Feb 25, 2025 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Journalism, Bias & Censored News
I recently began teaching a course on the regulation of “networks, platforms and public utilities,” using a 2022 casebook by the same name. It is from a group of progressive legal scholars who are trying to recover the national memory of the public interest reasons...
Feb 15, 2025 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Journalism, Bias & Censored News
Much of the energy world is waiting on the Trump Administration to disperse funds that Congress directed to be used to support specific types of energy projects. The Administration’s withholding of that money is just one small stream in a firehose of illegal,...
Nov 25, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
Slogans, acronyms, and memes rise and fall quickly on social media. I recently saw that the term “FAFO” was trending on Twitter. Not knowing what it was I clicked on it. Though none of the posts using the acronym defined it, it became evident pretty quickly that it...
Nov 5, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
Whatever the outcome of today’s voting, we will learn something from it. And I will post some reactions to specific races and what they signify for stronger climate policy on 11/10 and succeeding days. It is likely that around 70 million Americans (or more) will...
Oct 30, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition
One of the recurring themes in Climate of Contempt is that while modern media doesn’t change human nature, it does amplify the worst aspects of human nature in powerful ways. The book recommends extended political dialogue across ideological and partisan boundaries, a...
Oct 25, 2024 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Journalism, Bias & Censored News
In chapter 4 of Climate of Contempt I summarize the academic literature showing how (1) online platform algorithms mislead and anger us, and (2) political persuaders use that anger to push us toward ideological extremes and increasingly intense partisan animosity....
