Chris Hedges's Blog, page 471

Ferocious Typhoon Slams Into Northeastern Philippines

TUGUEGARAO, Philippines — Typhoon Mangkhut slammed into the country’s northeastern coast early Saturday, with witnesses saying the storm’s ferocious wind and blinding rain ripped off tin roof sheets and knocked out power at the start of the onslaught.

The typhoon made landfall before dawn in the coastal town of Baggao in Cagayan province on the northern tip of Luzon island, an agricultural region of flood-prone rice plains and mountain provinces often hit by landslides.

More than 5 million people were at risk from the storm, which the Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center categorizes as a super typhoon with powerful winds and gusts equivalent to a category 5 Atlantic hurricane.

There were no immediate reports of major damages or casualties in the region, where a massive evacuation from high-risk areas was carried out over two days.

Associated Press journalists in a hotel in Cagayan’s capital city of Tuguegarao saw tin roof sheets and other debris hurtle through the air and store signs crash to the ground. Cars shook as wind gusts pummeled a parking lot.

With a huge raincloud band 900 kilometers (560 miles) wide, combined with seasonal monsoon rains, the typhoon was expected to bring intense rain that could set off landslides and flash floods. Storm warnings have been raised in almost all the provinces across the Luzon, including the capital, Manila, restricting sea and air travel.

Before it hit the island, Mangkhut was tracked late Friday with sustained winds of 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 255 kph (158 mph), forecasters said.

Even if the typhoon weakens slightly after slamming ashore, its winds will remain very destructive, government forecaster Rene Paciente said.

“It can lift cars, you can’t stand, you can’t even crawl against that wind,” Paciente told reporters late Friday in Manila.

In Cagayan’s capital city of Tuguegarao, residents braced for the typhoon’s fury by reinforcing homes and buildings and stocking up on food.

“It was busy earlier in the hardware store and people were buying wood, nails, tin wire, plywood and umbrellas,” said Benjamin Banez, who owns a three-story hotel where workers were busy hammering up wooden boards to protect glass panels.

A super typhoon wrought heavy damage to Banez’s hotel and the rest of Cagayan in 2016.

Ninia Grace Abedes abandoned her bamboo hut and hauled her four children to a school building serving as an emergency shelter. The 33-year-old laundrywoman said the 2016 typhoon blew away their hut, which they abandoned before the storm hit.

“If we didn’t, all of us would be dead,” Abedes said.

More than 15,300 people had been evacuated in northern provinces by Friday afternoon, the Office of Civil Defense said.

Concerns over massive storm surges that could be whipped inland by the typhoon’s winds prompted wardens to move 143 detainees from a jail in Cagayan’s Aparri town to nearby towns, officials said.

The typhoon hit at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in Cagayan, a major agricultural producer, prompting farmers to scramble to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba said. The threat to agriculture comes as the Philippines tries to cope with rice shortages.

After the Philippines, the Hong Kong Observatory predicts Mangkhut will plow into the Chinese mainland early Monday south of Hong Kong and north of the island province of Hainan. Though it is likely to weaken from a super typhoon to a severe typhoon, it will still pack sustained winds of 175 kph (109 mph), it said.

The observatory warned of rough seas and frequent heavy squalls, urging residents of the densely populated financial hub to “take suitable precautions and pay close attention to the latest information” on the storm.

The gambling enclave of Macau, near Hong Kong, suffered catastrophic flooding during Typhoon Hato last August that left 10 dead and led to accusations of corruption and incompetence at its meteorological office.

On the Chinese mainland, the three southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan are coordinating preparations, including suspending transport and moving people to shelter inland, the national meteorological agency reported.

Guangdong, China’s manufacturing hub, has set up 3,777 shelters, while more than 100,000 residents and tourists have been moved to safety or sent home.

The province has recalled more than 36,000 fishing boats to port, while train services between the cities of Zhanjiang and Maoming have been suspended and all ferry services between Guangdong and Hainan have been put on hold. Fujian province to the north of Guangdong is also closing beaches and tourist sites, the agency reported.

Philippine forecasters said the shifting typhoon could possibly blow toward Vietnam after it exits late Saturday or early Sunday.

In an emergency meeting Thursday, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte asked Cabinet officials from the north to help oversee disaster-response work and told reporters it was too early to consider seeking foreign aid.

“If it flattens everything, maybe we need to have some help,” he said.

Mangkhut, the Thai word for mangosteen fruit, is the 15th storm this year to batter the Philippines, which is hit by about 20 a year and is considered one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines in 2013.

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Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.

The Liberal Rehabilitation of George W. Bush Is Complete

George W. Bush is not the worst living American, but only because former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger still lives.

Bush was the worst president since James Buchanan. He presided over eight years of ceaseless disaster. We are still fighting his wars, which have, by conservative estimates, killed hundreds of thousands, and by others, a million or more. He destroyed Iraq and plunged the entire Middle East into a slow-motion apocalypse that will take a century to heal, if it ever begins to heal at all. His war in Afghanistan, ostensibly a direct retaliation or response to the 9/11 attacks, was as desultory as it was cruel and unnecessary.

He was by turns diffident and hectoring, vicious and stupid. He presided over the greatest economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. He fiddled while New Orleans drowned. He foisted every sub-Nixonian Washington vampire—people you thought had evaporated in puffs of dust, leaving nothing but gouty skeletons back in the Ford administration—onto an unsuspecting nation.

He spent what seemed like half his presidency “clearing brush” on his Texas ranch for a credulous press corps. He was the son of a president who became president in this stupid republic of ours—the spoiled scion of a New England political dynasty who pretended to be from Texas. Living through eight years of him was like living with tinnitus and a vague nausea.

He nearly choked to death on a pretzel. He was almost hit in the head by a shoe.

During the Obama presidency, he largely disappeared into a parody of idyllic retirement, puttering about his property and taking up painting. This became a gentle punchline, which should have warned of his inevitable rehabilitation.

A more discerning nation would have noted that he was not the first monster to fancy himself a bit of an artist. Laura, his wife, appeared occasionally in public to advance her literacy causes, and there were rumors that she and Michelle Obama had forged some sort of friendship. Yet W. had the decency to stay retired, at least until Trump’s political ascent, a bilious burp from the fever-swamp of the American national psyche. Suddenly, America decided that the inanities and malapropisms from the man who transformed torture from the sordid dark secret of its foreign policy to a matter of national masculine pride were charming markers of humble authenticity. Anyway, he respected “norms” and acted “presidential.”

But Bush was not nice or respectable. He was churlish, and he had a cruel streak. His back-slapping geniality masked a vicious disdain for difference. He could be a nasty frat boy, indifferent to suffering. He dressed up like a fighter pilot and played army man on the deck of an aircraft carrier with a “Mission Accomplished” sign in the background while his idiot viceroys and their teenage Heritage Foundation interns were looting the Iraqi state.

He was very much like Trump: a fussy, dandyish thug whom the national press—insolubly defensive about its own supposed liberalism and cosmopolitan fanciness—treated as an avatar of some sort of Real America, that Brigadoon-by-way-of-exurban-Indianapolis that appears out of the mists every time America suffers through another one of its terrible elections.

The online resistance, which would have been perfectly content to watch Clintons and Bushes trade the Oval Office for the next thousand years, nevertheless pined openly for the days of Dick Cheney’s insane co-presidency. It began with slight embarrassment: I can’t believe I actually miss George Bush; or, I never thought I’d say this, but …

But the death of John McCain—another nasty, ungracious, bullying piece of work who became a hero to the media despite his bad manners and despicable politics—hurried the whole Bush renaissance to its absurd apotheosis.

McCain despised Trump, a fine example of the tyranny of small difference, and did not invite him to his self-planned and preposterously overproduced funeral. Bush, despite defeating McCain in one of the most virulently racist primary campaigns since the end of the Jim Crow era, was invited, as were the Obamas. The two families sat together, and Bush was filmed passing some hard candy to Michelle. It became a meme.

Two weeks later, Bush was out campaigning for GOP congressional candidates, the same folks who have insulated Trump from any consequences for his various lies and grotesqueries; who have endorsed his disastrous and often racist policies; who have hustled through his scheming, incompetent nominees and promised to continue if given the chance.

