chaos

As a major storm rushed toward Florida last October, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the time faced a different kind of threat. Police had shown up in force to a rental property she owned as a result of a prank call, in a potentially dangerous attack known as “swatting.”

Back-to-back Hurricanes Helene and Milton had sparked a torrent of online conspiracies, with FEMA officials facing harassment and death threats, according to hundreds of pages of agency emails and other documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by Bloomberg News. The records shed new light on how disaster-related misinformation affects the government’s emergency response, sucks up internal resources, and puts staff at risk.

Deanne Criswell, who ran FEMA under President Joe Biden, learned about the swatting situation as she was about to brief TV viewers on Milton, one of the most powerful storms on record to develop in the Gulf of Mexico. “It was a very unsettling feeling,” she said in a recent interview, thinking back on how she juggled her concern for her renters along with preparing Floridians for the storm.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, November 20, 2024.

(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Many of the attacks outlined in the documents have not previously been reported, including the doxxing of at least seven senior FEMA staffers. In those incidents sensitive personal information, such as home addresses, was published online for the purpose of harassment. The records also reveal challenges the agency faced as it tried to control the situation.

The incidents followed an online wave of disinformation suggesting FEMA was mishandling the response to the hurricanes that pummeled Florida and North Carolina in the lead up to the presidential election. Among the debunked claims swirling at the time were reports that agency workers had seized property from survivors and confiscated donations.

The offensive diverted agency time and resources to set the record straight and protect personnel. “It made my staff nervous,” said Criswell. “It made people in the community nervous. They didn’t know who to believe. They didn’t know who to trust.”The threat of misinformation continues to loom over the agency at a time when President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have made steep cuts to its staffing and funding, including pulling back on some of the resources FEMA used last fall to combat threats. In the aftermath of deadly Texas floods in July, for example, conspiracy theories online blamed cloud seeding.

“The profit-driven platform model, where sensational falsehoods outperform factual updates in emergencies, ensures this problem persists across political cycles and it can put lives at risk,” said Callum Hood, head of research at the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.

A FEMA spokesperson said in an email the agency “uses internal DHS resources to identify and mitigate any personal threats to employees.”

A trail of disinformation

Workers, community members, and business owners clean up debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Marshall, North Carolina, Sept. 30, 2024.

(Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Im)

Hurricane Helene made landfall in the middle of the night on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm, causing historic flooding far inland and killing at least 250 people. Western North Carolina was particularly hard hit. Flood waters swept away small towns and cut off others, while Asheville lost water for more than a month. Almost immediately, FEMA staff had to confront false rumors circulating online, including that it had stopped accepting housing assistance applications from survivors and didn’t have enough funds to help them.

FEMA officials and experts attribute the quick spread of disinformation to historic government mistrust in the area, as well as social media platforms ratcheting back moderation. High-profile figures including X owner Elon Musk and Trump, then in the late stages of his bid to retake the White House, repeated some of the false claims. Trump, for example, said multiple times during his campaign rallies FEMA was directing disaster funds to immigrants.

For example, the agency shared a screenshot taken from a TruthSocial post from Oct. 5 that stated: “Deanne Criswell needs to be executed for crimes against humanity and treason!” An Oct. 6 post on Gab, a social media site favored by the far right, called for the “Mussolini treatment” of various officials. “The only question: Is there enough rope?” read one of the responses.

Jacyln Rothenberg, the agency’s spokesperson at the time, was among the most heavily targeted, leading Homeland Security to loan Customs and Border Protection agents to provide security at her home. “Because the doxxing was so severe and my safety was at risk, I had to stop tweeting,” she said. “I had to stop doing interviews. I had to stop putting myself on the record.”

FEMA staff also found what it called “far-right” users posting possible personal information for numerous officials, including Criswell, Coen and Rothenberg, internal documents show.

Attacks on FEMA Offline

As a second powerful hurricane — Milton — developed off the coast of Florida, the attacks on staffers’ started migrating from the internet to their homes. After Criswell’s rental property was swatted, among other “serious threats,” then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas signed off on a government vehicle and extra security to protect the embattled FEMA chief.

