Texas passed its first renewable energy target in 1999, 3 years before California. The law was signed by, Gov. George W. Bush — you may recall he’s a Republican.
For my book, I interviewed Texan Republicans, Democrats, oil guys + clean energy pioneers. Texas was once leading in wind energy, with GOP support. Now we get lies, from the Gov on down on renewables. What happened?
Lessons from Short Circuiting Policy https://t.co/KtxaBci5oC 🧵
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eur_SThUYAIfaas.jpg)
Texas passed its first renewable energy target in 1999, 3 years before California. The law was signed by, Gov. George W. Bush — you may recall he’s a Republican.
The "bill he signed in 1999 will make Texas the country’s largest market for renewable energy by 2009."
https://t.co/T4dKZ5qGnA
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eur_-EnVgAAbcwb.jpg)
It was sponsored by Republican state Senator Troy Fraser and signed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
https://t.co/c9vnjyvn4i
What happened over the past 15 years?
https://t.co/jp3EqyORuu
They maintain GOP discipline by threatening Republicans who support renewables or climate action with lost money and primary challengers. Over time, this shifts the party.
https://t.co/W8L5yqDgOJ
We might expect a similar result after the lies perpetuated over the past week.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EusBrCiVEAE3Soe.jpg)
In the early 2000s, California faced severe power outages. As a result, Gov. Gray Davis lost a recall election. If I were Gov. Abbott, I'd be worried.
If you enjoyed this thread, check out my book, Short Circuiting Policy!
https://t.co/MLrDKMQI4C
More from Culture
This is ridiculous. Students were asked for their views on this example and several others. The study findings and conclusions were about student responses not the substance of each case. Could\u2019ve used hypotheticals. The responses not the cases were the basis of the conclusions.
— Eric Kaufmann (@epkaufm) February 17, 2021
Here is the incident Kaufmann incorporated into his study, as told by a Cardiff professor who was there. As you can see, the incident involved the university intervening to *uphold* free speech principles:
The UK govt\u2019s paper on free speech in Unis (with implications for Wales) is getting a lot of attention.
— Richard Wyn Jones (@RWynJones) February 16, 2021
Worth noting then that an important part of the evidence-base on which it rests relates to (demonstrably false) claims about my own institution
1/https://t.co/buoGE7ocG7
Here is the first mention of the Greer at Cardiff incident in Kaufmann's report. It refers to the "concrete case" of the "no-platforming of Germaine Greer". Any reasonable reader would assume that refers to an incident of no-platforming instead of its opposite.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EugDf5RXIAIrI_i.png)
Here is the next mention of Greer in the report. The text asks whether the University "should have overruled protestors" and "stepped in...and guaranteed Greer the right to speak". Again the strong implication is that this did not happen and Greer was "no platformed".
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EugEUekWgAAVRPL.png)
The authors could easily have added a footnote at this point explaining what actually happened in Cardiff. They did not.
Translucent agate bowl with ornamental grooves and coffee-and-cream marbling. Found near Qift in southern Egypt. 300 - 1,000 BC. 📷 Getty Museum https://t.co/W1HfQZIG2V
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Etp4_O_VgAE0kvQ.jpg)
Technicolor dreambowl, found in a grave near Zadar on Croatia's Dalmatian Coast. Made by melding and winding thin bars of glass, each adulterated with different minerals to get different colors. 1st century AD. 📷 Zadar Museum of Ancient Glass https://t.co/H9VfNrXKQK
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Etp5xJSUUAMAZyJ.jpg)
100,000-year-old abalone shells used to mix red ocher, marrow, charcoal, and water into a colorful paste. Possibly the oldest artist's palettes ever discovered. Blombos Cave, South Africa. 📷https://t.co/0fMeYlOsXG
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Etp6CTfVIAA_2Kw.jpg)
Reed basket bowl with shell and feather ornaments. Possibly from the Southern Pomo or Lake Miwok cultures. Found in Santa Barbara, CA, circa 1770. 📷 British Museum https://t.co/F4Ix0mXAu6
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Etp6VN4VcAAmenw.jpg)
Wooden bowl with concentric circles and rounded rim, most likely made of umbrella thorn acacia (Vachellia/Acacia tortilis). Qumran. 1st Century BCE. 📷 https://t.co/XZCw67Ho03
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Etp6l_GUUAAD5JS.jpg)
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Ironies of Luck https://t.co/5BPWGbAxFi
— Morgan Housel (@morganhousel) March 14, 2018
"Luck is the flip side of risk. They are mirrored cousins, driven by the same thing: You are one person in a 7 billion player game, and the accidental impact of other people\u2019s actions can be more consequential than your own."
I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.
In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.
So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.
Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.