All politics is brocal

You know what would be really fucking transformative in 2026? Electing statehouses in Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania that will join the Interstate Popular Vote Compact, and designate their EC to the outright winner of the popular vote. That’s a better use of resources than navel gazing at 2028

I don’t have to imagine how it would feel if members of your family called this home. I know. Gaza City was a vibrant place, teaming with life and culture. It exists no more except as a vast wasteland. Criminal beyond comprehension. War has rules. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Musk's ability to raise capital so outpaced his ability to build an AI product anyone wants to use that he's now striking deals to lease out the resulting idle computing capacity to an AI race winner.

UAE ambo to US uses OPEC departure to advertise the country's vision for where it's headed: "Less than a quarter of our GDP is now tied to energy. Aviation, logistics, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, tourism and life sciences are our fastest-growing sectors."

Welp. This is a hell of a story. Canadian Mining Journal published what appeared to be an entirely fabricated deep-sea mining paper, with quotes from fictional people and a source paper that does not exist.

“The dismantling of USAID, according to models from Boston University epidemiologist Brooke Nichols, “has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children,” Gawande wrote.” hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-s...

"His family’s library has existed since the 1800s and, as the eighth custodian, Habott tells me he felt proud of the culture and heritage the libraries carried. 'As a boy, I dreamed of being a custodian. They hold something bigger than myself.'"

Say what you will about the Iranian regime, but they’ve got our fucking number. "The actions and statements of U.S. officials are primarily media-driven aimed first at preventing a drop in oil prices and second at extricating themselves from the mess they have created.”

the u.s. is shooting itself in the foot with a tactical nuke american universities are *so* good and it's a virtuous cycle: smart and ambitious people attend, elevating the whole enterprise. if we alienate the world, it becomes a vicious cycle headed in the opposite direction

"you need a rocket inside you" RIP Raghu Rai (gift link below)

"Each time, the emergency response is the same: find a new supplier, deepen bilateral ties, and defer the structural reckoning. Algeria is a serious partner, but so was Qatar, until it wasn't. At some point, Europe's real pivot will have to be away from this cycle of reactive pivots altogether."

"You cannot threaten the free world and lead it at the same time." Ukraine's Zelensky has stepped up just as Trump has walked away.

His promises certainly aren't worth anything, but after repeatedly extending his deadline with no concessions from the Iranian side, neither are his threats. Iran is dealing with a mad king.

Europe's electricity: 29% fossil fuels in 2024, down from 53% in 2005. Progress. But transport is still 92% fossil. Buildings: 71%. Industry: 61%. And 95% of EU oil and 88% of gas imported. Switching suppliers doesn't fix this. Electrification and efficiency do. More here: rdcu.be/feOjc

Anyone know whether today is a ‘ceasefire’ day or a ‘destroy your civilisation’ day yet?

THREAD: The IEA global energy review 2026 * CO2 record high, but growth nearly ground to halt * Clean energy shaved 3bn tonnes off CO2 * Fossil-fuel power pushed into reverse * Age of Electricity "confirmed" * "Extraordinary" solar growth * Batteries up 40% * EVs up 20% 1/10

It's not just that critical fertilizer stocks are stuck inside the Strait. ⭕ High fuel prices are incentivizing agriculture to focus on biofuels. ⭕ We're due for an El Niño mini warming cycle. ⭕ Trump and Elon slashed the food aid safety net. The world is headed for a food crisis.

The AI datacenter buildout is huge compared to past projects like the interstate highway system, the Apollo program, and the US railroad boom. But its still modest compared to global clean energy investment or oil and gas investment:

Back in my hometown of Baltimore, the public water utility has announced plans to reduce water fluoridation because... its fluoride supplier in Israel has cut production because too many of its workers have been called up for military service.

Just as inspiring as this image is the number of Algerian friends on my social media feeds sharing it today. A little تعايش goes a long way in times like these.

A nation that fought its first wars to uphold freedom of navigation now decides to play pirate. Happy 250th, America.

"Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way." Simple as that.