Then it happened to someone else. “My deputy Jenna Peters’ home was swatted,” Coen told FEMA’s security team in an email on Oct. 11. Peters did not respond to a request for comment.

The most high-profile incident involved a man allegedly “hunting” FEMA staff in North Carolina’s disaster zone. On Criswell’s orders, she said in an email to other top Biden officials: “All FEMA staff and contractors working to interact with survivors and conducting housing inspections, as well as search and rescue teams stood down following the initial reports.”

Elena Gonzalez, 37, looks at their burned-out home after Hurricane Milton’s landfall on October 14, 2024, in Fort Myers, Florida.

(Eva Marie Uzcategui/The Washington Post via Getty Im)

Afterwards, FEMA put together a Workplace Protection Task Force involving security, intelligence and communications professionals to manage incoming threats. Protective measures included using specialized software to flag personnel previously targeted online as at risk of more harassment. But there were limits to how far the government could influence content moderation. At the time, outspoken Republicans led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan were investigating tech companies, alleging that the platforms were censoring conservative viewpoints under federal government pressure.

After initially approving ZeroFox to assist with facilitating takedowns, FEMA later asked that the company end all social media content removal requests. Per internal documents, the move came after staff discussions that it wasn’t advisable for the agency to contract for services that took any action beyond passive threat monitoring. ZeroFox declined to comment.

Supporters of 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attend a boat parade near a house damaged in Hurricane Milton, Siesta Key, Florida, October 26, 2024.

(Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump’s team has already overseen a massive scale back of FEMA’s staffing, funding and programming. As part of a review of contracts, FEMA ended its agreement with ZeroFox, according to a former official familiar with the situation. A FEMA spokesperson confirmed that it ended the ZeroFox contract in April. For Melissa Ryan, founder of Card Strategies, a consulting firm that researches disinformation, the current political climate — in which public officials who attempt to provide transparency are often politicized and attacked — is a bigger obstacle than budget cuts in the fight against false claims. “So many of the new government appointees are Trump loyalists, and attempting to actually respond effectively to disinformation would make whoever made the attempt a target for MAGA and the administration,” she said.

Hirji, Alba and Leopold write for Bloomberg.

MEXICO CITY — It was pouring buckets of rain at the Estadio GNP Seguros on Saturday night, when Oasis played one of two sold-out reunion shows in Mexico City.

Lined at the entrance were tents stuffed with bootleg tour merch and fans seeking respite from the water. You could hear the sloshing of wet socks and Adidas Sambas as they price-checked knockoff memorabilia emblazoned with the Gallagher brothers’ iconically muggy faces.

For 200 pesos, you could get a T-shirt with Noel and Liam Gallagher as fighting cats, or characters from “Peanuts” and “The Simpsons.”

While a downpour isn’t the ideal weather condition for an outdoor concert — my Bohemian FC x Oasis collab football jersey went unseen under a fashionable rain parka — it was certainly fitting for a band that routinely, perhaps obsessively, sings about rain. Yet for Mexican fans of Oasis who’ve anxiously waited years to finally see the brothers reunite, it was all sunsheeeeIIIIIINE.

Outside the entry gates, father and son Santiago and Omar Zepeda, both sporting bucket hats, had a palpable buzz radiating off them as they eagerly waited to enter the stadium. It was a multigenerationally significant day for them.

“I came for the first time with my dad in ’98 at the Palacio de Deportes to see Oasis, and now I get to bring my son,” said Santiago, who came from Guadalajara with his 14-year-old in tow. “There was a moment that I said we’ll just go without tickets and see what we do. We’ll get in because we’ll get in. I feel incredible to be able to have done what I did with my father 27 years later now with my son.”

In August of last year, the Manchester-bred Gallagher brothers — who had been openly feuding for decades — declared that war was over on the 30th anniversary of their 1994 juggernaut debut, “Definitely Maybe.”

“The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over,” they announced. As reunion tour dates opened, and two Mexico City stops were announced, Mexican fans expressed pure elation and flooded Ticketmaster once the sale went live. As you can imagine, it was online bedlam.

