David Roberts

https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/volts.wtf

I run a newsletter/podcast called Volts about clean energy & politics. Subscribe & join the community at [volts.wtf](http://volts.wtf )!

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Last Notes

2026-04-01 23:42:53 UTC

jesus christ
[BREAKING: Trump Administration...](https://morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/breaking-trump-administration-orders )

2026-03-18 19:57:31 UTC

I know I've said this a trillion times but I have to say it periodically to keep from going insane:
The right ran a huge, well-funded, & ultimately successful campaign to completely take over political media & the infosphere more generally. This is by far the most important political development...

2026-03-02 19:31:05 UTC

Had a lovely coffee and chat with Bend mayor [@melaniekebler.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy](https://bsky.brid.gy/ap/did:plc:ecubdajsr622tm2fkcvxbodw ) this morning. The city is growing like crazy but also rapidly densifying, adding bike lanes, reforming zoning, pushing back on new gas, etc. Fascinating case study & just a wonderful place.
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreiashnx7wskhhbp2xf6yjxnryms54rccdi3j4wddgsytlcsghhue7a

2026-03-01 22:46:02 UTC

So, so instructive to compare media response to Afghanistan withdrawal -- months of hysterical garment-rending & catastrophizing, relentless criticism of the admin -- with the response to an unprovoked, unmotivated, illegal war of aggression, ie, "some critics say maybe Trump should have reasons."
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:swgxwbir4rrimj57pf75jckf/post/3mfzqwvxbbk2k

2026-02-23 20:40:11 UTC

It has occurred to me that the optimal level of marketing for my podcast Volts, upon which my family's entire income depends, might be higher than its current level of zero.
[Subscribe to Volts](https://www.volts.wtf/subscribe )

2026-02-13 21:53:33 UTC

This. It would be really, really great if Democrats would start *consistently* calling out the way that the media is led around like f'ing children by the right-wing hate machine.
Don't just accept the frame. Call out the frame. Force viewers to confront the frame. It's so f'ing basic.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vfr7coufv4dn52ds6seily2m/post/3mepigr725o22

2026-02-13 20:26:02 UTC

"Republicans were ready. Democrats weren't." is an apt description of most of the major social & political developments of my lifetime.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bpna2qi2e44fafbhhtqjak3x/post/3merbwpage22f

2026-02-12 20:57:19 UTC

One more quick thread, and then I'm getting out of here to walk my dog in the sun.
I think a lot about the authoritarian personality. I won't start going on about that because this thread would last forever, but I just want to say one thing about it.

2026-02-08 20:34:20 UTC

I really hate this fucking guy.
[The Real Reason Jeff Bezos Kil...](https://slate.com/business/2026/02/jeff-bezos-washington-post-layoffs.html )

2026-01-19 21:03:57 UTC

Kinda funny that Trump thinks "asylum" means other countries send people from insane asylums, and a) this is real life, not a ham-handed Idiocracy-type satire, b) he has surely been corrected several times but is incapable of updating his priors, & c) most media politely agree not to mention it.

2025-12-17 18:47:29 UTC

They developed the "high school girl's sports" angle as a wedge issue, to lever their way up to full society-wide discrimination. What's endlessly stunning to me is how many purported liberals a) helped them when it started & b) are still helping them even after the larger purpose has become clear!

2025-12-16 20:47:20 UTC

More than 600 Americans faced professional consequences for saying things deemed insufficiently reverential after the death of Charlie Kirk. And then there was Rob Reiner.
Read @npub1hln…0lua's infuriating forensic analysis:
[The Rules of Grief](https://www.readtpa.com/p/the-rules-of-grief?publication_id=2282&post_id=181719855&isFreemail=false&r=bzxnl&triedRedirect=true )

2025-12-10 17:40:54 UTC

A new report on civic freedoms concludes that "the US is no longer a functional democracy."
Congrats everyone. And a *special* congrats to the Harpers letter signatories, free-speech warriors, and "anti-woke" crusaders. You saved us from woke! Great work.
[🇺🇸 America Just Got Downgraded...](https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/america-just-got-downgraded-the-united )

2025-12-06 19:28:17 UTC

Some simple moral clarity. Our country is run, and our public life is dominated by, wicked people.
I wish there were a party -- or christ, just a substantial faction of Americans -- who stood up for love, compassion, & decency with the same vigor these fucking ghouls celebrate murder.
[Opinion | What Trump Is Really...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/opinion/trump-boat-strikes.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share )

