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...

Absolutely stunned by this story from Rachel Cusk, my very first encounter with her work. Feels like a breakthrough in what the short story can be. Can't remember being this jolted since the time I first read Murakami. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Tariffs are going to have to be paid back. The more I hear about the case, the more I think this could be a 9-0 SCOTUS opinion against Trump’s use of IEEPA. Plaintiffs are mostly libertarian, no-taxation-without-representation types, and the “major questions” doctrine test should easily be met here.

Someone will have to explain to me the idea that China is now becoming an electrostate, when China has always and everywhere been an electrostate. 🔌💡

How big is the slow down in US clean energy manufacturing investments? Huge. 🔌💡 We are now tracking 39 projects, $41.8B in investment and 42,429 jobs that have slowed since Trump took office. That compares to 70 projects, totaling $31.9B, and 36,554 jobs that have advanced during the same time.

Intriguing: EIA expects a new all time high for NG consumption in the US--but not because of growth in the power sector(which has actually been the source of NG strength for years). www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

This is an exceptionally well written piece on $META's supercluster AI project in Louisiana, by @delaneynolan.bsky.social. Really evokes the scale of the data center to come, while also setting the rural context. Very strong prose. fortune.com/2025/08/24/m...

High level, good quality conversation between @cjhandmer.bsky.social and @dwarkesh.bsky.social on future solar prospects and costs of different energy sources as we scale AI. 💡🔌 www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cDH...

With US emissions and US consumption of fossil fuels no longer falling, and a new set of destructive policies just starting to land, only an economic recession during the Trump term would effectively counter the new trend. #energysky

In the future, everyone will be employed for fifteen minutes.

I feel like our climate world hasn't really absorbed a message that has sunk in, in other areas: progress isn't permanent, and whatever's been gained the past decade is vulnerable to being lost with surprising speed

“Even if Chinese emissions decline this year, I would not start saying they have peaked. I would want to see emissions trending down for a few years” We have been fooled before. Look what happened since the "peak" in 2014... www.eenews.net/articles/in-...

Rate of global oil demand growth slowing to a crawl. May be little more than an advance of a half a percent, in 2025. www.iea.org/reports/oil-...

When charts become popular on social media they tend to transform into collection bins for everyone's priors. This one is fully loaded now, piled high with explanations. I am cautious.

I have a few nitpicks with this piece by Michael, which I'll get to at some point, but more important is that he's offering a far more realistic model for energy transition's timeline.

Just saying: we don't talk about this trend enough.

EU wind and solar generation growth last year exceeded total demand growth: 60.5 TWh vs 53.1 TWh. All good. However, this is colored by the unfortunate fact that EU industrial production is currently in a downtrend. www.coldeye.earth/p/next-steps

Jane Mayer looks back on John Hersey's 1946 piece “Hiroshima,” a monumental account of the nuclear blast that obliterated the city.

The US could see a 30-40% decline in new international student enrollment, resulting in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer American jobs. https://www.nafsa.org/fall-2025-international-student-enrollment-outlook-and-economic-impact

Truly enjoyed this year's Tour de France, and here's a terrific photo set from @theathletic.com with the perfect shot of the final stage: Pogacar on the cobbled climb to Montmartre. www.nytimes.com/athletic/651...

Based on fossil fuel growth rates from the IEA Coal Mid-Year Update, July Oil Market Report, & Gas Market Report Q3, fossil CO2 emissions would grow around 0.8% in 2025, reaching another record high... We are only half way through the year, but don't build too much expectation for peak emissions.

The natural gas adoption boom in global power generation continues, and is forecast to advance "by 1.3% in 2025 and reach a new high, following growth of 1.9% in 2024" per latest from the IEA. www.iea.org/reports/elec...

Climate journalism shares the same, stylistic standards that govern science and economics journalism: when data claims are made, sources should be cited, and required language should be employed. CO2 no different than GDP comparisons: annual, quarters, or months must be noted. Otherwise: mush.

Friday 1 August, 2025: Notably strong advance, in just one day, of the authoritarian project.

If you've seen a claim recently that 96% of global demand for new electricity last year was met by renewables, that's not close to being true--even if you add in nuclear. Wind and solar met 50% of the new demand.

Never forget, a 13-year study found that protected bike-lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all road users. ALL ROAD USERS. And painted bike-lanes? No safety improvement at all. For sharrows, it’s actually safer to NOT have them. Via @usa.streetsblog.org @nyc.streetsblog.org

HAPPENING NOW: Appeals court judges raise immediate skepticism about whether President Trump had the power to impose sweeping and broad-based tariffs under his emergency powers. "IEEPA doesn’t mention the word tariffs anywhere," one judge noted.

In President Trump's latest threat before the Friday deadline for countries to agree to trade deals with the U.S., he said it would be “very hard” to make a trade deal with Canada after it said it may recognize Palestine as a state. Follow updates.

Yes, it's hilarious to see the administration still trying to sell a Schrodinger's Tarrif view: that we are collecting tremendous revenue while the exporters will "eat them" anyway. Ha. All this said, there's no escape from the logic of either higher prices paid or lower profit margins.

New @budgetlab.bsky.social tariff analysis incorporating the 25% tariff on India, up from our previously-assumed 10% and which goes into effect August 1. In brief... 1/10

I wouldn't be publishing a newsletter worthy of the name "Quitting Carbon" if I wasn't willing to take action to get off fossil fuels and reduce emissions in my own life. I recently had the fossil gas shut off at my home. Here's how I did it: www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/at-my-all-el... 🔌💡

I would say that expecting China emissions to peak now, from an economic development cycle perspective, would be like expecting US emissions to peak in the 1960's. Also worth noting: the whole peak China emissions fantasy is basically a single researcher flogging the idea year after year.

Using the @newyorker.com digital subscription has become so degraded, difficult that I swtiched to the paper subscription w/digital access. Pretty much everyone I know is feeling the same. 1 Double log-ins, 2. Magazine almost not accessible unless you choose the archive. 3. It's like 2005 internet.

After back-to-back extreme weather events, fruit growers and farmers across British Columbia are facing historic crop failures, financial strain and an uncertain future. 🔌💡 www.bcbusiness.ca/industries/e...

There will be so much incompetence you will get tired of the incompetence, but then you'll come to appreciate the consistency of it, the tragic comedy of it all.