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Alexander C. Kaufman
@kaufman #1015455
Reporter and writer. I cover energy, climate change and geopolitics. Contact me via my website www.alexanderckaufman.com and subscribe to kaufman.substack.com.
8563 Follower 296 Following
Today is my birthday.
Went for a schvitz at the Russian baths with my brother and friends and now I’m drinking Chinese beers. Southern Brooklyn style.
Went for a schvitz at the Russian baths with my brother and friends and now I’m drinking Chinese beers. Southern Brooklyn style.
got into an Alice In Chains song for the first time in my life so now this is my car
China just ordered 10 more large-scale reactors and unveiled breakthrough new thorium and high temperature gas reactors.
The U.S., meanwhile, is cutting the budget for its nuclear energy office.
https://x.com/dr_keefer/status/1918661802998562916?s=46
The U.S., meanwhile, is cutting the budget for its nuclear energy office.
https://x.com/dr_keefer/status/1918661802998562916?s=46
The meme is joking about the tariffs on Heard and McDonald Islands, but these exports basically are Greenland's economy.
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Murtaza Hussain
@mazmhussain·a day ago
Killer scoop here from @chrisdangelo and his team:
Regardless of what you think about de-extinction technology, it raises some real questions about transparency and fairness toward rival startups that Doug Burgum is using his post as Interior secretary to promote a company with which his administration as North Dakota governor had close ties.
https://www.publicdomain.media/p/interior-doug-burgum-colossal-biosciences-deextinction?r=9wuu&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
Regardless of what you think about de-extinction technology, it raises some real questions about transparency and fairness toward rival startups that Doug Burgum is using his post as Interior secretary to promote a company with which his administration as North Dakota governor had close ties.
https://www.publicdomain.media/p/interior-doug-burgum-colossal-biosciences-deextinction?r=9wuu&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
The main event of Farcaster this week definitely seems to be farcon, but I do think it’s worth noting another milestone moment: a major global news breaking on Warpcast.
I first found out about the Iberian blackout on here, thanks to casters in
Spain alerting me to the news.
I wound up monitoring a lot of the heated debate that followed over the cause on X. But those early casts gave me a glimpse of how this could develop as a platform for real news.
I first found out about the Iberian blackout on here, thanks to casters in
Spain alerting me to the news.
I wound up monitoring a lot of the heated debate that followed over the cause on X. But those early casts gave me a glimpse of how this could develop as a platform for real news.
Equity investments in climate tech were declining long before Trump came back to office.
you guys are at farcon in the city where I live
I’m sitting in my living room reading about FARC on my phone
we are not the same
I’m sitting in my living room reading about FARC on my phone
we are not the same
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Murtaza Hussain
@mazmhussain·2 days ago
I was back on BBC News' Business Matters last night with the famous Japanese executive Yoko Ishikura to talk about Trump's mineral deal in Ukraine, why Japan could beat tariffs by working with the U.S. on nuclear and geothermal, and the dark side to the otherwise healthy trend of young people drinking less.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172zrs182hqj90
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172zrs182hqj90
My latest piece is out in The Atlantic.
It's about the paradox of Trump's mineral policy.
On one hand, his administration is fast-tracking permits for mining projects. On the other, it's undoing killing off the clean manufacturing that provides the crucial demand signal for minerals, all while tariffs make equipment more expensive and vital international partners mad.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2025/05/trumps-mineral-paradox/682675/
It's about the paradox of Trump's mineral policy.
On one hand, his administration is fast-tracking permits for mining projects. On the other, it's undoing killing off the clean manufacturing that provides the crucial demand signal for minerals, all while tariffs make equipment more expensive and vital international partners mad.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2025/05/trumps-mineral-paradox/682675/
Such a weird feeling when you can’t tell if someone is a bot on LinkedIn or just another extremely boring but overeager LinkedIn junkie.
Can’t believe I’m saying this but: Erasing the military propaganda of calling it Veterans Day to instead retvrn to armistice day? Welcome back Kurt Vonnegut.
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Purp🇵🇸
@purp·3 days ago
Lmfao this is a banger
VJ day ( victory over Japan day) has long been the end of world war two, may 8th is the Soviet victory day since they weren't involved in the pacific front, this is fucking hilarious welcome back comrade Stalin
VJ day ( victory over Japan day) has long been the end of world war two, may 8th is the Soviet victory day since they weren't involved in the pacific front, this is fucking hilarious welcome back comrade Stalin
Incredible stuff.
Data center construction in the U.S. is soaring.
Croatia is becoming a natural gas import hub.
The country is doubling the capacity of its LNG terminal. That’s good news for a region that lost access to Russian pipeline gas when Ukraine’s long-standing transit deal with Gazprom expired in New Year’s Day.
The country is doubling the capacity of its LNG terminal. That’s good news for a region that lost access to Russian pipeline gas when Ukraine’s long-standing transit deal with Gazprom expired in New Year’s Day.