Waiting in the Ticketmaster queue filled Esteban Ricardo Sainz Coronado, 24, and Sara Pedraza, 25, with dread. The young couple came in from Monterrey, Nuevo León, but it was uncertain whether they’d make it to what Coronado called “a collective reunion that’s cultural and transcends more than music history.”

Pedraza waited three hours in Ticketmaster’s virtual line, almost missing school and her chance to secure seats as she kept getting bumped off the site. “I stubbornly kept trying and after I don’t know how many attempts, it worked,” Pedraza said. “It was such a huge relief.”

Like Coronado and Sainz, the reunion tour is millions of fans’ first opportunity to see Oasis play live, as they would have been far too young or not even born yet during their heyday. For longtime Oasis heads, it was a chance to once again be in community with their favorite band.

British bands have long had a foothold in Mexico’s alternative scenes, with fans of all ages still packing bars and venues to hear Primal Scream, Blur, Pulp and, of course, Morrissey and the Smiths. These groups have had an enduring, impassioned following that has been explored in books, articles and films, with Mexicans often feeling a spiritual and cultural connection to the U.K.’s music scene stemming back to the Beatles. Oasis could have sold out shows across Mexico 10 times over.

After acrimoniously (and unsurprisingly) breaking up in 2009, the hope to ever see the Gallaghers fill a stadium with the staple of acoustic jam sessions worldwide, “Wonderwall,” dimmed. The brothers’ endless swipes at each other in the media post-breakup didn’t give fans hope they’d get back to “living forever.” Mexican fans even prayed to La Virgen de Guadalupe that the infamously combative brothers wouldn’t break up again even hours before showtime.

“As long as they don’t fight!” said Hector Garduño, who came to the show with his partner, Sofia Carrera, from Querétaro. “That’s what we want, for them not to fight.”

Gracias a la virgencita, the tour has seemingly been all love. The skies eventually cleared up on Saturday, and the stadium indeed filled with Oasis’ soaring, anthemic bangers for 2 ½ hours. For days leading up to the Mexico City date, fans in my orbit and social feeds debated how the show would compare with the crowd at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, where Oasis played the previous weekend.

“[Mexican audiences are] on another level,” said Garduño. “I think these dudes are going to be taken by surprise. I expect jumping, screaming, crying; the emotion of hearing those songs that really move you.”

Mauri Barranco, who came to the show with her best friend, said “I feel like we give a lot of ourselves. That’s why so many artists like coming to Mexico.”

Meanwhile, Alberto Folch, from Mexico City, saw his own audience participation as a challenge. “With all the vibes, with all the emotion, we’re ready to jump, to show them what Mexico is made of,” he said. “Tonight we’re rock ‘n’ roll stars.”

The 65,000 fans in attendance undoubtedly showed up sobbing and screeching with unbridled elation. Liam Gallagher played to the locals, donning a sombrero de charro during “Wonderwall” and the show closer “Champagne Supernova.” The band sounded as if no time had passed since its salad days, with the members’ vocals and musicianship arguably tighter than ever — perhaps a positive side effect of pulling back from the rock star lifestyle now that they’re in their 50s. The sound reverberated clean across the stadium as well (shoutout to L-Acoustics, who provided the sound for the reunion tour), and was praised nonstop by fans I spoke to throughout the weekend. I heard a lot of emphatic cries of “el sonido, güey!”

I pogo’d along with my fellow “madferits” as we turned away from the stage and linked arms to do the Poznań: a signature move at every show, borrowed from Manchester City F.C. fans. During “Cigarettes & Alcohol,” we shouted every lyric and were sprayed by flying beers thrown in raucous excitement.

I’ve never felt more giddy to get splashed with spit-riddled beer — and seemingly neither did anyone around me, who shouted joyful obscenities in Spanish. Three men behind me even sobbed into each other’s chests during “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and the stadium filled with cellphone lights as Noel Gallagher crooned “Talk Tonight.”

