A pretty simple litmus test: any Dem who isn’t clearly and vehemently opposing an illegal war with Iran is not sincerely opposed to Trump and fascism and does not deserve to be elected.

If Mamdani is such a Trump whisperer why doesn’t he make IT happen

There’s still time to apply for this Energy Policy Analyst role to work with me at Gridworks! Role is focused in the non-coastal western U.S. feel free to reach out with questions.

Might soon have some exciting work funded on interstate transmission permitting, Tribal transmission work, and capacity building in red state/rural contexts. I've been grinding the past six months, but hopefully soon we can get cooking on this work!

A reworked Monkeywrench Gang but the target is data centers instead of billboards and bulldozers.

When I was in Wyoming, I learned that every 5-10 years, someone looks around and wonders why young people are leaving Wyoming for opportunities elsewhere and starts and initiative or public discussion to address the problem. Governors and legislators deride or ignore it, and things get worse.

Which makes the productivity of many junior scholars these days all the more remarkable - it’s all done under the extreme duress of intensively auditioning for other roles!

Saw someone published a review of my book today, three years after it was published. It had nice things to say and fair critiques. I had figured it was forgotten, buried beneath so much else that came after it in the publishing arms race of academia. I went back and read a little. Still proud of it.

Wonder if any western states will follow suit?

I’m not sure how else to say it but Talarico has Lego man hair. There’s def a little yellow bump underneath there.

Maybe someone should write an article on how the imperative to become a “public” intellectual and focus on personal branding over serious and responsible inquiry is one result of there being no funding for the humanities.

The thing that gets me about the TAH Mellon Foundation article is that it’s really not the time to air that kind of (mistaken) critique on main when the fascist regime is looking for any pretext to defund most forms of critical inquiry and capture institutions that could challenge its legitimacy.

Hi yes I volunteer to be AOC’s 2028 presidential campaign rural/red state just transition advisor thx

Reading this and I can’t get the image out of my head of my my NREL colleagues who did international renewable energy work funded by USAID sitting dejectedly around a brewery table last February, wondering what to do after their funding got pulled by DOGE. Fuck these cretins.

This will devastate the burgeoning coal oil industry, I’m afraid.

“More traditional humanities scholarship” you mean the kind done why white dudes for white dudes while they all try to bang their students and gatekeep what counts as expertise?

The problem with Mellon isn't that it funds too many social justice-focused projects, it's that the same well-heeled, well-resourced, mid- and late-career Ivy League academics keep winning Mellon awards while many junior scholars, adjuncts, and non-Ivy folks getting locked out. Same issue with NEH.

Gonna just ignore AI and hope it goes away

Hearing 134 people. Lots of comms folks.

More layoffs at the lab formerly known as NREL today. :(

I'm hiring! Come work with me as an Energy Policy Analyst at Gridworks, supporting our work to build a stronger, more equitable, more reliable energy grid in the Western U.S. This role is remote and open to folks living in MT, WY, ID, UT, AZ, or NV. Details below. gridworks.org/wp-content/u...

Sometimes I think about the time Chris Wright came to NREL shortly after his confirmation and how lab leaders FAWNED over him and the "partnership" we'd have going forward. A year later: layoffs, total attack on renewables, a DOE in shambles. Laughable. www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-nix...

I'm hiring! Come work with me as an Energy Policy Analyst at Gridworks, supporting our work to build a stronger, more equitable, more reliable energy grid in the Western U.S. This role is remote and open to folks living in MT, WY, ID, UT, AZ, or NV. Details below. gridworks.org/wp-content/u...

We like to talk aspirationally about this sort of far-off rebuilding work we need to do post-Trump, when Dems are back in power, but then I see Kamala Harris leading all the early presidential polling and remember the primary process and I’m not optimistic.

Abundance bros are diddler apologists, who could have foreseen

I recently heard someone say the key to recovering from deep burnout is becoming comfortable with being unremarkable, which I think is really good advice for former academics coming from spaces where the primary currency is individual accolades within an interminable productivity arms race.

A cynical take I haven’t seen is that Dems probably benefit from ICE brutalizing cities and communities so they might be loathe to go full obstructionist in Congress before the midterms.

Agreed to write a chapter for an edited collection while at NREL, left during the swirl of layoffs and wholesale abandonment of the lab’s mission, forgot about the chapter, got a LinkedIn message asking if I can submit it within the month. I have no institutional access to academic research. 🙃

We need to platform more rural, red-state leftists who know their way around guns, full stop.

In Jackson Hole for the week, San Diego and Park City later this spring. State and regional energy policy work is cool.

Glad to see Bovino under the bus, hoping Noem will join him, but would be absolutely shocked if Miller went anywhere.

Very exciting to share that @climatecentral.org is hiring a Climate Data Scientist to join a new climate services effort focused on advancing predictions of risks and hazards on seasonal-to-decadal timescales. The application closes on February 9, 2026 at 5pm ET, & the description can be found here:

Rent is due in MN and ICE is still terrorizing people there. Whenever I feel despair about what's happening, I donate to one of the mutual aid funds here. In case it might also be helpful to you:

I have a FB I rarely log into but can confirm what others have saying: mutuals who are either staunchly apolitical on main or tend to lean center-right are… jumping into the fray and distinctly, vocally anti-ICE.

There are some parallels to draw between ICE and fossil fuel man camps when it comes to lack of accountability to the communities in which they work, destruction of all that is good, etc.

Just once I'd like to see Schumer or Jeffries angry. Authentically angry. No elegance or solutions are necessary, but purely reactive or instinctive. Some indication that they feel -- that they are capable of feeling -- what we are feeling.

If you feel outnumbered and discouraged - watch a video like this and say out loud to each person you see in it, I love you. I love you. I love you. Just send that out into the world.

If this is what they do to white American citizens in front of everyone, imagine what happens to non-white people behind closed doors.

People say ICE is shooting people because they’re scared and intimidated and not well trained for high pressure moments but it’s more likely (and chilling) that a lot of them are taking pleasure in this. What then?

Elected Dems simply too weak and not up to the task in this moment. No possible way we can move forward without almost completely cleaning house.

Why is Dem leadership not on the ground in MN? If the answer is “polls show Trump’s disapproval is only -15 on deportations, but -25 on prices,” thats a Bad Use Of Polling and a complete failure in their capacity as leaders to lead public opinion and fight for democracy and the rule of law

Now is a good time to go no contact with anyone in your lives - friends, family, otherwise - who are either MAGA or even remotely ambivalent to what is happening.

White Christian nationalists come into power. Civic institutions that control money/influence adjust their missions for self-preservation. Smaller orgs and individuals, reliant/influence, adjust how they talk about their missions. Certain words exit the collective lexicon with poor replacements.

Keep hearing "don't talk about climate anymore, talk about affordability" narrative trickle down and out and I gotta say that it feels one step away from being an outright climate denier. Same tactics are being applied to race, trans and queer issues, and more. Why are many people falling for it?

Are there any good think pieces related to institutions’ proactive acquiescence to Trump policies, especially related to climate or clean energy?

Are there any good think pieces related to institutions’ proactive acquiescence to Trump policies, especially related to climate or clean energy?

Gonna be hiring a policy analyst soon to work with me on grid and energy challenges in the West. More soon but will be looking for someone with research and PM skills, a commitment to equity, knowledge of rural/red state/tribal energy and grid issues.

I don’t love Caleb Williams but I hate LA sports more

Just like the Chiefs, the Dodgers are MAGA-coded as fuck.

Retrain ICE or teach racists to be more decorous in their oppression?