| This week began in solemn remembrance and ended in destruction.
Monday, October 7, marked one year since the Hamas-led attacks into Israel and the subsequent, ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Every day that the horrors in Gaza—and now Lebanon—continue is a day of shame for the world. We asked a number of Palestinian and Israeli contributors, including Noura Erakat, Meron Rapoport, Mohammed Mhawish, Lujayn, and Hani Almadhoun, to reflect on the last 12 months. They responded with love, grief, and piercing clarity. As Erakat wrote, “A genocide has threatened to erase Palestine, but it has ensured that Palestine now lives in each one of us, immortal. Nothing, and none of us, will be the same again.” (Mhawish also wrote a beautiful tribute to his friend the late poet and teacher Refaat Alareer, which you can read here.)
The domestic news was dominated by one name: Milton. The hurricane made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, causing widespread damage and millions to flee their homes. Unfortunately, as our own Chris Lehmann chronicled, it also appeared to make the brains of millions of MAGA conservatives flee their skulls. The Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world outdid themselves, inventing conspiracies about what caused Hurricane Milton that would stun even the most dedicated tinfoil-hat enthusiast. And, Lehmann noted, “the other chief objective here is to make these storms seem anything other than what they plainly are: a disastrous product of climate change.”
This is the point in the newsletter where I try to prevent you from tearing your hair out in despair. Fear not: We also published some things that won’t make you lose hope for the future of our fragile planet. Two pick-me-ups I recommend: Stephen Kearse on Megalopolis, the Francis Ford Coppola flop to end all flops (if you don’t count Joker 2, that is), and the inimitable Elie Mystal putting the weirdos who love the Electoral College in their place. Get out of here with that nonsense!
–Jack Mirkinson
Senior Editor, The Nation |
