I post this not as a recrimination, but a warning: A place with a history of sudden flash floods could’ve installed a warning system, and chose not to. Whatever the cost of disaster planning and warning systems, it’s always cheaper than the disasters. Gift article.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/u...

This is what it looks like when institutions start caving to authoritarian regimes. If you went to Penn, you should make sure the president’s office hears from you: 215-898-7221. Then, send an email: president@upenn.edu.

Shameful

There's been lots of chatter, much of it uninformed, regarding the tornado warnings issued by NWS Jackson, KY Friday. The 2 sig tornadoes had lead times of 28 and 40 minutes respectively, pretty damn good for being short staffed, to their credit. Radar at issuance time. 1/2

NYT: One estimate finds that DOGE’s “firings, re-hirings, lost productivity and paid leave of thousands of workers” will actually COST taxpayers “upward of $135 billion this fiscal year.”

@nytimes.com 🤡
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/u...

68,845,865.

That's how many individuals in the United States speak a language other than English at home.

Everyone deserves a chance to stay safe during disasters, and I will never stop advocating for that. Thinking of all the communities that are going to be affected by this change.

Two more radiosonde sites down for the foreseeable future, and in critical areas we need them at SPC 😑😔.

I have covered presidential politics for 40 years. This was the most juvenile display by a President and Vice President I have ever seen. Other presidents treated their enemies with more respect. This is a low point and a dark day for the US. Totally embarrassing.

In recent decades everyone has been real proud of how we’ve been able to lower disaster death tolls.

At this rate, those days are over.

Elon Musk and his 19-year-olds have now disrupted the approval of medical devices that save lives.

Every member of Congress bears a responsibility to stop this right now.

A bunch of military spouses were probationary federal employees and have just been laid off by the deranged Trump/Musk effort to gut the U.S. government.

edition.cnn.com/2025/02/20/p...

‼️The US-based @ipcc.bsky.social technical support unit (TSU) for Working Group 3 Co-Chairs has been terminated, and the US won’t be attending next week’s IPCC meeting where the AR7 chapter outlines will be approved.

More by @afreedma.bsky.social here:

How many federal workers would DOGE need to fire to make up for Musk not paying his fair share of taxes?

Answer: 677,000. That's 44% of the entire non-DoD federal workforce.

Again, this power grab is not about the budget. It’s about politics.

A number of post-docs and other early career scientists working for the government on environment and health were summarily laid off today. Some given 30 minute notice to leave. This saves little money and devastates lives while making our communities less healthy. Cruel and wanton destruction.

That “HE GETS US” ad is funded by an extreme right wing org. Using Johnny Cash’s cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” - a scathing critique of right-wing televangelists preying on the unwary - is a spectacular self-own.

Why would the world's richest man want to shut down a consumer protection service that investigates and takes action on claims against his company like these? www.consumerfinance.gov/data-researc...

USAID.gov is down. Why is this concerning? Trump has no legal authority to eliminate a congressionally funded independent agency. The work of USAID is vital, and if this can happen to them, it can happen to any of us.

One impact of the NSF freeze: They fund the small nonprofit, EarthScope, that manages seismic and GPS stations used worldwide to detect and warn of earthquakes and navigate autonomous vehicles.

EarthScope can maybe make payroll this week. A prolonged freeze could see stations fail.