Tom Schmitz

Tom Schmitz

@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Speechwriter and executive comms strategist with a focus on energy & climate. Professional Californian, practicing Virginian, bicoastal sailor. Soundtrack by Steely Dan.

389 followers409 following434 posts

Tom Schmitz reposted

Max Kennerly
@maxkennerly.bsky.social

One cool thing about being a regular Dem donor is how the party tries to demoralize me before every election. I am again drowning in spam texts clearly aimed at ripping off the elderly. Several Senate candidates have worked hard, overcoming my many "stop" replies and blocks, to make me hate them.

Jen Bendery@jbendery.bsky.social

Reposting link here because it looks like the art we did for this story didn't load. Art h/t to HuffPost's Kelly Caminero. It's an angry collage of all the messages you all sent us! 😂 www.huffpost.com/entry/voters...

huffpost.com‘INSANE!’: Voters Are Done Being Inundated With ‘Pathetic’ Political Texts And MailersWe asked HuffPost readers to tell us about drowning in unwanted campaign messages. You certainly delivered!

Tom Schmitz reposted

Laurie Voss
@seldo.com

And now back to my full time job, texting the word "stop" to every living Democrat.

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

The definition of "throw the book at them" should be expanded to include the dictionary.

Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com

We acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It's 'buck naked' -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’ -It’s ‘toe the line'

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Listen up, Dem candidates. We all *hate* this. Making your contributors regret their donations is Blazing Saddles-level insane. Time to wise up and knock it off.

Molly Knight@mollyknight.bsky.social

Do they even understand how much they’re pissing people off by doing this. Whatever research that convinces them that spamming everyone is all upside is bullshit. It is like they’d rather have all my contact info to sell to other campaigns forever than receive my donation. It sucks.

Tom Schmitz reposted

Jon B. Wolfsthal
@jonatomic.bsky.social

Are we just going to keep pretending that Man City could have such a strong side if they had played by the rules and count their wins as legitimate? If so, why have rules?

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Fascinating thread on an abandoned automobile technology that also exposes Musk's latest flim-flam. Which, predictably, credulous media instantly fell for.

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Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

If, like me, you are a member of an HOA in Fairfax County that has been known to use their services, then you have the power to send the owner a consequential message. Please do.

capitolhunters@capitolhunters.bsky.social

Trump brought more destruction to DC this weekend, ordering the cutting of 400 mature trees before courts could stop it. Same tactic as when he knocked down the East Wing. Riverbend Landscapes & Tree Service of VA did the cutting. They knew it was wrong. And you can let them know how you feel. 1/

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Help Behind-the-Meter come out of the closet. Free the VPP!

Jigar Shah@jigarshahdc.bsky.social

Amazing work by my good friends at @pge4me.bsky.social. I hope this project with Google is a forcing function to get the utility and the regulator to open this kind of opportunity to all customers. 🧵 lnkd.in/p/gpGhUNBR

lnkd.inHow Home Batteries Unlock the Grid's Next Chapter | Jigar Shah | 28 commentsPG&E ended 2025 with five flexible interconnection sites online. Data centers, EV chargers, hospitals are all waiting for hard path infrastructure that takes decades to permit and build. This week, P...
Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Batteries as a peaker alternative are a game changer. Traditional peaker plants use gas turbines and are typically the dirtiest generators in the grid system. Huge advance!

alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social@alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social

Within two years, Australia has managed to drastically reduce its use of fossil fuels because #batteries supply the electricity at peak times. We need much more #energystorage for the energy transition! #ActOnClimate #ClimateActionNow

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

🎯👇

Josh Zingher@zingherpolisci.bsky.social

Writing, quite literally, is thinking. Hence, it is hard to write well because it requires systematic, disciplined thinking. If you aren't writing for yourself you aren't thinking for yourself.

Tom Schmitz reposted

Don Moynihan
@donmoyn.bsky.social

Would be nice if there was one aspect of my life that was Bezos free. Like next week I'm going to read he has purchased a stake in one of my kids.

Reuters@reuters.com

Amazon founder Bezos nears deal to buy stake in Liverpool  - Reports reut.rs/3U7CQfM

reut.rsAmazon founder Bezos nears deal to buy stake in Liverpool  - ReportsA consortium that includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is close to agreeing a deal to acquire a ​stake of about one-third in Premier League club Liverpool, ‌multiple media outlets reported on Monday.
Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Glorious. We were fortunate to have one of these in our backyard when we lived in Oakland. We even chose to have our outdoor wedding beneath its canopy during the pandemic. Its blooming season was a source of endless enjoyment. Miss it still.

