Will Los Angeles elect a democratic socialist mayor? I wrote a featured story for Kalshi's editorial newsletter on the closing stretch of the Los Angeles mayoral race between Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, with commentary from USC political science professor Christian Grose and CMC government professor John Pitney. This matters for at least three reasons: (1) Locally, Los Angeles voters across party lines are still weighing which candidate can better manage the city’s challenges, including wildfire crisis response, policing, and homelessness. (2) The election has a national framing: a Democrat who is part of the legacy establishment against an up-and-coming democratic socialist. If Raman wins the election, Los Angeles would follow New York City, where a younger challenger endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America defeated an establishment Democrat 🗳️📬 . (3) The race is drawing serious trading interest‼️ The market event has become the fourth-largest contract on Kalshi by volume at more than $102.7 million, trailing only markets on the 2028 Democratic presidential nominee, the National Football League champion, and the winner of Major League Baseball’s World Series🌐. Prediction market-implied odds of Raman winning the mayoral race stand at 53%, a six-percentage-point lead over Bass’ 46.9%, a reversal from Bass’ 23.6-percentage-point advantage one month ago.

I loved giving Pokémon the TMs I earned here:

Nothing more spiritual than moving a car before 830 AM in Brooklyn & sitting in traffic because of Monday street cleaning

Imagine interviewing hella people & receiving the results immediately. As a journalist and a person concerned in what real people have to say, I've been curious about doing a temperature check on the crypto ecosystem, especially in the industry's first drawdown in its institutional era. I ended up writing this piece for an AI startup that centers on conversational ai-moderated interviews and surveys. My study had 56 participants who had exposure to crypto. Here's the findings: (1) Participants placed influencers, memecoins, and scams at the top of the list of the worst things to happen to the crypto industry. (2) Customer taste has matured and is maturing as participants talked at length about how they’ve opted into ordinary finance. Let me know, I can share the link without any trouble~ I swearrrrrr

With the passing of 25 years since 9/11 someone (not me) will write a “In Praise of Millennials” essay with a focus on the music they produced & I look forward to reading it

Slippery like Black Mamba

Something about listening to The Cure on your phone’s speaker while walking home after grabbing drinks with colleagues is incredible… highly highly recommend

Dare I say, as someone who’s been living in New York since 2021, I still love San Francisco so much

Nathan Fielder & Elizabeth Holmes whaaaaa

Green Tile Social Club on ig

“Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest. Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold. Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.” Wendell Berry, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” RIP

Philippines mentioned #PinoyPride🇵🇭 !!! Separately: “Your favourite restaurant can stop serving your favourite dish.” I do know someone who never liked avocado toast but adored it at one specific cafe in Manhattan. The cafe owner removed avocado toast from the menu, to the dismay of the person I know. He voiced his desire to bring the item back both in person and online, even having his people DM or engage with the cafe’s social account frequently. The avocado toast eventually returned. The essay surfaced the memory lollll

RIP Sandmark; RIP DL News; RIP Blockworks; who has the meme of the grim reaper skeleton holding its scythe and knocking on doors