Austin Thomas
@awthomas.bsky.social
Electric grid nerd + meteorologist. Proud Chicagoan based in Boston.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
The constitutional remedy for a president who launches a war of acquisition against an ally is impeachment, removal, disqualification, and ultimately a criminal trial. And the same is true for every member of his cabinet involved in such an illegal undertaking.
January 6, 2026 at 9:34 PM
The constitutional remedy for a president who launches a war of acquisition against an ally is impeachment, removal, disqualification, and ultimately a criminal trial. And the same is true for every member of his cabinet involved in such an illegal undertaking.
“overhaul”, eh? Add it to the list of euphemisms that the press contorts itself to use these days. Or, better yet, just write a headline like this: “Trump admin issues new, unscientific vaccine guidance that purposefully endangers American children.” See, that wasn’t too hard, was it?
BREAKING: The U.S. drops the number of vaccines it recommends for every child in an unprecedented overhaul of childhood health protections.
US drops the number of vaccines it recommends for every child
The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of dropping the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — leaving other immunizations, such as flu shots, open to families to choose but without clear guidance.
bit.ly
January 5, 2026 at 7:54 PM
“overhaul”, eh? Add it to the list of euphemisms that the press contorts itself to use these days. Or, better yet, just write a headline like this: “Trump admin issues new, unscientific vaccine guidance that purposefully endangers American children.” See, that wasn’t too hard, was it?
Reposted by Austin Thomas
The same editorial board described Seattle’s mayor raising taxes to pay for childcare as a totalitarian power grab
The Washington Post editorial board comes out in favor of the Venezuela attack/operation to capture Maduro
January 3, 2026 at 5:51 PM
The same editorial board described Seattle’s mayor raising taxes to pay for childcare as a totalitarian power grab
Reposted by Austin Thomas
Among the many reasons you don’t kidnap a foreign head of state at gunpoint even if you have the capability, is that it sparks consequences you can neither control nor anticipate.
January 3, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Among the many reasons you don’t kidnap a foreign head of state at gunpoint even if you have the capability, is that it sparks consequences you can neither control nor anticipate.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
I mean given that he is constitutionally barred from re-election what exactly can you call this other than legalized bribery?
NEW w/ @kenvogel.bsky.social: Trump’s team raised more than $100 million for MAGA Inc. in the second half of 2025, with much of the money coming from wealthy people and corporations with issues before the administration. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/u...
Trump Super PAC Raised More Than $100 Million in Recent Months
www.nytimes.com
January 3, 2026 at 3:48 AM
I mean given that he is constitutionally barred from re-election what exactly can you call this other than legalized bribery?
Barry is starting 2026 with a bang. 🐐
First Friday Finale. Chicago in Black & White at the end of the workday today.
January 3, 2026 at 1:08 AM
Barry is starting 2026 with a bang. 🐐
Reposted by Austin Thomas
Folks, she brought a whole plate of spaghetti to the broadcast center to do her headshot. She then houses that spaghetti.
Mattia sips on an espresso during his.
Truly the heroes we need during these times.
Mattia sips on an espresso during his.
Truly the heroes we need during these times.
January 2, 2026 at 1:46 PM
Folks, she brought a whole plate of spaghetti to the broadcast center to do her headshot. She then houses that spaghetti.
Mattia sips on an espresso during his.
Truly the heroes we need during these times.
Mattia sips on an espresso during his.
Truly the heroes we need during these times.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
Ex-Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun has Lunch with the FT and in one of those instances so rare that you know he didn't sign an NDA, says exactly why as.ft.com/r/e503690d-8...
January 2, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Ex-Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun has Lunch with the FT and in one of those instances so rare that you know he didn't sign an NDA, says exactly why as.ft.com/r/e503690d-8...
This game is bananas!
January 2, 2026 at 4:13 AM
This game is bananas!
Yet another thing that the orange one can’t help but ruin because of his ego. He would be perfectly comfortable ruling over a pile of ashes if it bore his name.
NEWS: The Trump administration has canceled the 50-year lease given to the National Links Trust to manage the D.C. golf courses at East Potomac Park, Rock Creek, and Langston. The group won the leases five years ago, and had started work renovating the Rock Creek course.
December 31, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Yet another thing that the orange one can’t help but ruin because of his ego. He would be perfectly comfortable ruling over a pile of ashes if it bore his name.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too. n.pr/49aDwVE
Memory loss: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise
Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too.
n.pr
December 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too. n.pr/49aDwVE
Long-lost cousin of the Milwaukee Brewers’ racing sausages
The towering Lerch-san, mascot for Niigata Prefecture, is based on Theodor Von Lerch, an Austro-Hungarian who introduced skiing to Japan in 1911.
