Rob

Some photos of Pittsburgh under the deep freeze.

The CDC should put out a mascot called E. Colie.

Exclusive: Majority of Trump voters back solar power, poll finds Trump officials are moving against renewables on several fronts.

Everyone loves solar power.

How US politics is affecting international travel As tourism to the US plunges because of perceived risks, some travellers are now second-guessing whether it's safe to visit destinations Trump has recently threatened.

“The US was projected to lose a staggering $12.5bn in international visitor spending in 2025.” 2026 is going to be even worse most certainly. That is a lot of jobs in the tourism industry. World Cup is going to be a watershed I suspect.

What Is Your Emergency? Podcast Episode · This American Life · 02/01/2026 · 57m

These 911 calls are infuriating as they track the chaos ICE is causing in our cities.

If you include plug-in electric hybrids then EU sales have hit majority electric as of December and EVs are taking over market share at a rate of 57% year-on-year. To see U.S. sales going the other direction is frustrating but I have to think it is temporary.

Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund

Terrible day for many amazing, hard-working, intelligent journalists at the Washington Post. I'm still here and trying to figure out how to best support my colleagues who have lost their jobs.

If you feel able to share or contribute, please do:

www.gofundme.com/f/standing-t...

Click "follow all" and then consider subscribing to as many as you can using your WaPo subscription cancellation fund.

Here's how Epstein broke the internet His meeting with the founder of 4chan and his quest to profit off the end of democracy

Not conclusive but the evidence points to Epstein himself helping to orchestrating the QAnon phenomenon by supporting the establishment and maintenance of /pol/ on 4chan. It was all intentional misdirection.

Hi Molly. You might also be interested also in this more recent study by @kevinjkircher.com
Free preprint link in thread.

How PJM Is Grappling With Data Center Power Demand Podcast Episode · Energy Policy Now · 02/03/2026 · 1h 4m

Markets and pricing signals are incapable of meeting the needs of a rapidly expanding grid.

“The load is coming way faster than the supply can respond.”

As we electrify everything the situation is only going to get worse.

When is it time to admit defeat and go all in on central planning?

Tesla Suddenly Likes Solar Again This week’s Current Climate newsletter also looks at Indiana’s plan to get rare earths from coal waste and how batteries keep power flowing in Texas

If Tesla wants to up the capacity of its Buffalo factory and produce 100 GW of solar modules per year that is unequivocally a good thing. We’ll see if they can.

“with little operating or maintenance costs” 🤣

Trump, in an Escalation, Calls for Republicans to ‘Nationalize’ Elections

Five alarm code red hair on fire SOS right here. This year, vote like our democracy is on the line because it most certainly is. And volunteer to be an election worker or poll watcher in your local precinct.

It was the summer of 2010, oh yeah!
—Bryan Adams 1985 hit “Summer of 69” if released today

🫳🎤

This is absolutely amazing and must be read by every American as soon as possible. Judge Reyes expresses everything about this moment in this opening. ❤️

So in the end, I say does he *really* know that? Because it seems he is stuck in the old paradigm where all the energy we ever consume must come from feedstocks that are materially harmful to biophysical systems in their extraction. I really don’t think he’s made the leap.

At that point the environmental impact of the services we receive from solar and wind energy will be a tiny fraction of the environmental impact of the services we receive from fossil fuels.

We have to think past this interregnum where we are burning fossil fuels to manufacture solar and wind generators. At some point we will start to make solar and wind parts with solar and wind energy and mine those parts at end of life for the raw materials also using solar and wind energy.

a) b) and c) can all be true AND an eventual transition to solar + wind + storage with a circular system of material recycling providing more energy than we consume today is ALSO possible because of the free nature of the energy feedstock.

Doomerism is a rebranding of denialism.

I can’t believe he is that stupid so I must conclude that he is working to advance the agenda of the incumbent energy industry.

If Fressoz could have magically opined on the possibility of life emerging on Earth 4 billion years ago he would have said it was impossible because he would not have considered the constant input energy of sunlight.

A Podcast Episode · Drilled · S14 E16 · 56m

The most obvious blind spot for Jean-Baptiste Fressoz is the fundamental change in kind for renewable energy tech where the feedstock is forever 100% free with no biophysical limitations (sun+wind). This revolution has never happened before and is the reason that real transition is even possible.

Exactly

😂 The “very serious people” are advising that we deploy magical non-existent fantasy tech instead of the very proven low emissions tech that is actually faster and cheaper.

Is there one working example of a CCS gas power plant that is verifiably sequestering 90%+ of its carbon emissions (and not using them for enhanced oil recovery)?

When Dobbs was leaked I thought they should release drafts of every opinion 30 days prior to issuance. Allow a couple of weeks of feedback from the public that can make the final decisions better.

Of course we know the nine people who ultimately get to answer that question and what their answer will be…