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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The military coverup of damage from the war is the Republican Party protecting itself before the election, by delaying any action and harming American security. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/u...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

MIght be driven cowardice, but it's not a fear of Newsom, whose ability to affect local and state politics is rapidly diminishing. OTOH, I didn't know that the whole thing could just be a union playing hardball, not actually trying to win. Not great.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Elrod has an interesting argument that repeated public cruelty wears down supporters, when I've worried more that repeated public cruelty desensitizes opponents. I hope he's right.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is why other countries have professional diplomats as ambassadors, not political hack appointees. Dems are somewhat better than Rs on this. Let's hope they become a lot better in 2029. www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is fun writing. Ryan did a good job.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The Catholic Church is a mini-universe of good and bad, but it's shocking to me that it is willing to discriminate against children based on the trans status of the children's parents. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/o...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I think carbon capture may work someday, but playing games to stop action on climate change isn't the way forward. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Trump/MAGA aren't pulling off a Pinochet-style move with these numbers. 16% strong approval would drop even lower with a conscious breaking-the-law-is-necessary coup. The numbers have to change, otherwise they're stuck with semi-legal means of destroying democracy.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Even worse at Fifty Plus One. I'm not a Nate Silver hater, but I prefer Morris's decision to exclude a lot of partisan pollsters.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Bonta is really screwing up. Here's another: www.almanacnews.com/housing/2026... Russian-affiliated, giant development that creates more demand for housing than it provides.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

recharged.com/articles/che... For people who are thinking about doing it

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Authoritarian censorship in the US and it barely gets a mention: www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Problematic. OTOH I can't criticize any of the below. They reported a threat they became aware of, while following their privacy guidelines.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A relief to see the literally-criminal use of American military reduced to a crime against property (although arguably kidnapping as well) instead of the murder that the Republican Administration had been committing. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/u...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Some nicknames are too spot on. www.msn.com/en-us/money/...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This is the issue: But yes, keep researching.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Krugman on Trump: newrepublic.com/article/2146...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

www.nytimes.com/interactive/... More at the link.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Adam probably burnt bridges with this. Brave of him to do it.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

The public art/aesthetic in small-town Nevada is strangely good:

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Second time. But yes, that's a great reference site and I hope Trump continues to drop.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

July wrapping up with largest net disapproval so far of Trump, following six weeks of stability or slight improvement of Trump's approval. Guessing it's a combo of renewed war and still-expensive gas that is moving the polls. If the fence-sitters and Trump supporters are getting tired of....

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Agree on US historical responsibility. I assume the damage caused is also reciprocal but not of equal weight - e.g. China has damaged the US but not to the same extent. Looks like China will soon take over the leaderboard, although on historical per-capita emissions, they're way below us.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Not everything he did was bad, starting with taking care of his kid sister when their parents died. He remained a friend of Ukraine. But he did way more wrong than right. This is deserved: www.publicnotice.co/p/lindsey-gr...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

My new ride in front of our old ride. First use of it today, going to the gym. Hoping that our work schedules might let us get rid of the Fiesta when it dies and go down to one car (currently a Subaru Crosstrek PHEV)

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Pretty incredible. I remember being told in 2020 that she had quit her cult decades prior. Cult members are esp vulnerable to blackmail by foreign intelligence agencies. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Much better than the wrong-and-nearly-impossible demand to end the presidential pardon power. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/o...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Gates didn't need Epstein to set up a donor-advised fund. Any lawyer with the relevant expertise could help with that. This part needs better explanation. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/b...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

The national security threat is the Republican Party, choking off fossil fuel supplies from the Middle East and then fighting against substitutes for fossil fuels. www.msn.com/en-us/news/w...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Trump is a human Autopen, except when he goes off on rage-policies of his own. www.msn.com/en-us/news/p...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Not me saying this, but maybe MAGA followers might resolve to be more cautious about just believing whatever they want. (Same for people saying Trump stole the 2024 election.) www.msn.com/en-us/money/...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I'd agree it's weird. This part doesn't quite fit the evil framework though:

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I regret to inform you that we have competition. In addition to the image below, Hungary kept at it for 16 years, and Bulgaria might dive into stupidity next week. We humans learn, but it's slow.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

This is a good article. The endorsers should be asked about what they knew, and if they claim not to have known the open secret, what does that mean. David's conduct was fine. The news media took way too long on this, however, and I think the article should hit that aspect harder.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Deleted post with wrong cut-and-paste. Here it is, showing the discussion isn't about high quality habitat:

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

A politicized military is bad at fighting, good at coups. That's what Trump and Hegseth are trying to create (I don't think they have enough time though to do it): www.cnbc.com/2026/03/31/k...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I wondered if the headline below (from dw.com) is accurate. The paragraph from an article there, if true, seems to show that it is. www.dw.com/en/israel-pa...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Relevant to the question whether Republicans with integrity should serve under Trump. I still the answer is yes, but then they should do the right thing until they're fired (note that I don't know if Driscoll is always like this). From the article:

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Trump and MAGA use taxpayer money to pay guilty man for committing crimes against the United States. Not making this up. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

I think it's important to distinguish who's responsible rather than say every member of the military in the last 20 years is embarrassing you. For example, there's this: www.msn.com/en-ca/news/o... It was done by Trump, not "the military".

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

I'll say it's a red flag. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Not all the time. This is what I get on Bing though:

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

The book had a good summary of climate science at the time and is an excellent prebuttal of the claim that climatologists were predicting ice ages before they predicted warming: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History... He also did some great work on butterflies, it helped the conservation work that I did.

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Brian Schmidt @schmidtbrian.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

This graph from the link is inexplicable. Trust seems almost inversely correlated with the level of government corruption. Don't know what to make of something that gives this outcome.

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