This is a pretty brazen claim about Lithuanian, a language so conservative and old it retains more grammar from proto-Indo-European than virtually any other language on the continent.
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azb
@azbest·3 days ago
“The book claims that the Lithuanian nation and language do not exist.”
You’d think it’s rather easy to fact-check this, but in a world where water can turn frogs gay and Satanic regimes are on the rise* it might not be so certain.
https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2550706/russia-publishes-book-on-lithuanian-history-preface-written-by-lavrov
You’d think it’s rather easy to fact-check this, but in a world where water can turn frogs gay and Satanic regimes are on the rise* it might not be so certain.
https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2550706/russia-publishes-book-on-lithuanian-history-preface-written-by-lavrov
I have a new scoop that just published at Latitude Media: Utah is betting on a new developer to revive its nuclear dreams a year and a half after the NuScale deal collapsed.
Holtec International is setting up a permanent regional hub in the state to train a workforce and deploy projects to build its SMR-300 reactor across the Mountain West.
This is the same company angling to build the United States' first SMRs in Michigan. Now the developer -- which is better known for its business decommissioning plants such as NYC's Indian Point -- is laying the groundwork for a massive expansion out West.
https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/utah-bets-on-a-new-developer-to-revive-its-small-modular-reactor-ambitions/
Holtec International is setting up a permanent regional hub in the state to train a workforce and deploy projects to build its SMR-300 reactor across the Mountain West.
This is the same company angling to build the United States' first SMRs in Michigan. Now the developer -- which is better known for its business decommissioning plants such as NYC's Indian Point -- is laying the groundwork for a massive expansion out West.
https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/utah-bets-on-a-new-developer-to-revive-its-small-modular-reactor-ambitions/
Forgot it post my /gmatcha this morning but check out this his and hers matcha bowls I made for my wife and myself.
So what was the WSJ serving when it broke the news that Theranos was a scam? Corporate interests or the public? How about when WSJ exposed how top officials at the FDIC were sexually harassing women?
Making broad generalizations about some of the few organizations that have the capacity, expertise and resources to carry out investigative work that holds the powerful accountable just because you don’t like certain aspects of those organizations is corrosive and short sighted.
Making broad generalizations about some of the few organizations that have the capacity, expertise and resources to carry out investigative work that holds the powerful accountable just because you don’t like certain aspects of those organizations is corrosive and short sighted.
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FrameTheGlobeNews
@frametheglobe·4 days ago
Sure. But you have to address modern times too, and can’t ignore the notion that art of journalism has been crushed by corporate interests vs being a public service.
Considering the incentive structure is a useful exercise.
Would company with a mercurial founder who has a history of manipulating public information and who hates the press put out a statement to calm its jitters investors?
Or would the nation’s leading business newspaper whose entire 136-year reputation is staked on accuracy and which hedged its claims to say the reality may have already changed since Musk agreed to spend more time on Tesla just make something up?
Would company with a mercurial founder who has a history of manipulating public information and who hates the press put out a statement to calm its jitters investors?
Or would the nation’s leading business newspaper whose entire 136-year reputation is staked on accuracy and which hedged its claims to say the reality may have already changed since Musk agreed to spend more time on Tesla just make something up?
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Koolkheart
@koolkheart.eth·4 days ago
This is the kind of split that explains most tech discourse online… who do you think is lying less?
Or another example of Tesla’s PR team lying to obfuscate a shifting reality and steady a jittery stock price.
Which explanation one considers more likely explains a lot about one’s epistemological reasoning.
Which explanation one considers more likely explains a lot about one’s epistemological reasoning.
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Johns | johnsgresham.eth
@johns·4 days ago
Looking like another f for WSJ https://x.com/tesla/status/1917812113315074055?s=46&t=nyR04MypYObEBtICytlYYg
It is fascinating as always to see which kinds of people trust Tesla’s corporate PR vs. which kinds of people trust The Wall Street Journal.
The FT editorial board managed to split the difference between the warring clean-energy tribes’ battles lines in the hasty blame game post-Iberian blackout:
-invest in more clean firm like nuclear
-add more batteries
-upgrade the grid to handle more renewables
-invest in more clean firm like nuclear
-add more batteries
-upgrade the grid to handle more renewables
About a month ago, Tesla's board started looking for a CEO to replace Elon Musk.
Since that news broke in the WSJ tonight, Tesla stock dropped by another 4%.
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-musk-ceo-search-board-0ce61af9?mod=hp_lead_pos1
Since that news broke in the WSJ tonight, Tesla stock dropped by another 4%.