Over the last year, a quickening pace of inside-the-palace books and articles have confirmed what should have been obvious all along: that the supposed “adults in the room”—the gray-faced military men and old-time GOP apparatchiks who clattered into the Trump administration under the guise of protecting the president from himself and the rest of us from the president—are ineffectual at best and active collaborators at worse. It is not so different from the Bush years, in which a man with obvious intellectual deficiencies and a poor grasp of the actual mechanics of governance was surrounded by, well, in some cases, the very same people. And this points to the fundamental underlying problem, the one no one who has ever sputtered, “This is not normal!” can admit or understand: The problem is the Republican Party.

The American Republican Party is the most right-wing, reactionary major political party in the so-called West. It is more right-wing than the Front National in France. It is more right-wing than Alternative für Deutschland in Germany or Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands. It is as authoritarian as the right-wing governments of Poland or Hungary, whose anti-judicial coups are of a piece with GOP efforts in West Virginia, in Florida, in North Carolina and, increasingly (although with infuriating Democratic compliance), in the federal judiciary.

It is as incoherently nativist as any European blood-and-soil party. It is firmly committed to destroying the last vestiges of the welfare state, and in its growing opposition to any public institutions—schools, libraries, universities, transportation, public housing—it is effectively committed to the actual destruction of civil society. But George Bush gave Michelle Obama a Werther’s Original at a funeral, so I suppose we’re all in this together.

The project of the disempowered left is to resist rightist government, not to resist Donald Trump, who is just one more in a line of crooks and frauds coughed up to serve as a front man for this vile, venal party. Anyone who pours energy into a project of polite détente—whether a Twitter celebrity or a former Democratic first family—is a part of the problem and a part of the system we must struggle against.

Floods Likely to Worsen as Florence Stalls Over N. Carolina

WILMINGTON, N.C.—The Latest on Hurricane Florence (all times local):

5:50 p.m.

Swift-water rescue teams are assisting residents of one historic North Carolina community swamped by Hurricane Florence.

New Bern spokeswoman Colleen Roberts told The Associated Press more than 360 people had been rescued by midafternoon Friday, but another 140 were still waiting for help.

She says crews from the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency were working with citizen volunteers to get people to dry ground.

Roberts says there is widespread damage and power outages in the city but so far no reports of deaths or injuries.

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4:50 p.m.

Forecasters say Florence is now a tropical storm but will continue to threaten North and South Carolina with powerful winds and catastrophic freshwater flooding.

Its top sustained winds have dropped to 70 mph (110 kph), and it’s at a near standstill, moving west at just 3 mph (6 kph).

At 5 p.m., Florence was centered about 50 miles (75 kilometers) west-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, and about 25 miles (45 kilometers) northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles (280 kilometers) from its center. The National Hurricane Center says Florence is producing tropical storm-force wind gusts in Florence, South Carolina, about 60 miles from the coast.

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4:25 p.m.

South Carolina’s most popular tourist destination is riding out Hurricane Florence without major problems so far.

In North Myrtle Beach, rain has been falling nearly all day and tree branches and limbs are on some roads. The power is out on the main strip, but almost no vehicles are on the six-lane highway through the center of town other than police.

North Myrtle Beach spokesman Pat Dowling says three-quarters of the area’s 37,000 electric customers are without power.

To the south, Myrtle Beach was faring better. Power outages were spotty, and Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea says no significant property damage has been reported.

No areas in South Carolina reported problems with surge from the ocean as winds continued from the land pushing water away.

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4:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump is preparing to travel to areas affected by Hurricane Florence next week.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Trump will travel to the region “early to middle of next week.”

She adds his trip will take place “once it is determined his travel will not disrupt any rescue or recovery efforts.”

Aides say Trump has been monitoring the massive storm from the White House, and he has taken to Twitter to encourage those in its path to listen to their local authorities for how best to remain safe.

The storm, blamed for at least three fatalities, has inundated parts of the Carolina coast with heavy rain and high winds.

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3:05 p.m.

A mother and infant in North Carolina are dead after a tree fell on their home – the first two fatalities of Hurricane Florence.

The Wilmington Police Department said Friday that the two were killed when a tree fell on their house. The father was transported to a hospital for treatment. No other information was given.

The hurricane came ashore early Friday, pounding the state with torrential rain and high winds.

Forecasters have been predicting catastrophic flash flooding. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says more than 16 inches of rain have fallen at locations in southeast North Carolina and another 20 to 25 inches is on the way.

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2 p.m.

A weakening Hurricane Florence is almost at a standstill over southeastern North Carolina.

It just barely has Category 1 hurricane strength with top sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).

At 2 p.m., Florence was centered about 35 miles (55 kilometers) west-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, and about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east-northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was crawling west at 5 mph (7 kph).

The National Hurricane Center said Florence was forecast to keep moving farther inland across the Carolinas through the weekend before turning toward the central Appalachian Mountains early next week.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 kilometers) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 170 miles (280 kilometers).

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1:30 p.m.

The National Weather Service says 14 to 15 inches of rain has already fallen north of Swansboro, North Carolina and it’s only going to get worse.

Weather Prediction Center senior forecaster David Roth said catastrophic flash flooding is expected to continue to worsen Friday.

He said that the heavy rainfall for southeast North Carolina is only one-third to one-quarter the way over.

“Plenty of heavy rain remains in the future for this region,” Roth wrote in the weather center’s rain forecast discussion.

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1 p.m.

Flights are grounded at several airports in the Southeast as Hurricane Florence barges through the region.

By midday Friday, airlines had canceled more than 2,100 U.S. flights from the storm’s approach on Wednesday through Sunday, according to tracking service FlightAware.

The region’s two largest airports, in Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, had more than 200 cancellations on Friday. That’s about half the flights in Raleigh and one in eight at Charlotte.

That’s not much compared with last year’s Hurricane Harvey, which flooded runways at two major airports and caused airlines to scrub more than 11,000 flights in Houston alone.

The Federal Aviation Administration says Charleston International Airport in South Carolina isn’t expected to reopen until Monday night. Wilmington International in North Carolina expects to reopen at noon Saturday.

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12:25 a.m.

Florence’s total rainfall will likely be staggeringly huge.

Meteorologist Ryan Maue (MOW-ee) of weathermodels.com calculates that Hurricane Florence is forecast to dump about 18 trillion gallons of rain in seven days over the Carolinas and Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Maryland.

That doesn’t quite measure up to the 25 trillion gallons Harvey dropped on Texas and Louisiana last year. Maue says Harvey stalled longer and stayed closer to the coast, which enabled it to keep sucking moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.

Still, 18 trillion gallons is as much water as there is in the entire Chesapeake Bay. It’s enough to cover the entire state of Texas with nearly four inches (10 centimeters) of water.

That much rain is 2.4 trillion cubic feet (68 billion cubic meters). It’s enough to cover Manhattan with nearly 3,800 feet (1.1 kilometers) of water, more than twice as high as the island’s tallest building.

North Carolina alone is forecast to get 9.6 trillion gallons, enough rain to cover the Tar Heel state in about 10 inches (25 centimeters) of water.

Maue calculates that 34 million people will get at least 3 inches, with more than 5.7 million getting at least a foot and about 1.5 million getting 20 inches or more.

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11:55 a.m.

U.S. immigration officials say they won’t do any active enforcement during evacuations or in shelters during Hurricane Florence.

Homeland Security officials say Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are focused on the preservation of life and safety.

The Trump administration has stepped up arrests of people living in the country illegally, but during this storm they say they won’t enforce immigration laws unless there’s a serious public safety threat.

Immigration officers have been dispatched to help with response and recovery as Florence lashes North and South Carolina with life-threatening winds, rain and floods.

But Jeff Byard of the Federal Emergency Management Agency says saving lives is the priority, and anyone fearing for their safety should call 911 for help. Federal officials say they don’t want people to fear going to shelters.

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11:45 a.m.

North Carolina officials say parts of the state could experience a once-in-a-millennia flood as Hurricane Florence dumps rain for days to come.

Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday that Florence is “wreaking havoc” and he’s concerned “whole communities” could be wiped away.

