Moira Birss
@moira.bsky.social
Climate, economic justice & human rights research, advocacy & policy visioning. Senior Fellow w/ @cplusc.bsky.social studying US disaster insurance & global policy. Board co-Chair of @lawgaction.bsky.social. Amo a 🇨🇴. Living on Ohlone land. she/ella/ela.
Pinned
Moira Birss
@moira.bsky.social
· Aug 29
There is a VERY strong reason to think that moving from private to public insurance will lead to political pressure that keeps premiums artificially low and incentivizes building in the riskiest areas. (See federal flood insurance)
The idea that insurance premiums are a good way to mitigate climate risk to housing is a common misconception that, unfortunately, can obscure real solutions to the risks of climate change and perpetuate existing inequities.
Why is that? Well...
1/8
Why is that? Well...
1/8
Reposted by Moira Birss
Remember: The richest 1% evade over $160 billion in taxes every year.
That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.
Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.
Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
November 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Remember: The richest 1% evade over $160 billion in taxes every year.
That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.
Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.
Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
Many Democratic Party leaders have no courage to stand up against the atrocities being committed by this administration. But these folks sure do (as do many others across the country).
“Standing for our neighbors, we shall not be moved”
November 14, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Many Democratic Party leaders have no courage to stand up against the atrocities being committed by this administration. But these folks sure do (as do many others across the country).
Seen just now in NW DC: statue of Tr*mp & Epstein dancing together, in honor of “friendship month”.
A passerby assured me this wasn’t here as of 4 hours ago.
A passerby assured me this wasn’t here as of 4 hours ago.
November 13, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Seen just now in NW DC: statue of Tr*mp & Epstein dancing together, in honor of “friendship month”.
A passerby assured me this wasn’t here as of 4 hours ago.
A passerby assured me this wasn’t here as of 4 hours ago.
When we submit the existence of essential services to the whims of private companies whose top goal is profit, we inevitably end up with failures like this that leave many people unprotected. This is also what’s happening with home insurance (which I study).
After Republicans refused to extend ACA subsidies, 4 Michigan insurers are dropping out of the ACA marketplace altogether. That’s 200,000 Michiganders who just lost their plans.
Four health insurers are dropping or significantly curtailing individual market offerings in 2026 as insurance pools are predicted to grow sicker. bit.ly/444v08M
November 13, 2025 at 6:13 PM
When we submit the existence of essential services to the whims of private companies whose top goal is profit, we inevitably end up with failures like this that leave many people unprotected. This is also what’s happening with home insurance (which I study).
This is a huge break in long-established cooperation between the US and Colombia on intelligence related to drug trafficking.
I have plenty of critiques of that policy history, but it's wild how much Trump's unhinged belligerence in the Caribbean has shifted foreign policy norms in the Americas.
I have plenty of critiques of that policy history, but it's wild how much Trump's unhinged belligerence in the Caribbean has shifted foreign policy norms in the Americas.
Colombia suspends intelligence sharing with US over strikes on Caribbean boats
The move ends decades of cooperation on law-enforcement in the region
LATEST for PWS by Adriaan Alselma
www.piratewireservices.com/p/colombia-s...
The move ends decades of cooperation on law-enforcement in the region
LATEST for PWS by Adriaan Alselma
www.piratewireservices.com/p/colombia-s...
Colombia suspends intelligence sharing with US over strikes on Caribbean boats
The move ends decades of cooperation on law-enforcement in the region
www.piratewireservices.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM
This is a huge break in long-established cooperation between the US and Colombia on intelligence related to drug trafficking.
I have plenty of critiques of that policy history, but it's wild how much Trump's unhinged belligerence in the Caribbean has shifted foreign policy norms in the Americas.
I have plenty of critiques of that policy history, but it's wild how much Trump's unhinged belligerence in the Caribbean has shifted foreign policy norms in the Americas.
It’s a real bummer that the collapse of insurance markets keeps getting covered as if it were the fault of individuals rather than logical outcome of an industry focused more on profit than protection. climateandcommunity.org/research/pro...
November 12, 2025 at 1:37 PM
It’s a real bummer that the collapse of insurance markets keeps getting covered as if it were the fault of individuals rather than logical outcome of an industry focused more on profit than protection. climateandcommunity.org/research/pro...
Tax the rich!
Kind of wild that while food assistance was withheld from millions of families, one Trump-supporting billionaire (Ellison) saw his net worth grow more this year than the entire SNAP budget. And the YTD gains of the other four richest men would’ve fully covered salaries for all 2M federal employees.
November 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Tax the rich!