2025-12-03 18:57:58 UTC

This piece from @npub1pg6…0gsj is about the only sensible thing NYT has published on the subject of electricity prices.
[Opinion | A Simple Fix to Amer...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/opinion/electricity-power-bills-ai-data-centers.html )

2025-12-03 17:28:22 UTC

Today on Volts: while some blue states hedge on their green commitments, Illinois is doubling down, passing its third major energy bill in a decade. Among other things, this one empowers the state's utility regulator to directly procure clean energy. I get into it w/ two of its architects.
[How Illinois passed its third ...](https://www.volts.wtf/p/how-illinois-passed-its-third-big )

2025-11-30 20:04:06 UTC

Lol, Zillow tried to rate the climate risks facing individual properties. The real estate industry *hated* it, precisely because it worked -- it made selling risky properties more difficult. So they rebelled & Zillow caved.
Don't look up!
[Zillow Removes Climate Risk Sc...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/climate/zillow-climate-risk-scores-homes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5E8.pnKU.tdqxwARPeVCp&smid=bs-share )

2025-11-26 22:00:50 UTC

An 18yo US citizen, surrounded by eight masked, armed agents of the state, taken into custody, not read his rights, not offered a chance to contact a lawyer, proof of citizenship ignored, handcuffed so tightly he later required medical attention.
Profoundly, profoundly anti-American shit.
[ICE Detained an 18-Year-Old U....](https://youtu.be/Q0mQxt9jlCM )

2025-11-26 18:24:51 UTC

Today on Volts: I've had more requests to cover this than almost any other topic in the pod's history, so now, at long last, balcony solar! We dig into how "plug-in solar" took off in Europe & how it's making its way to the US, starting in Utah. Backyard DIY types rejoice!
[What's the deal with balcony s...](https://www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-deal-with-balcony-solar )

2025-11-21 19:41:15 UTC

In an era filled with tech dipshits who never developed emotionally past the age of 13 & use their wealth to become odious monsters ...
... listen to Steve Wozniak.
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreifv4p76tcrs6we3kpqods7vnb435n2ikpm6y7lxuxl363es5zohl4

2025-11-15 19:39:56 UTC

Here an underage girl testifies that Epstein vaginally and anally raped her before beating her in fury because Trump had taken her virginity before he could.
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreiesxu4stm4xyq3g6zskt7bor5ur52fen4pbgvqsohrk2wflf6idtu

2025-11-13 18:56:23 UTC

From Jay Inslee & Sam Ricketts, a Democratic agenda for lower energy prices:
1. deploy more clean energy;
2. expand the grid;
3. hold utilities accountable.
[Trump is raising Americans’ en...](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/trump-is-raising-americans-energy )

2025-11-12 21:27:16 UTC

This Trump/Epstein stuff is so typical of a modern political "scandal," in that ... we know he did it. He knows he did it. Everyone knows he did it & everyone knows that everyone knows he did it. There is zero "did he do it?" involved here. The whole thing is about ... what, exactly?

2025-11-11 17:38:39 UTC

Still thinking about this story. Imagine how cooked your brain has to be on Fox News -- how terrified you have to be, every day in your isolated suburban castle -- to start *shooting* when you see brown people at your door, before the door is even open. We're such a nation of terrified cowards.
[Cleaning worker who mistakenly...](https://abcnews.go.com/US/cleaning-worker-wrong-home-fatally-shot-indiana/story?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhfacebook&utm_content=null&id=127276247&fbclid=IwZnRzaAN6eThleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEegfiV4HdwEKhgfJCFUzFzrguVqbZS0OESUUj9_AW6wPQneTH6mCOKk0SVrVU_aem_5QPFo_pcVMEQE3v0sDZAxg )

2025-11-10 20:55:36 UTC

America's political elite has decided that climate change is no longer that important or worth talking about, but rest assured, it's still happening, it's extremely bad, and yes, it is going to affect you here in America.
[What Climate Change Will Do to...](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2025/12/trump-climate-change-acceleration/684632/ )

2025-11-06 18:53:20 UTC

A bold proposal: let's treat high-voltage transmission lines the same way we treat gas pipelines!
[cleanenergygrid.org/wp-content/upl...](https://cleanenergygrid.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ACEG_Challenge-Report.pdf )

2025-11-05 06:21:37 UTC

Volts gets results. ⚡
[In an Upset, Democrats Oust Tw...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/us/georgia-election-utility-board-results.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share )

2025-11-04 20:09:11 UTC

Boy Mamdani's race is really a vivid reminder that anti-Islamic bigotry is 100% accepted in US public discourse. People don't even bother dog whistling, it's just right out in the open.

