Royce Kurmelovs
@roycerk2.bsky.social
Journalist. Author of The Death of Holden (2016), Just Money (2020) and others.
Buy Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil (2024) now: https://www.slickthebook.com.au/
For more me: https://www.roycekurmelovs.com/
Get me on Signal: RoyceK.11
Buy Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil (2024) now: https://www.slickthebook.com.au/
For more me: https://www.roycekurmelovs.com/
Get me on Signal: RoyceK.11
Pinned
Royce Kurmelovs
@roycerk2.bsky.social
· Jun 6
Slick has been given a reprint --now with a fancy sticker on the cover. If you want to understand Why We Are Like This on climate change, or read about things like that one time the oil and gas industry spied on the son of a prime minister, and you haven't picked up a copy, now's your chance!
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
A reminder that Australia has already run the playbook that Aotearoa is going through right now and we should be taking what lessons we can from them #nzpol
It's more head canon on my part; basically what the US is doing now is what happened here after the election of Tony Abbott. Cuts to the public service, foreign aid and social services, attacks on climate action and the manufacture of uncertainty to freeze renewable investment, refugee policy...
February 10, 2026 at 4:04 AM
A reminder that Australia has already run the playbook that Aotearoa is going through right now and we should be taking what lessons we can from them #nzpol
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Crisis? What crisis?
Govt's own docs prove that there was no "swarm" of FOI requests that required Australians' FOI rights to be restricted.
No wonder govt delayed 150 days before releasing.
@skyelark.bsky.social on @thepointau.bsky.social live blog: live.thepoint.com.au/2026/02/the-...
Govt's own docs prove that there was no "swarm" of FOI requests that required Australians' FOI rights to be restricted.
No wonder govt delayed 150 days before releasing.
@skyelark.bsky.social on @thepointau.bsky.social live blog: live.thepoint.com.au/2026/02/the-...
February 10, 2026 at 1:57 AM
Crisis? What crisis?
Govt's own docs prove that there was no "swarm" of FOI requests that required Australians' FOI rights to be restricted.
No wonder govt delayed 150 days before releasing.
@skyelark.bsky.social on @thepointau.bsky.social live blog: live.thepoint.com.au/2026/02/the-...
Govt's own docs prove that there was no "swarm" of FOI requests that required Australians' FOI rights to be restricted.
No wonder govt delayed 150 days before releasing.
@skyelark.bsky.social on @thepointau.bsky.social live blog: live.thepoint.com.au/2026/02/the-...
The Australianification of American politics continues at pace.
Immigrants held in Texas now have limited legal options and indefinite timelines for detention. And in Minnesota, immigration authorities will continue to send detainees out of state as quickly as possible.
Written by @ncsscibelli.bsky.social
sahanjournal.com/immigration/...
Written by @ncsscibelli.bsky.social
sahanjournal.com/immigration/...
Federal ruling allows immigrants to be held indefinitely in Texas
A ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday means immigrants held in Texas now have limited legal options and indefinite timelines for detention. And in Minnesota, immigration authorities...
sahanjournal.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:51 AM
The Australianification of American politics continues at pace.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
BYD sold 5,001 vehicles in Australia in January, a staggering 641% increase year-over-year, while Tesla managed just 501, leaving the American automaker in 24th place as Chinese brands continue their takeover of the Australian EV market.
#BYD #Tesla
/1
#BYD #Tesla
/1
BYD outsells Tesla 10-to-1 in Australia as Chinese EVs dominate January sales
BYD sold 5,001 vehicles in Australia in January, a staggering 641% increase year-over-year, while Tesla managed just 501, leaving the...
electrek.co
February 9, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Just so we’re clear:
Protesting a genocide and the invite of a man credibly accused of war crimes = unacceptable violence
Police beating and detaining said protestors = justified violence
Protesting a genocide and the invite of a man credibly accused of war crimes = unacceptable violence
Police beating and detaining said protestors = justified violence
February 9, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Just so we’re clear:
Protesting a genocide and the invite of a man credibly accused of war crimes = unacceptable violence
Police beating and detaining said protestors = justified violence
Protesting a genocide and the invite of a man credibly accused of war crimes = unacceptable violence
Police beating and detaining said protestors = justified violence
Some thoughts on "social cohesion" up at the newsletter.
