Moira Birss
@moira.bsky.social
Climate, economic justice & human rights research, advocacy & policy visioning. Senior Fellow @cplusc.bsky.social studying US disaster insurance & global finance policy. Board co-Chair @lawgaction.bsky.social. Amo a 🇨🇴. Living on Ohlone land. she/ella/ela.
It’s really important to understand that the criminal legal system in the U.S. already produced the infrastructure to make ICE possible. If we ever rid ourselves of ICE the way to make it harder to revive it will be destroying and defunding the institutions it has borrowed so much from
The Marshall Project@themarshallproject.org · 6h agoAdapting to public pushback, the Trump administration is pivoting to expand immigration detention bedspace nationwide.
El-Sayed: We live in an era where we continue to see a few very small people try to define America as being as small as they are. We can't control the past 250 years. What we can do is build the next 250
"don't make enough money" is a fig leaf All those degree programs--social work, art, etc.--have disproportionately female student bodies. This is designed to make it harder for women to attend college--college education being a key factor in women's autonomy from men & left-leaning voting pattern.
The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d agoPresident Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v
This is one of those things that will be characterized as wildly outside political possibility even though I don't know a singly person who doesn't believe that the basic insurance model has become not paying out claims to policyholders.
Moira Birss@moira.bsky.social · yesterdayPrivate insurers have financial incentives to withhold claims payments, cuz they can make interest or investment income during the wait. Meanwhile, households are stuck with damaged homes. Yet another reason we need a public good approach to home insurance! www.thecooldown.com/green-busine...
Private insurers have financial incentives to withhold claims payments, cuz they can make interest or investment income during the wait. Meanwhile, households are stuck with damaged homes. Yet another reason we need a public good approach to home insurance! www.thecooldown.com/green-busine...
US home insurers make $8.8 million a day by delaying claim payments
A new analysis suggests those delays can also lead to millions in added earnings for insurers.
thecooldown.com
We’re also funding death squads but what’s really offensive is that somewhere out there a poor person might be able to eat
USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 2d agoOpinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.
Conservative Democrats who advocate for deregulating nuclear power and funneling taxpayer money to nuclear companies might want to think through the politics of being complicit in likely funneling billions to Trumps and their allies. Possibly illegally. Possibly leading to nuclear incidents.
Sammy Roth@sammyroth.bsky.social · 5d agoThe Trump family is poised to cash in on the nuclear renaissance that Trump is promoting: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/u...
There’s still time to get to MI to support @abdulelsayed.bsky.social before the August 4 primary! @seedthevote.bsky.social is running volunteer canvasses every day in Detroit. As Abdul says, “they’ve got the money but we’ve got the many!”
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 6d agoA single interest group whose primary mission is to represent the interests of another country has spent $30 million on a *primary race* www.ap.org/news-highlig....
If we had Medicare for All, we'd all qualify and none of this would be an issue. Plus, we'd all have healthcare, which sounds nice.
Julia Métraux@juliametraux.bsky.social · last wk.RFK Jr. and Oz attacked California for its Medicaid home care, citing growth as proof of fraud. For @motherjones.com, I reported on how the growth isn't proof of fraud, and growth of participants is proof the program is more accessible than in other states. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Fossil gas exporters like Cheniere and Venture are putting upward pressure on consumer costs for the entire country. Their executives are also using Trump's war to mint dynastic wealth for themselves. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/c...
Fossil Fuel Executives Cash In
Insiders at leading oil and gas companies have made millions from stocks since the Iran war began.
nytimes.com
A great proposal by @moira.bsky.social Birss about how to deal with the climate-induced insurance crisis. The latest from @gamechangerspolicy.bsky.social
Moira Birss@moira.bsky.social · 2w agoClimate change-fueled disasters threaten the safety of our homes & insurance provides a financial safety net to help us recover. But current insurance systems are failing, leaving households high (& not dry). What can the federal government do? I've got a proposal: peri.umass.edu/publication/...
Here's a plan for housing as a human right: ☑️ National rent control ☑️ Universal rent and energy bill assistance ☑️ National disaster insurance ☑️ Social housing development Proud to put this forward with @aldasky.bsky.social @markpaulecon.bsky.social @moira.bsky.social @hjacobcarlson.bsky.social
Game Changers: Economic Policies for a Working America
Game Changers presents policymakers with bold, new ideas to build a stronger, fairer, greener, and more inclusive economy for all Americans.
peri.umass.edu
Just a reminder that in 1973, Congress ended Nixon's illegal bombing of Cambodia by attaching a funding prohibition to appropriations legislation. Congress has the tools to end Trump's illegal boondoggle with Iran. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
The Pentagon, sinking billions into Iran war, is quickly running short on cash
With some funds set to dry up within weeks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to press lawmakers Tuesday to address the increasingly urgent shortfall.
washingtonpost.com
Means testing hurts the people it’s supposedly meant to help, and costs a lot in added bureaucracy.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2w agoPage One. @nytimes.com
New report by the Oakland Institute reveals that the rush for critical minerals is not about a green transition. More than 70% of mineral demand comes from industries outside the energy transition, like aerospace, military, Big Tech, and AI sectors. reddmonitor.substack.com/p/rush-globa...