2025-11-03 20:18:52 UTC

Absolutely amazing: they've got so much solar in Australia that they need more people to use more of it, so the gov't has instructed energy retailers to offer *at least three hours of free power* during the middle of the day.
Meanwhile fossil-addled US struggles with an energy-price crisis ...
[Energy retailers to be directe...](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-03/energy-retailers-offer-free-power-three-hours-dmo/105965472 )

2025-11-02 19:11:22 UTC

Why wouldn't this exact same logic have applied to Hitler? I mean, some of his supporters had puppies and were kind to their grandmas. If you can't call anything fascist unless/until *literally everyone supporting it is a comic book villain*, then you just can't ever identify fascism.
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreia55qduxk5iq6gf45dbqwv6f6rb5rn7ohhxqcb6jdhrc5adna6wci

2025-11-02 18:47:10 UTC

So, how are things going over on the right?
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreia67n7ynthd7tehdxkc37nogtfnlngypo3e6pohrglyuvhfddgcue

2025-10-27 17:23:31 UTC

Everybody knows in a vague way that Russia is funding bots to foment misinformation & conflict in western countries, but everybody thinks that it's *someone else* who's actually being affected by it.
No, it's you too.
[Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctione...](https://www.wired.com/story/chatbots-are-pushing-sanctioned-russian-propaganda/?bxid=5fa7b15f8f616f7bf274fbd5&cndid=62658284&hasha=f84e5ac04f021896598d9107641bfee0&hashc=9417d8b4b961919ffc1186b1875b2d245763fc71e609085edf732ffbc8b77586&esrc=MARTECH_ORDERFORM )

2025-10-26 23:38:30 UTC

Such deranged, casually fascist shit.
[House Republicans want to stri...](https://nypost.com/2025/10/25/us-news/house-republicans-push-to-denaturalize-mamdani-over-citizenship-form/ )

2025-10-21 19:18:01 UTC

Hilarious that Marj, of all people, has looked around, seen that the cost of living going up, and recognized that her party has absolutely nothing to offer in response.
[Marjorie Taylor Greene deliver...](https://www.semafor.com/article/10/20/2025/marjorie-taylor-greene-delivers-her-harshest-warning-yet )

2025-10-19 20:00:37 UTC

There's just no way to exaggerate how cooked your brain has to be to think like this. Trump is an unprecedented, law-breaking, norm-breaking, increasingly demented maniac who is destroying this country's basic institutions. Like, right now! As we speak!
But media elites find that boring.
[It’s 2025, and Democrats Are S...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/us/politics/democratic-campaign-ads-trump.html )

2025-10-19 18:56:49 UTC

[checks calendar]
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreiebb2ytciewgcdedy7av54yhru46bqsl2liwkhrzkgrlz4gp3eeay

2025-10-15 17:03:41 UTC

Elon Musk is a mass murderer.
[Starving children screaming fo...](https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-usaid-thailand-trump-rubio-aid-7f6919a1863ceea2ddf6708e47bb88f0 )

2025-10-11 02:34:36 UTC

Is it cancel culture when they threaten to kill you?
[www.nj.com/news/2025/10...](https://www.nj.com/news/2025/10/sold-out-ta-nehisi-coates-speaker-appearance-in-nj-canceled-over-security-reasons.html )
[Sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates spea...](https://www.nj.com/news/2025/10/sold-out-ta-nehisi-coates-speaker-appearance-in-nj-canceled-over-security-reasons.html )

2025-10-10 10:18:15 UTC

All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?

2025-10-09 13:38:52 UTC

It really can't be said enough: the goal of the "anti-woke" movement was always to destroy social norms against bigotry. And it worked. And there's a whole lot of purportedly "left" thinkers & commentators who helped it -- indeed, it couldn't have been done without them.
They should feel bad.

