Florida Governor Ron DeSantis explained that Hurricane Milton was "not the worst-case scenario." And that's certainly good news. But even without achieving WCS status (with the notable exception of the roof at Tropicana Field), the storm was big and bad, and many parts of Florida are still in rescue and recovery mode. The storm "wrought havoc across Florida, where it whipped up tornadoes, cut power for more than 3.3 million energy customers, put some 11 million people at risk of flooding and caused at least 11 deaths." Here's the latest from CNN, ABC, and NPR.
+ As if often the case in the aftermath of a major storm, the story can best be told in photos. Here are a couple collections of photos, that include property damage, flooding, heroic work by rescue teams, and a lot of boats where they shouldn't be.
+ As I reported yesterday, one of the biggest stories about Milton and Helene has been the relentless, dangerous, and often ridiculous political lies coming from Trump and others. In The Lie Of The Storm. Before the post Milton lies start, you should know that the president and veep have already talked to Gov DeSantis and everyone is working together to help Floridians. Oh, and stop sending death threats to meteorologists. Meteorologists Get Death Threats as Hurricane Milton Conspiracy Theories Thrive. "Seemingly overnight, ideas that once would have been ridiculed as very fringe, outlandish viewpoints are suddenly becoming mainstream and it’s making my job much more difficult ... Nowadays, there’s so much bad information out there that if we spent our time getting rid of it, we’d have no more time." (Meteorologists forecast a lot of bad stuff. None of them could have predicted this shitstorm.)
+ One of humanity's more bizarre traditions is sending news anchors out into the storm. Anderson Cooper strapped on a windbreaker for old times' sake. And things got rough.
+ WaPo (Gift Article): Journalists covering Milton were sheltering in their car. Then came a meow.
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And With Good Reason
Some of America's finest writers (and one so-so one) are featured in 270 Reasons to vote for Harris/Walz. My submission is quite out of character (one of my sisters wondered if my account had been hacked). It's about how that empty pit in our collective stomach turned into a mosh pit. Owed to Joy. "I spent the entirety of the Trump presidency hate-screaming in a darkened room with MSNBC news panels playing on permanent repeat. Somewhere along the way, I lost the ability to respond joyfully to joy. Cut to the post-Biden debate debacle in summer 2024, when the entire Democratic Party was only taking breaks from moaning in the fetal position long enough to order online Xanax refills. It was mourning in America."
+ You will definitely find some of your favorite authors among the participants in this project. Find an essay or two that might move a friend or family member to vote for democracy. 270 Reasons to Vote for Harris/Walz. (I've been assured that I was among the first 265 of those selected to participate.)
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For the W
"The simplest way to put it is that it was a hockey-stick year in the WNBA. The league’s network partners (ESPN/ABC, CBS, and Ion) saw high-double- and triple-digit increases in viewership this season, and it was the W’s most-watched regular season on ESPN platforms ever. Indiana’s Clark and Chicago’s Reese are behind much of that tidal wave: A June 23 game between the Fever and the Sky was the most-viewed WNBA game on ESPN in 23 years, and Clark played in 19 of the record-breaking 22 regular-season game telecasts that averaged at least million viewers this season." Sure, there have been many growing pains as chronicled in this piece, but the rise of the WNBA (and women's sports more broadly) has been inspiring. Emma Carmichael in GQ: How the WNBA Became the Most Fun, Complicated, and Exciting League in Sports.
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Arch Nemesis
"When McDonald’s opened its first Italian branch, in Rome in 1986, Valentino, the mononymous fashion designer, was outraged. He complained about the “significant and constant noise and an unbearable smell of fried food fouling the air,” and took legal action against the chain. He wasn’t the only one to be upset. Thousands of Italians gathered in protest, furious at what they perceived to be the Americanization of their beloved capital. Some passed around perfectly cooked plates of pasta to fellow protestors just to make a point." The protest didn't work. They never do. McDonald’s Macarons: How U.S. fast food took over the world — and then went local.
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Extra, Extra
War on Women: "More than 370 million women and girls alive today – or almost one in eight – experienced rape or sexual assault before they turned 18, according to the first global estimates of the problem."
+ Pet Project: You've heard all about Project 25. But "there’s a lesser-known organization that’s already been working for decades to reshape America into a Christian nation—and will keep doing so, regardless of who wins the presidential election in November. It keeps racking up wins at the Supreme Court." Slate: Ban Abortion. End Gay Marriage. Outlaw Birth Control. "A powerful Christian conservative legal group is quietly reshaping America through the courts. Here’s what it’s after."
+ Risk Management: "When supposedly pro-business populists appear (or appear again) on the ballot, some business leaders see it as an opportunity. They should instead be asking what they can do to reduce company risks — and bolster stability." Harvard Business Review: When Populists Rise, Economies Usually Fall. In other words, choose a very stable economy over a very stable genius.
+ Feat of Clay: "Rafael Nadal is retiring from professional tennis at age 38, he announced in a video message Thursday, after winning 22 Grand Slam titles — 14 at the French Open — during an unprecedented era he shared with rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic." Some of his fellow players have been paying tribute.
+ Veggie Tales: "South Korean author Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is the first Korean writer and the eighteenth woman to win the award. In 2016, she won the International Booker Prize for her novel The Vegetarian. She was the first Korean writer to win that award as well."
+ Kennedy Center: "In the decades following her husband’s death, Ethel Kennedy emerged as an environmental and human rights activist in her own right, founding the nonprofit organization Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights to champion the causes her late husband pushed for." Ethel Kennedy dies at 96.
+ Carolina Mode: The GOP was determined to limit voting rights in swing states. Then the rains came. North Carolina eases voting rules as Trump allies fret over storm fallout.
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Bottom of the News
"People have used breast milk for reasons other than feeding babies for a very long time. In the first century, Pliny the Elder recommended it for fever, gout and healing from poisonous beetles. In 17th- and 18th-century England and America, breast milk was prescribed for ailments ranging from consumption to blindness. Today, it is still more than just infant food – though some of its uses are more evidence-based than others." Breast milk for adults: wellness elixir or unscientific fascination? (Let's hope this trend doesn't latch on.)
+ More than 100 raccoons besiege house of woman who had been feeding them.
+ Lynx, tiger and tadpoles, oh my: See the Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners. (Obviously, these awards were given out before the raccoons showed up at the woman's house...)
Speaking of the arrival of Mc D's in Italy, I was on an exchange program to the Universidad de Guanajuato, GTO, MX, (ca. 1991) when the first Mc D's opened in the state's major city, Leon. One block away was a gourmet hamburger establishment that had glassed display rooms of their hanging fresh beef. The condiments looked like a salad bar with everything you could think of to heap on the burger. Having had the best burger imaginable, I drove by the new Mc D's and people were lined up around the block!