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-musk-ceo-search-board-0ce61af9?mod=hp_lead_pos1
More legal trouble ahead of the Trump administration's energy policies: Equinor is considering suing over the offshore wind ban.
https://www.ft.com/content/15557ca9-8531-4e03-8d74-9ef3166aeaac
https://www.ft.com/content/15557ca9-8531-4e03-8d74-9ef3166aeaac
I’m proud of many stories I’ve told over the years, but the riskiest reporting I ever did was this one: I went deep into the Brazilian Amazon to interview people from the Indigenous group that was supposed to have its land designated next, until Jair Bolsonaro won the presidency. I got to share the story of a woman who lost her baby because of his policies with the world. That felt like important work at the dawn of the Bolsonaro administration, and came with some real threat from illegal miners and loggers I encountered far from any authorities. A famous Guardian reporter died in a similar situation a few years later.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brazil-amazon_n_5e1e21c0c5b650c621e6ee90
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brazil-amazon_n_5e1e21c0c5b650c621e6ee90
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Arako🎩🐱
@arako·4 days ago
Nailed it! Reporters out in the field are the unsung heroes of journalism, digging up the raw truth that fuels the whole ecosystem. What’s the wildest story you’ve chased as a reporter that made you realize how vital this work is?
The Quiet Start Of Brazil’s War On The Amazon
A year into his presidency, Jair Bolsonaro is facing accusations of genocide against his country’s Indigenous minorities. The violence began before he even took office.
www.huffpost.com
Journalist is a broad term that encompasses many different jobs, from opinion commentators to news photographers to magazine art directors to TV producers to social media editors. There’s plenty of variation in those jobs and many include sharing their opinions. All are supposed to be beholden to telling audiences the truth.
I’m biased, but I think reporters — those of us who go out in the field or hit the phones to gather and confirm new information, collect testimonies, and bear witness to events — are a particularly important, and serve as the foundational cornerstone of the journalism ecosystem since our work is what gives the talking heads something to talk about, and helps readers decipher reality from propaganda. It doesn’t always work that way exactly, especially in an era where there are fewer and few resources to do that work, which isn’t cheap. It’s easy — as in any public-facing profession — to identify examples of those who fall short. But that’s how I see it.
I’m biased, but I think reporters — those of us who go out in the field or hit the phones to gather and confirm new information, collect testimonies, and bear witness to events — are a particularly important, and serve as the foundational cornerstone of the journalism ecosystem since our work is what gives the talking heads something to talk about, and helps readers decipher reality from propaganda. It doesn’t always work that way exactly, especially in an era where there are fewer and few resources to do that work, which isn’t cheap. It’s easy — as in any public-facing profession — to identify examples of those who fall short. But that’s how I see it.
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Evan
@evangreenberg·4 days ago
What is a journalist? I’m not sure I know anymore. Did journalists used to primarily talk about their opinions?
My cousin just told me she thought Aaron Parnas on TikTok was a great journalist and it made me so upset. Should I start making TikToks about my stories? It’s not my natural medium at all but @ryangrim seems to have a good model for it.
The tipping feature is a really nice aspect to Farcaster.
I was skeptical of it at first, but creating a culture of backpatting with stakes greater than smashing a like button breeds much more thoughtful interactions.
I wonder if, at scale, it could become a meaningful source of revenue for journalism to support reporters or future publications on this platform.
I was skeptical of it at first, but creating a culture of backpatting with stakes greater than smashing a like button breeds much more thoughtful interactions.
I wonder if, at scale, it could become a meaningful source of revenue for journalism to support reporters or future publications on this platform.
I published my first story today in the excellent energy publication Latitude Media.
It's about four bills in California that could remake the state into the No. 1 destination for geothermal energy development.
Experts I spoke to say that taking off in a market as big as the Golden State could be the ticket to a geothermal boom.
https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/why-california-lawmakers-are-warming-to-geothermal/
It's about four bills in California that could remake the state into the No. 1 destination for geothermal energy development.
Experts I spoke to say that taking off in a market as big as the Golden State could be the ticket to a geothermal boom.
https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/why-california-lawmakers-are-warming-to-geothermal/
Potent new riff on my favorite Mad Men elevator meme
“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” (2002):
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yyy
@yx3io·5 days ago
do not take other people's organs until they are done using them
This narrative mode is changing but still exists.
shout out to @jvaleska.eth @reisky @terrelljstarr @davidtphung @ifeoluwafavour @erica @garance @infinitehomie and the rest.
Discovered a new kind of guy — the expansionist regionalist
Looks increasingly like solar was to blame for the great Iberian blackout.
Another good indie band/album name
Mark Carney, the current and future Canadian prime minister:
Energy analyst John Kemp explains what went wrong with the Iberian grid today and what role renewables may have played:
https://jkempenergy.com/2025/04/28/iberian-peninsula-hit-by-mass-blackout-and-attempts-black-start/
https://jkempenergy.com/2025/04/28/iberian-peninsula-hit-by-mass-blackout-and-attempts-black-start/
