MASmith
@masmith.bsky.social
Mostly here for renewable energy and public health news/insights, and appreciative of those on this site who share their expertise. Also enjoy the nature photography. Views are my own.
Reposted by MASmith
My Op Ed in Today's Washington Post: "The long-lasting effects of viruses — and the anti-vaccine movement. For some people, a viral infection can have devastating long-term effects."
wapo.st/4qjFtWk
wapo.st/4qjFtWk
February 6, 2026 at 3:37 PM
My Op Ed in Today's Washington Post: "The long-lasting effects of viruses — and the anti-vaccine movement. For some people, a viral infection can have devastating long-term effects."
wapo.st/4qjFtWk
wapo.st/4qjFtWk
Reposted by MASmith
Since Nov. 18 there have been more than three dozen cases of death cap poisonings, including the four deaths and three liver transplants. Many who sought medical attention suffered from rapidly evolving acute liver injury and liver failure.
apnews.com/article/mush...
apnews.com/article/mush...
4 people have died from eating death cap mushrooms as they spread in California after rains
Four people have died and three others have required a liver transplants after eating the death cap mushroom that is proliferating in California following a rainy winter.
apnews.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:35 AM
Since Nov. 18 there have been more than three dozen cases of death cap poisonings, including the four deaths and three liver transplants. Many who sought medical attention suffered from rapidly evolving acute liver injury and liver failure.
apnews.com/article/mush...
apnews.com/article/mush...
Reposted by MASmith
Metry and her husband of 4 years go to DHS to get their I-130 in motion. "Good news" a DHS employee told them, the form to start her naturalization was approved.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
EXCLUSIVE: Terez Metry was 13 when her family fled to Tennessee from Egypt in 2011. Then, they left her behind. She only recently discovered she had an order of removal from 2011. But she was following the legal path to citizenship. On Monday, at a routine DHS meeting, Metry was detained.
Immigration process turns sour for an Antioch woman - Nashville Banner
Terez Metry, a dental assistant in Middle Tennessee with no criminal history, was detained by ICE during an interview as she followed legal steps toward citizenship.
nashvillebanner.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Metry and her husband of 4 years go to DHS to get their I-130 in motion. "Good news" a DHS employee told them, the form to start her naturalization was approved.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
From Wired: So many Chinese battery factories being built throughout the world. Probably a good thing for the Chinese companies as well as the countries where the factories are being built. And certainly good for the renewable energy transition.
www.wired.com/story/chines...
www.wired.com/story/chines...
February 7, 2026 at 1:27 AM
From Wired: So many Chinese battery factories being built throughout the world. Probably a good thing for the Chinese companies as well as the countries where the factories are being built. And certainly good for the renewable energy transition.
www.wired.com/story/chines...
www.wired.com/story/chines...
Great insights here about the US economy. A privileged elite extracts enormous rents from the nation's wealth through deliberately obscured complexity, while growing numbers struggle to maintain even modest middle-class standing. (1)
NYT gift article. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...
NYT gift article. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...
Opinion | The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way.
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:05 AM
Great insights here about the US economy. A privileged elite extracts enormous rents from the nation's wealth through deliberately obscured complexity, while growing numbers struggle to maintain even modest middle-class standing. (1)
NYT gift article. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...
NYT gift article. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...
Reposted by MASmith
This moment is bringing out the best in some of us (like this speaker) and bringing out the worst in others of us. This is a time for choosing to live a life that you're proud of, or not. ❤️
February 5, 2026 at 11:17 PM
This moment is bringing out the best in some of us (like this speaker) and bringing out the worst in others of us. This is a time for choosing to live a life that you're proud of, or not. ❤️
Worth listening to Ian McKellan on the Colbert Show present Thomas Moore’s Strangers Case speech and also reading about it on Kottke.Org. Shakespeare wrote the speech 400 years ago about a London riot, but it could have been written for Minneapolis in the past month.
kottke.org/26/02/the-st...
kottke.org/26/02/the-st...
