Notes From The Boiling Point
We have reached the end of what is likely to be the hottest month in recorded history. There were wildfires and triple digit heat waves on three continents. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres offered a stark assessment of the latest data in a press conference on Thursday:
“For vast parts of North America, Asia, Africa and Europe – it is a cruel summer. For the entire planet, it is a disaster. And for scientists, it is unequivocal – humans are to blame,” Gutierres said. “All this is entirely consistent with predictions and repeated warnings. The only surprise is the speed of the change. Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”
Scientists have been shocked by the speed of the damage, including what is happening to vital ocean current systems. Despite the disturbing pace of climate change, even this roiling boil has not yet exceeded the very modest targets in the Paris Agreement, which is the most recent global action plan. And, of course, participation in that accord — including from the US — has been haphazard.
Sorry to be a downer, but we are headed nowhere good — and fast. On that fun note, let me share some more of what I was reading this week. I promise it’s not all heavy news.
There’s even more legal drama for former President Donald Trump in the form of new charges and a new defendant in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. Personally, I am far more interested in seeing the country and the legal system grapple with the more urgent misconduct from Trump’s administration, you know, the whole attempt to undermine the entire American democratic system. Still, this case is clearly an important one. The special counsel has obtained an exceptionally detailed body of evidence that appears to include recordings of Trump showing off files while admitting that they were “secret information” he did not have the power to declassify. Sources I have talked to in the Justice Department about the investigations into Trump since he left office have told me federal prosecutors were taking a deliberate approach and treating this as a traditional criminal investigation where they start with lower level players and work their way up. The newest defendant, a Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker, is an indication of this approach, which Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) noted has all the hallmarks of a “classic mob prosecution.” While this case might not get to the core issues posed by Trump, as we have seen in the past with both mafia bosses and a president, ancillary issues often can lead to consequential charges.
In other politics news, 81-year-old Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had some kind of episode during a press conference on Wednesday. The New York Times spoke to medical experts who indicated the widely memed moment was likely “a transient ischemic attack — a sort of mini stroke — or a partial seizure.” McConnell’s brain freeze led a lot of people to wonder whether we are living in a gerontocracy. (The answer is: Yes.)
Over at Talking Points Memo, I continued my coverage of Republicans’ awkward attempts to move from demonizing and lying about early voting and mailed ballots to promoting them.
Daily Dot obtained a “leaked archive” of messages from a group chat for writers from the online magazine Liberty Conservative. Some of the messages, which date from 2016 and 2017, contain racial slurs and holocaust jokes. Participants in the chat include prominent figures in Republican organizations and it is just the latest indication or the dark undercurrents swirling just below the surface of the current conservative movement.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of hip hop. The culture is generally regarded as having been born with the stylings of DJ Kool Herc at a “back to school jam” in The Bronx on August 11, 1973. Articles marking the occasion are starting to roll in including a massive interactive feature from the Times. As much as I hate linking to Elon Musk’s dumpster fire of a site, veteran rap writer and activist Harry Allen responded to that piece with a thoughtful thread over there where he pointed out the Times piece was led by two white writers and asked, “What does it mean when white people oversee the historical documentation of Black art & culture?” Allen notes this question is one that “should be raised and answered continuously, repeatedly, like a pressure gauge reads states within the contents of a pressure cooker.” I don’t do a lot of cultural coverage, but when I write about racial issues, this is something I try to keep at the front of my mind. For me, I think it is important for diverse stories to get out there, but as a white reporter, I always try to be aware when I am writing about something outside of my own experience and to bring in voices and expertise from within the community in question. Allen’s thread was a great reminder to me and others to continually check that pressure gauge.
Fifty six years ago this week, the riots that rocked Newark, New Jersey that summer were on the cover of LIFE magazine. The New Yorker just published a look at Bud Lee, the man who took the shocking picture of a young boy wounded by police gunfire and others that appeared in the magazine of military troops on the streets of an American city. There’s a new book out featuring Lee’s shots of the riots, which began after a Black cabdriver was beaten. I first learned about the unrest in Newark as an adult when I met the great Bob Herbert, who told me about how covering the riots helped start his career. It’s bizarre to me that I had not heard of this sooner. The bloodshed in Newark, which left 26 people dead and hundreds injured has always struck me as one of several episodes of midcentury unrest that should be a much larger part of our conversations and history curriculums. No member of the police force was ever charged for their role in the violence.
Wall Streeters are apparently turning Atlantic Beach, the Long Island town just east of the Rockaways into “the new Hamptons.” I have long appreciated the joys of the beaches near New York City and really hope they stay relatively secret a bit longer. I am fine with the finance bros taking over Atlantic Beach, which is mostly a bunch of private clubs and resorts. Let them have that one. Others are much, much better. I will not share my favorite area beaches here, but I will say that if you want some other great local recommendations, check out FOUND, a new newsletter from the folks who started Eater and Curbed that is mostly focused on the five boroughs and nearby environs.
This last week was a big one for me personally. I finally finished a book that I have been working on with the great Luppe B. Luppen. We’ll have more to share on that front soon and I am very excited to show it to you. In the meantime and in honor of hip hop’s fiftieth, let me close out this week’s edition of the newsletter with the music that was my soundtrack for this project and so much other writing: MF DOOM’s “Special Herbs” series.
DOOM is best known as one of the greatest rappers of all time, but he was also an incredible producer who made many of his own beats. Those tracks were compiled in his instrumental “Special Herbs” records. They’re a fusion of jazz, hip hop, and R&B that almost represent their very own genre. I have played all of these countless times and own them in every possible format. I hope you like them even a fraction as much as I do. See you soon.
Mortza m