He said parts of the state have seen storm surges as high as 10 feet.

Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon said the state is expecting 1,000-year “flood events” in areas between Wilmington and Charlotte.

Cooper said the state hasn’t seen any Florence-related fatalities so far, but he’s concerned about people’s safety as the storm continues.

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11 a.m.

Forecasters say the center of Hurricane Florence is hovering just inland near Cape Fear, North Carolina.

It remains a Category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), but stronger wind gusts have been reported.

At 11 a.m., Florence was centered about 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, and about 55 miles (90 kilometers) east-northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was crawling west-southwest at 3 mph (6kph), lifting huge amounts of ocean moisture and dumping it far from the coast.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles (315 km).

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10:40 a.m.

Rising water forced a North Carolina TV station to evacuate its newsroom in the middle of Hurricane Florence coverage.

Hours before the storm made landfall Friday, workers at New Bern’s WCTI-TV NewsChannel 12 had to abandon their studio.

A spokesperson for the ABC affliciate said roads around the building were flooding.

The weater service later measured a storm surge 10 feet deep in the city, which lies on the Neuse River near the Atlantic coast. It’s about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northeast of Wrightsville Beach, where Florence made landfall at 7:15 a.m. Friday.

Video posted on Twitter showed a meteorologist telling viewers they’d be taken to coverage from sister station WPDE in Myrtle Beach.

Just after midnight, the station tweeted that everyone had safely evacuated.

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10:15 a.m.

Rivers are rising on the north side of Hurricane Florence as the storm swirls counter-clockwise, pushing a surge of ocean water far in from the coast.

Rainfall also is swelling waterways: Meteorologist Ryan Maue of weathermodels.com calculated that 34 million people in the U.S. are forecast to get at least 3 inches of rain from Hurricane Florence, with more than 5.7 million people probably getting at least a foot of rain.

In Washington, North Carolina, the wind-swept Pamlico River has risen beyond its banks and is flooding entire neighborhoods. Floodwaters submerged U.S. Highway 264, cutting off a major route to other flood-prone areas along the river and the adjacent Pamlico Sound.

Downtown New Bern, on the Neuse River also is flooded. The city tweeted early Friday that 150 people were awaiting rescue.

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10 a.m.

Federal officials are urging anyone who ignored orders to evacuate from Hurricane Florence to hunker down and stay put until the storm passes.

And they say people who are truly in an emergency should call 911, not just Tweet about it.

The disaster area was expected to get about as much rain in three days as the 1999 Dennis and Floyd storms dropped in two weeks.

About 9,700 National Guard troops and civilians have been deployed, with high-water vehicles, helicopters and boats. The Army Corps of Engineers were preparing to start work restoring power, installing temporary roofing and removing debris.

Charley English of the American Red Cross said anyone wondering how to help from afar can donate blood, registering first at their local Red Cross websites.

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9:30 a.m.

Wind speeds are kicking up far from the coast in central South Carolina as Hurricane Florence slowly makes its way along the coast.

The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of up to 21 mph (34 kph) on Friday morning in Columbia.

That’s about 220 miles (354 kilometers) from Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, where Florence made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane at 7:15 a.m. Friday, coming ashore along a mostly boarded-up, emptied-out stretch of coastline.

Wind gusts as high as 60 mph (96 kph) were recorded in the Myrtle Beach area.

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9:10 a.m.

Forecasters say the eye of Hurricane Florence is wobbling slowly southwestward just off the coast of southeastern North Carolina, near the border with South Carolina.

The hurricane’s top sustained winds have dropped to 85 mph (140 kph), while it moves slowly toward South Carolina at 6 mph (9 kph).

At 9 a.m. the center of the hurricane was about 55 miles (90 kilometers) east of Myrtle Beach.

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9 a.m

Energy Secretary Rick Perry says the U.S. electricity sector has been well prepared for Hurricane Florence even as hundreds of thousands of homes lose power in the storm.

Speaking during a visit to Moscow less than an hour after the hurricane made landfall in North Carolina, Perry says “we’ve done this many times before. We know how to manage expectations. We know how to prepare our plants for these types of major events.”

Perry says his department has been in contact with power companies and gas pipeline operators. He says that “over the years the state government and the federal government have become very coordinated in their ability to manage the pre-deployment of assets (and) the response to the citizens of those states, and we will soon be into the recovery.”

More than 415,000 homes and businesses were without power, mostly in North Carolina, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks the nation’s electrical grid.

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8:15 a.m.

Hurricane Florence is dumping rain on North Carolina and pushing a storm surge taller than most humans onto communities near the coast.

The center of the eye of the hurricane made landfall in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, and was moving slowly westward just south of Wilmington.

Coastal and river communities on the north side of Florence are getting the worst of the flooding as the hurricane swirls onto land pushing a life-threatening storm surge.

More than 415,000 homes and businesses were without power Friday morning according to poweroutage.us, which tracks the nation’s electrical grid.

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7:45 a.m.

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Florence has finally made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

The Miami-based center says the center of the eye moved ashore with top sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph), making Florence a Category 1 hurricane in terms of wind intensity.

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7:15 a.m.

Forecasters say the center of the eye of Hurricane Florence is about to make landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

It remains a Category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph), but a gust of 112 mph (180 kph) was reported just offshore.

The barrier island of Emerald Isle is under water, with ocean waves rolling in over a six-foot storm surge and crashing into homes.

At 7 a.m., the center of the eye was located about 5 miles (10 kilometers) east of Wilmington, moving west at 6 mph.

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7 a.m.

It’s about the water, not the wind, with Hurricane Florence making an extended stay along the North Carolina coast.

Forecasters say “it cannot be emphasized enough that the most serious hazard associated with slow-moving Florence is extremely heavy rainfall, which will cause disastrous flooding that will be spreading inland.”

Top winds were holding at 90 mph — that’s just a Category 1 hurricane — but some communities were already submerged in more than six feet of water as the storm drenched the coast.

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6 a.m.

National Hurricane Center: Florence about to make landfall in N. Carolina causing life-threatening storm surge.

The National Hurricane Center says Florence is about to make landfall in North Carolina bringing with it life-threatening storm surges and hurricane force winds.

As of 6 a.m., Florence was 10 miles (20 kilometers) east of Wilmington, North Carolina. Its forward movement was 6 mph (9 kph). Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles (150 kilometers) from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds up to 195 miles (315 kilometers).

The Miami-based center says Florence is bringing “catastrophic” fresh water flooding over a wide area of the Carolinas.

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5:50 a.m.

A North Carolina city says about 70 people have been rescued from a hotel whose structural integrity is being threatened by Hurricane Florence.

The city of Jacksonville’s statement says people have been moved to the city’s public safety center as officials work to find a more permanent shelter.

Officials found a basketball-sized hole in the hotel wall and other life-threatening damage, with some cinder blocks crumbling and parts of the roof collapsing.

None of the people rescued were injured.

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5:00 a.m.

The National Hurricane Center says Florence is about to make landfall in North Carolina bringing with it life-threatening storm surges and hurricane force winds.

As of 5 a.m., Florence was 25 miles (55 kilometers) east of Wilmington, North Carolina. Its forward movement was 6 mph (9 kph). Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles (150 kilometers) from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds up to 195 miles (315 kilometers).

The Miami-based center had said earlier Friday Florence’s arrival would come with “catastrophic” fresh water flooding over portions of the Carolinas.

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4:25 a.m.

A North Carolina city situated between two rivers says it has around 150 people waiting to be rescued from rising flood waters from Hurricane Florence.

WXII-TV reports the city of New Bern said Friday that two out-of-state FEMA teams were working on swift-water rescues and more teams were on the way. City spokeswoman Colleen Roberts tells WRAL-TV that 200 people have already been rescued.

The National Hurricane Center says the Neuse River near the city is recording more than 10 feet (3.05 meters) of inundation. Roberts says the storm surge continues to increase as Florence passes over the area.

The city warns that people “may need to move up to the second story” but tells them to stay put as “we are coming to get you.”

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4 a.m.

The National Hurricane Center says the eyewall of Hurricane Florence is beginning to reach the North Carolina coast.

