This UFC event is accelerationist Christmas.

This event is tomorrow (Thu) morning, and you can still sign up to watch live! It will also be recorded. There has been a big uptick in wildfire activity in recent days, so this will be a timely opportunity to discuss bigger picture surrounding the "fire information landscape."

It’s that time of year again when Watch Duty becomes my top-used app.

Absolute Howard Jarvis galaxy brain slop that would further decimate California public schools and municipal budgets. I’m sure we will see it on the ballot. www.mercurynews.com/2026/02/20/a...

AI will force us to be more ambitious, more human storytellers. by @suze.bsky.social www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-w...

My Nieman Lab prediction is more a wish than fortune telling: more humanity in our news gathering and storytelling to push back against the AI that’s hoovering our traffic. www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-w...

The Trump administration has fired 57% of the judges at SF immigration court so far this year. Now the court is emptier and less likely to grant asylum than ever. The gutting, by the numbers, by Jesse Alejandro Cottrell. @sfstandard.com sfstandard.com/2025/12/04/s...

California has positioned itself as a beacon of hope post-Roe. But 1 in 3 hospital beds in the state is controlled by Catholic religious directives that deny life-saving maternal care in crisis. New from @anyaviolet.bsky.social: sfstandard.com/2025/11/20/c...

For the last few months, @anyaviolet.bsky.social has delved into SF's mishandling of domestic violence. Today's installment in the series is a heartbreaker. Family court dysfunction forced one father to become an expert in international child abduction. sfstandard.com/2025/11/09/s...

For the last few months, @anyaviolet.bsky.social has delved into SF's mishandling of domestic violence. Today's installment in the series is a heartbreaker. Family court dysfunction forced one father to become an expert in international child abduction. sfstandard.com/2025/11/09/s...

My husband dresses his music venue up every year for Halloween with a Spirit Halloween banner, but things are so grim for Bay Area bars in 2025 that some people think it’s actually a Spirit Halloween now

Incredible reporting by @sfstandard.com on the non-profit legal team representing people in SF's immigration courts. Their work to secure same-day release and avoid transfers to remote immigration jails via on-site intake and immediate habeas petitions is life-saving. sfstandard.com/2025/10/20/c...

Just before the judge arrives at immigration court, attorney Diana Mariscal prepares the dozen migrants for their hearings. She explains in Spanish that there’s a chance ICE will detain them today. But what comes next surprises them all. New longread from Jesse Alejandro Cottrell @sfstandard.com:

Another thing they don’t tell you is that Play Doh does not in fact come in dozens of colors. This is but the transient state of Play Doh before it matures into its true and only color: brown.

Something they don’t tell you about parenthood is how many different types of small batteries you will be forced to own. Sizes and styles you never would’ve dreamed of, each of them bespoke for just one toy, but only sold in packs of 144.

This post-disaster angle always perplexes me. We should do everything possible to support people after a community-destroying fire, but slow rebuilding isn’t necessarily failure. Where I’ve seen towns fast-track rebuilds, they’ve guaranteed the same future hazards. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it). But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

The U.S. relies on undocumented workers to clean up and rebuild after disasters but will not help when those undocumented people are the disaster victims. bsky.app/profile/zoes...

Read this gut punch by Hannah Dreier and you might better understand some of the genuine moral impulse behind a gold rush to fight fire with more tech and fewer people. But you still have to care for the people before the robots can do the job (assuming they ever can). bsky.app/profile/broo...

When people say "We used to drink raw milk from our own cow and it was fine," That's... usually not the case! In families w their own cow, the mom usually boiled it before using. We just forgot bc that's a boring chore that mom did. And who pays attention to that? youtu.be/vKDPast9WFk

“The more Mr. Jones screams at the judge, the more visitation time he gets.” In SF, 9 out of 10 domestic violence survivors represent themselves in court cases that drag out for twice as long as the state average. New from Anya Schulz: sfstandard.com/2025/08/28/s...

I've been wanting to draw immigration court in SF for years but could never get the assignment. Now I'm an editor so I could make the assignment. A heartbreaker from Jesse Alejandro Cottrell and Dan Bransfield. sfstandard.com/2025/08/11/a...

