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Dr. Samantha Montano

@samlmontano.bsky.social

29K followers 1.9K following 2.5K posts

Working on disaster justice & the climate crisis. Emergency Management PhD. Author of 📚DISASTEROLOGY 📚 she/her

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · Oct 30

Some other places to find my work if you are so inclined:

Book: www.disaster-ology.com
Instagram: @samlmontano
Substack: disasterology.substack.com
TikTok: @samlmontano

Buffy screenshot "if the apocalypse comes, beep me"

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Reposted by Dr. Samantha Montano

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 12h

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 14h

it's only racial profiling if it comes from the racial profiling region of france. otherwise it's sparkling reasonable suspicion.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14h

McLaughlin: "Pritzker said there's racial profiling, which is absolutely false. Our officials use reasonable suspicion. That's protected under the US Constitution 4th Amendment."

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Reposted by Dr. Samantha Montano

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 18h

CHICAGO — Outside an elementary school during dismissal… horrifying. What have we become?

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

“A second inflatable frog has now been spotted wiggling through Portland.”

Marco Rubio whispers into Donald Trump's ear.

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Melissa Hung @melissahung.bsky.social · 1d

Someone came and rescued my parents as their neighborhood was flooding during Hurricane Harvey.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 2d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Reposted by Dr. Samantha Montano

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1d

Portland is ... right there. It's a real place. People live in it. People can go look at it. You could call someone there right now.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "I don't know what could be worse than Portland. You don't even have stores anymore. They don't even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows."

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 1d

Jesus Christ.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly "carrying drugs," the US Attorney General says "Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa."

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 1d

@wesinjapan.bsky.social

Reposted by Dr. Samantha Montano

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 2d

Does the news reflect what we die from?

The image presents a comparison of the leading causes of death in the United States for 2023 and the media coverage these causes receive from three news outlets: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News.

In the footer, it notes the data sources, indicating that the information is based on media mentions from Media Cloud (2025) and death data from the US CDC (2025) and the Global Terrorism Index, with a clarification that values are normalized to sum to 100%.

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Reposted by Dr. Samantha Montano

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Should elected officials be imprisoned for speaking out against an invasion of their cities? Hard to say. Very technical question. Really one for the lawyers to sort out.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Q: Do you agree that the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois should be in prison?

MIKE JOHNSON: Should they be in prison? I'm not the attorney general. I'm not following the day to day on that

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PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 1d

“The sense of desperation and also the lack of hope for this population was palpable. One old gentleman in tears said to me, ‘If WFP doesn’t feed us, and the authorities won’t support us, then please drop a bomb on us — because we can’t continue in this way.’”

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Reposted by Dr. Samantha Montano

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 2d

Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d

This made me laugh so hard. Second screenshot is of the video posted by Benny Johnson of the event.

Benny Johnson « @bennyjohnson
X.com
BREAKING: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stares down army of Antifa and a guy in a chicken suit from the rooftop of the ICE facility here in Portland.
Noem says:
"Hey; Guy in the chicken suit. You can do better.
Too bad they are uneducated and ill-informed."
Noem isn't chicken: [chicken emoji]

A view from the roof of the building. There are about 15-20 people visible in total, several of whom appear to be reporters. Most are holding signs. They aren’t even taking up the whole sidewalk. One guy is wearing a chicken suit.

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Reposted by Dr. Samantha Montano

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”

@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 2d

Incredible (via www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...)

A group of apparent armed agents assemble at the end of a street, as seen from the perspective of a person in inflatable frog costume, their frog’s eyes dominating the foreground. The Ice facility in downtown Portland on Monday. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP/Getty Images

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Zoë “Baddie Proctor” Quinn @unburntwitch.com · 2d

someone call the etsy witches this is a fucking emergency

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 2d

Dolly Parton's sister is asking fans to "pray with me" amid the country music icon's health issues

Dolly Parton’s Sister Says ‘I Was Up All Night Praying’ Amid Country Icon’s Health Issues and Asks Fans to ‘Pray With Me’

Dolly Parton's sister Frieda is asking fans of the Queen of Country to "pray with me" amid Dolly's continued health struggles.

variety.com

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Clare Fieseler, PhD @fieseler.bsky.social · 2d

Not sure people realize how INSANELY DRAINING data centers will be on our planet.

If you imagine data centers as their own country, they'll rank fourth in global electricity use by 2035 — outranked only by China, India, and the U.S.

Read this in @bloomberg.com👇

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Dr. Samantha Montano

Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 3d

Greta--always a hero, and always eager to get the focus where it belongs
www.teenvogue.com/story/greta-...