As of 4 a.m., Florence was 30 miles (45 kilometers) east of Wilmington, North Carolina. Its forward movement was 6 mph (9 kph). Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles (150 kilometers) from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds up to 195 miles (315 kilometers).

Forecasters said conditions will deteriorate as the storm pushes ashore early Friday near the North Carolina-South Carolina line and makes its way slowly inland.

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3:30 a.m.

Life-threatening storm surge is being reported along the coast of the Carolinas.

The National Hurricane Center said early Friday that a gauge in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, recently reported 6.3 feet (1.92 meters) of inundation. Emerald Isle is about 84 miles (135 kilometers) north of Wilmington.

As of 3 a.m., Florence hadn’t moved and was still centered about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east of Wilmington, North Carolina. Its forward movement increased slightly to 6 mph (9 kph). Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles (150 kilometers) from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds up to 195 miles (315 kilometers).

Forecasters say the combination of a life-threatening storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.

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2 a.m.

The National Hurricane Center says that “catastrophic” freshwater flooding is expected over portions of the Carolinas as Hurricane Florence inches closer to the U.S. East Coast.

The now Category 1 storm’s intensity diminished as it neared land, with winds dropping to 90 mph (135 kph) by nightfall. But that, combined with the storm’s slowing forward movement and heavy rains, had Gov. Roy Cooper warning of an impending disaster.

As of 2 a.m., Florence was centered about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east of Wilmington, North Carolina. Its forward movement increased slightly to 6 mph (9 kph). Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles (150 kilometers) from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds up to 195 miles (315 kilometers).

Forecasters say the combination of a life-threatening storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.

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11 p.m.

Hurricane Florence already has inundated coastal streets with ocean water and left tens of thousands without power, and more is to come.

Screaming winds bent trees and raindrops flew sideways as Florence’s leading edge battered the Carolina coast Thursday.

The storm’s intensity diminished as it neared land, with winds dropping to 90 mph (135 kph) by nightfall. But that, combined with the storm’s slowing forward movement and heavy rains, had Gov. Roy Cooper warning of an impending disaster.

Forecasters said Florence’s surge could cover all but a sliver of the Carolina coast under as much as 11 feet (3.4 meters) of ocean water, and days of downpours could unload more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) of rain, touching off severe flooding.

Fired Muslim Workers Win $1.5 Million Settlement

DENVER—A big U.S. meatpacker has agreed to pay $1.5 million to 138 Somali-American Muslim workers who were fired from their jobs at a Colorado plant after they were refused prayer breaks, a federal anti-discrimination agency said Friday.

Cargill Meat Solutions, a division of Minnesota-based agribusiness company Cargill Corp., also agreed to train managers and hourly workers in accommodating Muslim employees’ prayer breaks at its Fort Morgan beef processing plant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.

Wichita, Kansas-based Cargill denies wrongdoing but agreed to settle to avoid further litigation, the federal agency said. The dispute dates back to the firings of the workers in late 2016 after management rescinded policies allowing Muslim employees to take short breaks for prayer.

In 2017, the agency found that the workers had been harassed and discriminated against for protesting the unannounced policy change that denied them opportunities for obligatory prayer. Hundreds of Somali-Americans work at the plant in Fort Morgan, northeast of Denver.

In a related announcement, a Teamsters union local that was supposed to represent the workers will pay them $153,000 to settle discrimination complaints.

The federal agency said it determined that Teamsters Local Union No. 455, based in Denver and in Fort Morgan, failed to advocate for the Muslim workers in their dispute with Cargill and even harassed them because of their race, religion and national origin. The workers were dues-paying union members.

Union officials denied wrongdoing. But the local unit agreed to pay the workers, undergo training in handling grievances, and publicize employee rights to be free of discrimination based on race or national origin.

“In its capacity as a bargaining representative for its members, labor unions have an obligation to represent their members regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability,” Elizabeth Cadle, the federal agency’s regional district director, said in a statement.

Like other U.S. firms that employ Muslim line workers at meatpacking and processing plants, Cargill managers must balance religious accommodations with demands of processing meat in an operation that frequently runs 24 hours. Managing possible disruptions not only slow production but can create safety issues for line workers.

“Providing our employees with religious accommodation is an important part of engaging and supporting our employees, and our policy has remained consistent for more than 10 years,” Cargill Meat Solutions president Brian Sikes said in a statement.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, and Qusair Mohamedbhai, a Denver attorney who represented the workers praised the settlement.

Mohamedbhai said in a statement that he welcomed “Cargill’s commitment to continue to communicate its longstanding prayer accommodation practices.”

Kavanaugh Denies Allegation of Sexual Misconduct During His Youth

WASHINGTON—Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Friday denied a sexual misconduct allegation from when he was in high school.

In a statement released by the White House, Kavanaugh said: “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”

Kavanaugh’s statement comes after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she has notified federal investigators about information she received about the nominee but won’t disclose publicly.

The New Yorker reported the alleged incident took place at a party when Kavanaugh, now 53, was attending Georgetown Preparatory School. The woman making the allegation attended a nearby school.

The magazine says the woman sent a letter about the allegation to Democrats. A Democratic aide and another person familiar with the letter confirmed Friday to The Associated Press that the allegation is sexual in nature. Two other people familiar with the matter confirmed to the AP that the alleged incident happened in high school. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The AP has not confirmed the details of the alleged incident in The New Yorker’s account.

Rallying to Kavanaugh’s defense, 65 women who knew him in high school issued a letter, released by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying he has “always treated women with decency and respect.”

“We are women who have known Brett Kavanaugh for more than 35 years and knew him while he attended high school between 1979 and 1983,” wrote the women, who said most of them had attended all-girl high schools in the area. “For the entire time we have known Brett Kavanaugh, he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect.”

The Judiciary Committee, which has finished confirmation hearings for Kavanagh, is scheduled to vote next Thursday on whether to recommend that he be confirmed by the full Senate.

The White House called Feinstein’s move an “11th hour attempt to delay his confirmation.”

The California Democrat said in a statement Thursday that she “received information from an individual concerning the nomination.” She said the person “strongly requested confidentiality, declined to come forward or press the matter further, and I have honored that decision.”

The FBI confirmed that it received the information Wednesday evening and included it in Kavanaugh’s background file, which is maintained as part of his nomination. The agency said that is its standard process.

Feinstein’s statement that she has “referred the matter to federal investigative authorities” jolted Capitol Hill and threatened to disrupt what has been a steady path toward confirmation for Kavanaugh by Republicans eager to see the conservative judge on the court.

Feinstein has held the letter close. Democratic senators on the panel met privately Wednesday evening and discussed the information, according to Senate aides who were not authorized to discuss the situation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Some senators, including the No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, learned about the information for the first time at the meeting, according to one of the aides.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., declined to confirm reports that the congresswoman had forwarded a letter containing the allegations to Feinstein. She said her office has a confidentiality policy regarding casework for constituents.

A White House spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec, said the FBI has vetted Kavanaugh “thoroughly and repeatedly” during his career in government and the judiciary.

She said Kavanaugh has had 65 meetings with senators — including with Feinstein — sat through over 30 hours of testimony and publicly addressed more than 2,000 questions. “Not until the eve of his confirmation has Sen. Feinstein or anyone raised the specter of new ‘information’ about him,” she said.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican and a member of the committee, was also skeptical.

“Let me get this straight: this is (sic) statement about secret letter regarding a secret matter and an unidentified person. Right,” he tweeted.

Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was unaware of the information until it was made public, according to a GOP committee aide. Kavanaugh has undergone six federal background checks over time in government, including one most recently for the nomination, the aide said.

The new information on Kavanaugh was included Thursday in his confidential background file at the committee and is now available for senators to review, the aide said.

Democrats don’t have the votes to block Kavanaugh’s nomination if Republicans are unified in favor of it.

___

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Michael Balsamo, Mary Clare Jalonick, Zeke Miller and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

Manafort Pleads Guilty, Will Cooperate in Russia Probe

WASHINGTON—Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded guilty Friday to two federal crimes after cutting a deal with prosecutors and agreeing to cooperate with the special counsel’s Russia probe.

The move allows him to avoid a second criminal trial and ends Manafort’s more than yearlong fight against investigators in the Russia investigation.

