Heat Wave Havoc

Plus, centenarian graduate.

June 21, 2024

The Flag

Good morning! Happy Friday! Here are the Flag’s Top Five stories that should be on your radar to start the day:

  • US: Supreme Court rejects challenge to tax on foreign corporate investments (NBC News)

  • World: Putin signs deals with Vietnam in bid to shore up ties in Asia to offset Moscow’s growing isolation (AP)

  • Business: American Airlines CEO vows to "rebuild trust" after removal of Black passengers (CBS News)

  • Technology: OpenAI’s former chief scientist is starting a new AI company (The Verge)

  • Sports: Caitlin Clark notches 2nd career double-double, Aliyah Boston scores 22 points as Fever win 3rd straight game (FOX News)

And of course, some good news: 105-year-old dons cap and gown, receives overdue degree from Stanford University.

POWERED BY GUNDRY MD

There are two different types of coffee drinkers in this world. Those who like to drink their coffee black. And those who like to add a little cream.

According to Dr. Steven Gundry, one of these options is more likely to disrupt digestion, and it might surprise you.

Check out his video to see how he recommends consuming coffee (and keep on watching for some other key digestive tips!)

Left: Biden's Very Smart Move on Immigration, Jill Filipovic, CNN

Right: Voters Don't Want an Eight-Year Presidency, Michael Barone, Washington Examiner

CLIMATE

Heat Wave Havoc

Today’s Top Story in One Sentence: Earlier this week, the National Weather Service warned that the Midwest and Northeast U.S. could experience a heat wave “notable and potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations.”

Reporting from the Left: Heat wave maps: How long the dangerous temperatures will last (ABC News)

Reporting from the Right: Growing heat dome to produce warmest temperatures in years with 100-degree readings in Northeast (New York Post)

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

We Need to Make Changes

The Top Argument From The Left: America needs a paradigm shift in how we respond to extreme heat, Mark Wolfe, CNN: “Current US strategies for keeping families cool, including access to cooling centers — temporary shelters during heat waves — may have worked when temperatures were lower and the duration of heat waves was shorter, but in today’s climate, these outdated cooling methods are inadequate. Weather-related deaths from extreme heat are more common than from those from hurricanes, floods, extreme cold and other natural disasters. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1,220 people die from extreme heat every year. … We need a full paradigm shift in policy to deploy the right solutions to the people who need them most. The cost of home cooling has been rising steadily for the last 10 years, in part because families need to purchase more electricity to cool their homes as temperatures continue to rise. … Low-income families will be at greatest risk of falling behind on their utility bills this summer, and therefore of facing utility shutoffs and suffering dangerous health effects of extreme heat exposure. … Long term, we need to invest in solutions that we know work and are cost-effective. During periods of extreme heat, cooling is not just a luxury that provides comfort, but a necessary measure that helps families across all income brackets, and especially low-income families, stay safe.

Honorable Mention #2: Extreme heat should inspire urgency, not doom, Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Climate Change Fear Mongering

The Top Argument From The Right: Alarmists Warn of ‘Heat Dome’ over U.S. Tied to Human-Induced Climate Change, Thomas D. Williams, PH.D., Breitbart: “The…assertion that in the U.S. most weather-related deaths “are caused by heat” does not stand up to scrutiny, however, since the majority of weather-related deaths come from cold, not heat. According to data published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over the past twenty years annual heat-related deaths in the U.S. have ranged between 0.9 and 3.6 per million people whereas cold-related deaths have ranged between 3.6 and 5.9 per million people. … The imbalance between heat-based deaths and cold-based deaths becomes even more apparent when looking at the global scenario, where cold-related deaths dwarf heat-related deaths by nearly ten to one. … Politically speaking, Americans leaning Democrat tend to view climate change as a much graver threat than Republican-leaning voters, according to the most recent polls. Last March, the Pew Research Center reported that ‘few Republicans see climate change as a top priority for the country. Just 12% of Republicans and Republican leaners say dealing with climate change should be a top priority for the president and Congress.’ By contrast, 59 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say climate change should be a top priority for the president and Congress and an even larger majority (78 percent) views it as a major threat to the U.S., Pew found.”

Honorable Mention #2: Millions of Americans Brace for Dangerous Heat Wave, Record-Breaking Temperatures, Gareth Vipers, The Wall Street Journal.

FLAG THIS

Global Temperature Anomalies

The average global land and ocean surface temperature for January 2024 was 1.27°C (2.29°F) above the 20th-century average, making it the warmest January in the 175-year global record. The year-to-date temperature anomalies for 2024 are compared to the ten warmest years on record, with 2023 leading the pack (National Centers for Environmental Information).

Additionally, the World Meteorological Organization estimates that there’s almost a one-in-two chance that average global temperatures from 2024 to 2028 will surpass the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) warming limit agreed upon in the Paris talks (Phys.org)

Do you believe this heat wave is, at least in part, attributable to human-induced climate change?

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WATERCOOLER

Ratification, Shaving Cream, Mammoths and Pyramids

On This Day in 1865, New Hampshire became the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land.

Today I learned woolly mammoths were still around when the Great Pyramid of Giza was built.

POWERED BY GUNDRY MD

There are two different types of coffee drinkers in this world. Those who like to drink their coffee black. And those who like to add a little cream.

According to Dr. Steven Gundry, one of these options is more likely to disrupt digestion, and it might surprise you.

Check out his video to see how he recommends consuming coffee (and keep on watching for some other key digestive tips!)

Reply

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