Baby’s got opsec

Journalist Anas al-Sharif with his daughter Sham and son Salah. Today's assassination of al-Sharif and four other Al Jazeera staff brings the number of journalists killed by Israel to 237. www.middleeasteye.net/news/al-jaze...

An entire team of journalists, outside a hospital in a tent for journalists, killed by Israel. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Prop 13 ground zero, Howard Jarvis' old house in L.A., available again after selling just last June but priced so high the sellers took it off the market in May, now for rent at $14,900: www.zillow.com/homedetails/...

"Ramon and Susana planned to wait things out, hoping the immigration raids would fizzle out. ‘But things just got more intense,’ Ramon says. ‘So we decided, no, let’s get out of here.’" New from Jesse Alejandro Cottrell, on the people hiding, and leaving, before ICE: sfstandard.com/2025/07/23/s...

There are wildfire scenarios that would see Berkeley’s narrow roads filled to capacity before all residents could evacuate. It’s why the city has suggested preemptive evacuation in past fire weather. Walking is a bad idea imho but there aren’t many good ideas to be had here. bsky.app/profile/rebe...

The internet reminded me that I drew this ten years ago. Now everyone seems even more certain that the robots are taking our jobs imminently, but UBI seems further away than ever.

hard to predict the vibes tomorrow, but historically the instigators most likely to disrupt a protest with violence are the police

Come work at @freedom.press, and help us keep journalists and whistleblowers safe! We have an important job opening for the manager of our SecureDrop team. Apply in the next week, and reach out if you have questions:

Me, weakly, pleading, cold and near death on the hill: “No more ‘clashes’ in headlines”

Polite request to please credit the photographers whose L.A. photos you’re sharing. They’re out there risking getting their shins exploded by police munitions to get those shots.

in so many videos out of LA i am seeing officers aiming rubber bullets right into crowds, this is filling me with a deep and anxious rage knowing what happens when they do that www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...

This has been the fear since January. Disaster as a gentrifying force. bsky.app/profile/liam...

Restoring relationships among people and between people and fire: “The idea that there is a wilderness that existed on this continent is based wholly on racism and the ideals of white supremacy… partnerships and holistic management are keys to restoring any ecosystem.” Frankie Myers

Boom times for fresh death cults. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

Did not notice that my 4 year old had snuck out of his room after bedtime until he'd watched ten minutes of season 2 episode 3 of The Rehearsal and suddenly emerged from behind the couch to softly declare, "I do not like this podcast."

My galaxy-brain take on risk maps is that they do more to create a false sense of safety for those outside of labeled hazard zones than they do to promote risk-reduction within those zones. We don't need more maps, we need policies that socialize risk awareness everywhere. bsky.app/profile/opb....

If you haven’t already heard my “AI is a hand, not a brain” mantra (and also if you have!) you can read about it here as part of this thoughtful package of perspectives on our near and present future.

At a certain point, the population with climate trauma will be larger than the group with simple climate anxiety. In California in particular that day feels closer all the time.

I told someone just a couple weeks ago that New Jersey was due for large wildfires and they looked at me like I had three heads. bsky.app/profile/nyti...

THE END OF THE WEST has won the Lukas Work-in-Progress book award. Totally thrilling and slightly anti-climactic, because you can't read it yet. But here's what the judges think. journalism.columbia.edu/news/lukas-p...

tfw the state finally unseals the records you requested in 2023.

Honored that THE END OF THE WEST made it to the Lukas Work in Progress shortlist along with these other heavy hitters.

Really looking forward to this conversation with @awalkerinla.bsky.social. Disaster gentrification and insurance; zone zero and vulcan vents; rebuilding and retreating; community design and shelter in place; fire and the future of California — tomorrow at 1pm. www.torched.la/torched-talk...

#journalismjobs here. My DMs are open for questions.

📣Hey journalists who want to cover the 3400 federal employees who just got fired📣 I’m developing a list of folks who were fired and who are down for interviews, primarily trails, river rangers and some folks who did collateral fire duties as needed (as of right now). DM me if you need sources!

My team at @sfstandard is growing! Enterprise reporter: jobs.sfstandard.com/p/e932c2f2a8... Data graphics reporter: jobs.sfstandard.com/p/0afdb55de1... Please share, and reach out with any questions.