The Strangers’ Case
I don’t normally say this, but if you watch one thing on kottke.org today, this week, this month, make it this speech written by Shakespeare and performed by
kottke.org
February 6, 2026 at 1:35 AM
Worth listening to Ian McKellan on the Colbert Show present Thomas Moore’s Strangers Case speech and also reading about it on Kottke.Org. Shakespeare wrote the speech 400 years ago about a London riot, but it could have been written for Minneapolis in the past month.
kottke.org/26/02/the-st...
kottke.org/26/02/the-st...
“73,000 megawatts of solar projects on land are currently at risk from political interference” –
“It’s going to mean higher energy prices”
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/c...
“It’s going to mean higher energy prices”
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/c...
A Trump ‘Blockade’ Is Stalling Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects Nationwide
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 12:45 AM
“73,000 megawatts of solar projects on land are currently at risk from political interference” –
“It’s going to mean higher energy prices”
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/c...
“It’s going to mean higher energy prices”
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/c...
Reposted by MASmith
This is incredibly powerful testimony.
Ms. Rahman is very tough and clear and was treated horribly.
Warning: I can't watch it without tears of rage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcW...
Ms. Rahman is very tough and clear and was treated horribly.
Warning: I can't watch it without tears of rage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcW...
WATCH: Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen Aliya Rahman describes being detained by ICE
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
www.youtube.com
February 3, 2026 at 10:15 PM
This is incredibly powerful testimony.
Ms. Rahman is very tough and clear and was treated horribly.
Warning: I can't watch it without tears of rage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcW...
Ms. Rahman is very tough and clear and was treated horribly.
Warning: I can't watch it without tears of rage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcW...
Reposted by MASmith
This will be like the 1970'a type devastation to the North American big three when people wanted smaller fuel efficient vehicles, they couldn't pivot fast enough. Chinese EV leaders MG and BYD bring the price war overseas share.google/WACyvigCzKng...
Chinese EV leaders MG and BYD bring the price war overseas
MG launched the new MG4 EV Urban in the UK, priced at just £23,495 ($32,000), undercutting BYD’s popular Dolphin hatch...
share.google
February 3, 2026 at 11:24 AM
This will be like the 1970'a type devastation to the North American big three when people wanted smaller fuel efficient vehicles, they couldn't pivot fast enough. Chinese EV leaders MG and BYD bring the price war overseas share.google/WACyvigCzKng...
"...offshore wind could live up to its promise of providing a robust power supply ... Massachusetts utility customers would’ve saved as much as $212 million during the winter of 2024–25 if the region had had 3.5 GW of offshore wind capacity online"
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...
The 4 lessons New England’s grid can learn from Winter Storm Fern
Extreme cold and lots of snow revealed the electric system’s strengths and weaknesses as the region debates how to build a more reliable, affordable grid.
www.canarymedia.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:28 AM
"...offshore wind could live up to its promise of providing a robust power supply ... Massachusetts utility customers would’ve saved as much as $212 million during the winter of 2024–25 if the region had had 3.5 GW of offshore wind capacity online"
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...
Reposted by MASmith
Batteries are the fossil fuel killer.
Much of the main stream analysis about the energy transition is still pretending this didn't happen in the past two years.
But it did.
Much of the main stream analysis about the energy transition is still pretending this didn't happen in the past two years.
But it did.
#Battery storage major says costs have fallen 60 pct in two years, helping redefine the #grid and customer needs, and along with #solar is cheapest and easiest to build.
Battery prices plunge 60 pct in two years, changing face of grid and the nature of contracts
Battery storage major says costs have fallen 60 pct in two years, helping redefine the grid and customer needs, and along with solar is cheapest and easiest to build.
reneweconomy.com.au
February 1, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Batteries are the fossil fuel killer.
Much of the main stream analysis about the energy transition is still pretending this didn't happen in the past two years.
But it did.
Much of the main stream analysis about the energy transition is still pretending this didn't happen in the past two years.
But it did.
Reposted by MASmith
America is the immigrant.
America is the protestor.
America is the huddled masses yearning to be free.
Alex Pretti is America.
Renee Good is America.
Liam Ramos is America.
In this moment of crisis, America needs patriots now more than ever.
America is the protestor.
America is the huddled masses yearning to be free.
Alex Pretti is America.
Renee Good is America.
Liam Ramos is America.
