Trump Threatens War, Nate Makes Landfall

The Golf War: Golfing in New Jersey yesterday, President Trump once again threatened war with North Korea. “Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid,” Trump tweeted yesterday. “Hasn’t worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!”

The White House declined to clarify what that one thing is.

The Weather Report: Hurricane Nate made landfall east of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi river last night as a Category 1 with wins up to 95 mph. Nate is expected to bring a damaging coastal storm surge. It’s now downgraded to a tropical storm, tracking to cut through Mississippi then lean northeast through the Ohio Valley toward New England.

Disaster by Numbers: The Federal Emergency Management Agency mysteriously removed from its website — then restored — its statistical report on progress toward restoration of electricity, water, and basic services in Puerto Rico. Speculation is that the numbers looked bad in light of President Trump’s glowing “A plus” review of his own work, but taking the numbers down looked even worse.

As of this morning:

  • 44 percent of islanders are without water service
  • 77 percent of grocery stores are open
  • 78 percent of gas stations are open

FEMA does not  give one of the most important figures, which is the percentage of the island without power. It’s about 95 percent, a figure that makes them look bad, so they don’t post it.

Among the many side effects — excuse us — of the Puerto Rico disaster is that it has all but shut down the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries that have concentrated manufacturing on  the island, posing the possibility of shortages.

The island’s factories make 13 of the world’s top-selling brand-name drugs, including Humira, the rheumatoid arthritis treatment, and Xarelto, the anti-stroke blood thinner that the late golfer Arnold Palmer used to hawk in commercials. The medical plants also account for about 100,000 jobs on the island.

The Shooter: In Las Vegas, the FBI and local police are stymied in their hunt for Stephen Paddock’s motive in last Sunday’s concert massacre that took 58 lives. The bureau plans to buy billboard space with the message, “If you know something, say something.”

“We still do not have a clear motive or reason why,” a frustrated Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said Friday. “We have looked at literally everything.”

Paddock’s bother Eric said, “We need to find out what happened to him. Something happened to my brother.”

The search for a motive always follows mass shootings. With the exception of politically-motivated events, and sometimes even then, the most obvious reason of “crazy” doesn’t ever seem to satisfy investigators. They look for a rational cause, as if there could be one for amassing an arsenal of guns and ammunition then hosing down a crowd with bullets.   Investigators have examined Stephen Paddock’s politics, finances, social behavior and even the possibility that a white former accountant with a big-money gambling habit could have been radicalized. “Crazy” could explain everything, but we may never know.

Casting Couch: The legal team of movie producer Harvey Weinstein appears to be collapsing. Lawyer Lisa Bloom, who called Weinstein’s history of sexual harassment and propositions “gross,” has resigned. She is better known for representing women against such public figure pervs as Bill O’Reilly and Bill Cosby. Also gone is Lanny Davis, who once worked as special counsel to President Bill Clinton.

Birthday Boy: Protesters turned out in 80 Russian cities yesterday to protest President Vladimir Putin on his 65th birthday. They called upon Putin to resign and free dissident Alexei Navalny from prison. Navalny says he’s going to run against Putin in the March elections. Many of the protesters brought cake.

-30-

Friday, March 29, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.