The rain didn’t fall again, but even if it had, it would have still felt like the sun.

EXCLUSIVE: Stand-up comic Maisie Adam is taking on the new series of Channel 4’s Taskmaster – but admits that it wasn’t always plain sailing in an exclusive chat with The Mirror

Given her chilled on-stage persona, you might think stand-up comic Maisie Adam never gets flustered. But she discovered a much angrier side to herself on Taskmaster.

The 8 Out O f 10 Cats star felt like a competition winner when she joined the cast of the hit Channel 4 series, alongside Unforgotten ’s Sanjeev Bhaskar, Inside No. 9 ’s Reece Shearsmith and comedians Ania Magliano and Phil Ellis. But she admits the show brought out some “deep-rooted anger” that she took out on hosts Greg Davies and Alex Horne.

“It’s really fun going into the tasks at the time, but I was so shocked at how stressed I got with each one,” she confesses. “I didn’t realise I was such a panicky person.

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“I was very quick to blame Alex and his silly little clipboard and quite quick to get personal with him. I would also protest to Greg if I thought he’d been unfair with the points-awarding.

“I know I can be competitive but competitiveness mixed with a total lack of ability is a dangerous mix to have exposed to you with a mirror held up.”

Maisie credits her husband Michael Dobinson, who works in the tech world, for keeping her grounded. The pair got married in 2023, shortly before she took part in that year’s Soccer Aid.

“He’s very supportive and likes to watch stuff that I’ve been on, but it’s really nice that he isn’t in comedy. If you’re both in it, it can sometimes be a bit of a bubble. You forget there’s a real world out there,” she admits.

“Comedy is quite a self-absorbed job. It’s always about you, whether you’re funny or not. It’s quite a validation-seeking profession. I would worry that if I was with somebody who was also in comedy, we’d end up asking each other for feedback.”

Maisie is more than happy not to talk about her work when she’s at home with Michael.

“I guess some people really enjoy being able to both relate to the same frustrations and highs and lows of their job, but some, like me, can’t imagine anything worse than discussing it when you’re in your own home,” she says.

“There’s comedian Maisie and there’s Maisie at home. I quite like getting home and turning off Maisie the comedian and just being a football-obsessed normal person.”

Maisie has been on TV panels with comedy greats and has interviewed football legends on her Big Kick Energy podcast, but Taskmaster gave her the chance to finally spend time with her childhood hero: host Greg Davies.

“My mum and dad took me to see Greg when I was 14 at our local theatre,” she says. “He had this bit about a student who got locked in a storage cupboard from when he was a teacher. It was the first time I’d seen live stand-up comedy where I’d been literally bent double and my ribs hurt from laughing. Tears were streaming down my face.

“If you’d told that person that 15 years later she’d be on Taskmaster with him, that would have blown her mind. I couldn’t bring myself to fangirl over him on set – I didn’t want him to feel awkward, so I played it cool.”

But it was hard to stay nonchalant when dealing with wardrobe malfunctions throughout the series.

“My plan was to be like Sandy from Grease – she does whatever it takes to come out on top. She changes herself and takes up smoking to win the top prize. In that case it’s a man, which doesn’t reflect well any more.

“The difficulty was, I didn’t blow the budget when it came to getting the outfit. It was cheap and synthetic, so I slipped on everything because of the cheap shoes – and the flammable leggings would catch on everything.”

As a result, Maisie’s trousers regularly fell down on the show. “It was mortifying and it got progressively more humiliating and, dare I say, depressing as the studio records went on,” she cringes.

“This was going to be a common theme – flashing my underwear thanks to a pair of synthetic leggings on the biggest comedy show I’ve been waiting years to be booked on. That’s probably my number one regret.”

Taskmaster airs Thursdays at 9pm on Channel 4.

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Ben Shephard revealed one of his This Morning co-stars had been left ‘stuck in traffic’ on Tuesday morning, delaying their appearance on the ITV show

This Morning was back on TV screens on Tuesday (9 September) with Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard at the helm of the ITV programme.

