In the Lie of the Storm

Hurricane Hot Air, George Washington's Last Stand

Should we talk about the weather? Should we talk about the government? —REM

While politics is a touchy subject, we've always felt certain that we could conduct reasonable discourse about humanity's most popular topic of discussion: the weather. Until now. Things have changed for three key reasons. First, increasingly extreme and life-threatening weather patterns make the topic less pleasant. Second, the weather, like almost everything else has become politicized. And third, Donald Trump and his craven enablers see tragic emergencies like Hurricanes Helene and Milton as just another burst of hot air to spread their lies. Sometimes the blowhard lies are ridiculous, which leads us to headlines like this: North Carolina Republican pushes back on hurricane misinformation: "Nobody can control the weather." Sometimes the lies are dangerous. "The claims have become so widespread that FEMA set up a response page to debunk many falsehoods around how disaster funding works and what the agency’s response has been." That's what FEMA has to waste its time on at a moment like this. NPR: Fact-checking falsehoods about FEMA funding and Hurricane Helene.

+ "In recent days, Trump has repeatedly and falsely suggested that the federal government is purposely neglecting areas with Republican voters, that it is funneling emergency aid to migrants instead of disaster response, and that it’s giving hurricane victims just $750 in support." Soon he'll be arguing that it's not raining cats and dogs because the immigrants have eaten all the pets. Would someone really spread disprovable lies about a life-and-death issue? Let's answer that with another question: Would someone constantly lie about the risks associated with Covid while sending Covid testing machines to a murderous dictator? Vox: Donald Trump’s many, many lies about Hurricane Helene, debunked.

+ Many Florida residents are facing a hard truth. They're being told to leave, but they feel trapped. A Florida mobile home park is told to evacuate but some residents have nowhere to go. And from Grist: For Floridians in mobile homes, Hurricane Helene was a disaster waiting to happen. "A ballooning shortage of affordable housing has pushed more people into manufactured homes at the same time that extreme weather like hurricanes are becoming more severe. Victims of climate disasters also often find themselves turning to manufactured homes in the absence of other housing stock — perpetuating a cycle of substandard living and displacement."

+ "'We have now brought the planet into climatic conditions never witnessed by us or our prehistoric relatives.' One result of this is that weather-related disasters are going to become increasingly devastating. Another is that they are going to become harder to predict." The New Yorker: Why Hurricane Milton Is a Sign of the New Abnormal.

+ Here's the latest on Milton from CNN and ABC.

2

Bye George

"Washington’s life is a story of heroic actions, but also of temptations avoided, of things he would not do. As a military officer, Washington refused to take part in a plot to overthrow Congress. As a victorious general, he refused to remain in command after the war had ended. As president, he refused to hold on to an office that he did not believe belonged to him. His insistence on the rule of law and his willingness to return power to its rightful owners—the people of the United States—are among his most enduring gifts to the nation and to democratic civilization." In a cover story from The Atlantic (Gift Article), Tom Nichols explains the risk of the current presidential election by going back to the original POTUS, whose vision for the presidency is facing its greatest risk. The Moment of Truth. "Forty-four men have succeeded Washington so far. Some became titans; others finished their terms without distinction; a few ended their service to the nation in ignominy. But each of them knew that the day would come when it would be their duty and honor to return the presidency to the people. All but one, that is."

3

Clicks, Tricks, and Dicks

The "street address, Kalkofnsvegur 2, is also the registered address for Withheld for Privacy, a company that is part of a booming and largely unregulated industry in Iceland and elsewhere that allows people who operate online domains to shield their identities ... Withheld for Privacy and other so-called proxy services have turned Iceland into a global hub for illicit activity far out of proportion to the country’s size." NYT (Gift Article): Some of the Web’s Sketchiest Sites Share an Address in Iceland. If the address Kalkofnsvegur 2 in Reykjavik sounds familiar, it's because there's also an H&M there. And a penis museum.

4

Bada Bingo

"Bingo and card games aren’t gone ... but if you think that’s all a senior center offers, think again. Indeed, think: speed dating, pickleball, tech labs, song and dance, cooking classes, therapy dogs, and … ditching the word 'senior' altogether." Dropping the ‘senior’ in senior center: Beyond bingo, there’s speed dating and travel.

5

Extra, Extra

Call Me Maybe: "U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday amid tensions with Iran while Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said an Israeli strike against Iran will be 'lethal, precise and surprising.'" Here's something else pretty surprising. "The call, confirmed by both countries, was the first known chat for Biden and Netanyahu since August."

+ Split Decision: "Now that Judge Amit Mehta has found Google is a monopolist, lawyers for the Department of Justice have begun proposing solutions to correct the company’s illegal behavior and restore competition to the market for search engines." A Google breakup is on the table, say DOJ lawyers. (It's ironic that talks of a Google break-up are coming at the very time AI is changing the game when it comes to search and other forms of internet discovery.)

+ Mitt's Kid Gloves: Mitt Romney "has never before implied so strongly that he’s actively rooting for Harris. What remains fascinating is that he still won’t say it out loud. He says his reticence is deliberate. "There’s a good shot that the Republican party is going to need to be rebuilt and reoriented, either after this election, or if Donald Trump is reelected, after he’s the president ... I believe I will have more influence in the party by virtue of saying it as I’ve said it. I’m not planning on changing the way I’ve described it." Even now, guys like Romney and George W Bush won't fully endorse Kamala. (We're living in the age of delusional cowardice.) Meanwhile, should it bother us that we're more likely to believe the Kremlin's version of events over Trump's? Kremlin refutes Trump denial on sending Putin COVID tests. (Kamala Harris wants to expand health care to more Americans. Donald Trump wants to expand health care to Vladimir Putin.)

+ Protein Titans: "The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded Wednesday to David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for their breakthrough work predicting and designing the structure of proteins, the building blocks of life." Meanwhile, "a US scientist who won the 2024 Nobel physics prize for his pioneering work on artificial intelligence said Tuesday he found recent advances in the technology 'very unnerving' and warned of possible catastrophe if not kept in check."

+ Poll Survivor: "After years of growing strife, the nerdy business of building polling models has gotten truly nasty." Everyone is fighting about the election. Even election modelers. When Election Modelers Attack.

+ Who Died and Made You Bling? "It was the biggest estate-tax payment in modern history, but no one knew who made it. Then an anonymous phone call pointed to one man." Who died and left the US $7 billion?

6

Bottom of the News

"Theater popcorn doesn’t typically contain any butter. It instead uses oil—typically refined coconut oil—mixed with Flavacol. The extra 'butter' you can add to movie theater popcorn also isn’t what you think it is." Why Movie Theater Popcorn Tastes So Good.

+ Photos: Building Human Towers in Spain.

+ "With streets blocked off and pedestrians kept at a safe distance, the early-morning show lit up the Strip with fireworks and brightly lit drones counting down the last seconds of the Trop. Then, using over 2,000 pounds of explosives, the final remnants of the Strip’s third-oldest casino went down like a house of cards." Historic Las Vegas Strip hotel goes down in a blaze of glory.

+ In a rematch, mama bear Grazer defeats rival that killed her cub to win Fat Bear Week.