Climate Crisis
Y’all understand the Central Valley is California’s Bible Belt, right? Get your “thoughts and prayers” ready, because it looks like a whole bunch of white Christian nationalists, unfortunately among others, are heading for flooding of biblical proportions.[1] I’m just not thinking Noah’s Ark—they do have one, right?—will be big enough.
[S]uch an episode could transform “the interior Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys into a temporary but vast inland sea nearly 300 miles in length and [inundate] much of the now densely populated coastal plain in present-day Los Angeles and Orange Counties.”[2]
[J]ust one of these mega-storm events — dubbed Biblical “ArkStorms” — could kill untold numbers of Californians, displace millions of others, close major highways for weeks and lead to $1 trillion in economic losses.[3]
Unfortunately, Sacramento, which has a number of good vegan restaurants, could be among the affected places.[4] And it might not be such a bad idea for my stepsisters to get their butts out of Stockton and Marysville.
Matthew Cappucci, “A ‘megaflood’ in California could drop 100 inches of rain, scientists warn,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/12/megaflood-california-flood-rain-climate/
Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, “California is at risk of a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities prepared for it?” Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article264571831.html
Gilead
Donald Trump
Finances
More than a few folks had thought the Manhattan District Attorney was effectively dropping the case against Donald Trump,[5] and indeed they had persuaded me that he had, but it appears he might be putting it all together after all.[6]
Appearing in a Manhattan courtroom, [Allen] Weisselberg, 75, acknowledged his part in the scenario [concealing certain financial compensation as part of what they called a years-long scheme to avoid paying taxes] outlined by prosecutors — and agreed to testify, if called, at a pending trial for the company. As part of his plea agreement, Weisselberg, Trump’s close and trusted associate for decades, would spend five months in jail, followed by five years of probation. . . .
The plea agreement “directly implicates” the Trump Organization in a “wide range of criminal activity,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“Furthermore, thanks to the incredibly hard work and dedication of the team prosecuting this case, Weisselberg will spend time behind bars,” Bragg said. “We look forward to proving our case in court against the Trump Organization.”[7]
Sheila McClear and Mark Berman, “Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump executive, pleads guilty to tax fraud,” Washington Post, August 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/
Coup attempt
Devlin Barrett et al., “FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/
Erik Larson, “Trump’s ‘Planted Evidence’ Claim Unlikely to Stand Up In Court,” Bloomberg, August 11, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-11/trump-s-planted-evidence-claim-unlikely-to-stand-up-in-court
Erin McCarthy, “Who is Rep. Scott Perry, the Trump ally from Pa. whose phone was seized by the FBI?” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 11, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/scott-perry-jan-6-trump-fbi-raid-20220811.html
Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/
Steve Peoples, “Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search,” Associated Press, August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-b5c2ee83bb655c43e1deb9c46f2a6020
Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral
Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, “Merrick Garland’s surprise announcement calls the Trump-GOP bluff,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/garland-announcement-trump-fbi-bluff/
Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/
Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha, and Sadie Gurman, “FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-recovered-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-in-trump-search-inventory-shows-11660324501
Lisa Rein, “Under fire, Homeland Security watchdog delays probe — with GOP help,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/12/joseph-cuffari-homeland-security-watchdog-investigation/
Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507
Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump calls for ‘immediate’ release of Mar-a-Lago warrant,” Associated Press, August 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-search-unsealing-the-warrant-5e00a3e6728cd77daa0d2180d078fcb6
Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/
Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy
Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584
Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/
Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292
Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/
Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/
Isaac Arnsdorf et al., “Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing ‘No,’” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/trump-lawyers-fbi-raid/
Natalie Andrews, “Liz Cheney Concedes to Trump-Backed Challenger in Wyoming Primary,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-faces-uphill-fight-in-primary-against-trump-backed-opponent-11660642201
Matt Ford, “Trump’s Republican Defenders Inexplicably Forgot To Expect the Worst,” New Republic, August 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/167422/gop-response-mar-a-lago-search
Lauren Gambino, “Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount,” Guardian, August 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/donald-trump-search-affidavit-legal-cases
Julia Ioffe, “The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu,” Puck News, August 16, 2022, https://puck.news/the-c-i-a-s-trump-deja-vu/
David Klepper, “Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence,” Associated Press, August 16, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-social-media-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-31741bb13f708ee68b523592623341eb
Maria Sacchetti, “Homeland Security watchdog Cuffari faces rebukes from lawmakers in missing texts case,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/missing-secret-service-texts-cuffari/
Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, and David Weigel, “Trump’s dominance in GOP comes into focus, worrying some in the party,” Washington Post, August 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/17/trump-cheney-wyoming-republicans/
Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, “Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/
Jordan Libowitz and Sara Wiatrak, “The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/
Molly Jong-Fast, “The People Who Can’t Stop Making Excuses for Trump,” Atlantic, August 18, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62fd7788da4cea0020f4345e/trump-fbi-search-rand-paul-espionage-act/
- [1]Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, “California is at risk of a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities prepared for it?” Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article264571831.html↩
- [2]Matthew Cappucci, “A ‘megaflood’ in California could drop 100 inches of rain, scientists warn,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/12/megaflood-california-flood-rain-climate/↩
- [3]Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, “California is at risk of a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities prepared for it?” Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article264571831.html↩
- [4]Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, “California is at risk of a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities prepared for it?” Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article264571831.html↩
- [5]William D. Cohan, “The Billion-Dollar Trump-Wall Street Mystery,” Puck News, April 6, 2022, https://puck.news/the-billion-dollar-trump-wall-street-mystery/; Jane Mayer, “Why Does New York’s Criminal Investigation of Donald Trump Appear All But Over?” New Yorker, February 24, 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-does-new-yorks-criminal-investigation-of-donald-trump-appear-all-but-over; Corinne Ramey and Deanna Paul, “Two Prosecutors in New York Investigation of Donald Trump Resign,” Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-prosecutors-in-new-york-investigation-of-donald-trump-resign-11645650257; Corinne Ramey and Deanna Paul, “Ex-Manhattan Prosecutor Who Resigned Said He Believed Trump Committed Numerous Felonies,” Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-manhattan-prosecutor-who-resigned-said-he-believed-trump-committed-numerous-felonies-11648087035↩
- [6]Sheila McClear and Mark Berman, “Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump executive, pleads guilty to tax fraud,” Washington Post, August 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/↩
- [7]Sheila McClear and Mark Berman, “Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump executive, pleads guilty to tax fraud,” Washington Post, August 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/↩