Reposted by Moira Birss
Please remember that flawed human beings who have made mistakes deserve dignity too, an undocumented person with a criminal record still doesn’t deserve violence at the whim of the government.
Not everyone ICE is targeting is a perfect person and you shouldn’t fixate on that.
Not everyone ICE is targeting is a perfect person and you shouldn’t fixate on that.
November 12, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Please remember that flawed human beings who have made mistakes deserve dignity too, an undocumented person with a criminal record still doesn’t deserve violence at the whim of the government.
Not everyone ICE is targeting is a perfect person and you shouldn’t fixate on that.
Not everyone ICE is targeting is a perfect person and you shouldn’t fixate on that.
Resharing this as COP30 begins. With the US going in the wrong direction on climate & Europe dragging its feet, we desperately need climate leadership from Global South countries. But the hands of Global South countries are largely tied by today's IFA. That could -- and should -- change.
Transformative visions for green industrial policy in the Global South are, unfortunately, impossible without a redesign of today's international financial architecture (IFA). In a new @cplusc.bsky.social report with @laramerling.bsky.social, we explain... 1/4
climateandcommunity.org/research/gre...
climateandcommunity.org/research/gre...
November 11, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Resharing this as COP30 begins. With the US going in the wrong direction on climate & Europe dragging its feet, we desperately need climate leadership from Global South countries. But the hands of Global South countries are largely tied by today's IFA. That could -- and should -- change.
Reposted by Moira Birss
Are you a journalist covering COP30 looking for new and diverse sources?
Check out the Global South Climate Database.
This publicly available, searchable database features 1,000+ climate scientists and experts from the global south.
🌍🔗 bit.ly/GSClimateDatabase
Check out the Global South Climate Database.
This publicly available, searchable database features 1,000+ climate scientists and experts from the global south.
🌍🔗 bit.ly/GSClimateDatabase
November 11, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Are you a journalist covering COP30 looking for new and diverse sources?
Check out the Global South Climate Database.
This publicly available, searchable database features 1,000+ climate scientists and experts from the global south.
🌍🔗 bit.ly/GSClimateDatabase
Check out the Global South Climate Database.
This publicly available, searchable database features 1,000+ climate scientists and experts from the global south.
🌍🔗 bit.ly/GSClimateDatabase
Reposted by Moira Birss
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
November 10, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
Reposted by Moira Birss
And now, if you read the devastating piece about what Venezuelan deportees endured at the El Salvador torture prison, read what incarcerated U.S. citizens endure in Alabama prisons.
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
‘How is this possible?’: a new film looks inside the appalling abuses of the Alabama prison system
In the year’s most shocking documentary, The Alabama Solution, prisoners share astonishing footage in a plea for help
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:38 PM
And now, if you read the devastating piece about what Venezuelan deportees endured at the El Salvador torture prison, read what incarcerated U.S. citizens endure in Alabama prisons.
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Tax the rich
We should vote only for those who promise to make billionaires history.
We need a great levelling, through tax and redistribution.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We need a great levelling, through tax and redistribution.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I wish we could ignore Bill Gates on the climate crisis. But he’s a billionaire, so we can’t | George Monbiot
Money talks – and his essay denouncing ‘near-term emissions goals’ at Cop30 mostly argues the case for letting the ultra-rich off the hook
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Tax the rich
Reposted by Moira Birss
Two years ago, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration approached the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the original caretakers of the land, with an unheard of proposition: Would they like a piece of their land back?
19thnews.org/2025/11/cath...
19thnews.org/2025/11/cath...
For the first time, Catholic sisters return land to a Tribal nation
"This return represents more than the restoration of land — it is the restoration of balance, dignity, and our sacred connection to the places our ancestors once walked."
19thnews.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Two years ago, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration approached the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the original caretakers of the land, with an unheard of proposition: Would they like a piece of their land back?
19thnews.org/2025/11/cath...
19thnews.org/2025/11/cath...
Great piece. "Mamdani’s agenda treats affordability of essentials as democratic obligation, not market efficiency."
This approach also underpins the work at @cplusc.bsky.social, from the reimagining of home insurance that I've done, to @sevier.io's vision for public energy.
#PeopleOverProfits
This approach also underpins the work at @cplusc.bsky.social, from the reimagining of home insurance that I've done, to @sevier.io's vision for public energy.
#PeopleOverProfits
“My friends, the world is changing. It's not a question of whether that change will come. It's a question of who will change it.” @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
People are choosing real alternatives instead of continuity. Mamdani stands for an antifascist economics in the name of the many. 🧵
People are choosing real alternatives instead of continuity. Mamdani stands for an antifascist economics in the name of the many. 🧵
November 7, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Great piece. "Mamdani’s agenda treats affordability of essentials as democratic obligation, not market efficiency."
