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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Coming to grips with Helene [1]

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Date: 2024-09-30  

Associated Press:

At least 64 dead and millions without power after Helene’s deadly march across the Southeast There have been hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. And the rescues continued into the following day in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where part of Asheville was under water. “To say this caught us off guard would be an understatement,” said Quentin Miller, the county sheriff. Asheville resident Mario Moraga said it’s “heartbreaking” to see the damage in the Biltmore Village neighborhood and neighbors have been going house to house to check on each other and offer support.

Our recent Connecticut flood was devastating enough, but minor compared to this (CT saw catastrophic flooding this summer. Here’s why you may not have enough insurance). But with climate change, 1 in a 1000 year storms seem to be every few years.

x Went to help in the Lake Lure/Chimney Rock area today, and it’s hard to describe - never seen anything like this. Post apocalyptic. It’s so overwhelming you don’t even know how to fathom what recovery looks like, let alone where to start. Going to be a long path to recovery that… pic.twitter.com/HnyxwyQB76 — Tariq Scott Bokhari (@FinTechInnov8r) September 29, 2024

This is reminiscent of what Andrew did to Homestead 32 years ago.

x 2/2

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will travel to North Carolina tomorrow.

The President also advised the FEMA Administrator that as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations, he intends to travel this week to impacted communities. — Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) September 29, 2024

This brief Twitter description from @oldscarf1stweek gives you an idea of both the devastation and the isolation:

Some thoughts and observations to the state and federal response to historic flooding in Western NC from Hurricane Helene Its not sinking in to outsiders, or it’s just so hard to comprehend that the countless roads in Western N.C. , simply no longer exist. The state and federal response has been ongoing, with over 1,000 personnel, including National Guard assets, deployed according to FEMA. Disaster Declaration for NC have been expedited, approved, but… Those crews cannot traverse over collapsed bridges, 100+ foot ravines that weren’t there before. Main interstates I-40 and I-26 have collapsed. Primary state routes are scoured. The secondary roads into neighborhoods are effectively eviscerated, for miles. Survivors *can’t* get out, help *can’t* get in.

This will be boat and air rescue for now. Information and help will slowly trickle in and out. And before you criticize folks for “not enough coverage” look to local news for the news that matters:

x Begging people asking for where the news is on any situation to google the local newspaper for the area.@asheville is Asheville@theobserver is Charlotte @newsobserver is Raleigh@knoxnews is Knoxville



Support local news pic.twitter.com/JvOBumo8kN — Kelcie Pegher (@klcpegher) September 29, 2024

Meanwhile:

x Former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake on why he's endorsing Kamala Harris: "Republicans believe in the rule of law in particular, and it's difficult to support a candidate who, having lost an election, tries to use the powers of the presidency to overturn that election." pic.twitter.com/sb47BUUXck — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2024

AZ Central:

Jeff Flake endorses Kamala Harris for president: 'I know of her character' Former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris because of his conservative values — not in spite of them — he said Saturday in an interview announcing his support for the Democratic presidential nominee. Flake, R-Ariz., is crossing party lines to endorse a Democrat for the second presidential election in a row. He backed President Joe Biden over former Republican President Donald Trump in 2020 and voted third-party rather than cast a ballot for Trump in 2016. “I'm a conservative. I believe in the rule of law,” Flake said during an interview at The Nile Coffee Shop in Mesa on Saturday afternoon. “First and foremost, I want to support a presidential candidate that respects the rule of law, somebody who, if they lose an election, wouldn't try to use the presidential powers to overturn that election.”

x omfg crying pic.twitter.com/2GOT9111SL — Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) September 29, 2024

We have moved from 'they are eating your pets' to this so quickly. Trump isn't running on the economy, he is running on "stand back and stand by":

x Trump in Erie, PA, says in US “the police aren’t allowed to do their job.”



To stop crime, you need “one really violent day.”



He says: “One rough hour and I mean real rough, the word would get out and it would end immediately.” — Sebastian Smith (@SebastianAFP) September 29, 2024

In case you missed it, Kev had a nice preview yesterday of tomorrow’s VP debate. Doubtful it changes the election trajectory (movement towards Harris) , but this is an oddball year. Guess that’s what happens when the GOP runs weird candidates.

USA Today:

Can Tim Walz's Midwestern charm work in Michigan? When it comes to politics, Safford voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Four years later, he said he felt he couldn't trust the sitting president of the United States to put the American people first and so he cast his 2020 ballot for Joe Biden. Here in 2024, Safford said he's excited to see Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as an alternative to an aging, 81-year-old Biden. At first, he didn't know much about Harris' running mate, Tim Walz. He was already going to vote for the Democrats, but when he learned about Walz's credentials — a native Nebraskan from a family of farmers, a former teacher and footballcoach, and a veteran — Safford said he saw himself in the Minnesota governor.

