President Donald Trump visited California on Monday meeting with state officials as wildfires burned up and down the length of the state killing dozens, causing evacuations of thousands, and creating hazardous air quality for millions. Upon landing in Sacramento Trump revived his favorite theory about California wildfires while speaking to reporters. Later, when meeting with state officials, California Gov. Gavin Newsom informed Trump that the majority of forest land is federally managed land and only 3% is managed by the state. In an exchange with Gov. Newsom’s top environmental adviser, Trump in his usual manner of thinking out loud and making claims without evidence said that “it will start getting cooler,” and casually dismissed science.  Meanwhile Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden denounced Trump as a “climate arsonist.” PLAY VIDEO. That’s Joe Biden speaking on Monday from Delaware as Trump visited California.  

There are fears of the fires worsening in size and ferocity as weather forecasts predict wind and low humidity. Air quality is so hazardous that Associated Press explained how residents in, “Oregon, Washington and parts of California were struggling under acrid yellowish-green smog — the worst, most unhealthy air on the planet according to some measurements.” The Guardian published a disturbing report of inmates from 4 state prisons in Oregon being evacuated due to poor air quality and placed in close quarters where guards have repeatedly used pepper spray on them as a control measure. The pepper spray has further exacerbated respiratory problems from the smoky air and increased susceptibility to the coronavirus. Meanwhile on the Gulf Coast of the US Hurricane Sally slammed into Louisiana and Mississippi with historic flooding expected. Sally is one of five massive storms in the Atlantic right now with meteorologists pointing out that it is only the second time in recorded history that five tropical cyclones were moving over the ocean. Like West Coast wildfires, Gulf and East Coast hurricanes are getting more frequent and stronger—a direct result of climate change and predicted for years by climate scientists. 

As poverty continues to strike Americans struggling with pandemic-related job losses a group of 50 lawmakers from both parties have cobbled together a coronavirus economic relief bill in the hopes that it will appeal to both parties. The centrist lawmakers are promoting a $1.5 trillion bill that is half the size of the one passed by the House and only a little b...