Josh McBee
@jmcbee.bsky.social
Did a PhD in philosophy; now doing climate policy. Based in Austin, TX.
Just learned that Jesse Welles has been out there making the music the moment needs, and I'm so here for it.
January 11, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Just learned that Jesse Welles has been out there making the music the moment needs, and I'm so here for it.
Haha man the sport is out of control these days. We're seeing 700+ squats and pulls in the 74s! For my part, I'll be happy if I can total in the low 1100s.
July 17, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Haha man the sport is out of control these days. We're seeing 700+ squats and pulls in the 74s! For my part, I'll be happy if I can total in the low 1100s.
Or I guess 82.5 since it's USAPL
July 17, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Or I guess 82.5 since it's USAPL
I'm an 83kg medium boi
July 17, 2025 at 12:53 AM
I'm an 83kg medium boi
Nice man. With little kids, I find I need the flexibility of a 3,- or 4-day split to allow me to reshuffle things on days when I didn't sleep well the night before. I'm training for a powerlifting meet in October and doing a 4-day upper lower split. I'm liking it a lot.
July 16, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Nice man. With little kids, I find I need the flexibility of a 3,- or 4-day split to allow me to reshuffle things on days when I didn't sleep well the night before. I'm training for a powerlifting meet in October and doing a 4-day upper lower split. I'm liking it a lot.
I don't know how realistic that is, but I don't see 2/3 of Senators ever endorsing an legally binding international mitigation framework.
July 16, 2025 at 8:41 PM
I don't know how realistic that is, but I don't see 2/3 of Senators ever endorsing an legally binding international mitigation framework.
But what if, with the U.S. out and Paris climate goals moving further and further out of reach, the rest of the parties decide that we need to bring back the legally binding targets the U.S. would never tolerate? (Kyoto)
July 16, 2025 at 8:41 PM
But what if, with the U.S. out and Paris climate goals moving further and further out of reach, the rest of the parties decide that we need to bring back the legally binding targets the U.S. would never tolerate? (Kyoto)
It is not clear that they will do this or even, as I understand things, that they can do so legally. But if they do, will the U.S. ever be able to rejoin the treaty? Securing the votes of 2/3 of Senators is the obvious obstacle, but it's happened before. Maybe it could again.
July 16, 2025 at 8:41 PM
It is not clear that they will do this or even, as I understand things, that they can do so legally. But if they do, will the U.S. ever be able to rejoin the treaty? Securing the votes of 2/3 of Senators is the obvious obstacle, but it's happened before. Maybe it could again.
Just as economic self interest could, or at least was supposed to, make the IRA more durable, economic and geostrategic competition should help to ensure some measure of progress even as global climate ambition wanes.
June 12, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Just as economic self interest could, or at least was supposed to, make the IRA more durable, economic and geostrategic competition should help to ensure some measure of progress even as global climate ambition wanes.
Great post. I've been thinking along the same lines.
June 11, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Great post. I've been thinking along the same lines.
The IRA could still die in the Senate, and in fact that seems the most likely outcome. Still, this is encouraging.
May 30, 2025 at 4:24 PM
The IRA could still die in the Senate, and in fact that seems the most likely outcome. Still, this is encouraging.
In case you missed it, the short story is that a suite of anti-renewables bills passed by the Texas Senate died in the House because Republicans from districts with a lot of renewables opposed them.
May 30, 2025 at 4:24 PM
In case you missed it, the short story is that a suite of anti-renewables bills passed by the Texas Senate died in the House because Republicans from districts with a lot of renewables opposed them.
Of course there's a parallel story to be told here at the international level. That's its own can of worms...
May 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Of course there's a parallel story to be told here at the international level. That's its own can of worms...
If the "Big, Beautiful Bill" does kill the IRA, it won't just be the federal government capacity to do climate policy that will need to be rebuilt. We're also going to have to go back to the drawing board on climate politics. I don't know what else to try, but we'll have to figure out something.
May 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
If the "Big, Beautiful Bill" does kill the IRA, it won't just be the federal government capacity to do climate policy that will need to be rebuilt. We're also going to have to go back to the drawing board on climate politics. I don't know what else to try, but we'll have to figure out something.
Now, the fight is not over yet. The politics of IRA repeal may yet protect it in the Senate. But things are not looking good.
May 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Now, the fight is not over yet. The politics of IRA repeal may yet protect it in the Senate. But things are not looking good.
In the end, though, they did. Not a single one of the 21 Republican members of Congress who urged their colleagues to keep the IRA credits voted against the bill. I don't think they even threatened to! insideclimatenews.org/news/2205202...
House Republicans Have Passed a Bill to Gut the IRA. What Happened to All the Supposed Holdouts? - Inside Climate News
The fate of the Inflation Reduction Act is in the hands of a few dozen elected officials who are weighing principles, partisan leanings and their districts’ economic interests.
insideclimatenews.org
May 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
In the end, though, they did. Not a single one of the 21 Republican members of Congress who urged their colleagues to keep the IRA credits voted against the bill. I don't think they even threatened to! insideclimatenews.org/news/2205202...
Surely, the thought went, Republican members of Congress wouldn't vote for factory closures, cancelled investments, and layoffs in their own districts?
May 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Surely, the thought went, Republican members of Congress wouldn't vote for factory closures, cancelled investments, and layoffs in their own districts?
The political theory of the IRA was always that, by making the material benefits of climate policy palpable, particularly in red states and districts, the law would effectively protect itself from repeal.
May 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The political theory of the IRA was always that, by making the material benefits of climate policy palpable, particularly in red states and districts, the law would effectively protect itself from repeal.
Those and other developments had already made it clear that the the policy and bureacratic infrastructure for federal climate action was going to need to be rebuilt basically from scratch. The fate of the IRA credits in the House bill this week adds another depressing layer to this story.
May 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Those and other developments had already made it clear that the the policy and bureacratic infrastructure for federal climate action was going to need to be rebuilt basically from scratch. The fate of the IRA credits in the House bill this week adds another depressing layer to this story.
We've already seen him decimate the government's capacity to do climate science (e.g., by eliminating USGCRA) and climate diplomacy (the Office of Global Change), and efforts are well underway to undermine its ability implement federal climate policy through firings/layoffs at DOE, EPA, etc.
May 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
We've already seen him decimate the government's capacity to do climate science (e.g., by eliminating USGCRA) and climate diplomacy (the Office of Global Change), and efforts are well underway to undermine its ability implement federal climate policy through firings/layoffs at DOE, EPA, etc.