In the Lie of the Storm
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.