Wall Street Journal:

Hezbollah Misjudged Israel’s Weakness and Iran’s Might A succession of Israeli strikes have reset the military calculus in the Middle East, but it remains just as dangerous Israel was “shaking and trembling” in fear, “weaker than a spider’s web,” Hassan Nasrallah said. Unlike previous conflicts with the Jewish state, this war “was historic and decisive,” and all Iranian-backed resistance movements—from Lebanon to Syria to Iraq and Yemen—were duty-bound to participate, he said. Today, Nasrallah is dead, as is much of Hezbollah’s senior leadership. The remainder of the organization has been decimated by a succession of blows that showcased a stunning penetration by Israeli intelligence. In retrospect, this was the outcome of Nasrallah’s making two strategic mistakes: grossly underestimating Israel, his foe, and overestimating the abilities of his patron, Iran, and its network of allied militant groups in the region.

x People confuse hurting the enemy with safety, and this lesson never seems to be learned. Hopefully one day we’ll raise a consciousness that goes beyond violence = success. — Elad Nehorai (@EladNehorai) September 29, 2024

You can hold two thoughts in your head at the same time. This can also be thought of as tactical success, strategic failure. What’s the “next day” plan? How does the U.S. respond?

Micah Zenko/Foreign Policy (2014):

When Reagan Cut and Run The forgotten history of when America boldly abandoned ship in the Middle East. In October 1983, after five Marines were killed in three separate incidents, National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane convinced the president to authorize the USS New Jersey to launch attacks against the Druze militia and Syrian forces on land. According to Powell, once the naval attack commenced, the Shiites “assumed the American ‘referee’ had taken sides against them. And since they could not reach the battleship, they found a more vulnerable target: the exposed Marines at the airport.” Within one week, Hezbollah-linked militants drove two truck bombs containing a half a kiloton of explosives into the Marine barracks at the Beirut International Airport, killing 220 Marines and 21 other U.S. service members. In the months that followed, the Reagan administration discussed a range of options including striking back and fully withdrawing the Marines. retaliated against Hezbollah or their Iranian and Syrian sponsors responsible for the bombings, a position widely endorsed by senior military officials. Reagan never retaliated against Hezbollah or their Iranian and Syrian sponsors responsible for the bombings, a position widely endorsed by senior military officials. Reagan never retaliated against Hezbollah or their Iranian and Syrian sponsors responsible for the bombings, a position widely endorsed by senior military officials. As then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. John Vessey declared: “It is beneath our dignity to retaliate against the terrorists who blew up the Marine barracks.”

Since it covers criticism of inaction, you might think it was a hawkish piece until you get to the end:

Sending Marines to Lebanon for such an imprecise and unachievable end-state was a tremendous mistake. Reagan’s decision to tacitly admit that it was a U.S. foreign-policy failure, and to then undertake corrective actions, was an admirable trait rarely seen in policymakers or presidents.

x Trump, in Wisconsin, just said Biden became mentally impaired whereas Kamala Harris was “born that way.”



So that’s how the tone of the campaign is with about six weeks to go… — Niall Stanage (@NiallStanage) September 28, 2024

EJ Dionne/Washington Post:

This election, a struggle for the soul of American Christianity is key That’s why battleground North Carolina will be ‘ground zero for a faith war.’ From what you often hear, you might gather that the overwhelming loyalty of White evangelical Christians to Donald Trump renders Christianity a right-wing political force — and that’s the end of the story. Don’t try to tell this tale to Bishop Haywood Parker, the senior pastor at Truth Tabernacle Ministries here. “There are White evangelicals who will utilize the gospel and twist it in a way that works to their advantage and gives them a way to support Trump,” he told me last week. “But there are lots of us who don’t feel that way. When I’m told that if I support Kamala Harris that somehow, I’m anti-church, anti-Biblical, that really bothers me.” Parker is not alone. In fact, he represents another equally powerful, politically active Christian tradition shaping this year’s elections. Its most mobilized form is found in Black churches nationwide that preach the liberating power of the gospel and the biblical imperative of social and racial justice. Many Latino and White Christians adhere to that version of the gospel, too.

Pascal Sabino/Bolts:

Arizona GOP Asks Voters to Nullify the Judicial Elections They’ll Be Voting On Prop 137 would end judicial elections in Arizona, freezing its conservative supreme court in place. Progressives have been organizing to oust two justices who upheld an abortion ban. The Arizona GOP put Proposition 137 on the ballot in June, amid widespread outrage over the supreme court’s April decision to uphold a Civil War-era abortion ban. Within weeks of that ruling, the progressive group Progress Arizona launched a campaign to unseat two of the justices who sided with the majority and are up for retention this fall, Clint Bolick and Kathryn King, providing an outlet for voters put off by the decision and the court’s ideological makeup. Proposition 137, if it passes on Nov. 5, would nullify Bolick and King’s retention races that are taking place on the same day, as well as cancel future elections. The proposal is “a power grab,” said Abigail Jackson, digital director of Progress Arizona. “This was responding to the energy and the anger we saw around that decision. The extremist legislators who pushed the proposal forward did it with the intention of protecting these judges.” She added, “It is designed to take away our voices.”

x I’ve hesitated to say this at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, but with last week’s big GDP revisions, there is no denying it: This is among the best performing economies in my 35+ years as an economist. Economic growth is rip-roaring, with real GDP up 3% over the past year.… — Mark Zandi (@Markzandi) September 29, 2024

Tony Michaels and Cliff Schecter on hamburders and McDonalds:

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