Manafort was convicted last month of eight financial crimes in a separate trial in Virginia and faces 7 to 10 years in prison in that case.

On Friday, prosecutor Andrew Weissman said in court that Manafort had struck a “cooperation agreement” and would plead guilty to charges related to his Ukrainian political consulting work.

“He wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life. He’s accepted responsibility. This is for conduct that dates back many years and everybody should remember that,” Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, said.

The charges do not relate to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which is the central issue in the special counsel’s investigation into possible contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Still, Friday’s move gives Mueller another successful conviction while allowing Manafort to avoid facing another costly public trial that this time focused on allegations that he acted as an unregistered foreign agent for Ukrainian interests.

Mueller also gained a key cooperator in Manafort, who participated in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer that Donald Trump Jr. took despite it being described as part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s campaign. A grand jury used by Mueller has heard testimony about the meeting.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the Manafort case has nothing to do with Trump.

“This had absolutely nothing to do with the President or his victorious 2016 Presidential campaign. It is totally unrelated.”

“The president did nothing wrong,” said Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s attorney, in a statement. “Once again an investigation has concluded with a plea having nothing to do with President Trump or the Trump campaign.”

Under the terms of Friday’s plea deal, prosecutors dropped the bulk of the charges against Manafort, filing new paperwork that includes just two counts that resemble in many ways the original allegations made in an indictment last year.

The charges include conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

It’s unclear how the possible deal might affect Manafort’s pursuit of a pardon from President Donald Trump. The president has signaled that he’s sympathetic to Manafort’s cause, and in comments to Politico, Giuliani said a plea without a cooperation agreement wouldn’t foreclose the possibility of a pardon.

Manafort has aggressively fought the charges against him and taken shots at his co-defendant, Rick Gates, who cut a deal with prosecutors earlier this year that included a cooperation agreement.

At the time of Gates’ plea, Manafort issued a statement saying he “had hoped and expected my business colleague would have had the strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence.” And during his Virginia trial in August, Manafort’s lawyers spent considerable time painting Gates as a liar, embezzler, philanderer and turncoat who would say anything to get a lighter prison sentence.

Pleading guilty allows Manafort to avoid a trial that was expected to last at least three weeks and posed the potential of adding years onto the seven to 10 years he is already facing under federal sentencing guidelines from his conviction in Virginia.

A jury found Manafort guilty of eight counts of tax evasion, failing to report foreign bank accounts and bank fraud. Jurors deadlocked on 10 other counts.

In the Washington case, prosecutors were set to lay out in great detail Manafort’s political consulting and lobbying work on behalf of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the pro-Russian Party of Regions.

Prosecutors say that Manafort directed a large scale lobbying operation in the U.S. for Ukrainian interests without registering with the Justice Department as required by the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. Manafort was accused of concealing from the IRS tens of millions of dollars in proceeds from his Ukrainian patrons and conspiring to launder that money through offshore accounts in Cyprus and elsewhere.

Manafort had denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty. Even after his indictment last October, though, prosecutors say he continued to commit crimes by tampering with witnesses. The discovery of his witness contacts led to a superseding indictment in June and Manafort’s jailing ahead of his trial.

In addition to the witness tampering counts, Manafort had been formally charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent, conspiring to launder money and lying to the FBI and Justice Department about the nature of his work. Court papers indicated that he could have faced between 15 and 19 1/2 years in prison under federal guidelines.

Online: Read the charges against Manafort: http://apne.ws/M1oQRia

A ‘Nervous Breakdown’ of the Executive Branch

“Fear: Trump in the White House”

A book by Bob Woodward

John Dowd was convinced that President Donald Trump would commit perjury if he talked to special counsel Robert Mueller. So on Jan. 27 the president’s then-personal attorney staged a practice session to make his point.

In the White House residence, Dowd peppered Trump with questions about the Russia investigation, provoking stumbles, contradictions and lies until the president eventually lost his cool.

“This thing’s a goddamn hoax,” Trump erupted at the start of a 30-minute rant that finished with him saying, “I don’t really want to testify.”

The dramatic and previously untold scene is recounted in “Fear,” a newly published book by Bob Woodward that paints a harrowing portrait of the Trump presidency, based on in-depth interviews with administration officials and other principals.

Woodward writes that his book draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand participants and witnesses that were conducted on “deep background,” meaning the information could be used but he would not reveal who provided it. His account is also based on meeting notes, personal diaries and government documents.

Woodward depicts Trump’s anger and paranoia about the Russia inquiry as unrelenting, at times paralyzing the West Wing for days. Learning of the appointment of Mueller in May 2017, Trump groused, “Everybody’s trying to get me”—part of a venting period that shellshocked aides compared to Richard Nixon’s final days as president.

Woodward, an associate editor at The Post, sought an interview with Trump through several intermediaries to no avail. The president called Woodward in early August, after the manuscript had been completed, to say he wanted to participate. The president complained that it would be a “bad book,” according to an audio recording of the conversation. Woodward replied that his work would be “tough,” but factual and based on his reporting.

A central theme of the book is the stealthy machinations used by those in Trump’s inner sanctum to try to control his impulses and prevent disasters, both for the president personally and for the nation he was elected to lead.

Woodward describes “an administrative coup d’etat” and a “nervous breakdown” of the executive branch, with senior aides conspiring to pluck official papers from the president’s desk so he couldn’t see or sign them.

Again and again, Woodward recounts at length how Trump’s national security team was shaken by his lack of curiosity and knowledge about world affairs and his contempt for the mainstream perspectives of military and intelligence leaders.

At a National Security Council meeting Jan. 19, Trump disregarded the significance of the massive U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula, including a special intelligence operation that allows the United States to detect a North Korean missile launch in seven seconds (versus 15 minutes from Alaska), according to Woodward. Trump questioned why the government was spending resources in the region at all.

“We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told him.

After Trump left the meeting, Woodward recounts, “Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like—and had the understanding of—‘a fifth- or sixth-grader.'”

In Woodward’s telling, many top advisers were repeatedly unnerved by Trump’s actions and expressed dim views of him. “Secretaries of defense don’t always get to choose the president they work for,” Mattis told friends at one point, prompting laughter as he explained Trump’s tendency to go off on tangents about subjects such as immigration and the news media.

Inside the White House, Woodward portrays an unsteady executive detached from the conventions of governing and prone to snapping at high-ranking staff members, whom he unsettled and belittled on a daily basis.

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly frequently lost his temper and told colleagues that he thought the president was “unhinged,” Woodward writes. In one small group meeting, Kelly said of Trump: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”

Reince Priebus, Kelly’s predecessor, fretted that he could do little to constrain Trump from sparking chaos. Woodward writes that Priebus dubbed the presidential bedroom, where Trump obsessively watched cable news and tweeted, “the devil’s workshop,” and said early mornings and Sunday evenings, when the president often set off tweetstorms, were “the witching hour.”

Trump apparently had little regard for Priebus. He once instructed then-staff secretary Rob Porter to ignore Priebus, even though Porter reported to the chief of staff, saying that Priebus was “‘like a little rat. He just scurries around.'”

Few in Trump’s orbit were protected from the president’s insults. He often mocked former national security adviser H.R. McMaster behind his back, puffing up his chest and exaggerating his breathing as he impersonated the retired Army general, and once said McMaster dresses in cheap suits, “like a beer salesman.”

Trump told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a wealthy investor eight years his senior: “I don’t trust you. I don’t want you doing any more negotiations. … You’re past your prime.”

A near-constant subject of withering presidential attacks was Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump told Porter that Sessions was a “traitor” for recusing himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, Woodward writes. Mocking Sessions’ accent, Trump added, “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner.  … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”

At a dinner with Mattis and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among others, Trump lashed out at a vocal critic, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. He falsely suggested that the former Navy pilot had been a coward for taking early release from a prisoner-of-war camp in Vietnam because of his father’s military rank and leaving others behind.

Mattis swiftly corrected his boss: “No, Mr. President, I think you’ve got it reversed.” The defense secretary explained that McCain, who died Aug. 25, had in fact turned down early release and was brutally tortured during his five years at the Hanoi Hilton.