Greta Thunberg On Her Detention: I'm "Not The Story" — It's Israel Violating International Humanitarian Law

“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me. But that is not the story.”

www.teenvogue.com

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 3d

Did not do any of the work on my to-do list today, but I did start a completely new project unexpectedly that I absolutely do not have time for, and no one asked for! Cheers!

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks, I hate it.

"...the entire state of Maine was at an elevated risk of fire danger on Monday."

www.newsweek.com/wildfire-ris...

Warning issued as entire state faces wildfire risk

National Weather Service meteorologists have issued warnings for Maine amid dry, windy weather.

www.newsweek.com

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 3d

If I were a journalist one thing I would be asking is where they are going to get the money for this in the future because by my calculation they just gave all the funding to Florida.

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 3d

Finally, I continue to absolutely beg journalists to pay attention to how Guthrie and FDEM have positioned themselves as the implementer of DeSantis’ immigration agenda in Florida if only because it is quite likely to be replicated nationally.

disasterology.substack.com/p/disasterol...

Disasterology: September 2025

This newsletter is a compilation of recent disaster ~things~ that I think are cool, important, or otherwise of interest to people who are intrigued with disaster (broadly defined).

disasterology.substack.com

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 3d

Further I believe the use of that grant money to build concentration camps is illegal if only because disappearing people and holding people without due process is illegal. That’s what’s happening here.

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 3d

Both the federal and state government have been less than forthcoming about this funding at various points for some pretty obvious legal reasons which I noted over a month ago.

Entwined with the political is the financial. As one democratic lawmaker said, this is “Gator Grift”. I assume you already understand this part because you have had almost 20 years to read “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” but let’s take a moment to follow the money.

It turns out building a concentration camp in the middle of the wetlands is expensive -- even with the money you save on security. DHS estimates one year of camp operation will cost $450 million. That’s more than the entire country’s EMPG funding. At last count, $245 million has been spent. There seems to be a question of eligibility over whether the camp is temporary or permanent. There are also differing legal implications if this is a federally funded camp vs. a state funded camp. So which is it?

There have been conflicting reports about who is funding -- and who will ultimately fund -- the camp. Some reporting has said FDEM is funding the camp. In documents reviewed by TPM, FDEM was listed as the purchaser on all camp contracts so they certainly are the ones spending the money. The money itself (as best as I can tell) though, does not come from FDEM’s budget but rather from a $500 million a year emergency fund (with very little oversight) that the state legislature gave to DeSantis to fund his immigration stunts, etc. (Florida also has a $15 billion rainy day fund to keep an eye on.)

At various points, both federal and state officials have said that FEMA will reimburse Florida for at least some of the expenses related to the camp. At times, it has been reported that this will be done through a Shelter and Services Grant. (You’ll remember this program from Helene last year and NYC this year. You know, the immigration funding that Republicans found to be an affront to the American taxpayer? Uh-huh. This damn program has become the bane of my existence.) Specifically, Noem told reporters in June that the Shelter and Services Grant program would largely fund the camp.

In early July, the Miami Herald reported that Florida could apply for a grant from FEMA’s “Detention Support Grant Program,” which had $600 million available. I cannot figure out what this grant program is or even if it really exists. It seems to have been publicly announced on sam.gov this summer, but it is no longer posted. FEMA has not said anything publicly about it as far as I can see. I did check with the remarkably few people I know who still work at DHS/FEMA for the sake of due diligence, and none of them had any information. There might also be some bad reporting going on here, too, in terms of mixing up grant programs, etc? I simply do not have enough hours in the day to try and figure this out, but my guess is that if this program exists, the funding comes from CBP, and DHS has tasked FEMA with administering it.

While we might not fully understand where the money is coming from, we do have a pretty good sense of where it is going.

This camp has been brought to you by a range of disaster contractors who are subjected to shockingly little oversight. I’ve long called these contractors our “Shadow Emergency Management System”. They are so intertwined with public emergency management that it can be hard, if not impossible, to tell where government emergency management agencies begin and the disaster contractors end. Very little investigation -- reporting, criminal, research, or otherwise -- has been done on these contractors as compared to the extent that they are responsible for emergency management in Florida and beyond.

I recommend reading this Orlando Sentinel article, which shows how Florida Republicans funnel disaster funds to politically connected contractors. TLDR: private contracts are being given to businesses owned by Republican donors. This is an issue much bigger than the Florida Everglades Concentration Camp, but it’s very much present here too.

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Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 3d

It is important to distinguish because the administration using DRF funding for this kind of bullshit means we’re in a whole new world of trouble.

To be clear, I strongly disagree with fema in anyway being involved in building concentration camps — even just the administration of a grant.

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