Slow Boring

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order in the Oval Office. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Contributor via Getty Images) American immigration law is complicated, and almost every provision of this vast corpus reflects some political compromise reached long ago, often under different circumstances. I think it’s fair to say that almost none of it is optimal. Lenin said of the bureaucracy, “better fewer, but better.” When it comes to immigration, I don’t see it that way.

Senator Lindsey Graham speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on April 27, 2026. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images) The midterm map moved more this week than in most full months this cycle. Prediction markets now put Democrats’ odds of retaking the House at roughly 84 percent and the Senate at around 44 percent. Keep reading with a 7-day free trial Subscribe to Slow Boring to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Bobby Pulido, singer and candidate for Texas’s 15th Congressional District, speaks at a press conference during La Cura Fest. (Photo by Norte Photo/Contributor via Getty Images) The people have been clamoring for updated Slow Boring donation recommendations, and today we’re delivering. This was a little slow to come together because we were waiting for a certain number of primaries to resolve themselves and because multiple rounds of redistricting drama have kept reshaping the map.

Graham Platner peeks through the door before walking out for his town hall at the Elks Lodge #188 on June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (Photo by Laura Brett/Stringer via Getty Images) There is a particular kind of helplessness that settles over a political party when a candidate it needs to win becomes a candidate it cannot defend. Early this week, that … Keep reading with a 7-day free trial Subscribe to Slow Boring to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Two donkeys fighting. The donkey is the unofficial mascot of the Democratic Party. (Photo by imageBROKER/Frank Sommariva via Getty Images) Now that the Graham Platner Era appears to be in our rearview mirror, I think an important point to make about this episode has nothing to do with the scandal that brought him down.

I grew up in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s. Specifically, I grew up in Greenwich Village. My dad was a novelist, and my mom was a graphic designer and an artist. Lots of their friends were eccentric Village artists and intellectuals. In that milieu, Jane Jacobs was an icon. She saved the Village from Robert Moses and also explained what made dense urban neighborhoods great. So I knew all about her and her work, but I never actually read any of it.

In Warsaw on August 25, 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland. (Photo by NurPhoto/Contributor via Getty Images) About a month ago, I found myself asked to speak on a panel about the crisis of the global center-left and struggling a little to think of something new to say.

Homes are seen under construction at a new housing development on June 24, 2026, in Valencia, Calif. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Staff via Getty Images) Congress sent the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to President Donald Trump’s desk last month, and he has yet to sign it. Barring a formal veto, the bill becomes law automatically on Friday. Meanwhile, Ca… Keep reading with a 7-day free trial Subscribe to Slow Boring to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Members of the New York City-based activist organization Rise and Resist stage a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump outside Madison Square Garden.

A policeman is on duty in Baltimore. (Photo by aimintang via Getty Images) Baltimore has been a notoriously high-crime city for basically all of my life. It is, statistically, a very high-crime city, but its reputation also stems from the fact that the American public’s main exposure has been the television shows “Homicide” and “The Wire,” both of which are largely about crime in Baltimore.