“Oh, OK,” Trump replied, according to Woodward’s account.

With Trump’s rage and defiance impossible to contain, Cabinet members and other senior officials learned to act discreetly. Woodward describes an alliance among Trump’s traditionalists—including Mattis and Gary Cohn, the president’s former top economic adviser—to stymie what they considered dangerous acts.

“It felt like we were walking along the edge of the cliff perpetually,” Porter is quoted as saying. “Other times, we would fall over the edge, and an action would be taken.”

After Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017, Trump called Mattis and said he wanted to assassinate the dictator. “Let’s fucking kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the fucking lot of them,” Trump said, according to Woodward.

Mattis told the president that he would get right on it. But after hanging up the phone, he told a senior aide: “We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured.” The national security team developed options for the more conventional air strike that Trump ultimately ordered.

Cohn, a Wall Street veteran, tried to tamp down Trump’s strident nationalism regarding trade. According to Woodward, Cohn “stole a letter off Trump’s desk” that the president was intending to sign to formally withdraw the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea. Cohn later told an associate that he had removed the letter to protect national security and that Trump did not notice it was missing.

Cohn made a similar play to prevent Trump from pulling the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, something the president has long threatened to do. In spring 2017, Trump was eager to withdraw from NAFTA and told Porter: “Why aren’t we getting this done? Do your job. It’s tap, tap, tap. You’re just tapping me along. I want to do this.”

Under orders from the president, Porter drafted a notification letter withdrawing from NAFTA. But he and other advisers worried that it could trigger an economic and foreign relations crisis. So Porter consulted Cohn, who told him, according to Woodward: “I can stop this. I’ll just take the paper off his desk.”

Despite repeated threats by Trump, the United States has remained in both pacts. The administration continues to negotiate new terms with South Korea as well as with its NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico.

Cohn came to regard the president as “a professional liar” and threatened to resign in August 2017 over Trump’s handling of a deadly white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Cohn, who is Jewish, was especially shaken when one of his daughters found a swastika on her college dorm room.

Trump was sharply criticized for initially saying that “both sides” were to blame. At the urging of advisers, he then condemned white supremacists and neo-Nazis, but almost immediately told aides, “That was the biggest fucking mistake I’ve made” and the “worst speech I’ve ever given,” according to Woodward’s account.

When Cohn met with Trump to deliver his resignation letter after Charlottesville, the president told him, “This is treason,” and persuaded his economic adviser to stay on. Kelly then confided to Cohn that he shared Cohn’s horror at Trump’s handling of the tragedy—and shared Cohn’s fury with Trump.

“I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his ass six different times,” Kelly told Cohn, according to Woodward. Kelly himself has threatened to quit several times, but has not done so.

Woodward illustrates how the dread in Trump’s orbit became all-encompassing over the course of Trump’s first year in office, leaving some staff members and Cabinet members confounded by the president’s lack of understanding about how government functions and his inability and unwillingness to learn.

At one point, Porter, who departed in February amid domestic-abuse allegations, is quoted as saying, “This was no longer a presidency. This is no longer a White House. This is a man being who he is.”

Such moments of panic are a routine feature, but not the thrust of Woodward’s book, which mostly focuses on substantive decisions and internal disagreements, including tensions with North Korea as well as the future of U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

Woodward recounts repeated episodes of anxiety inside the government over Trump’s handling of the North Korean nuclear threat. One month into his presidency, Trump asked Dunford for a plan for a preemptive military strike on North Korea, which rattled the combat veteran.

In the fall of 2017, as Trump intensified a war of words with Kim Jong Un, nicknaming North Korea’s dictator “Little Rocket Man” in a speech at the United Nations, aides worried the president was provoking Kim. But, Woodward writes, Trump told Porter that he saw the situation as a contest of wills: “This is all about leader versus leader. Man versus man. Me versus Kim.”

The book also details Trump’s impatience with the war in Afghanistan, which had become America’s longest conflict. At a July 2017 National Security Council meeting, Trump dressed down his generals and other advisers for 25 minutes, complaining that the United States was losing, according to Woodward.

“The soldiers on the ground could run things much better than you,” Trump told them. “They could do a much better job. I don’t know what the hell we’re doing.” He went on to ask, “How many more deaths? How many more lost limbs? How much longer are we going to be there?”

The president’s family members, while sometimes touted as his key advisers by other Trump chroniclers, are minor players in Woodward’s account, popping up occasionally in the West Wing and vexing adversaries.

Woodward recounts an expletive-laden altercation between Ivanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter and senior adviser, and Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief White House strategist.

“You’re a goddamn staffer!” Bannon screamed at her, telling her that she had to work through Priebus like other aides. “You walk around this place and act like you’re in charge, and you’re not. You’re on staff!”

Ivanka Trump, who had special access to the president and worked around Priebus, replied: “I’m not a staffer! I’ll never be a staffer. I’m the first daughter.”

Such tensions boiled among many of Trump’s core advisers. Priebus is quoted as describing Trump officials not as rivals but as “natural predators.”

“When you put a snake and a rat and a falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal in a zoo without walls, things start getting nasty and bloody,” Priebus says.

Hovering over the White House was Mueller’s inquiry, which deeply embarrassed the president. Woodward describes Trump calling his Egyptian counterpart to secure the release of an imprisoned charity worker and President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi saying: “Donald, I’m worried about this investigation. Are you going to be around?”

Trump relayed the conversation to Dowd and said it was “like a kick in the nuts,” according to Woodward.

The book vividly recounts the ongoing debate between Trump and his lawyers about whether the president would sit for an interview with Mueller. On March 5, Dowd and Trump attorney Jay Sekulow met in Mueller’s office with the special counsel and his deputy, James Quarles, where Dowd and Sekulow reenacted Trump’s January practice session.

Dowd then explained to Mueller and Quarles why he was trying to keep the president from testifying: “I’m not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot. And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas are going to say, ‘I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?’ “

“John, I understand,” Mueller replied, according to Woodward.

Later that month, Dowd told Trump: “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.”

But Trump, concerned about the optics of a president refusing to testify and convinced that he could handle Mueller’s questions, had by then decided otherwise.

“I’ll be a real good witness,” Trump told Dowd, according to Woodward.

“You are not a good witness,” Dowd replied. “Mr. President, I’m afraid I just can’t help you.”

The next morning, Dowd resigned.

Philip Rucker is White House bureau chief for The Washington Post. Robert Costa is a national political reporter at the Post.

 ©2018, The Washington Post

Dear Carolinas: You Can’t Outlaw Our Climate Crisis

There has been a flurry of irony-heavy articles about how the North Carolina, Republican-dominated state legislature, in 2012 forbade state-employed scientists from talking about sea level rise and climate crisis.

This ostrich policy of just denying reality was intended to prevent real estate values along the coast from falling, and to forestall an abandonment of coastal development by businesses. But what it really did was encourage people to build along the coast without taking into account the likelihood of a 4 foot rise in the seas over the next few decades, and without taking into account the superstorms caused by global heating, especially of the waters.

Now, it is being intimated, the chickens have come home to roost, since the massive Florence Hurricane is bearing down on the Carolinas and points north.

But it isn’t just North Carolina. South Carolina some 9 years ago was presented with a report by the environment department’s Shoreline Advisory Committee. It mentioned sea level rise 43 times. Then the state appointed a blue ribbon commission to look into the issue. The Commission’s report took out all the references to the climate crisis and sea level rise when it issued its report in 2013.

It isn’t just at the level of the state. Charleston is one of the more vulnerable cities in the country to the effects of the climate crisis. It is low-lying and can easily get flooded out. Its city council also deep-sixed a government report warning that the city needed to take action on the climate issue.

The GOP’s reassurance that if only you don’t mention it in the newspapers, climate change won’t happen, may be goofy and endearing to some, but for most of the people in the world it ruins their chances of taking the climate crisis seriously and doing something practical about it.

Florence is the most massive and potentially most destructive hurricane to hit the Carolinas in recorded history. It is fed by warmer Atlantic waters that extend north further than was normal, fed by extra moisture in the atmosphere, and affected by the shifting of the jet stream north. All of these changes are caused by human beings burning coal, gasoline and natural gas and putting the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. CO2 in the atmosphere interferes with the radiation of heat from the sun, once it has struck the earth, back into outer space, keeping the extra heat down on earth.

