It’s worth noting that Taco Bell identified the source before the FDA did, and promptly pulled it from their stores. The FDA didn’t even name the source until Taylor Farms outed themselves, and hasn’t issued a recall. Basically, Taco Bell is now a more reliable authority than the FDA.

Meanwhile Congress is about to confirm a ~completely unqualified~ far right dude to be the FEMA administrator.

Disaster fascism

Today in NYC we have to watch out for: Wildfire smoke Extreme heat Diarrhea causing parasites in food Legionella bacteria in pipes Instead of needing to be hyperaware of every new infectious disease outbreak, would be nice if there was some national agency that worked to prevent diseases… oh wait

I want to keep pointing out something: The Trump Administration is putting forth people like Markwayne Mullin and Cameron Hamilton as the people in charge of disasters because they don't actually want to fix this, or help, they just want more state sanctioned violence and militarism.

I keep seeing Maine politicians saying they want Maine law enforcement to investigate because Mainers trust Maine law enforcement and ??? No ??? Actually we don’t ??? www.pressherald.com/2026/07/16/i...

Was just driving through Biddeford on my way home from the grocery store and it started raining and I thought “this will wash the blood off the street”. Truly fuck these evil evil people.

I am not a climate scientist but when I was a kid the number of times we couldn’t go outside because of Canadian wildfire smoke was zero times

Having a day where I am completely exhausted by emergency management and disaster research. We are so far from where we should be — where we need to be.

The news should be covering ICE like a serial killer on the loose

PabloReports: What do you think of DHS suspending vehicular stops? AOC: A lot of the stuff they’re doing, they shouldn’t be doing in the first place. They should be facing consequences for killing innocent people in the streets, and they’re just trying to escape those consequences.

“Your horror has been stolen from you” is a 10/10 sentence.

Biddeford Maine today - fatal ICE shooting "THIS IS BLOOD" www.pressherald.com/2026/07/13/s...

You: using AI to write Me: disappearing for a week to the westfjords in Iceland to hand write a draft of my next book while listening to Fergalicious on repeat. We are definitely not the same.

“I tried to stop”

A report on the ground from the ICE shooting in Biddeford that should make every parent in this country lose their minds:

Reminder there is no evidence that any initial statements by ICE or DHS should be trusted — and reporters should state that in all coverage and stories. Every ICE shooting we’ve seen the agency lie about the circumstances.

👏👏👏

How about when he threw an angry tantrum in defense of a SCOTUS nominee credibly accused of rape? Did you all have a good collegial chuckle over that?

Oh. A little plot twist.

This piece in NY Magazine from Rebecca Traister (who lives in Maine and actually went to campaign events, etc.) is what you should read about Platner. "In our political system, women are too often forced to depend on men. And those men often catastrophically fail us." archive.ph/0X3ni#select...

If we are sending a Maine celebrity to Congress it's going to be Anna Kendrick. End of discussion. www.pressherald.com/2026/07/08/w...

My requirements for who should replace Platner (as a Maine voter): 1. Has a pulse and is statistically likely to continue to have a pulse through their full term. 2. Is not an accused rapist. 3. Supports trans rights. 4. Can fight. That’s it. That’s all I want.

My feeling on this has always been that if men don’t want us making decisions based off credible accusations then they should reform the justice system.

Recommend following her TikToks from the journey!

Wes has very kindly agreed to take on my media requests while I’m on sabbatical and I’m 100% sure this is the right choice.

Wildfire in southwestern France - not a new phenomenon, but not a welcome one either. Here's one of several fire paintings by Etienne Mondineu (ca. 1901).

For months I’ve been keeping it together by counting down the days of my trip back to the Westfjords (my second favorite place). It worked! I made it! I am here! It is perfect! I am totally fine. All problems are solvable. Touching grass works!

Cheer up, USA. One of your soccer teams has won 4 World Cups.

The only thing I am shocked by is that it took 10 months.

One thing that would make emergency management more effective is if only eldest daughters were allowed to be agency directors.

Saw someone say the Men's World Cup is just Love Island for boys and I get it now.

As an introvert and growing misanthrope, however, I find AI use a really useful way to assess who to take seriously and who I can tune out

Boston breaks record-high temperature from 63 years ago as heat wave peaks

Egging on a blackout in a heat wave. Conservatism is a death cult, as they say.

Also… I got tenure! I’d have posted about it sooner but our school doesn’t send out tenure letters? The board of trustees voted a few weeks ago and I’ve just been assuming they voted positively. I finally emailed someone this week. The reply: “we’ve never sent letters, that’s a good idea”. Hello? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Sorry if this is a silly question but do you not put tenure on your CV? I googled it and it seems like you don’t? Surely that is worthy of note?

This is good! "The transition establishes Tennessee’s emergency management function as a standalone cabinet-level department" www.tn.gov/tema/news/20...

The coffee shop I’m in just lost power and now there’s a cafe-wide discussion about heatwaves that is only about 50% accurate. I should intervene but I’m on sabbatical and therefore off the clock.

I generally think a good way to react to someone’s rights being taken away is the way you’d react if it was yours. Not to co-opt the struggle or take the spotlight from the people being marginalized, but just to set the level of how pissed you should be.

😡😡

This is absolutely cursed.

Day 1 of sabbatical -- didn't leave the house, nearly catatonic. Day 2 of sabbatical -- hours and hours of life errands to run.

Dr. @samlmontano.bsky.social Dispatches is a great handbook, period. Well written, it places you on her shoes as she tries to make sense of contemporary disasters, it might trigger some PTSD, but it is totally worth it. it oddly helped me close some issues i had with Katrina.

Last morning at the coffee shop in New Orleans where a woman paid a man for some work he did at her house with a sword. The other men have now gathered around to discuss the sword.

This tells us that the White House’s stance is still that FEMA should be eliminated.

And #KevinGuthrie defended his and #FDEM ‘s role in planning for, opening, and maintaining this #ConcentrationCamp, where cruelties were carried out against *human beings*. It is, was, and always will be UNCONSCIONABLE. www.cbsnews.com/news/alligat...

The Everglades Concentration Camp (Alligator Alcatraz) has allegedly been shutdown. I will never ever let anyone forget that Kevin Guthrie used Florida’s emergency management agency to build and operate it. open.substack.com/pub/disaster...

Have the people who just respond with “bikes” as a solution to everything ever been to 90% of the United States?

The next closest option open at that time with free parking would have been Starbucks. So, maybe not the best argument… ???