The presenting duo brought TV viewers a jam-packed show, featuring guest interviews and all of the latest headlines, as well as a money-saving segment with Martin Lewis, but the star was unfortunately running late to the studio.

Ben and Cat kicked things off by sharing an insight into ITV’s 70th anniversary celebration, which took place on Monday (8 September) evening at Guildhall in London, with all of the broadcaster’s regular stars in attendance.

Ben revealed he and Cat were joined by fellow This Morning stars Dermot O’Leary and Olivia Attwood on their table at the event, as well as Martin.

“Dermot was there, of course. Olivia came along, was sitting on our table. We had a really lovely time talking to some of the guests,” Ben said.

He added: “Martin, who is going to be joining us a little bit later on, we think he’s a little bit stuck in traffic.”

Cat then interjected: “It’s the tube strike, isn’t it?” however, Ben hinted there could be another reason behind Martin’s lateness, adding: “He was still there when I left, at half past 10!”

Laughing, Cat then quipped: “Ah, so it’s not the tube strike!”

Thankfully, Martin eventually made it to the ITV studio in time for his This Morning segment, titled September Savings.

He shared a number of money-saving tips with viewers, with a focus on summer holidays. Martin explained how to get money back for delayed flights and ways to get the most out of suncream in a bid to help people save cash.

The financial journalist, who hosts The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV, had shared an update regarding the tube strike with fans on social media late on Monday evening.

Posting a photograph from a very busy street in the capital, Martin told his followers: “Walking past a bus stop on New Oxford Street, London in the middle of a tube strike.”

Thousands of people faced delays on Monday as the London Tube strike took hold, shutting down nearly all services. The strike continued on Tuesday, enterting its second full day.

Industrial action began on Sunday (7 September) over pay and conditions, and the Tube is not expected to reopen until Friday (12 September).

This Morning airs on ITV1 at 10am on weekdays

Celebs Go Dating descended into a tense row on Wednesday’s episode as The Chase star Mark Labbett insulted dating expert Paul C. Brunson

Celebs Go Dating descended into a tense row on Wednesday’s episode. The hit E4 dating show is this year following the likes of Kerry Katona, S Club singer Jon Lee and Celebrity Big Brother’s Donna Preston amongst a host of others on their quest for love.

Champion quizzer Mark Labbett, who is best known for showcasing his knowledge on The Chase, has recently struck up a connection with beautician Deanne, and it shows no signs of stopping now.

In the latest episode, the pair were invited to a brunch where they had to tell the others what they thought of each other. Mark said: “We thought we’d get on, it’s been great and we are just seeing how it goes!” Both parties confirmed they would like to go on another date with one another.

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But things took a sour turn when Mark, 60, turned to the dating experts Paul C. Brunson, Anna Williamson and Dr. Tara Suwinyattichaiporn to claim that he had known better than them all along.

He said: “We have just enjoyed each other’s company and sometimes there’s a little bit of overthinking it. We’ve not been the master strategists that you are, but, let’s face it, we’re smarter than you!”

Paul did not take kindly to the comment and things turned tense as he shot back: “Do you know why you always insult us? Because your emotional intelligence is on zero.”

Mark hit back sarcastically: “Sorry, but I’m nice to the people that count!” Paul would not let it drop and said: “When you get nervous, you insult people,” and Mark joked: “No just you!” and tried to say that it was some kind of ‘teaching response’.

Paul continued to lay into Mark but as the TV quizzer checked his watch to indicate boredom, Paul raged: “What you did right there, that’s contempt. You wanna be a teacher? Try being a damn student first!”

Things seemed to simmer down a bit when Mark, who previously dated TV presenter Hayley Palmer before she claimed he had split up with her on the phone, and prior to that was married to his second cousin Katie, 34, apologised for what he said.

In a confessional, Mark said: “I’ve upset Paul. I didn’t mean to but I don’t like talking about my feelings, especially in front of a lot of people.”

Back at the brunch, Mark eventually said: “I’m sorry,” but Paul demanded to know whether his apology was ‘genuine’. Mark said: “It is!” and the pair agreed to put it behind them.

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