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Carbon Removal Is Not Enough to Save the Climate

New studies from the US provide an answer to one of the thorniest questions facing climate policymakers: carbon removal will not replace stringent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions enough, they say, to avert the threat of global warming.

In a world making (so far) only halting progress to cut the pollutants that heat the planet through reducing emissions there is support for a different approach, using carbon removal and other forms of geo-engineering rather than emission cuts to remove the pollution already in the atmosphere, the oceans and the biosphere.

If we can be certain the gains will exceed the risks, then geoengineering might even let us avoid any need to cut fossil fuel emissions at all, its enthusiasts say. Could it really be the future?

Among all the uncertainties, few have stuck their necks out decisively either for or against carbon removal as the answer to warming – until now. But reports by a group of US analysts have changed that.

Carbon removal, they say, cannot on its own provide the answer, nor is it likely to do so. It may have a part to play in tackling the climate crisis, but there is no evidence that it will ever be able to replace emission reductions.

“There is no evidence that carbon removal could serve as a viable alternative to emissions reduction”

On 8 October the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is due to publish a report, Global Warming of 1.5ºC (the Paris Agreement on climate change calls for the temperature increase caused by climate change to be kept to a maximum of 1.5°C).

The IPCC is expected to say that to avoid dangerous levels of global warming the world must couple a rapid shift to a low carbon economy with efforts to capture and store some of the carbon already released.

So the analysts, from the World Resources Institute, are making a significant contribution to the debate. Their language is judicious, many of their judgments are carefully hedged, but their conclusion that simply trying to engineer our way out of trouble is not an option will carry considerable weight.

They explain their thinking in three research papers, focused on the US. One tackles what WRI calls “the big foundational questions” (for example, is carbon removal mission-critical, or simply a distraction?).

Other approaches

Another examines land management approaches and implications for forests and agriculture, while the third explores emerging technological solutionsdesigned to remove billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from the  atmosphere.

This paper also explores other possible ,approaches for carbon removal in the US, including bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS); direct air capture and storage (DACS); and several emerging technologies, including biochar, plant selection or engineering, enhanced weathering, and seawater capture.

The land management paper explores possible approaches for US carbon removal. The authors say there is untapped potential to increase removal in America’s forests and farms. But using these approaches on a large scale will mean addressing issues such as scientific uncertainty, and ways to encourage landowners to adopt new methods.

The paper on foundational questions says many possible approaches to large-scale carbon removal hold promise “but also face challenges and limitations”.

New resources

More widely, the authors write: “Although carbon removal has raised some concerns about the degree to which it might detract from ongoing efforts to reduce emissions, it has the potential to broaden the public policy agenda on climate change in ways that bring additional stakeholders and resources to the table”.

One concern they address is the question of who would control the technologies which some approaches   would need, a conundrum preoccupying many scientists. Others make the point that carbon removal may often prove a double-edged sword, offering both benefits and risks. For all that, some studies show that, in principle anyway, the concept works. And at least one group of scientists has found that carbon dioxide can yield a new fuel able to slow climate change.

But the WRI team’s conclusion appears definitive in a way few previous analysts have been able to reach. They say that emissions cuts must remain the main way humans tackle the climate crisis.

“For carbon removal to play a meaningful role in stabilising the climate, it must supplement, not become a substitute for, deep decarbonisation of the economy. There is no evidence that carbon removal could serve as a viable alternative to emissions reduction.”

Teacher Beats Incumbent in Democratic Primary for N.Y. State Senate

NEW YORK — The Latest on New York’s Democratic primary (all times local):

11:55 p.m.

A teacher and first-time candidate has defeated a longtime incumbent in the Democratic primary for the New York state Senate.

Rachel May beat state Sen. David Valesky in Thursday’s primary for the 53rd state Senate district. The district covers the part of the state that includes the Syracuse area.

May campaigned by saying she would be a “true champion for Democratic priorities.”

Valesky, in office since 2004, was one of eight state senators who formed a now-defunct Democratic splinter group that helped Republicans stay in control.

Members of the Independent Democratic Conference had broken with their party for several years to support Republican control of the chamber.

The split ended earlier this year, but former IDC members faced opposition from upset liberals.

The general election is Nov. 6.

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11:40 p.m.

The winner of a Democratic primary for attorney general in New York is taking aim at President Donald Trump in her victory speech, saying he “can’t go a day without dividing us.”

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James told supporters in Brooklyn on Thursday that they’re “in the middle of a fight to save our democracy.”

She says Trump “can’t go a day without threatening our fundamental rights,” or the rights of immigrants.

The 59-year-old would become the first black woman to hold statewide elected office in New York if she prevails in the general election.

The four-way primary amounted to a competition over who could best use the office to antagonize Trump. The office has several pending lawsuits challenging Trump.

The Republican candidate is lawyer Keith Wofford.

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11:35 p.m.

The Republican running for attorney general in New York is attacking Democratic nominee Letitia James as a “career politician” who will “uphold the corrupt status-quo.”

Keith Wofford made the criticism in a statement after James’ victory Thursday over law professor Zephyr Teachout, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and former Hillary Clinton adviser Leecia Eve.

James, the New York City public advocate, was endorsed by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and several influential unions and will be heavily favored in the November general election.

The little-known Wofford is a Buffalo native who’s worked as a lawyer in private practice for two decades. He’s a partner in a New York City law office.

He’s pitching himself as an “independent outsider” who will do what’s in the state’s best interests and an alternative to the political establishment.

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11:30 p.m.

A lawyer and activist who touted himself as a “real” Democrat has defeated an incumbent who had been part of a Democratic splinter group that helped Republicans keep control of New York’s Senate.

Zellnor Myrie defeated state Sen. Jesse Hamilton on Thursday in the Democratic primary for the 20th state Senate district. The district includes a number of Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Crown Heights, Park Slope and Sunset Park.

Hamilton was one of eight state senators who made up the Independent Democratic Conference. The IDC broke with Democrats for years to support Republican control of the chamber but reunified earlier this year.

Myrie and other challengers said voters shouldn’t accept Democrats not supporting their party.

There is no Republican candidate in the general election on Nov. 6.

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11:25 p.m.

Jessica Ramos, a community organizer and former aide to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh), has beaten an incumbent Queens state senator in the Democratic primary.

Ramos on Thursday ousted state Sen. Jose Peralta in the 13th state Senate district.

Peralta was among a group of eight members of a former Democratic splinter group facing primary challenges.

Members of the Independent Democratic Conference had broken with their party for several years to support Republican control of the chamber.

The split ended earlier this year, but former IDC members faced opposition from upset liberals, including Ramos, who said now is no time to be siding with Republicans.

There is no Republican candidate running in the general election on Nov. 6.

Peralta has been part of state government since 2002.

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11:15 p.m.

Former New York City Comptroller John Liu has defeated incumbent Sen. Tony Avella in the Democratic primary for the 11th state Senate district.

Liu’s victory Thursday came two years after he lost to Avella in a previous primary campaign for Senate.

In both campaigns, Liu attacked Avella over his participation in the Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference.

That group of breakaway Democrats split from the party for several years to support Republican control of the chamber.

The split ended earlier this year in a political deal brokered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but several IDC members faced a tough re-election challenge.

Their opponents say voters shouldn’t tolerate Democrats siding with the Republicans in the age of President Donald Trump.

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11 p.m.

Incumbent Kathy Hochul (HOH’-kuhl) has defeated Jumaane (joo-MAH’-nee) Williams in the New York Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.

Hochul, a former congresswoman from Buffalo, now moves on to the November general election as the running mate of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who first picked her to run beside him in the 2014 election.

Polls gave her a big advantage going into Thursday’s primary.

Hochul spent much of the campaign touting the Cuomo administration’s achievements while Williams, a New York City councilman, promised to serve as a check on Cuomo if elected.

Under New York law, candidates for lieutenant governor and governor run separately during the primary but as a single ticket in the general election.

Julie Killian is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor and will run alongside Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro.

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10:55 p.m.