This approach also underpins the work at @cplusc.bsky.social, from the reimagining of home insurance that I've done, to @sevier.io's vision for public energy.
#PeopleOverProfits
This approach also underpins the work at @cplusc.bsky.social, from the reimagining of home insurance that I've done, to @sevier.io's vision for public energy.
#PeopleOverProfits
Reposted by Moira Birss
This a great piece by @ddayen.bsky.social. Anyone who is convinced by his argument will appreciate the in-depth look we took at @cplusc.bsky.social about the rules of the affordability crisis. Public power is the cure, and we are building the movement for it.
climateandcommunity.org/research/ove...
climateandcommunity.org/research/ove...
November 6, 2025 at 7:20 PM
This a great piece by @ddayen.bsky.social. Anyone who is convinced by his argument will appreciate the in-depth look we took at @cplusc.bsky.social about the rules of the affordability crisis. Public power is the cure, and we are building the movement for it.
climateandcommunity.org/research/ove...
climateandcommunity.org/research/ove...
It would be nice if — instead of complicated financial instruments with huge loopholes for fraud —we just directly addressed climate change.
Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted 31 suspects for fraud and land-grabbing in a massive criminal carbon credit scheme in the Amazon, according to Brazilian national media outlet Folha de S.Paulo.
It is the largest known criminal operation involving carbon credit fraud to date in the nation.
It is the largest known criminal operation involving carbon credit fraud to date in the nation.
Brazil charges 31 people in major carbon credit fraud investigation
Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted 31 suspects for fraud and land-grabbing in a massive criminal carbon credit scheme in the Brazilian Amazon, according to Brazilian national media outlet Folha de…
news.mongabay.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:57 PM
It would be nice if — instead of complicated financial instruments with huge loopholes for fraud —we just directly addressed climate change.
Welcome to wokelandia, OC
November 5, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Welcome to wokelandia, OC
Reposted by Moira Birss
I eyeballed it. Okay, turns out it's nearly *half* of Senators got fewer votes than Mamdani.
November 5, 2025 at 6:16 AM
I eyeballed it. Okay, turns out it's nearly *half* of Senators got fewer votes than Mamdani.
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to TAX THE RICH!!
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 4:22 AM
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to TAX THE RICH!!
Reposted by Moira Birss
@governor.ca.gov Governor Newsom, given the abject failure of GOP transphobia tonight to get them absolutely any success whatsoever with voters, will you be reconsidering your policy of throwing transgender Californians under the bus to further your political ambitions?
November 5, 2025 at 3:54 AM
@governor.ca.gov Governor Newsom, given the abject failure of GOP transphobia tonight to get them absolutely any success whatsoever with voters, will you be reconsidering your policy of throwing transgender Californians under the bus to further your political ambitions?
California coming in to round out the night of WINNING!!!!
November 5, 2025 at 4:02 AM
California coming in to round out the night of WINNING!!!!
Reposted by Moira Birss
The Biden administration worked hard to accomplish this new free IRS filing system. It’s astounding that one should have to pay fees in order to pay their taxes. But this rent seeking is entirely consistent with the economic policies of the current administration that benefit the most wealthy.
👀 Scoop: IRS Direct File, the free government-backed program that let you file your taxes for free, is dead.
IRS wrote to state tax agencies saying it would not be operational this coming tax season, per records I've obtained.
IRS Direct File: 2023-2025.
(Story from when the pilot launched.)
IRS wrote to state tax agencies saying it would not be operational this coming tax season, per records I've obtained.
IRS Direct File: 2023-2025.
(Story from when the pilot launched.)
IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax-prep giants
The tax agency has quietly built its own prototype system for filing tax returns digitally and free of charge, according to current and former officials.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:50 PM
The Biden administration worked hard to accomplish this new free IRS filing system. It’s astounding that one should have to pay fees in order to pay their taxes. But this rent seeking is entirely consistent with the economic policies of the current administration that benefit the most wealthy.
Reposted by Moira Birss
The people of Little Village showed the nation what courage looks like: standing unarmed, united, ＆ unafraid in the face of ICE’s tear gas ＆ violence. They protected their neighbors, not with weapons, but with peaceful ＆ fierce solidarity.
November 1, 2025 at 10:02 PM
The people of Little Village showed the nation what courage looks like: standing unarmed, united, ＆ unafraid in the face of ICE’s tear gas ＆ violence. They protected their neighbors, not with weapons, but with peaceful ＆ fierce solidarity.