Morning Politocadoes!
President Crime President did a dumb, dangerous, and also illegal thing in response to Hurricane Dorian. For some reason, Trump came to believe that Alabama would be impacted by the storm, despite no evidence and promptly tweeted it. The National Weather Service and Hurricane Center responded with a quick correction, assuring the country that the sysem was too far east. But as we well know at this point, the President being wrong is an untenable situation.
He sent an ‘update’ on the situation over twitter that included a doctored National Weather Service map that ‘showed’ Alabama in Dorian’s path, using a Sharpie.
Now a lot of news sources that are both dumb and bad, like Politico, have been saying it was a mystery. That it could be some unknown staffer. It could be the President. It could be Batman. Why, it could even be Rory Calhoun! But, let’s be real here. Trump lies all the time, hates being wrong, and has a known history of using Sharpies. He uses them to autograph things, it’s how we got his now-famous chunky and terrible signature. He uses them to point things out to people; like how he used to send photographs of himself circling his hands in gold-colored Sharpie to the editor of Spy magazine to show that his hands weren’t tiny.
It’s an absurd situation. It’s also illegal. Altering weather forecast charts is a crime that carries either a fine or an imprisonment. So, erm, put it on the pile of other ridiculous, illegal shit he’s done I guess.
A Climate Town Hall was held last night for the Democratic hopefuls in the 2020 election. Candidates all vowed to take an aggressive stance on climate change, embracing such policies as a carbon tax. Jay Inslee, naturally, loomed large over the debate, having made his campaign primarily about Climate Change. While he is no longer running, his candidacy had a profound impact on other candidates shifting policy proposals in a much more aggressive direction. Andrew Yang still seems to think that the Green New Deal would ban air travel. So um, hmm.
Meanwhile! The President’s Non-Union English Equivalent, Prime Minister (?) Boris Johnson lost his bid for a general election. After the Commons won in their bid to prevent a No-Deal Brexit, the bill that would mandate the PM to seek an extension passed easily. Johnson’s next move, which was something he had specifically promised not to do, was to call for a general election. It was something that he had expected Labour to vote for, given it was something they had been calling for some time. Interestingly, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn seemed to sense the trap and didn’t take the bait. An election means no parliament and it would be entirely possible that the government would use that opportunity to move the election past October 31st. Johnson could very well try again next week, but for the moment he seems to be trapped.
Welcome to Thursday! Please be excellent to each other! The Mayor McSquirrel Rule is in effect because we’re better than him. If you notice a news item being posted too often, alert a mod so it can be pinned to the top of the thread.
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