2025-10-05 19:00:52 UTC

"There are currently one to two Starlink satellites falling back to Earth every day ... Soon, McDowell told us, there will be up to 5 satellite reentries per day." 😳
[1 to 2 Starlink satellites are...](https://earthsky.org/human-world/1-to-2-starlink-satellites-falling-back-to-earth-each-day/ )

2025-10-01 22:15:24 UTC

It's kind of wild that crypto scammers became *the single biggest source of political donations* in the last US election and barely anyone even noticed. These dipshits basically own both parties now and are getting whatever they want and there's been zero (0) public deliberation or debate about it.
[Crypto's $245 million campaign...](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/05/cryptos-245-million-campaign-finance-operation-funded-non-crypto-ads.html )

2025-09-28 23:10:37 UTC

"I spoke to the governor, she was very nice," Trump said. "But I said, 'Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening? My people tell me different.'"
Almost ... a glimmer ... "am I in an anti-reality bubble populated by sycophants?" ... and gone.
[Trump seems to back off Portla...](https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/trump-seems-to-back-off-portland-military-plan/283-e9c6bdfb-92d6-4881-bb74-09bb325a5270 )

2025-09-26 19:55:00 UTC

Remember how lefties used to say "abolish ICE" back in the 2010s, and got roundly scolded by the centrists for it ever since, and now events have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were 1000% on the correct side of history, but somehow they're still being scolded? Fun.

2025-09-26 18:51:27 UTC

Centrist pundit in a few years: "Well, the American people just don't like wind power. It's just the way they are, part of the national character. What can you do? Best to dial back on our wind power talk. Moderate to win!"
[The U.S. Anti-Wind Movement, E...](https://drilled.media/news/podcast-antiwind )

2025-09-26 18:18:38 UTC

Excellent piece on the way Connecticut utilities drove one of the nation's best utility regulators out of office through a campaign of slander, lawfare, & intimidation.
If the clean energy world were organized worth a flying fuck, it would have made this a high-profile national fight.
[Monopoly Utilities Ousted Amer...](https://boondoggle.substack.com/p/monopoly-utilities-ousted-americas )

2025-09-22 14:40:37 UTC

God, insomnia sounds like such a nightmare.
[Why Can’t Americans Sleep?](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/08/insomnia-health-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/683257/?utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20250921&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&lctg=6050e33a1fc16d137f856b2f&utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily )

2025-09-17 20:51:55 UTC

It can't be said often enough: the contemporary US right simply does not accept the background presumption that "we all have to live here together." They want to eliminate liberals! They're very vocal about it!

2025-09-16 19:50:54 UTC

Far as I can tell, Robert Redford was:
* successful at everything he tried
* genuinely intelligent & insightful
* desired by women
* envied by men
* an absolute mensch to everyone he dealt with
* a tireless, lifelong philanthropist
... and he died peacefully in his sleep.
10/10 life. No notes.

2025-09-15 20:49:28 UTC

Feel free to continue arguing over the shooter's motives, but please understand that *it doesn't matter*.
There's a organized political movement that plans to suppress, arrest, or kill its political opposition. It it seeking pretexts. Anything will do. If it's not this, it'll be something else.

2025-09-15 17:50:32 UTC

Empires decline all the time, for all kinds of reasons, but our present moment will be remembered in history books for the sheer volume of *voluntary & pointless self-imposed damage*. We're systematically dismantling what made us great, for no reason! Genuinely, with no rationale! It's wild.

2025-09-13 20:06:22 UTC

Immense amounts of bullshit piled up here in this post, but just to pick one little thing: Weiss was not "forced to quit." She quit on her own! She clearly went to the NYT *hoping* to be canceled, to make herself a martyr, but they refused to cancel her, so she just pretended they had!
[The Bluesky-ization of the Ame...](https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-bluesky-ization-of-the-american?publication_id=35345&post_id=173494929&isFreemail=false&r=bzxnl&triedRedirect=true )

2025-09-11 19:51:49 UTC

Just watch. The whole system is swinging into action, using Kirk's killing to advance the power & interests of the right. The crucial thing to notice is that *the process wouldn't work without the complicity & assistance of the mainstream elite establishment*. Every time.

2025-09-11 19:48:05 UTC

what the absolute fucking fuck
[Opinion | Charlie Kirk Was Pra...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/opinion/charlie-kirk-assassination-fear-politics.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare )

2025-09-08 20:12:13 UTC

The simplest explanation for why the right does not appear to care that Donald Trump is a sexual abuser and a pedophile is that they do not, in fact, care if he is a sexual abuser and a pedophile.

