Sashi Sabaratnam

Living at the intersection of policy, research, & practice in wildfire mitigation. Former mayor of Mill Valley. Opinions my own & not reflective of my employer.

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

I was mayor of Mill Valley in 2020, and that experience led me to sign the resolution. At the time, I also signed onto the Great Barrington Declaration. The powers of the public health officer enshrined in the California Health and Safety Code are shockingly broad, as I noted in a paper I wrote in 2022 excerpted below.

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

Six years ago today.

[Libertarian Party @LPNational]

Kill the kill switch.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

14 yo asked how to prove the Pythagorean theorem so I drew him this.

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

We're saving science from ideological capture!

I am thrilled to announce a first-of-its-kind article type called “Peer Review” in the journal Theory and Society.

The journal's editor-in-chief, Kevin McCaffree, and I have been working on this for a while, and it was finally approved by @SpringerNature.

The idea is simple: publication should be the beginning of academic scrutiny, not the end of it.

A Peer Review article can critique a paper from any scholarly journal. It can address problems with methods, evidence, logic, definitions, theory, or interpretation. But it has to focus on the claims and arguments, not personal attacks.

Submissions are capped at 2,500 words and go through a straightforward merit review instead of endless gatekeeping and ideological screening. We ask just one basic question: Is this critique coherent, serious, reasonable, or even popular enough to deserve scholarly attention?

If yes, it gets published.

And the authors of the original paper get a built-in right of reply, so readers can see the critique and the response in a legitimate academic venue.

That’s how science is supposed to work!

Science becomes self-correcting only when real people build the mechanisms that allow correction to happen.

That’s what we’ve done.

Now it’s time for academics to use it.
🔗https://t.co/gqkDE79CO4

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

@emzanotti Congratulations!!

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

@JoanneMason11 So glad to hear it! ❤️🙏

[Bjorn Lomborg @BjornLomborg]

There is no energy transition

We simply use more and more of everything

— fossil fuels, nuclear, renewables, solar and wind

"Rather than replacing fossil fuels, renewables are adding to the overall energy mix"
Energy Institute Statistical Review 2025

https://t.co/wPS0Qt5UGE
https://t.co/FJdmpt7SvK

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

Also not acceptable to make life decisions for those you think are lower IQ than you. @bryan_caplan makes a strong argument that intelligence does not correlate with morality.
https://t.co/E1xKHo4E8r

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

Two women in their 50s beating each other up!

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

First blue belt tournament on the books! I'm grateful to have had a competitor in my age division who let me talk her into a round 2 in open weight. Lost twice, learned a ton. I love this sport! #graciebarra #jiujitsuforeveryone

[Bjorn Lomborg @BjornLomborg]

Climate sanity, finally

The extreme climate scenario that gave huge, scary, and unrealistic results (RCP8.5)

is officially dead

https://t.co/p9UvOs479s

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

@countyhwy Ventura Highway

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

Federal law says new cars after 2026 must monitor drivers and shut down if the car disapproves. Your dashboard should not be judge, jury, and executioner.

@RepScottPerry @RepChipRoy offered an amendment to defund the automobile kill switch mandate. Here’s our debate:

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

The Fourth Amendment isn't optional. If the government wants to read your messages, search your data, or spy on you, they need a warrant. Period.

My Fourth Amendment Restoration and Protection Act ends warrantless surveillance of Americans.

[Walter Kirn @walterkirn]

What is there to prevent your spoken words being picked up by your devices (the way they often are before they feed back targeted ads to you) but instead of ads your words trigger social media posts that seem to have read your mind in some way?

Nothing. Nothing prevents that.

[Walter Kirn @walterkirn]

There will come a moment in this drama when your deepest prejudices and suspicions are confirmed.

Put that moment inside a glass bubble and hold it at arm's length. Turn it to one side, then the other. Examine it as a kind of alien artifact.

Do not identify with it.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

This metaphor of when you try to help someone who doesn’t want to change.

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

@AAGDhillon @X Great shoes!

[Sashi Sabaratnam @Sashi]

@walterkirn "It is not really murder or theft if there are no real humans on the other side, is it?"

[Senator Rand Paul @SenRandPaul]

Section 702 of FISA, along with its predecessor programs, forms the most expansive unconstitutional mass surveillance system in American history.