RUSH: Global Scramble for Minerals Wages War on People and Planet
New report from the Oakland Institute highlights how the military, AI, and corporate interests are driving the global rush for critical minerals.
reddmonitor.substack.com
This important report puts forth a bold policy vision for a National Housing Resilience Agency which would oversee the social transformations around risk reduction and equitable protection that are necessary for everybody to flourish in a changing climate. Incredible work by @moira.bsky.social
National Disaster Insurance for All: Single-Payer Disaster Insurance and Community Resilience Investments for Safer and More Affordable Housing
The Problem The climate crisis is fueling extreme weather and increasing disaster risk for households and housing providers across the country, representing collectives risks that no individual househ...
peri.umass.edu
Insurance costs are so bad in TX that Abbott has made it part of his campaign. His proposals are half measures, though. If @ginafortexas.bsky.social wants to run on transformative solutions, she could check out @cplusc.bsky.social's proposals: climateandcommunity.org/research/pro...
Protection or Profit? Transformative Solutions to the Home Insurance Crisis
CCI’s proposal to transform home insurance involves states creating entities, termed Housing Resilience Agencies (HRAs), to run the state’s housing risk-reduction work and home disaster insurance prov...
climateandcommunity.org
Houston Public Media@houstonpublicmedia.bsky.social · 3w agoGov. Greg Abbott is proposing measures to help rein in rising home and car insurance costs for Texas residents.
Big Tech is Big Trouble for climate. Check out my oped @desmog.com on the double whammy Big Tech is perpetrating: 1) a bonanza build-out of fossil gas to fuel AI data centers, 2) sale of AI to Big Oil to find more oil, faster. And these companies call themselves climate champs! #datacenters #AI
Big Tech Joins Big Oil in Ruining Summer
The industry has abandoned its climate pledges in favor of fossil fuel-powered AI data centers.
desmog.com
Climate change-fueled disasters threaten the safety of our homes & insurance provides a financial safety net to help us recover. But current insurance systems are failing, leaving households high (& not dry). What can the federal government do? I've got a proposal: peri.umass.edu/publication/...
National Disaster Insurance for All: Single-Payer Disaster Insurance and Community Resilience Investments for Safer and More Affordable Housing
The Problem The climate crisis is fueling extreme weather and increasing disaster risk for households and housing providers across the country, representing collectives risks that no individual househ...
peri.umass.edu
Our second wave of bold, innovative policies has launched! Policies that address Medicare for All, climate change, affordable housing, North American trade, unemployment insurance, job protection, and a livable wage. Game Changers that build a better economy for all Americans. GameChangersPolicy.org
Game Changers: Economic Policies for a Working America@gamechangerspolicy.bsky.social · 2w agoThe second wave of Game Changers is here! From Medicare for All and raising wages to worker protections, healthier environments, climate resilience, and North American worker-centered trade, these proposals offer bold ideas for a more secure economy. 🌐: gamechangerspolicy.org
Wildfire smoke in NY. Flooding in Texas. Climate risk is turning insurance into a political fight. @leslieatlarge.bsky.social and I spoke with Jane Kim and Ben Allen, top contenders to regulate CA’s $15B home insurance market. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
California Rivals Have Starkly Different Plans to Remake Home Insurance
Ben Allen and Jane Kim are running to be the state’s next insurance commissioner. Both promise change, but not along the same lines.
bloomberg.com
And this is by no means the first time: @johnvaillant.bsky.social's book Fire Weather. vividly documents this same scenario happening way back in 2016.
Albert Pinto@70sbachchan.bsky.social · 12mo agoThe insanity the world summarised in a headline on Canada: Wildfires threaten Canadian oil sands www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/glo...
In the aftermath of the Eaton and Palisades fires, the post-disaster housing landscape was reorganized through market mechanisms that privileged profit. The Great Los Angeles Fires, to put it another way, were a story of disaster capitalism.
Fire Sale - Dissent Magazine
In the aftermath of the Eaton and Palisades fires, housing could have been stabilized and tenants could have been protected. But the private market won.
dissentmagazine.org
NEVER FORGET the debt we all owe to the Miccosukee Tribe, without whom it would still be open. And never forget that Indigenous sovereignty and all our safety and flourishing are forever intertwined.
“Alligator Alcatraz” May Close After Months of Tribal Resistance in the Everglades
The controversial immigration detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” could soon shut down — a dramatic reversal following months of resistance led by the Miccosukee Tribe, Native advocates, and ...
nativenewsonline.net
Tyler King@tyleraking.com · 3w agoAfter a cost of more than $1 billion, the Everglades concentration camp has been removed from the airstrip where it once stood.
This is a common misunderstanding. Any immigrant who gets work authorization gets a Social Security number, regardless of legal status; not citizens only. Here’s what such a SS card looks like. ITINs are for people (mostly undocumented) who are NOT authorized to work but want to pay taxes anyway.
“Johan Sebastián was a 25 year old young man who worked tirelessly to provide for his family. He leaves behind his wife and their 3 year old daughter, who now face an uncertain future without him.”
Gabe Ortíz@tusk81.bsky.social · 3w ago“With broken hearts, we are raising funds to help his family cover legal expenses, funeral costs, and the repatriation of his body to Colombia, where his parents are waiting to lay him to rest,” says the family of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, the Maine dad killed by ICE:
This is NOT ok, not when ICE does it and not when police do it.
Zito@zeets.bsky.social · 3w agoSo ICE, like police officers, basically get to execute people, say some nonsense about feeling in danger, and then completely get away with executing people