Raising Hell
From the desk of Royce Kurmelovs
www.raisinghell.media
February 9, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Some thoughts on "social cohesion" up at the newsletter.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Fearing that educated judges might rule on climate cases, Republican Attorneys General successfully bullied the The Federal Judicial Center (the education & research arm of the federal court system) into removing a chapter summarizing climate science from their scientific judicial reference manual.
February 9, 2026 at 6:36 PM
Fearing that educated judges might rule on climate cases, Republican Attorneys General successfully bullied the The Federal Judicial Center (the education & research arm of the federal court system) into removing a chapter summarizing climate science from their scientific judicial reference manual.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Nordhaus labels ~3 °C warming “optimal” because it costs only ~2–3% of global GDP, roughly the size of the entire African economy!
The implication is stark: #climate damages on the scale of wiping out Africa can be treated as an acceptable cost of continued fossil fuel use. 🧵
The implication is stark: #climate damages on the scale of wiping out Africa can be treated as an acceptable cost of continued fossil fuel use. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 11:05 AM
Nordhaus labels ~3 °C warming “optimal” because it costs only ~2–3% of global GDP, roughly the size of the entire African economy!
The implication is stark: #climate damages on the scale of wiping out Africa can be treated as an acceptable cost of continued fossil fuel use. 🧵
The implication is stark: #climate damages on the scale of wiping out Africa can be treated as an acceptable cost of continued fossil fuel use. 🧵
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Extraordinary footage. Police pulling off people engaged in peaceful prayer.
February 9, 2026 at 10:03 AM
Extraordinary footage. Police pulling off people engaged in peaceful prayer.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Guardian Australia reporter Jordyn Beazley filmed this video not long ago of police moving towards protesters down Elizabeth Street in the Sydney CBD following the rally at Town Hall.
February 9, 2026 at 9:50 AM
Guardian Australia reporter Jordyn Beazley filmed this video not long ago of police moving towards protesters down Elizabeth Street in the Sydney CBD following the rally at Town Hall.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
2/ State capture is a type of systematic corruption whereby narrow interest groups take control of institutions & processes through which public policy is made, directing public policy away from public interest & instead shaping it to serve their own interests.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
State capture and development: a conceptual framework
This article argues that the concept of state capture helps to structure our understanding of patterns of grand corruption seen around the world in varied contexts, and increasingly even in countries once regarded as secure democracies. This article ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
February 9, 2026 at 8:20 AM
2/ State capture is a type of systematic corruption whereby narrow interest groups take control of institutions & processes through which public policy is made, directing public policy away from public interest & instead shaping it to serve their own interests.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Even in researching the story for @drilledmedia.bsky.social about an ill-fated meeting between Epstein and Bjorn Lomborg, I found emails between Epstein and another man whose job it appears to have been to procure girls for Epstein where they seem to be discussing sex trafficking.
Last week the far right started peddling a narrative that the outrage over Epstein is a moral panic. Today, like clockwork, a more polite version of that narrative appears in the Atlantic.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
February 8, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Even in researching the story for @drilledmedia.bsky.social about an ill-fated meeting between Epstein and Bjorn Lomborg, I found emails between Epstein and another man whose job it appears to have been to procure girls for Epstein where they seem to be discussing sex trafficking.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
San Francisco’s pro-billionaire march draws dozens - techcrunch.com/2026/02/08/s...
San Francisco’s pro-billionaire march draws dozens | TechCrunch
A march supporting California’s billionaires didn’t exactly draw a huge crowd on Saturday.
techcrunch.com
February 8, 2026 at 8:18 PM
San Francisco’s pro-billionaire march draws dozens - techcrunch.com/2026/02/08/s...