Reminder that in addition to Russia/Ukraine issues, Orbán was also vetoing more sanctions against violent West Bank settlers www.eunews.it/en/2026/02/2...

Thank you to Hungary's opposition and ordinary voters for handing so many of the worst people their worst day in quite a while 👏

Crazy figures from OECD on the 2025 int'l aid collapse: ⚫ Total aid fell 23.1% y-o-y, reaching 2015 levels. ⚫ The $174.3bn given was just 0.26% of donors' GNI, down from 0.34% in 2024. ⚫ Germany🇩🇪 surpassed the US🇺🇸 as world's largest donor ($29.1bn). ⚫ For first time ever, all top 5 donors cut aid.

People need to understand how bad, how devastating, how unjustified Israel’s bombardment of Beirut is — it’s not just yet another of the strikes that have become routinized. Catastrophic civilian harm and human suffering that simply must not be shrugged off as normal and forgotten. Stop the madness.

Hard to see Iran ceding control of Hormuz. Does that create a precedent? Imagine a scenario where Trump seizes the Panama Canal and charges countries what he likes for using it. It fits with the Donroe Doctrine, his disregard for norms and int'l law, his love of tariffs and the leverage they bring.

"Once the links between citizen and conflict have been severed, you can tell yourself whatever story you want about who you are and what you are doing in the world." www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/m...

Best paragraph explaining why the Iron Dome does not actually save lives

As we head into whatever madness Trump+Hegseth have cooked up for the Gulf this weekend, your regular reminder that every time they talk about destroying another Iranian boat, base or missile launcher, *it is not a sign of strength but a sign the WH still doesn't grasp how asymmetric warfare works.*

The US and Israel can't possibly know the exact percentage - just look at how off Israel's estimates of Hezbollah's arsenal turned out to be right under its nose - but at least it's an admission that early estimates of Iran's remaining capabilities were way off.

Potentially even more game-changing, it gives Iran the possibility of capturing American airmen, something that would give them substantial new leverage in suing for peace.

Why did the US bomb a girls' school in Minab, killing 180 on the war's first day? Palantir compressed bureaucracy into an "efficient" system, reducing targeting decisions to just 3.6 seconds – while removing the friction and human discretion that had been critical (but underappreciated) safeguards:

Since everyone is a moon fan now, may I interest you in moonmoons www.newscientist.com/article/2182...

Doesn’t get much clearer than that.

The Art of (undermining all the leverage you had that might have led to) the Deal.

Targeting Iranian decision-makers with airstrikes makes it hard for Iran to make decisions. Who knew? Incredible stuff from the US and Israeli sides here: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/u...

"'France has (among) the lowest ​carbon footprints of any country in the world, and didn't get there because it wanted to save the planet. It got there to prevent precisely what is happening,' ​said Currie,... referring to energy supply concerns amid the Iran war."

Incredible to pick a war of choice and lose it within a month

Good for you for calling a spade a spade, I guess. But damn, the media sure sets the bar LOW.

52/ Amazing how so many ppl are down on green tech coz they live in the US & narrative is clean tech is gay & energy dominance blah Remember how Trump always lies? All the serious money -Jeffries in this case -telling their clients to double down on cleantech www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The dipshits who made US colleges cancel their Middle East Studies departments are confused why everyone in the region seems to hate them no matter how many bombs and ignorant memes they drop. 🤡

This fear of modernism manifests itself differently in different nations, political groupings, etc but is just about everywhere – and is about to be turbocharged as AI begins pervading + upending more parts of the economy.

Strange situation where we await a statement from Iran to check whether there's any truth to what US president is saying.

"Viewability and time-on-page are very important metrics these days. Every hostile UX decision originates from this single fact. The longer you’re trapped on the page, the higher the CPM the publisher can charge. Your frustration is the product."

I don’t think we have understood yet how serious this crisis is. IEA’s Fatih Birol: ~5 mb/d lost in each of the 1970s oil shocks; ~75 bcm gas after Russia’s 2022 invasion. Now: ~11 mb/d oil and ~140 bcm gas disrupted. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

What I'm discovering during this war is that it's pointless to be a strategy expert if the main belligerent is not using strategy