In this moment of crisis, America needs patriots now more than ever.
February 1, 2026 at 8:16 PM
America is the immigrant.
America is the protestor.
America is the huddled masses yearning to be free.
Alex Pretti is America.
Renee Good is America.
Liam Ramos is America.
In this moment of crisis, America needs patriots now more than ever.
America is the protestor.
America is the huddled masses yearning to be free.
Alex Pretti is America.
Renee Good is America.
Liam Ramos is America.
In this moment of crisis, America needs patriots now more than ever.
Reposted by MASmith
Unmarked car, no lights or police insignia. Masked armed men leap out. Victim not in the act of committing any crime. This is not how a serious federal law enforcement agency acts in a free society.
How is this not supposed to be a “right wing paramilitary force loyal to the regime”?
How is this not supposed to be a “right wing paramilitary force loyal to the regime”?
This is just insane. It’s only a matter of time before DHS kills another innocent person here.
(clip via MPR and @davidjbier.bsky.social on X)
(clip via MPR and @davidjbier.bsky.social on X)
January 31, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Unmarked car, no lights or police insignia. Masked armed men leap out. Victim not in the act of committing any crime. This is not how a serious federal law enforcement agency acts in a free society.
How is this not supposed to be a “right wing paramilitary force loyal to the regime”?
How is this not supposed to be a “right wing paramilitary force loyal to the regime”?
Reposted by MASmith
Today on Volts: I'm joined by the great @michaelhobbes.bsky.social to discuss "reactionary centrism," an intellectual tendency that's come to dominate US public life. You know the type: would never view themselves as conservative, yet finds voluntary pronoun use vastly more aggravating than fascism.
All about "reactionary centrism"
Michael Hobbes joins me to diagnose the pundit class's obsession with scolding the left while the right burns down the house.
www.volts.wtf
January 30, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Today on Volts: I'm joined by the great @michaelhobbes.bsky.social to discuss "reactionary centrism," an intellectual tendency that's come to dominate US public life. You know the type: would never view themselves as conservative, yet finds voluntary pronoun use vastly more aggravating than fascism.
Reposted by MASmith
Folks blame government, but: "new work requirements for Medicaid highlight the profits to be made from adding complexity to the safety net. Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants & administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
Corporations are extracting billions from America’s safety net and their payday is about to be supercharged by new rules.
I lay out how programs like Medicaid have become vulnerable to corporate capture and what we need to build to stop it.
@lpeblog.bsky.social
lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...
I lay out how programs like Medicaid have become vulnerable to corporate capture and what we need to build to stop it.
@lpeblog.bsky.social
lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...
The Means-Testing Industrial Complex
As Republicans tightened work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP last year, Equifax’s CEO openly celebrated the profits to be made from administering this deprivation.
lpeproject.org
January 30, 2026 at 12:56 PM
Folks blame government, but: "new work requirements for Medicaid highlight the profits to be made from adding complexity to the safety net. Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants & administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
The head of the federal vaccine advisory panel, Kirk Milhoan, wants “individual autonomy” rather than “public health” as the top priority of the country’s public health apparatus. He's curious about how many unvaccinated people will die of measles.
NYT gift article. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/o...
NYT gift article. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/o...
January 30, 2026 at 2:41 AM
The head of the federal vaccine advisory panel, Kirk Milhoan, wants “individual autonomy” rather than “public health” as the top priority of the country’s public health apparatus. He's curious about how many unvaccinated people will die of measles.
NYT gift article. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/o...
NYT gift article. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/o...
Reposted by MASmith
Look what happens when you switch to diversified renewable energy!
Amazing - dropping energy prices allow for generous customer rebates in Australia as renewables and batteries power over 50% of the grid.
It’s the smart economic choice to ditch fossil fuels. #akleg
Amazing - dropping energy prices allow for generous customer rebates in Australia as renewables and batteries power over 50% of the grid.
It’s the smart economic choice to ditch fossil fuels. #akleg
“Electricity prices in eastern Australia fell sharply in the final three months of last year as record-breaking contributions from renewable energy and large-scale batteries reduced the need to call on fossil fuels to plug supply gaps.”
www.smh.com.au/business/con...
www.smh.com.au/business/con...