Turns out wind power white ants the business case of French nuclear in the same way it is eating the lunch of coal-fired generation in Australia.
France has ended up in a strange position after using some €250bn of tax-payer money to build a fleet of nuclear power stations. Wind and solar power is merrily entering the French power market at prices nuclear production can't match, resulting in huge surpluses of power.
1/
1/
Électricité : un rapport confidentiel d’EDF anticipe une explosion des coûts et des risques
« Le Point » s’est procuré le rapport interne d’EDF sur les conséquences de la modulation de son parc nucléaire pour faire place aux renouvelables. Un document explosif, alors que le gouvernement s’ap...
www.lepoint.fr
February 8, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Turns out wind power white ants the business case of French nuclear in the same way it is eating the lunch of coal-fired generation in Australia.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
France has ended up in a strange position after using some €250bn of tax-payer money to build a fleet of nuclear power stations. Wind and solar power is merrily entering the French power market at prices nuclear production can't match, resulting in huge surpluses of power.
1/
1/
Électricité : un rapport confidentiel d’EDF anticipe une explosion des coûts et des risques
« Le Point » s’est procuré le rapport interne d’EDF sur les conséquences de la modulation de son parc nucléaire pour faire place aux renouvelables. Un document explosif, alors que le gouvernement s’ap...
www.lepoint.fr
February 8, 2026 at 10:41 AM
France has ended up in a strange position after using some €250bn of tax-payer money to build a fleet of nuclear power stations. Wind and solar power is merrily entering the French power market at prices nuclear production can't match, resulting in huge surpluses of power.
1/
1/
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Updated my little file full of IEA scenarios and actual historical power generation (global). Here's nuclear power.....
February 8, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Updated my little file full of IEA scenarios and actual historical power generation (global). Here's nuclear power.....
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
A federal judge struck down a Texas law that barred state agencies from doing business with companies alleged to be boycotting fossil fuels www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/c...
Federal Judge Blocks Texas Law Targeting Critics of Fossil Fuels
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:11 PM
A federal judge struck down a Texas law that barred state agencies from doing business with companies alleged to be boycotting fossil fuels www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/c...
"The social consequences, oddly, seem to have freaked these guys out more than anything else. That was where the “cancellation” panic came from — a fear that people might use their right to freedom of association to avoid people who, for instance, palled around with known pedophiles."
I wrote about the Epstein files (gift link) www.theverge.com/tech/874721/...
How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo
The emails show the “anti-woke” crusaders are afraid of accountability.
www.theverge.com
February 8, 2026 at 11:12 AM
"The social consequences, oddly, seem to have freaked these guys out more than anything else. That was where the “cancellation” panic came from — a fear that people might use their right to freedom of association to avoid people who, for instance, palled around with known pedophiles."
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
I wrote about the Epstein files (gift link) www.theverge.com/tech/874721/...
How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo
The emails show the “anti-woke” crusaders are afraid of accountability.
www.theverge.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:09 PM
I wrote about the Epstein files (gift link) www.theverge.com/tech/874721/...
They're not.
If most alt-weeklies are gone, local news outlets have been hollowed out by budget cuts and consolidation, and there are mass layoffs at CBS, NBC, and now the Washington Post, where are journalists — even the mid and late-career ones — supposed to work?
February 8, 2026 at 4:20 AM
They're not.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Oil & gas workers deserve stability and respect - not to be used as props in scare tactics.
Planning ahead is how we protect jobs and family budgets.
#ClearHorizonsAct #NMLeg
Planning ahead is how we protect jobs and family budgets.
#ClearHorizonsAct #NMLeg
If oil & gas corporations are saying their own workers live paycheck to paycheck, that’s not an argument against climate action - it’s an argument for better wages and less price volatility.
