🇺🇸 Smoke Signals

Plus, it's Flag Day!

June 14, 2023

The Flag

Good morning, and happy Wednesday. It’s not just your average “hump day”, folks. Today is Flag Day, the day when, in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” A century later, on June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held. In honor of Old Glory, here are 24 famous poems about the Stars and Stripes. 13 might be our favorite.

Plus, speaking of Flag Day, this Michigan town hosted the world's largest Flag Day parade this past weekend ahead of the holiday. They didn’t let a little rain stop them.

Also, today’s partner is a nightlife app that shows you what’s going on around town, in real time.

TRENDING

Left: This Is Nothing Like 'But Her Emails' Heather Parton, Salon

QUICK CLICKS

Trump Pleads Not Guilty, Biden’s Alleged Bribes, Doomsday Cult in Kenya

US: Trump pleads not guilty to federal charges that he illegally kept classified documents (AP) + Trump slams 'sham' indictment and 'deranged' special counsel in first remarks since Miami arraignment (Fox News)

US: Johns Hopkins University Says A Woman Is A ‘Non-Man’ In New Glossary (Daily Wire)

World: Borrowing US Tactics, Ukraine's Marines Thunder Through Russian Lines (Forbes) + Russian troops accidentally film themselves blowing up while joyriding through Ukrainian field (The New Voice of Ukraine)

US: Biden grins, chuckles when asked about alleged tapes of him getting bribed (NY Post)

World: Death toll from Kenyan doomsday cult crosses 300 (Reuters)

Entertainment: Whoopi Goldberg 'Wants' to Host 'Wheel of Fortune' After Pat Sajak (People)

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CLIMATE

Smoke Signals

Last week, a thick, smoky haze covered areas of the United States — the result of wildfires burning up in Canada. This resulted in dramatic images of red-orange skies, as well as increased risk for those with asthma, and generally reduced air quality.

From The Flag: Leading figures on the left have said the wildfires are a clear sign of climate change, as more extreme weather is considered a result of the process. But many have also been critical of Canada’s forest management, claiming there have not been enough prescribed burns in recent years. Here’s more from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Climate Change Smacks the East Coast Into Reality

  • Pollution “at a distance” is a sobering aspect of climate change that shows we need to take the threat seriously as a planet.

  • Climate change is forcing communities to expand their wildfire mitigation plans, while even “wet” areas must now worry.

  • This is a stark reminder that no one is spared from the risks associated with a warming planet — we all have to breathe.

As Smoke Darkens the Sky, the Future Becomes Clear David Wallace-Wells, New York Times Opinion: "The health effects of pollution far from its origin have not been studied in such detail, but this danger from a distance is changing the way we think about the menace of wildfire and of climate change. If 10 years ago Californians feared fire, more recently they’ve begun to fear smoke — even as every one of the state’s 15 largest recorded fires has taken place in the past two decades. Six of the seven largest have burned since 2020. Americans elsewhere in the country who have experienced that threat mainly by scrolling in horror through amber Instagrams and dashcam footage of drives through walls of flame are beginning to realize how much farther the threat can travel. But the smoke pouring in from the north may mark another perspective shift, away from the American West as the fountainhead of wildfire. Ten percent of the world’s forests rise up from Canadian soil... Increasingly, those forests look poised to burn."

Through a smoky haze, there’s a glimpse of the future Editorial Board, Washington Post: "This year’s blazes are off the charts. More than 173,000 hectares (upward of 430,000 acres) have burned in Quebec’s “intensive protection fire zone,” relative to a 10-year average of 247 at this time of year, according to Canadian officials. ... Dry foliage combined with high heat and wind encourages wildfires. While it often takes time to assess how much climate change contributed to a specific disaster, a national increase in wildfire activity is one of the most predictable effects of global warming. ... The lesson is that when natural systems are perturbed, the results can be severe. In the case of wildfires, that means more states and localities will have to consider adopting better forest management policies, drafting clear guidelines on when to close schools and other public services, and developing a bench of part-time firefighters ready to combat dangerous blazes."

One more opinion piece from the Left: Orange skies in New York? Welcome to our smoke-filled, climate-fueled future Editorial Board, LA Times

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Canada Can’t Blame the Climate for Forestry Management Failures

  • Canada’s lack of forest management through controlled or prescribed burns has led to this situation, not climate change.

  • The lack of controlled burns leads to even bigger wildfires — which then end up contributing even more CO2 to the atmosphere.

  • As usual, the media’s knee-jerk take on the Canadian wildfires was all wrong.

Smoky New York isn’t climate change — it’s bad forest management Miranda Devine, New York Post Opinion: "... don’t fall for the propaganda that climate change is to blame. The situation in Canada is similar to that in Australia, where green ideology and chronic government underfunding mean that the forests currently ablaze have not been managed properly for years. Instead of dead wood and undergrowth being removed regularly using low-intensity controlled or 'prescribed' burns, forests have become overgrown tinderboxes. Fire trails that used to allow first responders easy access to the forest have closed over as vast tracts of land are locked away from humans. Logging and other commercial practices that used to self-interestedly tend to forest health have been phased out. Back in 2016 when Parks Canada had planned just 12 prescribed burns for the year, Mark Heathcott, the agency’s retired fire management coordinator of 23 years, warned about the importance of the practice to prevent future wildfires."

Wildfires and Progressive Climate-Change Deniers Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: "Progressives are proclaiming that the smoky skies engulfing the eastern US from Canadian wildfires are another sign that the climate apocalypse is nigh. Instead, they’re a reminder that government policies to mitigate the impact of natural disasters matter more than those to reduce CO2 emissions. ... As of (last week), there were 415 active wildfires across Canada with 238 burning out of control. No doubt drought and a warm start to the summer have contributed, but the bigger culprit is poor forest management that has let fuel accumulate over decades. This hardly gets a mention in media reports, nor from anti-fossil fuel politicians. ... Government land management policies that prevent wildfires from spreading out of control, such as prescribed burns, would reduce CO2 emissions more than offshore wind or electric-vehicle mandates. Alas, this doesn’t fit with the climate left’s book of Revelation."

One more opinion piece from the Right: Wildfire Apocalypse, Not Steve Milloy, The Spectator

FLAG THIS

Survey Says: How Americans View Energy and Climate Change

Polling data from April regarding climate change shows 31% of respondents feel the US should completely phase out fossil fuels, while 67% say we should pursue a mix of energy sources, including both renewables and fossil fuels.

Younger respondents are more likely to prefer eliminating fossil fuels outright.

Along party lines, 87% of those who are Republican or Republican-leaning support a mix of energy sources, while Democrats are nearly evenly split 50-50 on the issue.

A majority overall (66%) support government encouragement of wind and solar power (Pew Research).

Is climate change most to blame for the Canadian wildfires?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

Learn How to Breath, Making Peace, Linguistic Illusions

The "Big Four" at the Paris Peace Conference on 27 May 1919, following the end of World War I. Wilson is standing next to Georges Clemenceau at right.

On June 14, 1917, as the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) travel to join the Allies on the battlefields of World War I in France, United States President Woodrow Wilson addresses the nation’s public on the annual celebration of Flag Day. Take a trip back in time and read what he said.

Today I Learned there have been 27 versions of the American Flag.

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