I have small kids, and what helps me make my peace with the decision is knowing I can't opt out. Kids mean you've committed yourself to being part of the solution. The alternative isn't worth contemplating.

Voters didn't have a choice in most of the down ballot GOP races to even vote for a Dem candidate. The Dem party left 65% of down-ballot races uncontested. That's part of what happened. They focused on POTUS. Have been doing this since the early 2000s when they ousted Howard Dean and gave up on the 50-state strategy. They left more than 20,000 seats down ballot in the hands fo the GOP with no contest and abandoned poorer states, defunding state parties. It's not that voters voted for a lot of these people in state legislators, etc. It's that they had no one on the ballot to vote for. GOP down the ticket. No challenge. I am SURE that also impacted Harris' turnout. It has been a bad calculation I've been blowing the whistle on for months and no body was listening. These states didn't "go red." They were abandoned, and their state parties defunded, by the Dem National. Also, the Dems raised $14 BILLION, only gave states $2.5 million to divey among 25 states, and bragged like that was a "50-state-strategy. 1/

If you don't choose your fights, everyone who hates you will choose them for you. How modern parties on the left still don't understand this is astonishing.

Is it time yet to revisit all the early heralding of the internet's pure democracy, of the idea of "citizen journalists," of each and every voice being able to be heard being a good thing for our ability to find truth and govern ourselves? Because having spent a previous career in newsrooms, as part of the cold, organized monolith that was our gatekeeping mainstream media, I know that we were often too herd-like and centrist, sometimes misled and sometimes capable of publishing horseshit on incomplete or contradictory data. Sometimes we got it dead wrong. But every day, I remember that the editors read the copy and tried to verify what they could and avoid what they could not. And no one could pay us a fucking dime to say what we didn't think was the story we thought we had. Fact is, I once tried to sneak a piece of celery through some ranch dip at some politician's fundraiser because the guy was late showing up to make a speech and I was starving. Another reporter smacked it out of my hand: "That's Harry McGuirk's celery." We had an ethic. We believed in our role, however flawed and vulnerable to error our work product might at times be. So fuck the influencers, fuck the pimps who bought them, fuck their rancid whoredom, and fuck a media culture that has bypassed the gatekeepers at least trying to hold to a core ethos. The marginalization and eventual death of old-fashioned journalism and what has ensued is going to be what ends our republic. And everyone who championed some purist vision of a post-mainstream media future is now and forever, officially, a rube.

Donations are a problem in politics full stop, for all the major parties. That said, this is a very interesting story from @MarkDiStef afr.com/rear-window/gina-rin…

In news that will surprise no one, ex PM Scott Morrison has signed on with a deep-sea mining fund which has invested millions in experimental deep-sea mining projects. Deep sea mining will be the new asbestos - dangerous, damaging & expensive. theage.com.au/national/the-e…

"Fossil fuel power plants kill 35 times more birds per GWh of electricity produced than wind turbines. But even this figure understates the true harm caused by fossil fuels." How about that. Great reporting from @curious_founder distilled.earth/p/fossil-fue…

People sometimes ask me how I can remain optimistic that we can address the climate crisis. This is why: 👇

Absurd early-spring heat is about to hit #Sydney. The city is forecast to see 5 consecutive days >28°C. This has never been recorded in September before, with records dating back to 1859!

"The IMF calculated just over $7 trillion in subsidies to fossil fuels last year. Since the IMF’s report expresses all figures in 2021 dollars, inflation cannot explain away the increase. The world has never spent this much to subsidize fossil fuels." mining.com/web/the-biggest-f…

A very good piece from @emorwee on exactly how vested the fossil fuel industry's interests are in (US) politics (e.g. nothing at all like here in Australia).

Great to hear this re-broadcast discussion from @antonyjfunnell, featuring @SandraPiesik, @BrianRMotherway and @aaraman. From September last year, but no less vital. abc.net.au/radionational/pro…

Bill Hayes, @lachlan_mciver & @tracey_kirkland is everything good and great about books, writing, and talking about them to a room full of people. Just a wonderful conversation, when these things are much-needed. Thanks @natashamitchell abc.net.au/radionational/pro…

Great, nuanced conversation w' @LukeMenzel & @janrosenow, particularly around the danger in assuming we can “overbuild” renewable supply and everything will be fine why it miiight be worth a little skepticism of net zero targets if they’re not paired with plans to hit them..

Are you planning to vote "No" because you don't like the idea of an entity giving advice to the Federal Parliament? If so, here is a list of some entities that do exactly this right now, that you will also have to abolish: ABARES - Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resource

In Victoria, around 80 per cent of households have an active gas connection – and heating accounts for almost two-thirds of household gas use. Great to see this brand new comparison from @EnviroVic & @reneworgau on costs and emissions of gas vs heat pump electric heating.

having your name emblazoned upon the back of your wheelchair is honestly such a slay move i can’t fault it. might do the same however, where does barbie put all her shit?? i see no bag? she’s not gonna be holding a purse if she’s self-propelling…