06/20/24

Good morning! It’s Thursday, June 20th.

Summer Solstice!

Longest day of the year!

Kind of. All the days are mostly the name length. But this is the longest period of daylight for the year.

And now, the news.

Weather Across America

-via CNN (Heatwave), ABC News (Wildfires), and CBS News (Tropical Storm Alberto)

Alright, we’re starting with weather, and if you’re new here… that’s not great. Because it’s never like – oh! A fun weather story!

First, as I mentioned last week, the Midwest and parts of the Northeast are, indeed, being hit with some dangerously high temperatures around the 90s, which is 10 to 15 degrees higher than the areas normally see at this time of year.

That’s bad enough on its own, but adding to the trouble is that, when humidity is factored in, many areas are going to have a heat index of up to 110*.

Temperatures at night are not dropping enough, to give anyone an evening break.

New York state has already seen a 200% rise in heat-related emergency room visits.

Moving south and west, into Texas – Governor Greg Abbott has declared a state of emergency for 51 counties in the state thanks to Tropical Storm Alberto. The storm, which has already flooded areas like Surfside Beach, a city south of Galveston, is expected to make landfall in Tampico, Mexico by the time you hear this.

This same storm is to blame for the deaths of at least 15 people in El Salvador and Guatemala, as flooding and landslides poured over Central America last week.

And then, finally, moving further west to New Mexico and California – as I, and all Californians, and Western United States-ians know… unfortunately it’s wildfire season.

Early.

Great.

Firefighters in New Mexico are battling two wildfires in the same general area that, as of this recording, have already burned more than a combined 24,000 acres, destroying more than 1,400 structures and killing at least one person.

At least 8,000 people have been evacuated and the fires are, again, as of this recording, at 0% containment.

A state of emergency has been declared.

And in California, there are multiple fires burning across the state, for a total of almost 90,000 acres burned and 13 structures destroyed.

The two biggest fires are the Los Angeles County Post Fire, which is almost 40% contained, and the Sites Fire, north of Sacramento.

Just a note about the Post Fire for friends and family that know me, but don’t live in Los Angeles.

It’s a big county. The fire is far from me.

However! Even if you’re not in direct danger of the fire, be aware of air quality. Whether you’re in the Midwest and getting clomped by this heat, or in LA far from the fires – air quality is still a concern. So… I guess… check your weather app? That’s what I would do. I know I’m a scientist, but it’s only for politics.

But I do know the smoke is bad! Not good for you!

Russia and North Korea Make It Official

-via AP News

Okay, now I’m going to tell you a story that is not going to be unconcerning, but also… you’re getting the news from me! We’re not here to be scared by the news! We’re gonna hear it, but not be scared of it.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un signed a strategic partnership that they have not released the language of but instead, all we’re currently able to do is try and figure out this partnership based on what they say is in the deal.

And that’s… not our favorite way to learn what’s in things.

So let’s talk about what’s in this little BFF deal.

First, it provides mutual assistance in the event of what they see as aggression towards one of the countries.

Raising a pretty important follow-up – hey. What do they think is an aggression?

Well, North Korea sees any combined military exercise between South Korea and America as an aggression. They’ve also, in the past, referred to the United States calling out North Korea’s human rights violations an aggression.

So… North Korea’s got a broad definition.

Over in Russia, Putin once called 2014 demonstrations in Ukraine against then-President Yanukovych, who was viewed as pro-Russia, demonstrations that occurred in Ukraine while Russia was literally annexing a part of Ukraine, an aggression against Russia.

An aggression against Russia – while Russia was stealing part of the country!

Can’t not mention that those demonstrations, known as the 'Maidan Uprising' resulted in the deaths of 108 protestors and 13 police officers.

Anyway, so that’s an idea of what they see as aggression, though we don’t know exactly how, if at all, it’s defined in the deal.

What we do know, however, is that aggression or not, they have linked their militaries together, including borrowing tech.

Sounds scary. However, this appears to simply be a formalization of what has already been happening. It’s believed that Russia has received ballistic missiles and ammunition from North Korea before all this.

The deal also develops economic ties between the countries, allowing them to help each other while Russia gets bonked with sanctions all over the world.

Listen, this isn’t the best news. A lot of this is just formalizing things that we already kind of saw coming.

They made their friendship bracelets, they took the moment and… tasted—I’m not gonna do the lyrics. The point is, it’s not the best news but that’s where things stands.

Louisiana Breaks Constitution

-via NY Times

Over in Louisiana… I don’t even know how to lead into this story but Louisiana’s Governor Landry signed a bill into law on Wednesday that requires all schools in the state to display the Ten Commandments.

So… this one’s going to the Supreme Court.

Both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have vowed to take it to court. So… expect it to work its way on up there.

By the by, this isn’t Constitutional.

Literally. 1A baybee - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Were I a teacher in Louisiana, I wouldn’t want to put the Ten Commandments up in my classroom. Mostly because I think is absurd. And also because my class would be on the history of early aughts WB shows, and the subsequent WB/UPN merger. And my students would be… what does this have to do with why Everwood didn’t get a fifth season?

But if I don’t put up your little Ten Commandments poster… am I fired? That’s a violation of the first!

Also… The state is 47th in education. But suddenly you’ve got enough of a jingle in your pocket to print posters for every classroom in the state?

I’m going to talk more about this in today’s Substack but let me just note here that Governor Landry said this: “I can’t wait to be sued.” Adding, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”

What. A. Nerd.

I can’t wait for you to be sued either! Because this is the clearest possible violation of the first Amendment. Your dorky dumb quote is going to be in the books of so many law students!

RFK Jr. has Ravens

-via NY Times

And finally, listen… bad weather, bad friendships, bad Governors… not a great bunch of stories. So here’s something that we can all laugh at…

RFK Jr. keeps two ravens as wild pets.

And I’m putting a link to his interview with the New York Times in show notes because the interview starts with him being annoyed that the ravens aren’t cooperating and then he says he’s not going to reward their bad behavior.

They’re ravens!

They’ve got cognitive skills on the level of a great ape… they’re not going to listen to a guy who offered to eat five brain worms if it got him on the debate stage!

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of ravens. And crows. I’m not necessarily a bird lover, but I’m also not an idiot. Ravens and crows are smart – we gotta be nice to them. They remember!

Also… I guess… summer solstice. I’m a baby about the heat, but it is cool that everything’s all aligned to make this the longest day of the year. I’m tired already.

But more than that… because you are a ray of sunshine but it’s not exhausting… I’m proud of you.