2025-09-07 18:45:17 UTC

It's become very clear that US political, media, and financial elites felt much more *personal* anger & disgust toward Biden & Harris than they ever have toward Trump. They might acknowledge Trump is "bad" in some abstract sense, but he doesn't *bother* them as much as Biden did.

2025-09-04 19:03:23 UTC

Every so often I look into the question "how can I grow my podcast?" and every time the answer comes back, "put some actual work into promoting it." Ugh.
Anybody got a different answer?

2025-08-30 05:15:02 UTC

🧐
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreih6bdyu5hv2lorubua5sygo576a3og5iluffklbqzttauln64qssy

2025-08-27 22:21:25 UTC

She was brought to the US as an 8yo, worked hard, studied, earned a scholarship, planned to become a nurse.
ICE kidnapped her. Held her for 6 MONTHS in a detention facility with conditions so miserable that she finally agreed to voluntarily move to Honduras, which her family left at gunpoint.
[After six months in ICE custod...](https://www.wunc.org/2025-08-26/after-six-months-in-ice-custody-charlotte-woman-chooses-voluntary-removal-to-honduras )

2025-08-22 21:40:05 UTC

If we'd made DC a state we could have avoided all this but conservative Dem senators love the filibuster, so 🤷‍♂️
[How Moderate Senate Democrats ...](https://prospect.org/politics/2025-08-22-how-moderate-senate-democrats-enabled-trumps-dc-takeover/ )

2025-08-18 21:01:33 UTC

"House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has declined to oppose a Texas gerrymandering effort that could maintain Republicans' control of Congress. Still, he has insisted that a similar move by Democrats in California was an 'illegal power grab'."
[Mike Johnson vows to fight Cal...](https://www.rawstory.com/mike-johnson-california-redistricting/ )

2025-08-13 19:54:47 UTC

Much like in the US, in the UK it's fashionable (especially in the conservative media) to dump on cities, specifically London. Crime-ridden, declining, etc. etc. All the same shit they say about NYC or DC.
Here's Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, saying "fuck off, cities rule."
[‘These People Can’t Stand What...](https://bylinetimes.com/2025/08/13/these-people-cant-stand-what-london-represents-it-makes-a-mockery-of-their-entire-worldview/ )

2025-08-04 20:06:57 UTC

In June, for the first time ever, solar was the largest source of power in the EU.
[Solar is EU’s biggest power so...](https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/solar-is-eus-biggest-power-source-for-the-first-time-ever-in-june-2025/ )

2025-08-04 19:17:48 UTC

Sometimes I think about those very first scientists & pols who became aware of climate change. They thought, "what's step one? I know, we'll get literally every nation in the world together & sign a binding treaty that will force us all to completely retool our industrial bases!"
Imagine.

2025-08-03 18:37:25 UTC

*Extremely* interesting piece.
[What if America’s red states a...](https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/07/14/what-if-americas-red-states-are-about-to-lose-their-cheap-housing-advantage?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email )

2025-08-02 19:10:07 UTC

"Renewable energy will overtake coal to become the world’s top source of electricity 'by 2026 at the latest', according to new forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA)."
[IEA: Renewables will be world’...](https://www.carbonbrief.org/iea-renewables-will-be-worlds-top-power-source-by-2026/ )

2025-07-31 20:08:48 UTC

Billionaires are colluding in private to run experiments on the atmosphere, but they don't want to "scare the public," so they're keeping it secret.
Do you feel safer yet?
[Researchers quietly planned a ...](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/27/california-sunlight-dimming-experiment-collapse-00476983?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwL1ybdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp4-Pz_XooWHrlnc-gZMewuq8enBTNSNUQknpAuDD-QSLOUElf5iyM9LlCbE7_aem_f1eu-VkA2rrbbxkle_6rOQ )

2025-07-30 16:50:56 UTC

"From 2020 to 2025, the data shows young women in the Seattle area have grown increasingly Democratic, and the share who identify as Republican has plummeted. Among young men, the reverse is true..."
[Seattle-area political divide ...](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/seattle-area-political-divide-among-young-voters-grows-along-gender-lines/ )

2025-07-29 19:52:33 UTC

AI is killing the internet. If all anyone reads or sees are AI summaries, what incentive is there for people to continue to generate the material that AI is summarizing?
[AI is killing the web. Can any...](https://www.economist.com/business/2025/07/14/ai-is-killing-the-web-can-anything-save-it )

