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Donald Trump has been back at his habitual tweet storming this week, threatening the news media (again/still) and suggesting that network licenses should be revoked "if appropriate".
Huh?
Yep, it's the latest episode in the ongoing saga of The President v The Press.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
There was also this comment, during a meeting with Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office.
"It's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write," he said.
This sparked howls of protest from all and sundry questioning the President's understanding of the First Amendment.
You get the drift. So, we're back to a version of American normal then, post the spate of natural disasters, right?
Mmm, not so much.
Bushfires hit California and Puerto Rico struggles to recover
California has been hit with a wave of devastating bushfires which have cut through the prime wine growing regions north of San Francisco, burning thousands of properties and killing dozens.
Hundreds of people have been injured, many are homeless and hundreds remain missing (at least in part due to downed communications.)
It's more rough news for communities and emergency services in a nation that's experienced multiple hurricanes, a mass shooting and now a bushfire disaster in the space of just a few weeks.
And just on that, there's the ongoing issue of Puerto Rico.
The island territory's governor said:
And emergency agency FEMA said:
Note that about 80 per cent of Puerto Ricans still have no electricity, about half have no phone service and millions are still without safe water supplies.
There's been a deadly outbreak of leptospirosis — which is contracted via contact with animal urine, commonly via contaminated food and water — and there are reports people are drinking from wells affected by hazardous waste.
All of this is happening because of a storm that hit A MONTH AGO.
Sigh.
(That said, the House has passed a $US36.5 billion disaster relief package for hurricane-hit areas, but it won't face the Senate until next week at the earliest. Fingers crossed.)
Harvey Weinstein scandal rocking Hollywood
Speaking of storms, there's another one in Hollywood after a series of explosive articles about the behaviour of high-flying producer Harvey Weinstein.
It began with this piece in The New York Times in which several women alleged they had been paid off over decades after making claims of sexual harassment and assault against the producer.
It was then followed up with an extensive piece in The New Yorker detailing a series of allegations by more women about his vile behaviour.
Weinstein has been fired by his company since the revelations, which have tapped a rich well of actresses who are now shoulder to shoulder adding their own experiences to the stories told in print.
His behaviour towards women was well known in Hollywood, although several actors including George Clooney have claimed they thought him lecherous rather than dangerous.
It's opened a huge Pandora's Box about who knew what, when, who was protecting who, why news organisations (who had previously investigated Weinstein) didn't publish earlier and why the whole sordid culture of a powerful producer demanding sexual favours and threatening to ruin careers if they weren't given has been tolerated for so long.
This one has some way to run yet peeps.
ICYMI, this is what else happened this week
US may withdraw from UNESCO
The State Department says the United States will withdraw from UNESCO at the end of 2018 due to a so-called "anti-Israel bias".
It's the second time the US has withdrawn from the body it helped to establish after World War II — the first was in 1984 under the Reagan administration due to a perceived "pro-Soviet" bias of the organisation
Iran Deal
There's also the declassification of the Iran Deal (which I'll be writing about elsewhere.)
US missed out on the World Cup
Oh, and the US (men's) soccer team missed the cut for the World Cup for the first time since 1986.
(This is pretty wow considering the population of America compared to those that did make it through.)
On a final sporting note
Congrats to Nathan Walker, the first ever Australian to play in America's National Hockey League.
After years of true dedication, including living away from his family since he was 13, Nathan played his first game for the Washington Capitals last weekend.
Nice guys DO finish first, right?
Until next week.
Topics: donald-trump, storm-disaster, disasters-and-accidents, information-and-communication, print-media, internet-culture, arts-and-entertainment, community-and-society, united-states