‘Landmark moment’: Renewables’ record surge sends power prices tumbling
Electricity prices in eastern Australia have fallen sharply amid record-breaking contributions from renewables and large-scale batteries.
www.smh.com.au
January 29, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Look what happens when you switch to diversified renewable energy!
Amazing - dropping energy prices allow for generous customer rebates in Australia as renewables and batteries power over 50% of the grid.
It’s the smart economic choice to ditch fossil fuels. #akleg
Amazing - dropping energy prices allow for generous customer rebates in Australia as renewables and batteries power over 50% of the grid.
It’s the smart economic choice to ditch fossil fuels. #akleg
Reposted by MASmith
Dr Glaucomflecken, an actual ophthalmologist, with helpful instructions for dealing with pepper spray to the face.
youtube.com/shorts/z4dy0...
youtube.com/shorts/z4dy0...
What To Do If You Get Pepper Sprayed
YouTube video by Dr. Glaucomflecken
youtube.com
January 29, 2026 at 11:45 PM
Dr Glaucomflecken, an actual ophthalmologist, with helpful instructions for dealing with pepper spray to the face.
youtube.com/shorts/z4dy0...
youtube.com/shorts/z4dy0...
Reposted by MASmith
Even if I didn’t have elderly parents who receive essential help from wonderful care givers, I would find this appalling. But knowing the women who help my parents do the things they are no longer able to do for themselves, highlights the obscenity of this policy of disrespect for care workers
The Labor Department has proposed rescinding an Obama-era rule that gave home care workers the right to overtime pay and other wage protections. The administration says the rule made care too costly. n.pr/4a1rrSZ
Caregivers for the elderly could lose wage protections under Trump proposal
The Labor Department has proposed rescinding an Obama-era rule that gave home care workers the right to overtime pay and other wage protections. The administration says the rule made care too costly.
n.pr
January 29, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Even if I didn’t have elderly parents who receive essential help from wonderful care givers, I would find this appalling. But knowing the women who help my parents do the things they are no longer able to do for themselves, highlights the obscenity of this policy of disrespect for care workers
Reposted by MASmith
I will simply never recover from reading this sentence:
"Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
"Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
Today, Luke Farrell (@lukef.bsky.social) explains how complex eligibility requirements have turned America’s safety net into a lucrative revenue stream for monopolistic private contractors.
The Means-Testing Industrial Complex
As Republicans tightened work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP last year, Equifax’s CEO openly celebrated the profits to be made from administering this deprivation.
lpeproject.org
January 28, 2026 at 4:33 PM
I will simply never recover from reading this sentence:
"Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
"Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
Reposted by MASmith
These European countries want to turn the North Sea into “the world’s largest clean energy reservoir” and build 100 GW of offshore wind power.
European nations are jointly plotting a massive offshore wind buildout
As the U.S. tries to crush its offshore wind industry, 10 countries agree to work together to install 100 gigawatts of offshore turbines in the North Sea.
www.canarymedia.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:17 AM
These European countries want to turn the North Sea into “the world’s largest clean energy reservoir” and build 100 GW of offshore wind power.
Reposted by MASmith
Europe keeps moving to an electric future.
www.reuters.com/business/aut...
www.reuters.com/business/aut...
Electric car sales edge above petrol in EU for first time
Sales of fully electric cars surpassed those of petrol-only vehicles in the European Union for the first time in December, data from the auto industry group ACEA showed on Tuesday, even as hybrids h...
www.reuters.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:12 AM
Europe keeps moving to an electric future.
www.reuters.com/business/aut...
www.reuters.com/business/aut...
Reposted by MASmith
Reposted by MASmith
Definitive NY Times video analysis. Obviously, many people filmed the shooting. But it was the woman in the bright pink coat who (apparently) captured the iconic image of Pretti, hat off, falling to the ground, his killer pointing a gun at his back.
www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...
www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...
January 27, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Definitive NY Times video analysis. Obviously, many people filmed the shooting. But it was the woman in the bright pink coat who (apparently) captured the iconic image of Pretti, hat off, falling to the ground, his killer pointing a gun at his back.
www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...
www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...