2025-07-24 06:19:35 UTC

Most Americans really have no clue how far the US is being left behind.
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreid2fnv4vaevdvydh4qe6rxbqy4jity5ycaiap6yxunjyb3urehsdi

2025-07-22 20:00:37 UTC

Interesting idea: *shade* as a natural resource that is being privatized in the era of climate change.
[All Praise Shade](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/07/shade-climate-change/683578/ )

2025-07-19 22:42:42 UTC

This is an incredible piece -- fantastic political writing about some of the worst, most pathetic people you can imagine.
[Inside the Well-Funded, Likely...](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/well-funded-likely-doomed-plan-to-stop-zohran-mamdani.html )

2025-07-19 22:40:25 UTC

"Some troops became so disgruntled that there were several reports of soldiers defecating in Humvees and showers at the Southern California base where the troops are stationed, prompting tightened bathroom security."
[Trump’s National Guard Troops ...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/us/trump-national-guard-california.html )

2025-07-19 22:16:27 UTC

US conservatives are bound & determined to prevent humanity from addressing climate change.
[How the Right Is Waging War on...](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/07/leonard-leo-consumers-research-esg-climate/683581/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email )

2025-07-12 19:03:48 UTC

The US is the wealthiest country in human history and we put up with endless picayune daily humiliations so that a few piratically rich corporations can get a little richer. What a cucked people.
[That Dropped Call With Custome...](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/customer-service-sludge/683340/?gift=OgiGhauTZ1d07288Ut5T8de9_hfGwP799P8C_st7A2A )

2025-07-11 20:56:38 UTC

Are you aware that private equity, in addition to destroying numerous other venerable US institutions, is now going after public libraries?
[A Virginia public library is f...](https://lithub.com/a-virginia-public-library-is-fighting-off-a-threatened-takeover-by-private-equity/ )

2025-07-07 20:48:30 UTC

Big new poll finds that ... are you sitting down? ... "a bipartisan majority supports raising taxes on high incomes and wealth, including restoring pre-2017 tax rates, taxing capital gains like regular income, and introducing new taxes on large fortunes."
[publicconsultation.org/wp-content/upl...](https://publicconsultation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FedBudget2025Quaire.pdf )

2025-07-07 20:33:56 UTC

I thought when Musk transformed Twitter into a playground for overt nazis & race scientists, it might prompt some kind of backlash from the US establishment. Instead it hasn't even prompted much comment! They didn't leave Twitter, Musk is still welcome in elite circles ... nothing. Amazing.

2025-07-06 19:48:26 UTC

Tech bros get frustrated with politics, which involves painstaking, often frustrating communication & compromise with other people who have different backgrounds & perspectives, so their approach is always to wish it away: a brand new city! a brand new political party! this one weird trick!

2025-07-02 20:00:51 UTC

Elon Musk casually, and illegally, dismantled USAID. According to a new study in the Lancet, that action will lead to *14 million* premature deaths between 2025 and 2030.
Again: Elon Musk is directly responsible for 14 million coming deaths. 4.5 million will be children.
[Evaluating the impact of two d...](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01186-9/fulltext )

2025-07-02 18:30:00 UTC

Just recorded a pod on solar+storage and holy shit y'all, if you are not tracking this market on a daily basis, you have no idea how wild it is. The global average price of a battery pack fell 40% *from 2023 to 2024*. That dropped the LCOE of a solar+storage plant by 22%. In a year!

2025-07-01 18:21:45 UTC

Beef: it's destroying the earth. You should eat less of it, or none.
This conclusion is backed by *mountains* of evidence, but man, people hate it.
[www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...](https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2025-06-30/summer-beef-burger-earth-amazon-climate )
[usnews.com/opinion/articl...](https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2025-06-30/summer-beef-burger-earth-amazon-climate )

2025-06-28 20:28:50 UTC

"At any decision point, the GOP will behave in a way that is dumber & meaner than expected" is the only heuristic that has never led me wrong in US politics. People think I'm joking or exaggerating for rhetorical effect when I say that, but I'm dead serious. I can't think of an exception.

2025-06-27 21:03:23 UTC

I want every ICE agent identified & shunned for the rest of their lives by civil society. I want people to cross the street when they approach. I want restaurants to refuse them service. I want their families to think twice about being seen with them. I want them to die alone & sad.

