Living at the intersection of policy, research, & practice in wildfire mitigation. Former mayor of Mill Valley. Opinions my own & not reflective of my employer.
Santa Rosa, CA
Joined November 2006
- Tweets13.4K
- Following2.5K
- Followers1.2K
- Likes108K
Pinned Tweet
I was mayor of Mill Valley in 2020, and that experience led me to sign the resolution. At the time, I also signed onto the Great Barrington Declaration. The powers of the public health officer enshrined in the California Health and Safety Code are shockingly broad, as I noted in a paper I wrote in 2022 excerpted below.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
Watch this, please. What a remarkable, courageous, and kind person. His admiration for the unarmed teacher who took on the shooter shines through. Please pray for him. He's carrying a lot -- there is such a cost to taking a life, even when it's necessary.
Bend, Oregon man who shot and killed a shooter at his daughters' school speaks out, praises female teacher for fighting the shooter, allowing him to have a clear shot.
Kaylub Giamanco says he is haunted by the sound of children pleading for their lives.
He also praised the teacher for grabbing the gunman's weapon, allowing him to take a shot at the shooter.
"I want to recognize [the teacher]. She gave me the opportunity to make my shot without losing my life..."
"I swung the door open, and I stepped in, and I fired, and they dropped to the ground... I looked down at the gunman, and he was scrambling for his weapon. And I looked at him, and I shot him 2 more times..."
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
I am not just saddened but puzzled when unsubstantiated allegations lead people's friends to summarily drop them.
If I have to choose between society and a friend, it's not even close.
My friends, I have your backs. And I hope you have mine.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
“I’m old. I’ve paid my home off,” said Ray Warner, a 72-year-old Akron resident. “Why would I pay property tax?”
Across the country, homeowners are asking the same question and revolting against property taxes at a scale not seen in a half century.
politico.com/news/magazine/2…
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
Viktor Frankl says we can discover meaning in 3 ways:
(1) “By creating a work or doing a deed”
(2) “By experiencing something or encountering someone” (love, beauty, nature, culture, truth)
(3) “By the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering”
Go do it.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
⚠️ PUBLIC SAFETY POWER SHUTOFF (PSPS) PREPAREDNESS
PG&E has notified several residents and businesses within the CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit of a potential PSPS beginning Thursday morning and continuing over the next several days.
🔋 Prepare for a possible extended outage:
• Charge phones and backup batteries.
• Stock up on water, nonperishable food, medications, and flashlights.
• Plan for medical devices that require electricity.
• Monitor PG&E notifications and local emergency alerts.
• Check on neighbors who may need assistance.
• Operate generators outdoors, away from windows and doors.
🔥 Stay wildfire ready, maintain defensible space, and be prepared to evacuate if directed by emergency officials.
📲 Get wildfire information and alerts with the AwareCA app: aware.ca.gov
🔗 Visit ReadyForWildfire.org for preparedness resources.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
Every power you give to the government today, will be used against you tomorrow.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
If you feel you are being pushed to react don't react and don't do the opposite either.
Do a 3rd thing.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
This is the best thing I’ve read on the Cornell situation.
We focus completely on consent, and that makes sense as a legal standard. But morally, it’s only part of the equation. If a man technically meets whatever standards we set for consent and then treats a woman like garbage afterwards, that’s terrible behavior and should be condemned.
It’ll be hard to convince a jury that any of the Cornell 7 committed rape. But these were men who sought to humiliate women for pleasure and as a group bonding experience.
This is how women can later feel regret over sexual experiences, and they use the language of “rape” because it is the only thing that we acknowledge as strong enough to capture their emotional state. I haven’t always appreciated this enough when looking at questionable allegations.
Consent should be the legal standard. But men need to behave better, and it is good to shun those who treat women poorly.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
This is the insight for which the Flocksters have no coherent—let alone persuasive—response: if a particular technology depends upon pervasive, suspicionless surveillance for its efficacy, then there’s no limiting principle. If a little bit of suspicionless surveillance is good because it reduces and solves crimes with no real cost to privacy or autonomy, then a LOT of suspicionless surveillance is even better because it will have an even greater crime-fighting effect with (still) zero effect on any legitimate privacy/autonomy concerns.
As you can see from the widespread, cross-ideological backlash, most people easily grasp that fallacy in the very marrow of their land-of-the-free bones.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
Companies should be able to hire people without JD Vance’s approval
Our message to corporate America is simple: We’re not going to let you lay off American workers so you can replace them with cheap foreign labor.
whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2…
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
Searching Flock isn't a "search" subject to 4th Amendment protections.
Searching people's cellphones if they're coming in or out of the country isn't a "search" subject o 4th Amendment protections.
When IS a search a search anymore?
Cops, courts, & immigration authorities keep trying to carve out exceptions to due process requirements, like the Constitution doesn't apply where technology is concerned
A federal court says cops searching ALPR systems like Flock isn't a "search" for 4th Amendment purposes. Which means: no warrant necessary. No probable cause necessary. Cops can search Flock with "LOL" or "LMAO" as the reason & it's fine reason.com/2026/09/21/no-war…
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
A lot of people are jeering at Nikole Hannah-Jones, but it takes guts to (very) publicly admit you messed up. My personal views aside, I don't want to live in a world where people are shamed for admitting they were wrong.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
LMAO this happens all the time. There's even a name for it. "Regulatory capture"
Wild to see takes like this
I've served in two White Houses and in Congressional leadership, and I can tell you when the last time a CEO or an industry at large asked to be regulated: never. That's what makes Dario's letter so striking — it's an admission that we're driving down a dark, winding road on wet pavement with the headlights off. And where's President Trump? Looks like he nodded off again. It’s time to turn the lights on, put both hands on the wheel, and regain control before it’s too late.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Industries and CEOs have often asked to be regulated. Examples include 19th century railroads, Allstate in 2009, hedge funds and tech companies. washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/305871… fee.org/articles/we-wa… nationalreview.com/corner/be-wary…
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
If a story scares the hell out of you it was probably meant to and you have to ask who benefits from you being scared as hell.
Because it's never you.
Sashi Sabaratnam retweeted
Honestly these sound like terrible features no one asked for on the new Apple Watch. Do I need to worry about every Apple Watch recording my conversations in public places? I’m going to need convincing this isn’t a massive invasion of privacy.
