting people in a relatively new suburban development. Single-family homes, townhouses, and low-rise apartments. Only the apartments are labelled “luxury”. Which ones do you think actually cost the most?

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

Are the polls very wrong about people’s current voting intentions? Probably not. Could something happen before election day to change people’s minds? That one’s much more plausible.

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

WSJ: Stocks Rally Despite Recession Fears to Cap Tumultuous Week Economist: Investors realise Trump’s pause was not the salvation it appeared. As China strikes back, reality sets in US commentariat is still sane-washing and underplaying the gravity of Trump's erratic policies A country in denial

submitted 2 days ago • 5 comments

"A comprehensive transit priority policy is a difficult, long-term commitment, often a politically tricky one that is sometimes hard to sell in our distracted, superficial, anti-technocratic contemporary zeitgeist. [..] can yield more significant, durable benefits for our buses than a 100 BRT [..]"

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Les dés sont pipés en faveur des résidents propriétaires qui profitent à figer leur quartier dans le temps. Rosemont est un endroit très exclusif. Bloquer des logements augmente son exclusivité. @francoislimoges.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

“While Beijing thinks it can weather Trump’s sweeping tariffs on a bilateral basis, it also believes the U.S. broadside against its own trading partners has created a generational strategic opportunity to displace American hegemony.”

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Also most drivers roll through stop signs but apparently have zero awareness that they do it

submitted 2 days ago • 4 comments

An interesting example of progressive non-BRT bus improvement in North America is Québec City's Metrobus system. The system was first launched in 1992, addressing the basics (higher frequencies, longer stop spacing, some bus lanes on busier corridors) and has been expanding progressively since.

submitted 2 days ago • 7 comments

NEW 🧵 The number of people travelling from Europe to the US in recent weeks has plummeted by as much as 35%, as travellers have cancelled plans in response to Trump’s policies and rhetoric, and horror stories from the border. Story: www.ft.com/content/6dc1...

submitted 2 days ago • 241 comments

I’d say the exchange rate is partly to blame but mostly it’s THE THREATS OF ANNEXATION FROM THE USA. If a guy threatens to end my life and then invites me over to his place for the weekend I’m probably not visiting

submitted 3 days ago • 7 comments