#ClearHorizonsAct plans ahead so families aren’t whiplashed by boom-and-bust economics. 🎢🎢🎢 #NMLeg
#ClearHorizonsAct plans ahead so families aren’t whiplashed by boom-and-bust economics. 🎢🎢🎢 #NMLeg
And the Clear Horizons Act - Senate Bill 18 - is up!
Affordability isn’t just monthly bills – it’s what families lose when disasters hit.
The Clear Horizons Act helps prevent wildfire, flooding, and health costs families can’t budget their way out of. #ActOnClimate #ClearHorizonsAct #NMLeg
Affordability isn’t just monthly bills – it’s what families lose when disasters hit.
The Clear Horizons Act helps prevent wildfire, flooding, and health costs families can’t budget their way out of. #ActOnClimate #ClearHorizonsAct #NMLeg
February 8, 2026 at 2:47 AM
Oil & gas workers deserve stability and respect - not to be used as props in scare tactics.
Planning ahead is how we protect jobs and family budgets.
#ClearHorizonsAct #NMLeg
Planning ahead is how we protect jobs and family budgets.
#ClearHorizonsAct #NMLeg
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Whoah, the story of a broke Lomborg trying to find funding and suppory from Epstein, fails, and ends up bring funded by Bill Gates.
«Epstein treating him [Lomborg] like the Danish economist continues to encourage governments to treat climate change: as an annoyance and not a real priority.»
«Epstein treating him [Lomborg] like the Danish economist continues to encourage governments to treat climate change: as an annoyance and not a real priority.»
What Happened the day Bjorn Lomborg Met Jeffrey Epstein
The Danish political scientist and climate crisis denier sought a meeting with Epstein in the hope of securing funding.
drilled.media
February 7, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Whoah, the story of a broke Lomborg trying to find funding and suppory from Epstein, fails, and ends up bring funded by Bill Gates.
«Epstein treating him [Lomborg] like the Danish economist continues to encourage governments to treat climate change: as an annoyance and not a real priority.»
«Epstein treating him [Lomborg] like the Danish economist continues to encourage governments to treat climate change: as an annoyance and not a real priority.»
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
This is bleak: Jes Staley, currently CEO of Barclays, reassuring Epstein that popular revolt against financial elites is unlikely because capitalism and pop culture have defanged social movements, leaving people more invested in consumption than justice.
February 6, 2026 at 10:23 PM
This is bleak: Jes Staley, currently CEO of Barclays, reassuring Epstein that popular revolt against financial elites is unlikely because capitalism and pop culture have defanged social movements, leaving people more invested in consumption than justice.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Get in loser, we are doing Big Green State in Mexico @abenanav.bsky.social
@danielagabor.bsky.social @brettchristophers.bsky.social
things happening when an energy systems scientist becomes her country’s president. Claudia Sheinbaum sweeping energy reforms:
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/mex...
@danielagabor.bsky.social @brettchristophers.bsky.social
things happening when an energy systems scientist becomes her country’s president. Claudia Sheinbaum sweeping energy reforms:
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/mex...
Mexico’s Big Green State | Jose Maria Valenzuela
Claudia Sheinbaum plans to repurpose the country's state-owned enterprises towards decarbonization
www.phenomenalworld.org
February 2, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Get in loser, we are doing Big Green State in Mexico @abenanav.bsky.social
@danielagabor.bsky.social @brettchristophers.bsky.social
things happening when an energy systems scientist becomes her country’s president. Claudia Sheinbaum sweeping energy reforms:
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/mex...
@danielagabor.bsky.social @brettchristophers.bsky.social
things happening when an energy systems scientist becomes her country’s president. Claudia Sheinbaum sweeping energy reforms:
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/mex...
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Unravelling the threads of antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment will require both more political courage and more community tolerance than we have seen to date.
Herzog's Australia visit further politicises the Bondi terror attack
Unravelling the threads of antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment will require both more political courage and more community tolerance than we have seen to date.
www.abc.net.au
February 6, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Unravelling the threads of antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment will require both more political courage and more community tolerance than we have seen to date.