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Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

This can't be pointed out often enough, and I find myself having to do it far too often. "Lockdown" is what happened in China, where people were forcibly confined inside their apartments. Nothing like that happened in the U.S. We suffered through mild inconvenience, not at-home incarceration.

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Tom Schmitz reposted

Taniel
@taniel.bsky.social

BIG DEAL on voting rights this morning: Governor Spanberger just restored the voting rights of some 60,000+ Virginians. Her move reverses Youngkin's abrupt decision in 2023 to end automatic voting rights restoration, which brought Virginia back to a system of default lifetime disenfranchisement.

boltsmag.orgVirginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Thousands With Past Felony Convictions - BoltsThis is the only state that, absent action by the governor, bans people convicted of any felony from voting for life. Virginians have an opportunity to end that system for good in November.
Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Now that is some innovative ratemaking. Way to go, OR & PGE!

John Hanger@jrfhanger.bsky.social

Oregon raises electricity rates by 29.7% for data centers and cuts residential electricity rates by 1.3%. www.opb.org/article/2026... #energysky

opb.orgOregon approves PGE’s 29.7% rate hike for data centers under landmark lawThe Oregon Public Utility Commission unanimously approved Portland General Electric’s rate hike for large energy users to take effect Wednesday. Residential rates will go down 1.3%.
Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

"Pack it" 💯🎯

Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social

Court can't go on like this. The Constitution as plainly as possible says people who were born here have an unequivocal right to citizenship. Four people whose ONLY job is to read the Constitution for the rest of their lives just tried to overturn it because they're tired of brown people. Pack it.

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Drape some black crepe around this thread, in mourning for what our nation has lost.

Sherrilyn Ifill@sifill.bsky.social

I do not think there is sufficient appreciation for how catastrophic yesterday’s decision in Slaughter is for this country. As Justice Sotomayor said in her dissent and she intoned from the bench yesterday, “today the majority reshapes our Govt.”

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

🎯

Chris Hayes@chrislhayes.bsky.social

The "hydration break" really is a perfect American capitalist innovation: a nakedly commercial play to insert more ad revenue into a game that doesn't have ads anywhere else in the world, all under the guise of some humanitarian interest in the players' wellbeing.

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Exactly this. Not a cause for celebration or veneration, but examination and regulation.

Garrett M. Graff@vermontgmg.bsky.social

It shouldn’t be controversial to say that the creation of a “trillionaire” represents a giant and complete failure of public policy and government.

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

🎯🎯🎯

Christopher Mims@mims.bsky.social

attempting to document all the ways the internet has cooked our brains is impossible -- it's fractal, the machinery of collective truth-finding has not broken down, it has shattered into an infinitude of tailored realities, each inhabited by a single person trapped in a dialog only with themselves

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Prescient indeed 🎯

Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social

Three years ago tomorrow, I very nervously gave this speech. I knew my career as a TV journalist was dunzo, cooked, filleted, kaput the morning I wrote it. (Thanks to Kat insisting I go for it anyway.) The end is awfully prescient at this exact second, though. Big ups to Scott Pelley for fighting.

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

There it is. AI now adjudicating claims for a health insurer that is already so infamous for driving customers to despair that its CEO was shot in the street. Oh, the humanity...

Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social

"It also said the company’s AI applications had avoided the need for more than 15 million calls, adjudicated hundreds of millions of claims, and contributed more than 150 million lines of code." adjudicated hundreds of millions of claims

bloomberg.comUnitedHealth Tracks Workers’ AI Use in Push to Transform CompanyUnitedHealth Group Inc. is tracking how often some employees use artificial intelligence tools as part of a push to embed the technology throughout its operations, according to people familiar with th...

Tom Schmitz reposted

jamelle
@jamellebouie.net

yes. change the statute on which this decision turned and redistrict according to the legitimacy conferred by the people of the state

Murshed Zaheed@murshedz.bsky.social

Virginia Gov @abigailspanberger.com and Democratic legislature should pass immediate legislation to redistrict anyway. If the old confederate states can do it post Callais - so can Dems in Virginia if they care about saving our democracy.

Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

The Virginia Supreme Court just invalidated my vote on redistricting because they did not like the way the election turned out and they seem to think that having a measure pass by a small margin is illegitimate somehow.

ghost malone ergo propter bones@proptermalone.bsky.social

i have my own strong opinions about this but curious what you guys think this paragraph is doing in the Virginia Supreme Court's decision to nullify the will of the people

Tom Schmitz reposted

Ida B Wells' Winchester Rifle
@dytsras.bsky.social

I still cant get over this. How you steal somebody's life... (he was 28 years incarcerated for a crime he DID NOT commit) He gets out, gets a law degree. Runs for office.... WINS... and then they steal the job

Keith Boykin@keithboykin.bsky.social

Louisiana Republicans have eliminated a city clerk position in New Orleans days before a Black man was set to take office. “It’s a sad thing to see the state government repeating what happened to Black public officials during Reconstruction,” said Calvin Duncan, who was set to take office Monday.

apnews.comLouisiana Republicans eliminate elected position days before an exoneree was set to take officeLouisiana Republicans have eliminated the office an exoneree was set to take after being overwhelmingly elected to the New Orleans-based seat. Republican Gov.
Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

When politicians understand that a fundamental purpose of government in a liberal democracy is to create the conditions that help people live better lives, then that's exactly what happens.

Bryce Covert@brycecovert.bsky.social

Really big, really good news: Virginia is now the first state in the South to pass paid family leave www.the74million.org/zero2eight/v...

the74million.orgVirginia’s Paid Family Leave Law Signals Shift in the SouthAdvocates say the state’s new paid family leave program could spur similar policies in other Southern states and build momentum at the federal level.
Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

👏👏👏

Taniel@taniel.bsky.social

JUST IN: Virginia adopted a new law yesterday to forbid sheriffs & local police from contracting with ICE — if ICE doesn't say it'll follow state laws & agree to let its agents be prosecuted. Everyone seems to agree ICE won't promise that, and that this spells the end of ICE contracts in Virginia.

boltsmag.orgVirginia Bans ICE Contracts, Unless the Feds Agree to Obey the Law. No One Expects Them to.A new law does not outright bar local contracts with ICE. But they can continue only if ICE accepts due process rules and state courts having power over its officers.
Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

Come for the practical advice, stay for the last four words of the final sentence.

Gremliny Nussboo@emilynussbaum.bsky.social

I use AI daily, but for only one thing: it's a kick-ass thesaurus. This is kind of like the way I used my Amazon Alexa exclusively as a kitchen timer & to be fair, I eventually got rid of it, because it was spying on me and snacking on my soul

Tom Schmitz reposted

Rep. James Walkinshaw
@repwalkinshaw.bsky.social

Under Pam Bondi, DOJ failed survivors: missed deadlines, withheld millions of files, and illegally redacted thousands. We cannot allow this to stand. Release all the files. Put Bondi under oath. Survivors deserve the truth, and they deserve it now.

Tom Schmitz reposted

Taniel
@taniel.bsky.social

Update: This bill still sits on the desk of Governor Spanberger. The deadline for her to take action one way or the other is this MONDAY evening.

Taniel@taniel.bsky.social

NEW: Virginia lawmakers just passed a bill that'd forbid sheriffs and local police from contracting with ICE, if ICE doesn't say it'll follow state laws and agree to let its agents be prosecuted. Everyone seems to agree that'd spell the end of ICE contracts in Virginia: boltsmag.org/virginia-bil...

boltsmag.orgVirginia Is Poised to Ban ICE Contracts, Unless the Feds Agree to Obey the Law. No One Expects Them to. - BoltsA bill passed by lawmakers would not outright bar local contracts with ICE. But they could continue only if ICE accepts due process rules and state courts having power over its officers.
Tom Schmitz
@tschmitzwrites.bsky.social

More of this, please 👏👏👏

Kevin M. Levin@civilwarmemory.bsky.social

'Gov. Spanberger signed a bill to end the renewal of commemorative Robert E. Lee license plates in Virginia. A portion of the sale of these plates has previously supported the neo-Confederate organization Sons of Confederate Veterans.' #CivilWarMemory www.wavy.com/news/virgini...

wavy.comGov. Spanberger signs bill to end the renewal of Robert E. Lee license plates in VirginiaRICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Del. Dan Helmer’s bill to end the renewal of commemorative Robert E. Lee license plates in Virginia Wednesday, according to a press…