KPM

@kpmcgrath

Chicago Gay. Day job is healthcare analytics, unpaid night gig is trying to get my friends to play math rocks with me. Recovering policy addict. Cat pics are my own, but it's not my cat.

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KPM@kpmcgrath· 26d

Oh, I made a mistake: the Koln map is rail only. BART's comparable rail-only map looks like this.

A screencap of the BART rail service map, which is a hook from SFO through downtown, out to Fremont, Richmond, and Pittsburg/Bay point via Oakland.

KPM@kpmcgrath· 26d

Now, Koln/Bonn's #4 on the German cities by GDP list, which corresponds to the SF Bay Metro Area if we were to do a comparison with the US, if you think I'm bullying Ohio. Their transit network looks like this:

Screencap of the BART coverage map, showing relatively dense coverage by bus in downtown, with the rapid transit rail lines stretching out SFO Airport, Fremont, and Richmond and a bus line across the Golden Gate bridge.

KPM@kpmcgrath· 26d

Even mid-sized European cities have bus and many have rail that would body all but a few, major US cities. Cologne has one third the GDP of Cincinnati (about 2/3 if we include Bonn nearby) and their urban transit network looks like this:

The 2025-2026 Rail Services Map for Cologne and Bonn, depicting more than a dozen tram, subway, and regional rail lines connecting the two cities to the broader region. Koln's network appears as a star radial around the city core, with Bonn's appearing as a hook-and-loop across their shared river with parallel trams on either side and interchanges across all modes of transit throughout the network.

Bus lines are not depicted.

KPM@kpmcgrath· Apr 23

Still image of Zendaya in Euphoria, staring in concerned shock at a cell phone

KPM@kpmcgrath· Apr 10

prri.org/spotlight/20...

KPM@kpmcgrath· Mar 2

The Good Place "Jason figured it out? Jason?! This is a real low point." meme, with "Bolton figured it out? Bolton?!" text instead of the original caption.

KPM@kpmcgrath· Feb 26

You're a goddamned legend:

People have tried to walk away from the federal government before. To break it up. And on this hill that I am mowing, some men died saying, “No. You don’t get to do that. You’re in this with us.”

When I think of civil servants in this current uncivil moment—the air-traffic controllers who worked during the shutdown; the NOAA weather chasers flying into a hurricane to measure it, paycheck or no paycheck; the Park Service employees scrambling to keep bathrooms clean despite the cuts to their ranks—I will now think of Antietam.

I asked what I could do for my country and the answer was: alone, not much. Indeed, many things are weird at best, or destructive at worst, when you try to do them yourself. But if enough people get together and commit to doing them, you’ve got yourself a government.

Together, it’s doable.

KPM@kpmcgrath· Sep 23

Sometimes life serves up art. Kudos to @unraveledpress.com and @atrupar.com for keep a spotlight on this when more-resourced news organizations act as PR mouthpieces for the regime instead of doing their journalistic duty to our society.

Bluesky feed showing two skeets:

Top skeet from Unraveled Press, over a still from a video depicting two women assisting a third personwho has collapsed to the ground. One of the workers is wearing a hazmat mask. The skeet reads "ICE still out here at Broadview firing bpepper balls at protestors. Some folks got hit pretty hard. Air quality out here is awful and people ar retching."

Bottom skeet is from Aaron Rupar, depicting Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly. Skeet reads: "Trump to UN: Everyone says I should get the Nobel Peace Prize."

KPM@kpmcgrath· May 16

This is some brazenly fascist shit:

Over time, the post-9/11 fusion center system turned on the American people in ways the general public did not anticipate. By contrast, the new militarized law enforcement structure contemplated in the Project 2025 Border Security Workgroup documents has civil rights ramifications built into its DNA.

A significant portion of the documents discuss domestic counter-intelligence. The draft proposals contain recommendations to investigate, prosecute and even seize the assets of non-governmental organizations, along with state, municipal and federal agencies that provide services to immigrants and refugees.

[Text highlighted from here:]
Documents describe some NGOs and specific government agencies as potential targets because they are perceived to oppose the priorities of the president, and because they are "accomplices to immigration crime."[End highlight]

"An insider threat to this strategy can be expected that works with nation-state, transnational and non-governmental entities to subvert the President's plan," the documents state further. "An active counter-intelligence effort must be organized, integrated across all levels, and actively conducted to identify and prosecute any individuals working for and providing classified or operationally sensitive information on border security plans and activities."

KPM@kpmcgrath· Apr 5

The protests in downtown Chicago this afternoon:

Chicago, Cook County, and American flags flying at Daly Plaza in Chicago, with protest signs beneath

KPM@kpmcgrath· Mar 6

Fuck. Arresting an Afghan refugee, who worked for us and is at risk if deported, as he's at his regular check-in... That is evil.