Lora Kolodny
@lorak.bsky.social
reporter at cnbc.com. email: [email protected] - ex-wsj, techcrunch & all over. i cover: elon musk cos. mostly tesla (some climate tech startups). my posts here are my own. optimistic on the inside. dm me on signal: lorakolodny.55
Pinned
Lora Kolodny
@lorak.bsky.social
· Nov 11
I report on Elon Musk & his companies at CNBC. If you work/ed for him and want to share your POV on his becoming "co-president," or anything else- let's talk on or off the record. Happy to answer q's about working w/ reporters. On signal: lorakolodny.55 (or DM me here and lmk how to get in touch.)
This university campus is heated by an AI data center... www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/d...
This university campus is heated by an AI data center. Your home could be next
AI’s energy problem may also be its solution, as cities are increasingly exploring opportunities to repurpose excess heat from data centers.
www.cnbc.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:11 PM
This university campus is heated by an AI data center... www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/d...
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
Weiss is about a year behind The Washington Post, if you're curious where this is headed.
This does not sound good: "Bari Weiss to cut staff, add commentators at CBS News." By @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social
January 27, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Weiss is about a year behind The Washington Post, if you're curious where this is headed.
Tesla lost $15 billion in brand value in 2025 as Musk stepped deeper into politics, Brand Finance research found... new @cnbc.com -- www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/t...
Tesla lost $15 billion in brand value in 2025 as Musk stepped deeper into politics, research shows
Tesla's brand value declined while BYD's surged last year, according to research by Brand Finance
www.cnbc.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Tesla lost $15 billion in brand value in 2025 as Musk stepped deeper into politics, Brand Finance research found... new @cnbc.com -- www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/t...
the trump effect
Germany needs new partners as trusted alliances 'crumble', economy minister says reut.rs/3NTjYhv
Germany needs new partners as trusted alliances 'crumble', economy minister says
Germany must seek new partners in light of a changing global order, the country's economy minister said on Tuesday, referring to deteriorated relations with the United States that have resulted in painful import tariffs.
reut.rs
January 27, 2026 at 3:04 PM
the trump effect
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
While we can celebrate some data points, this is the defining context for global climate heating.
The climate will not stabilize to a certain temperature unless we stop burning fossil fuels and deal with land use in a sustainable manner.
The climate will not stabilize to a certain temperature unless we stop burning fossil fuels and deal with land use in a sustainable manner.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has regular reports (monthly, quarterly) which provide short-term projections of coal, oil, & gas.
As of January 2026, it looks like fossil CO2 emissions in 2026 will be relatively flat: the drop in coal (-1%) offset by growth in gas (2%) & oil (0.8%).
1/
As of January 2026, it looks like fossil CO2 emissions in 2026 will be relatively flat: the drop in coal (-1%) offset by growth in gas (2%) & oil (0.8%).
1/
January 27, 2026 at 3:00 PM
While we can celebrate some data points, this is the defining context for global climate heating.
The climate will not stabilize to a certain temperature unless we stop burning fossil fuels and deal with land use in a sustainable manner.
The climate will not stabilize to a certain temperature unless we stop burning fossil fuels and deal with land use in a sustainable manner.
musk already has called x (twitter) a publisher and claims it is a news app so honestly? why not?
Social networks could be treated as publishers if they host illegal content, Minister of State says
Social networks could be treated as publishers if they host illegal content, Minister of State says
Government considering law that would ban ‘deepfakes’, Niamh Smyth says
www.irishtimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 3:00 PM
musk already has called x (twitter) a publisher and claims it is a news app so honestly? why not?
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
I’ve been saying on this site and on the old one for years that pundits are great, opinion-slinging is a noble profession, but none of them could eat without journalists providing facts on which to opine. Weiss is firing the sharks and hiring more remoras.
Turns out that Bari Weiss's all hands at CBS today is to announce she's bringing on some anti-vax guys and Niall Ferguson. www.axios.com/2026/01/27/b...
January 27, 2026 at 2:41 PM
I’ve been saying on this site and on the old one for years that pundits are great, opinion-slinging is a noble profession, but none of them could eat without journalists providing facts on which to opine. Weiss is firing the sharks and hiring more remoras.
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
Reminder that “defunding ICE”—breaking up and/or overhauling DHS—will require Democrats holding both chambers of Congress and the presidency. Good goal, but a possibility that is years away.
How can it be curbed now?
How can it be curbed now?