Cynthia Nixon says she has called New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to congratulate him on his victory in their hard-fought Democratic primary.

The longtime political activist and former “Sex and the City” star thanked her supporters Thursday at a primary night party in Brooklyn. She says the “blue wave is real” and is coming for Republicans and “Democrats who act like them.”

Nixon says her campaign reflects an insurgent movement of liberals challenging establishment incumbents.

She noted that while many people dismissed her challenge, Cuomo took her seriously, as evidenced by the millions he spent on his campaign.

Nixon also said she and her supporters helped push Cuomo to the left on several issues, such as the legalization of marijuana.

She also claimed credit for putting pressure on Cuomo to address New York City’s beleaguered subways.

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10:50 p.m.

An attorney who worked for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Hillary Clinton has beaten the former leader of a Democratic splinter group that helped Republicans keep control of New York’s state senate

Alessandra Biaggi defeated Bronx Sen. Jeff Klein on Thursday in the Democratic primary for the 34th state Senate district.

Biaggi challenged Klein, saying more progressive leaders were needed in office.

Klein formerly led the senate’s Independent Democratic Conference. The group of eight Democrats broke with their party for years to support Republican control of the chamber.

The split allowed Republican leaders to keep bills on gun control and abortion from coming to a vote.

The breakaway Democrats reunified with the party earlier this year in a deal that saw Klein become the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat.

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10:30 p.m.

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James has won a four-way Democratic primary for attorney general in New York. The race was a competition over who could best use the office to antagonize President Donald Trump.

James would become the first black woman to hold statewide elected office in New York if she prevails in the general election.

The 59-year-old was an early favorite in the race after getting endorsements from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other top Democrats.

But the race tightened over the summer. James edged U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, law professor Zephyr Teachout and ex-Hillary Clinton adviser Leecia Eve.

James faces a little-known New York City attorney, Republican Keith Wofford, in November.

Democrat Eric Schneiderman resigned as attorney general in May amid allegations he physically abused women.

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10:20 p.m.

A former New York City councilman has defeated an incumbent first-term state senator in the Democratic primary for a state Senate seat.

Robert Jackson on Thursday beat state Sen. Marisol Alcantara, who was elected to the 31st Senate District seat in 2016. The district includes parts of Manhattan and the Bronx.

Alcantara was one of eight state senators who was part of a Democratic splinter group that helped Republicans keep control of New York’s Senate.

Each of those candidates faced primary challengers who criticized them for their membership in the Independent Democratic Conference.

The IDC broke with Democrats for years to support Republican control of the chamber but reunified earlier this year.

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10 p.m.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was a no-show at his own election night victory party and instead celebrated his win over activist and actress Cynthia Nixon at the governor’s mansion in Albany.

The Democrat was expected to attend his party’s election night event in Manhattan on Thursday. But a spokeswoman said he chose to be with family.

It’s a highly unusual move for a winning candidate, though Cuomo has kept up a busy schedule in the final days of the campaign with rallies across the state.

Cuomo easily beat Nixon in Thursday’s contest to win his party’s nomination for a third term.

Nixon, a longtime activist and former star of “Sex and the City,” held her own election night event in Brooklyn.

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9:40 p.m.

Democratic socialist Julia Salazar has overcome scrutiny of her personal life and questions about truthfulness to win the Democratic primary for a state Senate seat in Brooklyn.

The 27-year-old first-time candidate defeated state Sen. Martin Dilan on Thursday in New York’s 18th Senate District.

Salazar joins the ranks of hard-left candidates who have ousted mainstream Democrats.

Salazar’s grassroots campaign targeted Dilan for failing to do enough to help the poor or stop gentrification in Brooklyn.

But recently, she faced criticism for how she described her life story.

Among other things, she said she was an immigrant when she was born in Florida.

Reporters also revealed she was once accused of attempted bank fraud by the ex-wife of baseball great Keith Hernandez.

There is no Republican candidate in the general election.

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9:25 p.m.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has defeated Democratic primary challenger Cynthia Nixon to win his party’s nomination for a third term.

Cuomo had far greater financial resources going into the matchup, and polls suggested he held a commanding lead before Thursday’s primary.

Nixon, an activist and former “Sex and the City” star, had hoped to become the latest liberal challenger to unseat a powerful insider.

Cuomo’s campaign dismissed her as inexperienced and touted the governor’s work to push back against President Donald Trump.

His victory comes despite several missteps, including a widely condemned mailer that questioned Nixon’s support for Jewish people. Nixon has two Jewish children and called the attack “sleazy.”

Cuomo will face Republican Marc Molinaro and independent Stephanie Miner in November’s general election.

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9 p.m.

The polls have closed in New York, where Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to fend off a challenge from actress and activist Cynthia Nixon in the nation’s last primary before Election Day.

Results coming in Thursday night will show whether Nixon’s liberal attacks on the centrist Cuomo resonated with voters in a season where left-leaning Democrats have won surprise victories.

Voters across the state also cast ballots in a hotly contested party primary for the state’s attorney general. Four Democrats are facing off for the party’s nomination in a race that polls have shown to be very close.

Several incumbent Democratic state senators are also facing primary opposition, including a group of legislators who have been targeted for breaking with party leadership and siding with Republicans.

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8:40 p.m.

New York’s attorney general is congratulating the four Democrats running in a primary to replace her and says she’s proud to have kept the office going after Eric Schneiderman’s (SHNEYE’-dur-muhnz) sudden resignation in May.

Barbara Underwood tweeted Thursday before polls closed that the candidates “believe in the power of this office” and have given voters “a choice for the future.”

Fordham law professor Zephyr (ZEF’-er) Teachout, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and ex-Hillary Clinton adviser Leecia Eve are running for the Democratic nomination. Underwood declined to run for election.

The winner faces little-known Republican attorney Keith Wofford in November.

Underwood says she hopes it’s clear the office “is the sum of all its staff. I am so proud to be your AG.”

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8:30 p.m.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) says his son ran into bureaucratic trouble at a polling site and wasn’t able to cast his ballot by machine in the state’s primary.

The Democrat said it happened Thursday at a polling station near Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence.

He says his son, Dante, brought a card showing he was registered as a Democrat but was told his name wasn’t on a list so he had to vote by affidavit ballot.

Those votes do still get counted.

The mayor is a critic of the city’s board of elections. He says the episode is proof the “system is broken.”

The elections board responded with a tweet, saying that Dante de Blasio was not removed from the rolls and that his name was in polling site records.

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6:45 p.m.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and activist and actress Cynthia Nixon are making their final pitches as their closely watched and sometimes nasty Democratic primary contest comes to a close.

Cuomo spoke to reporters after casting his own ballot in Westchester County on Thursday, saying he’s the best-qualified candidate not only to govern but also to push back against President Donald Trump.

Nixon cast her ballot in Manhattan and greeted subway riders. The activist and former “Sex and the City” star has faulted Cuomo’s handling of the city’s aging subways and says he isn’t a true liberal.

Democratic primary voters will also choose candidates for attorney general and the state Legislature in the nation’s final primary before Election Day.

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12:45 p.m.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and activist actress Cynthia Nixon have cast their votes in New York’s Democratic primary election.

Nixon posed for photos with supporters in Manhattan’s Union Square before she voted Thursday at a community center. Cuomo appeared at a polling station in suburban Mount Kisco with his girlfriend, Sandra Lee.

Democrats across New York are also choosing their candidates for attorney general and the state Legislature in the nation’s last primary election of 2018.

The most-watched race is the fiercely fought contest between Cuomo and Nixon.

She’s a high-profile example of an insurgent left-wing trying to oust establishment incumbents.

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11 a.m.

Democrats across New York are choosing their candidates for governor, attorney general and the state Legislature in the nation’s last primary election of 2018.

The most-watched race is a fiercely fought contest between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and activist actress Cynthia Nixon.

She’s a high-profile example of an insurgent left-wing trying to oust establishment incumbents.

President Donald Trump might want to keep an eye on the attorney general primary.

Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and former Hillary Clinton adviser Leecia Eve have all vowed to be a legal thorn in the Republican president’s side.

Polls show that race very close going into election day.

Voting began in some cities early Thursday and starts in other places at noon.