2025-06-26 17:32:20 UTC

The way people are losing their fucking minds over a proposal for a publicly owned grocery store should give you some insight into how a proposal for public libraries would be greeted today if they didn't already exist.

2025-06-25 21:10:40 UTC

People inside (and outside) the energy world waste way too much time debating the merits of individual energy sources & technologies. The most important thing right now, which all our resources should be aligning behind, is ELECTRIFICATION.
[The electrification imperative](https://electrotechrevolution.substack.com/p/the-electrification-imperative?publication_id=1639653&post_id=166794864&isFreemail=true&r=bzxnl&triedRedirect=true )

2025-06-23 17:42:41 UTC

"The latest cancellations – including battery, electric vehicle and solar panel factories in West Virginia, New York, Alabama, Arizona and Washington – mean $15.5 billion in new factories and electricity projects have been cancelled since January 1."
$15.5B, 12,000 new jobs -- wiped out. For what?
[Businesses Cancel $1.4 Billion...](https://e2.org/releases/may-25-clean-economy-works/ )

2025-06-21 20:13:40 UTC

When the market of ideas has left them behind & they are not in control, conservatives whine about fairness & demand "viewpoint diversity."
I promise you, the minute they have the power to do it, that notion will go out the window & liberal ideas will be forced out.

2025-06-18 17:45:56 UTC

Every year that passes, I come to better appreciate just how traumatic members of the US elite find it to be yelled at by progressive young people. It is *vastly* more upsetting to them than being yelled at by reactionaries. They warp their entire identities & ideologies around it!

2025-06-10 20:24:30 UTC

I miss dog whistles.
https://shiitake.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl&cid=bafkreidnikj4u3odz2swdqwmqsvi737lm3fu6s766h26yxnv2h4au3l4he

2025-06-09 20:11:32 UTC

Right now, Dems are hiding in their offices, scrolling their phones fearfully, wondering "how are voters going to feel about the National Guard being deployed?"
The right, meanwhile, is vigorously *attempting to shape* how voters feel about it, filling every medium with coordinated propaganda.

2025-06-05 00:17:06 UTC

Dems just do not seem to get this.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jdfwnosj5tavojrkinbcor6h/post/3lqsyhxkdsk2i

2025-05-27 19:25:09 UTC

The real tragedy of young men today is not that they're being held back from success by a bunch of woke scolds. The real tragedy is that they're being told that success & happiness come through escaping all constraints, dominating & controlling others, & suppressing all vulnerability or weakness.

2025-05-25 19:02:41 UTC

Nobody's ever really captured, to my satisfaction, the way that the internet -- though it promises infinitude, all of human experience & history & art & thought in one place -- has instead produced a kind of narrowing & flattening of experience, made the world seem *less* magic & full of wonder.

2025-05-14 21:27:29 UTC

If you sat down a random panel of Americans and told them what Republicans are currently doing, my guess is that the vast majority simply wouldn't believe you. It comes off like you're describing a Bond villain. The reality sounds wildly different & more extreme than what they hear organically.

2025-05-12 17:39:14 UTC

Hey, while you weren't looking, Virginia passed a law to enable virtual power plants in the state! V. cool.
[Virginia law directs utility t...](https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2025/05/virginia-law-directs-utility-to-launch-virtual-power-plant-pilot-program/ )

2025-05-11 18:23:11 UTC

This is utterly sociopathic but so is everything else so it will vanish from the news in a few hours.
[What’s the Cost to Society of ...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/climate/social-cost-carbon-trump.html )

2025-05-08 17:43:45 UTC

Cybertrucks are piling up -- apparently no one wants to buy them -- but they can't stop making them, b/c shutting the factory down is too expensive. Great work all around.
[Tesla Cybertruck inventory goe...](https://www.arenaev.com/tesla_cybertruck_inventory_goes_through_the_roof-news-4680.php )

2025-05-07 19:57:31 UTC

I wonder if the US declaring "torture isn't bad when we do it, because we're good" had any downstream effect on Israel declaring "genocide isn't bad when we do it, because we're good."

2025-05-07 19:23:32 UTC

"Woke" -- changing norms through social pressure -- is not, contra the reactionary centrists, another form of tyranny. It's the *alternative* to tyranny. It's new norms winning through the marketplace of ideas. The alternative is what we see now: enforcing norms via the threat of state violence.