We seem to be trapped in the West with a choice between sociopathic leaders on the right and ineffective leaders on the left who lack creativity and are hopelessly risk-averse. On the current path I'd say Starmer's journey is mostly what the Dem president will trace out, 2028-2032.

Global electricity demand growth fell sharply on a YOY basis in 2025 to 3%, compared to 2024's 4.4%, according to the IEA. Needless to say, this made for a much lower hurdle for Wind+Solar to cover marginal growth. www.iea.org/reports/glob...

Ergo, return to X and fight the good fight?

"Chris Wright thinks the clean energy transition is the 'the greatest malinvestment in history.' The rest of the world is coming to see it as the future." www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/why-does-chr... by me for @quittingcarbon.bsky.social 🔌💡

Spring is so beautiful in Portland that you find yourself saying olde timey things like I hope to live long enough to see many more of these!

Conditions rapidly unfolding in LNG markets is going to trigger a spike in global coal demand. We will unfortunately once again reach new ATH in coal consumption--the most lurid and absurd of outcomes.

"You do not kick the hornet’s nest of Iran because that endangers the flow of oil from numerous Middle East producers. Apparently, Donald Trump now stands as one of the few people on the planet to not fully understand this simple equation," writes @gregor.us: www.coldeye.earth/p/strait-up-... 🔌💡

He's done it.

Closer now than ever before, I think, to my long held dream that Trump would steadily load the entire GOP onto a yacht that he winds up sinking.

Supporting the 78 year old Janet Mills (ME senate race) is a tidy portrait of the consistent, strategic incompetance of @schumer.senate.gov.His stated rationale is like something from pre sabermetrics baseball (pre Moneyball).

This is a misstep, and further adds to a long record of poor political instincts. www.texastribune.org/2026/02/27/k...

No amount of money could buy the goodwill Anthropic earned this week.

Playing online chess, saw my opponent was Canadian. Apologized, told him Canada was the best friend we ever had. "We actually feel for you," he said. "How do you handle it?" To stay sane I block his voice, I said. I read all my news, avoid any audio. Long pause.... "Fuck, man. That's awful."

With the distance of a couple of years, I think we can say that in the wake of the pandemic, conventional macroeconomic policy could only deliver either a temporary period of high inflation, or a prolonged period of slow growth and high unemployment. With standard tools, there wasn't a third choice.

10-15 House seats filled by the GOP, or a by number of half-Democrats who have super irritating and disappointing views on a range of issues, I'll take the latter every time. In that spirit, here is a great donation list by @mattyglesias.bsky.social www.slowboring.com/p/the-candid...

Among the most important signs of how SCOTUS might rein in a President's claim to emergency powers is: Chief Justice Roberts with Justices Gorsuch and Barrett on the 'major questions' doctrine. The three express deep skepticism of claims to open-ended emergency powers: 1/

Health care is the top expense Americans say they worry about. And a majority of Americans across all political persuasions (D, R, Independent) say they worry about being able to afford health care.

Knew Talarico was a threat to GOP/Texas but that may be an understatement.

every. single. time.

Democratic leadership should consider raising its Ask (from the existing demands) in ICE negotiations with the admin, as the entire detention and housing process emerges as a tip of the iceberg problem.

While I sympathize with the Dem effort to negotiate with the admin over ICE practices, (no masks would help, for ex) there's risk in actually making a deal, as Dems would wind up taking part ownership of a far more vast horror show that's hasn't even come to light yet.

15% economic growth is of course the potential of frontier economies, new territories, where you are buiding infra from scratch right alongside the newly forming economy. Gold rush stuff, not the characteristic of mature domains.

"The momentum of energy technology is holding up pretty well against the administration’s policy attacks. And that’s not a bad place to be if you now consider that the political pendulum is about to swing harder than many young people have ever seen." by @gregor.us www.coldeye.earth/p/wind-shift 🔌💡

PANTHEON: “.. Business services openings tumbling, probably due to AI.” 👀

NEW: A federal judge said uses of force against peaceful protesters and journalists appeared to be escalating in Portland. He ordered sharp restrictions to DHS agents' use of force and chemical munitions. w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social @natsfert.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

I just got tear gassed along with thousands of union members, many of whom had their families with them. Federal agents at the ICE facility tear gassed children. We must abolish ICE, DHS, and we must have prosecutions. I expect to see enforcement of our city code prohibiting the use of tear gas.

The federal judiciary has threatened a finding of contempt across a number of Trump agencies--yet keeps pulling that particular punch, just when you think its finally about to land.

Sure. While at the same time the DOJ just filed an appeal to a judge's order that the admin and its agencies not destroy evidence. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...

If you're living somewhere outside the USA, one thing you can do is pressure your leaders to boycott World Cup and Olympic events here.

“We have all the cards,” he said, while also telling Europe to keep lending the US money. 🤡 @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Road fuel demand has been flat in China for a couple years now, as the decade-long grand upsweep of EVs (now reaching 50% market share) finally gains traction.

EVs reached nearly 50% of the total China vehicle market last year. www.datawrapper.de/_/KUw52/?v=12

Having grown up in New England,I am long familiar with the curious phenomenon of anti-progress progressives. This strain of anti-AI within the left is so familiar, and so tedious.

the left nimby crashout bc Zohran actually wants to build more housing is genuinely so funny

Extraordinary performance today by @nealkatyal.bsky.social before SCOTUS in the tariff case. The argumentation was so crisp, the responses so perfect, it felt like I was listening to a film script. Words as sharp as a scalpel.

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

Newsom signed SB79! So, so huge. Enormous props to all the people who worked so hard, for so long, to make this happen, above all @scottwiener.bsky.social. It's going to change California, and the country.

US coal consumption in the power sector is up +15% in the first half of 2025: www.eia.gov/outlooks/ste...

I explored this risk in a piece a month ago... www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power by the President of the United States. America is on the brink of martial law. Do not be silent.

Not a lawyer but it seems to me Trump's intention/declaration today that he will re-purpose already federalized National Guard from CA to OR would function as defying the spirit of Judge Imergut's ruling to block putting OR Nat'l Guard on Portland streets.

Agreed. This ought to be examined immediately.

The more @mattyglesias.bsky.social flogs the idea that moderation of positions will help Democrats the more it seems like a squishy thesis. What's missing: 1. RW media effectively portrays all Dem positions as extreme. 2. Dems are bad at messaging. If Dems can't cure #2, moderation gains no ground.

As someone who lives inside a mile to Portland's ICE facility, I can report: 1. I pass by (within 100 feet of ICE) on the bikepath nearly every day. 2. It's been pretty quiet and dull over there for a month. 3. I did not enjoy the military helicopter flying overhead for hours last night.

War-ravaged Portland

Someone made a panicked decision at $DIS and hoo boy are they going to regret it.

trump approval hits a new low in today's yougov/economist poll. now worse than he was in yougov's data at this point in 2017 www.economist.com/interactive/...

#UMich 👀 @weisenthal.bsky.social

Fossil fuels are dirt cheap. The whole lot of 'em. www.eia.gov/outlooks/ste... "Driven by falling gasoline prices, U.S. drivers’ gasoline expenditures as a share of disposable personal income are likely to be the lowest since at least 2005—excluding the pandemic-affected year of 2020."

In the nightcap Julian puts JB Straubel and new second-life battery player Redwood Materials in the spotlight "second-life batteries are the cheapest form of long-duration storage. If true, battery startups are in trouble — and renewables are in luck." 🔌💡 www.canarymedia.com/articles/lon...