Dems coalescing around 5 restrictions on ICE, I'm told:
DHS required to cooperate with state probes (big)
CBP stays at border
warrants for arrests
IDs, bodycams
ICE out of churches, schools
"That package unites a lot of Dems," Sen Chris Murphy tells me on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2057...
DHS required to cooperate with state probes (big)
CBP stays at border
warrants for arrests
IDs, bodycams
ICE out of churches, schools
"That package unites a lot of Dems," Sen Chris Murphy tells me on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2057...
A Dem Senator’s Harsh Takedown of Trump Hits Home: “Breaking Point”
As Trump scrambles to contain the damage from the latest ICE horrors, Senator Chris Murphy offers a sharp indictment of Trump-ICE lawlessness—and explains how Dems can meet the urgency of the moment.
newrepublic.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Reminder that “defunding ICE”—breaking up and/or overhauling DHS—will require Democrats holding both chambers of Congress and the presidency. Good goal, but a possibility that is years away.
How can it be curbed now?
How can it be curbed now?
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
👀 Judge Schlitz, the chief federal judge in Minnesota, has ordered the head of ICE, Todd Lyons, to appeal personally in court Friday and threatened him with contempt for the agency’s repeated violation of court orders.
“The court’s patience is at an end.” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
“The court’s patience is at an end.” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 27, 2026 at 11:34 AM
👀 Judge Schlitz, the chief federal judge in Minnesota, has ordered the head of ICE, Todd Lyons, to appeal personally in court Friday and threatened him with contempt for the agency’s repeated violation of court orders.
“The court’s patience is at an end.” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
“The court’s patience is at an end.” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
life & times related insomnia…
January 27, 2026 at 12:32 PM
life & times related insomnia…
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
“I am disheartened and sad…that we cannot demonstrate our sympathy for the beleaguered, that we are told immigrants, which most of us are or descended from, are unwelcome, that we cannot show our frustration in peaceful demonstration, and that we can be attacked and even killed by Federal troops.”
Martha Stewart Issues Rare Political Statement After Stern Text From 14-Year-Old Granddaughter
'I'm not sure it's excusable to not be speaking up right now,' wrote Stewart's granddaughter, inspiring a heartfelt post from the lifestyle media mogul.
parade.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:31 AM
“I am disheartened and sad…that we cannot demonstrate our sympathy for the beleaguered, that we are told immigrants, which most of us are or descended from, are unwelcome, that we cannot show our frustration in peaceful demonstration, and that we can be attacked and even killed by Federal troops.”
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
Watching this on repeat. Over and over again.
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
January 27, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Watching this on repeat. Over and over again.
yupppp
The fact that some Earth systems—like coral reefs—have already passed tipping points shows that the 1.5C climate target was not ambitious enough. If there's a 'safe' limit, it's more like 1C, scientists said this week.
Scientists Push for More Ambitious Climate Targets - Inside Climate News
Researchers say a line has been crossed. For systems like coral reefs and ice sheets, the climate is already past safe.
insideclimatenews.org
January 27, 2026 at 11:33 AM
yupppp
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
It could take a generation to recover the talent lost from federal science.
But it doesn't have to. We should be ready to scale up the Presidential Management Fellowship program to triple what it once was and rebuild U.S. capacity by 2030.
But it doesn't have to. We should be ready to scale up the Presidential Management Fellowship program to triple what it once was and rebuild U.S. capacity by 2030.
How many STEM Ph.D.s were lost from the U.S. federal government last year?
My colleagues @mghersher.bsky.social and @policyhound.bsky.social dug into a recent data release to find the answer. A @science.org exclusive.
www.science.org/content/arti...
My colleagues @mghersher.bsky.social and @policyhound.bsky.social dug into a recent data release to find the answer. A @science.org exclusive.
www.science.org/content/arti...
January 27, 2026 at 5:52 AM
It could take a generation to recover the talent lost from federal science.
But it doesn't have to. We should be ready to scale up the Presidential Management Fellowship program to triple what it once was and rebuild U.S. capacity by 2030.
But it doesn't have to. We should be ready to scale up the Presidential Management Fellowship program to triple what it once was and rebuild U.S. capacity by 2030.
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
This is one of my favorite charts because the obvious implication is ... obvious, but you absolutely are not allowed to say it out loud in US public discourse.
January 27, 2026 at 6:41 AM
This is one of my favorite charts because the obvious implication is ... obvious, but you absolutely are not allowed to say it out loud in US public discourse.
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
Palantir employees are pressing company leadership over its work for ICE in internal company Slacks obtained by @wired.com
"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."
Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."
Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
“In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this,” one worker wrote on Slack.
www.wired.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Palantir employees are pressing company leadership over its work for ICE in internal company Slacks obtained by @wired.com
"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."
Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."
Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
The EU-India trade deal, confirmed earlier Tue., “has taken almost two decades to agree and will see the trading behemoths gradually cut tariffs to zero on the majority of each other’s imports, except on some key products and sectors.”
www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/t...
www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/t...
All eyes are on Trump's reaction to the 'mother of all deals' between India and the EU
The trade deal is being widely seen as a strategic hedge against volatile U.S. trade policies.
www.cnbc.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:13 AM
The EU-India trade deal, confirmed earlier Tue., “has taken almost two decades to agree and will see the trading behemoths gradually cut tariffs to zero on the majority of each other’s imports, except on some key products and sectors.”
www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/t...
www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/t...
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
⛷️ 🇮🇹 🇺🇸 A branch of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help with security for the Winter Olympics in Italy, it confirmed on Tuesday, sparking anger and warnings from Milan's mayor that they were "not welcome" ➡️ u.afp.com/SBr3
January 27, 2026 at 11:02 AM
⛷️ 🇮🇹 🇺🇸 A branch of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help with security for the Winter Olympics in Italy, it confirmed on Tuesday, sparking anger and warnings from Milan's mayor that they were "not welcome" ➡️ u.afp.com/SBr3
can… data center outages… be this specific…? www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/t...
TikTok blames data center outages for U.S. app problems, denies censorship claims
TikTok is pointing to the fallout of power outages at one of its data centers to explain recent reports of censorship and glitches impacting users.
www.cnbc.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:48 AM
can… data center outages… be this specific…? www.cnbc.com/2026/01/27/t...
“This story is based on dispatch recordings, letters, email, texts and other documents received through public records requests over the past six months…” www.expressnews.com/business/art...
SpaceX explosion shook South Texas, sparking oversight and safety concerns
A June 18 testing explosion laid bare concerns about minimal regulatory oversight of Elon Musk’s commercial space business in Starbase.
www.expressnews.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:40 AM
“This story is based on dispatch recordings, letters, email, texts and other documents received through public records requests over the past six months…” www.expressnews.com/business/art...
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
Liquidate it and mail every American a hundred dollars
For a ballpark, the total crypto holdings of the US government (all agencies) is estimated by outside researchers at ~$30 billion. US Marshals hold a relatively small portion of this, but still in the billions. A FOIA earlier this year suggested ~$3.5B, but grain of salt on that.
BTC Held By The US Marshal Service
In March, we filed a FOIA request for the amount of bitcoin held by the US Marshal Service. Today, we publish the USMS answer to our FOIA request, as well as the list of bitcoin it holds, totaling 28,...
www.therage.co
January 27, 2026 at 3:49 AM
Liquidate it and mail every American a hundred dollars
“If the 2C threshold is breached, the new dataset indicates the number of people experiencing extreme heat will increase from 1.54 billion people (which was 23% of the world population in 2010) to 3.79 billion (41% of the projected world population in 2050).” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Number of people living in extreme heat to double by 2050 if 2C rise occurs, study finds
Scientists expect 41% of the projected global population to face the extremes, with ‘no part of the world’ immune
www.theguardian.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:29 AM
“If the 2C threshold is breached, the new dataset indicates the number of people experiencing extreme heat will increase from 1.54 billion people (which was 23% of the world population in 2010) to 3.79 billion (41% of the projected world population in 2050).” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
This hit so fucking hard today.
January 26, 2026 at 8:52 PM
This hit so fucking hard today.
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
“We assess a lot of AI chatbots at Common Sense Media, and they all have risks, but Grok is among the worst we’ve seen,” Robbie Torney of Common Sense Media said.
'Among the worst we've seen': report slams xAI's Grok over child safety failures | TechCrunch
“We assess a lot of AI chatbots at Common Sense Media, and they all have risks, but Grok is among the worst we’ve seen,” Robbie Torney of Common Sense Media said.
techcrunch.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:01 AM
“We assess a lot of AI chatbots at Common Sense Media, and they all have risks, but Grok is among the worst we’ve seen,” Robbie Torney of Common Sense Media said.
Reposted by Lora Kolodny
Ukraine, understandably, won’t just hand over its “fortress belt” to Russia
Russia has spent 2 years now incuring huge losses to go relatively nowhere. They havent been able to take towns that were predicted to fall months ago. And they havent hit the main defensive line yet.
This is rightly a red line for Ukraine
This is rightly a red line for Ukraine
January 27, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Ukraine, understandably, won’t just hand over its “fortress belt” to Russia