December 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Long-lost cousin of the Milwaukee Brewers’ racing sausages
Reposted by Austin Thomas
A rare High Risk has been issued:
"This will pose a significant threat of flash flooding, landslides, rock falls & mud slides. The greater than normal travel during the Christmas Holiday will potentially expose a larger number of people to these life threatening hazards." -NWS Forecast Discussion
"This will pose a significant threat of flash flooding, landslides, rock falls & mud slides. The greater than normal travel during the Christmas Holiday will potentially expose a larger number of people to these life threatening hazards." -NWS Forecast Discussion
December 22, 2025 at 9:09 PM
A rare High Risk has been issued:
"This will pose a significant threat of flash flooding, landslides, rock falls & mud slides. The greater than normal travel during the Christmas Holiday will potentially expose a larger number of people to these life threatening hazards." -NWS Forecast Discussion
"This will pose a significant threat of flash flooding, landslides, rock falls & mud slides. The greater than normal travel during the Christmas Holiday will potentially expose a larger number of people to these life threatening hazards." -NWS Forecast Discussion
Reposted by Austin Thomas
Disastrously stupid. Incredibly destructive to the US and the State Department. Important to make sure that Rubio gets his full share of the blame for the devastation to American diplomacy and security that he has personally overseen.
December 22, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Disastrously stupid. Incredibly destructive to the US and the State Department. Important to make sure that Rubio gets his full share of the blame for the devastation to American diplomacy and security that he has personally overseen.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
December 22, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
Reposted by Austin Thomas
1. First, let's talk about the elephant in the room that he doesn't mention explicitly but haunts the whole piece: climate change is real, we've overshot the goal and the only way to turn the corner is to leave fossil fuel in the ground. To ignore that is to talk about rocketry and ignore gravity.
December 20, 2025 at 2:59 PM
1. First, let's talk about the elephant in the room that he doesn't mention explicitly but haunts the whole piece: climate change is real, we've overshot the goal and the only way to turn the corner is to leave fossil fuel in the ground. To ignore that is to talk about rocketry and ignore gravity.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Reposted by Austin Thomas
Interesting to consider that if you were to go and deface the Kennedy center by removing Trump’s name, you’d be arrested and charged with a crime, but your act would be no more unlawful than what they’re doing right now.
NEWS: They're adding Trump's name to the Kennedy Center building right now. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Kennedy Center adds Trump’s name to building
The signage change follows a vote by the board of trustees to rename the performing arts complex the Trump Kennedy Center.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Interesting to consider that if you were to go and deface the Kennedy center by removing Trump’s name, you’d be arrested and charged with a crime, but your act would be no more unlawful than what they’re doing right now.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
We have a deal.
Decision to provide 90 billion euros of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved.
We committed, we delivered.
Decision to provide 90 billion euros of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved.
We committed, we delivered.
December 19, 2025 at 1:56 AM
We have a deal.
Decision to provide 90 billion euros of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved.
We committed, we delivered.
Decision to provide 90 billion euros of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved.
We committed, we delivered.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
December 17, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Austin Thomas
The U.S. government admits negligence in the helicopter-plane collision last January that killed 67 in Washington, D.C.
US government admits negligence in helicopter-plane collision that killed 67 in Washington
The U.S. government has admitted that the Federal Aviation Administration and the Army played a role in causing the collision last January between an airliner and a Black Hawk helicopter near the nation’s capital that killed 67 people.
bit.ly
December 18, 2025 at 12:11 AM
The U.S. government admits negligence in the helicopter-plane collision last January that killed 67 in Washington, D.C.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
An absolute bedrock institution for understanding how the planet works, just civilization-scaled vandalism by the most incurious morons on Earth
December 17, 2025 at 2:52 AM
An absolute bedrock institution for understanding how the planet works, just civilization-scaled vandalism by the most incurious morons on Earth
Reposted by Austin Thomas
NCAR is quite literally our global mothership.
Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.
Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.
Unbelievable.
Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.
Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.
Unbelievable.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
www.usatoday.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:59 AM
NCAR is quite literally our global mothership.
Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.
Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.
Unbelievable.
Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.
Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.
Unbelievable.
Reposted by Austin Thomas
A second levee broke south of Seattle last night as our relentless parade of atmospheric rivers continues.
Thinking of the John Holdren quote that we have three options: mitigation, adaptation or suffering. The third is growing ever more apparent as progress lags on one and two.
Thinking of the John Holdren quote that we have three options: mitigation, adaptation or suffering. The third is growing ever more apparent as progress lags on one and two.
December 16, 2025 at 8:19 PM
A second levee broke south of Seattle last night as our relentless parade of atmospheric rivers continues.
Thinking of the John Holdren quote that we have three options: mitigation, adaptation or suffering. The third is growing ever more apparent as progress lags on one and two.
Thinking of the John Holdren quote that we have three options: mitigation, adaptation or suffering. The third is growing ever more apparent as progress lags on one and two.