Byron Hartman
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byronhartman.bsky.social
Byron Hartman
@byronhartman.bsky.social
#ForeignPolicy, #NatSec, IR, international development. Diplomat/FSO, dad, ex-Army SOF intel. Currently in 🇳🇱, previously 🇹🇷🇧🇷🇩🇯🇮🇶🇦🇫🇩🇪 Português/Français/Türkce. Repost =/= endorse. Views my own.
Reposted by Byron Hartman
we're living through one of the greatest technological revolutions in the history of mankind and it's not AI
Solar + storage is now $104 per MWh in Las Vegas or similar regions for nearly 100% clean firm power. There is no way new nuclear can compete with this. Even new gas plants will struggle and that is assuming access to cheap gas over the life-cycle of the plant, which is kind of a crazy gamble TBH.
Batteries are so cheap now, solar power doesn’t sleep
Batteries are now cheap enough to make 24/7 solar power affordable, unlocking round-the-clock clean energy in the world’s sunniest cities.
electrek.co
June 23, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
To anyone thinking the CA National Guard is going to start massacring protestors, I want you to cast your memories back to the George Floyd BLM protests in DC.

The Guard was deployed for that, too. And the insurrection.

They never killed or even hurt anyone.

But federal law enforcement did.
June 8, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
This paper makes important point that we're not talking about impact of AI on reading enough. Marking work that's full of AI is demoralising but in some ways, the threat AI poses to comprehension is bigger than the threat to what students produce...

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

#AcademicSky
May 12, 2025 at 8:16 PM
God reportedly considering firing Pope-elect after chosen Cardinal revealed to have inadvertently added Catholic Today editor-in-chief to Conclave deliberations Signal group.
May 8, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Congratulations, you’ve recreated a version of the 1959 book by Pat Frank “Alas, Babylon.”
“I wanted to write … a very accurate story of what would happen in a small town in North Carolina if the power went off, and it never came back on.”

—William R. Forstchen, author of the 2009 novel “One Second After.”

Congratulations, you re-created the 2006-08 CBS drama “Jericho.” archive.is/5rX5l
May 8, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
Rough year for self-evident truths
March 29, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
Your regular reminder that no tax cut in the history of tax cuts has ever paid for itself.
(Punchbowl) - Extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts would boost the national debt by almost 50% when measured as a percentage of GDP and increase the deficit by around $4 trillion, according to a new Congressional Budget Office analysis.

@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
punchbowl.news/article/fina...
CBO: Extending Trump tax cuts would boost deficit, debt
The analysis comes as Senate Republicans are set to huddle with the Senate parliamentarian’s office to get guidance on the “current policy baseline.”
punchbowl.news
March 21, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
So the Mexico-US-Canada World Cup is going to be interesting, huh
March 4, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Well, my Washington Post subscription just lapsed. What are some good alternatives to putting money in Bezos’ pocket?
March 1, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
When @propublica.org first published data and reporting on the tens of thousands of Native American human remains and artifacts held by museums and universities, compliance with the nation’s 30-year old repatriation law shot up. Today, we update the data to show where thise institutions stand now.
ProPublica Updates Its Database of Museums’ and Universities’ Compliance With Federal Repatriation Law
Institutions across the U.S. returned more than 10,300 Native American ancestors to tribes in 2024, making it the third-biggest year for repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and Re...
www.propublica.org
February 25, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
Every Day is Ethics Day.
I know it's hard.
February 22, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
Today is the Day of Remembrance.

Eighty-three years ago today, FDR signed Executive Order 9066.

It gave military authorities the power to create “military exclusion zones” from which any class of citizens could be removed.
February 20, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
I was led to believe by R.E.M. that I would feel a lot better about this.
February 1, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
💯🇺🇦 Mark Rutte: "Let’s not be naive about Putin. One has only to look at what happened in Bucha. Therefore, if a peace agreement is reached, it must be sustainable. We must ensure that he never, ever conquers even one square kilometer of Ukraine again."
February 2, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
When Russia sends ballistic missiles with 500kg warheads into residential buildings full of sleeping families, understand that this is what they will gladly do to Warsaw, Berlin and any US city, and plan to do.

The only thing now standing in their way is Ukraine.

And Ukraine needs help, urgently.
February 1, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
Every dollar spent in aid saves around 15 dollars in deployments.
February 1, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
January 29, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
Very accessible video guide to some basic, handy, free OSINT tools for visual/data investigation
Hi! After 3+ years of diving into OSINT tools, techniques creating tutorials, I've made this video on some of the best tools and how to use them. There's a link to 20+ tools I’ve relied on, perfect for verification, geolocation, or just exploring our amazing world. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Jp...
January 28, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
“I'm on @bsky.app far more than any other.”— @mcuban.bsky.social
“I truly prefer a moderated platform. It makes for better, more nuanced engagement.”

“Not getting beat up with hateful posts makes it a lot more inviting and rewarding to post. The signal to noise ratio is 100x better than X.”
January 27, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
Apropos of nothing, a reminder that homosocial reproduction is a thing which we understand well.

sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/s...
January 25, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
A staggering $50 trillion. That is how much the upward redistribution of income has cost American workers over the past several decades.

icymi, from 2020
The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That's Made the U.S. Less Secure
A report shows that a $50 trillion redistribution of income to benefit the richest has made America less healthy, resilient, and secure
time.com
January 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
This picture, from the J20 inauguration protests, continues to shape how I think about public perceptions of crime and disorder in big cities.
January 17, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Byron Hartman
The facts are, the ACA saved millions with pre-existing conditions and set standards for care.

But now, more than a decade later, with what we now know, it’s time to take the insurance companies out of the mix.
The subsidies they get are enormous. We don’t need them as middlemen.
January 16, 2025 at 2:10 AM