Dr. Katharine Dickson
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metaomicsnerd.bsky.social
Dr. Katharine Dickson
@metaomicsnerd.bsky.social
Microbiome & biomethane scientist by training; climate, ag, science, & biotech policy and politics wonk by calling. I 分かる some 日本語.

Bluesky’s first Anaerobic Fungi Guru.

Opinions my own. She/her/私 (わたし). 🇺🇸. ☸️ (Jōdo Shinshū).
I rarely buy dairy but when I do I usually have a reason.

Yesterday's was buying McConnell's PSL ice cream - a little taste of Santa Barbara's own.
January 17, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Besides the political disaster, mineral development timelines are like 10-30 years in the future. It's not just politically and morally incompetent, it's logistically and economically unsound.
Trump escalating on NATO allies till they "give" him Greenland!? I know we're all numb to Trump's megalomaniacal bluster... but THIS IS F-ING CRAZY.

Putin puppet, Putin patsy or just #MadKing... who knows? But WTF are Dems doing to get this scandal non-stop coverage before it's too late? 🎁🔗
Trump Announces 10 Percent Tariff on European Countries in Standoff Over Greenland
www.nytimes.com
January 17, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
Wow, sure would be pretty crazy if a ton of experts in the artificial intelligence field relentlessly warned everyone about this state of affairs being inevitable over and over for years.
January 17, 2026 at 11:38 AM
don’t work for a company with a Tolkien name, work for a company like oh I don’t know Tar Valon or something
🤔 In 2021, Kip Mock of Moscow ID accidentally set his pal, Elijah Froh, on fire by pouring diesel on a fire. Mock & Froh were later were hired by Valar Atomics—founded by their pal, Isaiah Taylor, a high school dropout from Moscow, ID who somehow landed a DOE contract to build a nuclear reactor. 1/
January 17, 2026 at 3:10 AM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
For @msnownews.bsky.social, I wrote an article about how ICE Watch is grounded in sociological theories of violence prevention.

The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
Opinion | I'm a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here's how ICE observers are helping.
Research into how violence occurs shows that disapproval from the people around you can help reduce it.
www.ms.now
January 16, 2026 at 6:55 PM
can vouch for these lemons personally
January 16, 2026 at 11:55 PM
nonprofit is having me go along as a technical advisor to a meeting with the CARB chair

I am excited, but also ‼️ the STAKES! ‼️
January 16, 2026 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
Godzilla has been progressively displaced eastwards with the movement of the Japan-Philippines-Pacific triple junction.

As little as 17 million years ago, Godzilla was found only in southern Shikoku and northeastern most Kyushu. By 12 million years ago, Godzilla arrived at the Izu Peninsula.
my theory: Godzilla lives in the Nankai Trough and seismic activity makes him tetchy
January 16, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
He had a long layover in Narita Airport and JAL lost his luggage
January 16, 2026 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
Got humiliated as a young lizard on Takeshi’s Castle
I want to know the in-universe reason Godzilla hates Tokyo in particular.
January 16, 2026 at 9:52 PM
I want to know the in-universe reason Godzilla hates Tokyo in particular.
January 16, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
The total NSF budget was 9 billion. I doubt they spend 89% of it on quail.
January 15, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
Pritzker: The Insurrection Act is designed for circumstances where your rights can’t be protected by local authorities

This is exactly the opposite.

Your civil rights are being infringed upon by CBP and ICE, and then they want to call in troops claiming that they’re protecting CBP and ICE.
January 15, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
"Talking straight here, the big problem in this case is that the cabinet secretaries and, ostensibly, the president of the United States are not honoring the First Amendment,” Judge William G. Young said.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...
Judge Proposes Restricting Deportation of Scores of Noncitizen Academics
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 11:58 PM
speaking as a Californian: how, exactly, does he think he's just going to scale up from Minneapolis to metropolises counting among the largest and most economically critical ones on the planet?
January 15, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
A few months ago, ICE hired me

I didn't sign and submit any paperwork. I almost certainly failed the drug test. I'm real outspoken about my opposition to the Trump administration, and I am extremely googlable

And yet, there it was, in plain English. "Welcome to ICE!"

My latest for Slate
You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof.
What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We're all finding out.
slate.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
Koh: Trump has now spent $30 billion from the last bill for 10,000 more I.C.E. Agents that are going to be on the streets. That $30 billion would cover all the ACA subsidies for a year. It would eliminate all co-pays for prescription drugs for people from a year, and eliminate all medical debt.
January 15, 2026 at 3:08 AM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
ICE agents love to wave around paper that looks official. Most of it is a scam — administrative forms signed by ICE supervisors, not real judicial warrants signed by judges. Let's go through what that scam paper looks like versus a real judicial warrant.
How to Legally Protect People in Your Home from ICE | Shouldn't Need to Be a Lawyer by Matthew Cortland
Get more from Shouldn't Need to Be a Lawyer by Matthew Cortland on Patreon
www.patreon.com
January 15, 2026 at 6:05 AM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
I am calling for a complete and total boycott of the Mercator projection in all news stories about Greenland until every member of the American public has seen this
January 13, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
This is a direct violation of the Tenth Amendment and State Sovereignty.

Conditioning federal funds on states surrendering their constitutional authority is not “law and order.” It’s coercion—and the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled it unconstitutional.
January 14, 2026 at 11:48 PM
One of the things I have learned about job searching as a PhD is that academia has trained all of us to read job descriptions literally

... and that that is apparently a problem that causes us to self-reject from jobs frequently.
January 15, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Dr. Katharine Dickson
We’ve reached the “demanding lists of Jews” stage of this administration. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
UPenn faculty condemn Trump administration’s demand for ‘lists of Jews’
Groups say EEOC demand for names and personal details echoes dark history and threatens safety and civil rights
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 4:19 AM