Emerging Crises
@emergingcrises
Pro-democracy. Covering disasters, public health, extremism, and the institutions meant to protect us. Tracking how politics, misinformation, and attacks on science are dismantling preparedness. 🔗:
Dismissing public resistance to outbreak containment as mere ignorance misses the mark entirely. As Sheri Fink notes, "unrest during epidemics is not about Ebola, Africa or education." It is a systemic issue societies have struggled with for centuries across the globe. 1/2
The math speaks for itself: in the 250 years since America’s founding, all of the nation’s wars combined have claimed just over 1.3 million lives. "From 2020 to 2026, Covid-19 took over 1.2 million." Despite those numbers, the government is currently dismantling our defenses...
Nearly 7,000 cases across 34 states and we still can't name the food. Michigan may not be the epicenter it could be "leading the tallies not because it is worst hit, but because it kept interviewing patients after other states had moved on." www.statnews.com/2026/07/15/w...
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about the cyclospora outbreak causing severe diarrhea across 31 states. 3,000+ cases in Michigan and Ohio alone. Critics have blamed cuts to a CDC foodborne illness tracking program. They're not wrong, but they're missing the bigger picture. 1/2
Insane report out on how DHS "diverted [FEMA] resources to support immigration enforcement and the consequences for America’s disaster readiness”. I first learned about it from Dr. @samlmontano.bsky.social's latest newsletter so definitely check that out. Link as a reply. 🧵
"Although they were on their best behavior [last] weekend, this is a dangerous group that commits acts of violence all over the country." More reporting on Patriot Front, from @npr.org
Dismissing Patriot Front because they looked ridiculous struggling with DC Metro turnstiles is a dangerous mistake. On July 4th, they pulled off their largest white nationalist gathering yet, right under the nose of federal law enforcement. 🧵
Since January 2025, federal immigration agents have opened fire on at least 21 people during the deportation crackdown, killing five, including three U.S. citizens. Most of these incidents involved officers firing directly into moving vehicles.🧵
Over the July 4th weekend, at least 52 people were shot and 5 killed in gunfire spanning 9 states. At the same time, the Trump administration is moving forward with a massive plan to scrap over three dozen federal gun regulations. 🧵
Less than 24 hours after RFK Jr. became secretary, he forced the CDC to pull all flu vaccine ad campaigns. It was February 14, 2025. Flu had already killed 68 children that week. Internal emails obtained by the @nytimes.com show the politicization of our public health🧵
"They've brought the fox into the henhouse." The anti-democracy rot at DHS is so bad that local election officials are refusing to share data with the feds. Trump's DHS head voted against certifying 2020 and pushed Venezuelan conspiracies. Not to mention CISA being gutted... 1/2
This clash between @whitehouse-47.bsky.social + @anthropic.com is simply delaying or masking a hard truth. This is the tip of the spear. AI capabilities in general and models from multiple developers will almost certainly have similar capabilities to Mythos in the near future if they don't already.
The US refugee program prioritizes white South Africans. The State Dept. advocates for "remigration." Vance and others defend white nationalist parties and blood and soil nationalism. The Great Replacement theory has moved beyond rhetoric to official policy. 1/2
Public safety threats to elections: Being an election worker in the United States shouldn't look like this. 89% of election administrators plan to coordinate with law enforcement before the midterms. 32% have already faced threats, harassment, or abuse...🧵
2️⃣The strongest predictor of believing measles vaccines do more harm than good: consuming Breitbart and Gateway Pundit combined with getting health information from influencers and YouTube rather than physicians. More predictive than partisanship or MAHA affiliation...
A recent Johns Hopkins study surveyed 3,000 Americans on media habits and MMR vaccine hesitancy. The findings are more nuanced than the headline suggests.🧵
The major AI companies' CEOs asked Congress to mandate screening of synthetic DNA orders to prevent bioweapons development via AI. The same companies racing full speed ahead without guardrails, on the technology that's eroding the knowledge barriers that once kept bioweapons out of reach. 🧵
The editor of Science calls it a potential "mortal blow." A former NIH official is blunter: "What OMB is proposing is not a reform of grants management. It is a complete political control apparatus layered over every stage of the federal science funding lifecycle..."
Public radio is getting gutted. Congress stripped $1.1 billion, @npr.org has cut its newsroom twice in 3 years. Despite that, they recently released one of the most 'Emerging Crises coded' shows I've seen. "Are We Doomed?" covers nukes, pandemics, rogue AI, autocracy, supervolcanoes. Worth a listen.
Most Pope Leo AI coverage is focused on what technology can't replace about humanity. Worth discussing for sure. But the document also talks about the democracy element and most articles are missing that... 1/2
Yesterday, Pope Leo warned that AI is blurring the line between truth and falsehood. Researchers call it Truth Decay. AI, cyberattacks on elections, and domestic surveillance are impacting our democratic agency. The systems being built depend on your exhaustion and silence. Don't give them either.
More reporting on the dysfunction of this administration: www.cnn.com/2026/05/25/p...
Two simultaneous outbreaks. A hollowed out CDC. A public that doesn't trust what it's being told. And an administration that dismantled the infrastructure built specifically for moments like this.🧵
75% of the 100,000+ children separated from parents during Trump's deportation push are US citizens. That's more than 20 times the scale of the 2018 "zero tolerance" crisis. DHS says 60,000. Brookings says at least 145,000. "This is my American child being harmed."
"Electricity is perhaps the most underrated issue of our time." Great breakdown of our aging grid. AI data centers are exposing a system that foundationally wasn't ready for surging demand.
The anti-science COVID culture war continues. A 78-year-old retired scientist had his door pounded down by armed agents in bulletproof vests over email violations. Weird... Epstein's clients don't seem to get this treatment. Neither do the people who beat cops on January 6.
AI and biotechnology are the definition of dual-use. The same tools accelerating drug discovery and fighting antibiotic resistance can walk someone through assembling a pathogen. Do I trust Congress to navigate that balance? No. States are going to have to lead, like they have on everything else.🧵
"They've turned what was previously the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Division into a weapon against voters." 30 attorneys in the DOJ Voting Section on inauguration day. Three months later, all but two were gone. Yesterday the Supreme Court gutted the VRA...
Good piece to read before drawing too many conclusions about where we are. A Dartmouth professor who tracks political violence puts it plainly: "It's absolutely terrifying how miscalibrated Americans are." 73% of Americans say political violence is a bigger threat than a future pandemic...