The “Air Quality Fuchsia” Edition

Rational Security

The Lawfare Institute

Foreignpolicy, Nationalsecurity, News, Government, Politics, Middleeast

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2023

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott braved the haze to talk through the week’s (very) big national security news stories, including:

“Downstream Effects.” The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine promises a new wave of suffering and environmental devastation for Ukrainians living along the Dnipro River. Who is responsible? And what could the ramifications be?
“He’s Off to Meet the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Laws.” Over the past few weeks, there has been a steady drip of information about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into former President Trump, leading many to conclude that an indictment is on the horizon. What do we know about the state of the investigation? And where does it seem headed?
“Party Animals.” The number of contenders in the 2024 Republican presidential primary has officially doubled, with new candidates like Chris Christie and Mike Pence presenting—or being unable to avoid—the legacy of Jan. 6, among other issues with the direction of the party under former President Trump. What does this mean for the shape of the race? And will it mean for the debate over democratic values?

For object lessons, Alan urged listeners to check out the books of author Amor Towles, including his latest book “The Lincoln Highway.” Quinta passed along Tim Alberta’s devastating profile of (now former) CNN CEO Chris Licht in The Atlantic, which led to his recent fall. And Scott shared an invaluable set of resources his friend Aman put together for those considering jumping into what may be the greatest means of local transportation out there: eBikes!

And here’s an article we mentioned in this week’s episode:

Ben Wittes’s article in Lawfare on “How to Read a News Story About an Investigation: Eight Tips on Who Is Saying What”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	So, Scott and Quinta, I'm sorry that the end times appear to have come to DC.
0:05.1	How are you holding up?
0:06.7	Yes, the air quality here is a whopping, let's see, 184 on the AQI, which is a very unpleasant
0:19.3	looking sort of purplish red on Apple weather.
0:22.8	When your sky is fuchsia, do not walk outside.
0:26.5	So, out of my window, at least in Northwest DC, it looks fine, it's just like kind of hazy.
0:32.2	Overcast, kind of.
0:33.6	Yeah, I wouldn't think anything about it if I didn't know that something was wrong and
0:38.5	if it didn't smell kind of weird, but some of the pictures that you see out of New York
0:42.3	and Baltimore are quite apocalyptic.
0:45.4	I'd say in New York City today or yesterday that being outside all day and just breathing
0:50.3	there would be like smoking six cigarettes, and I was like, oh, that reminds me when I lived
0:53.6	in New York City.
0:54.6	Now, I spend most of my days in my early 20s.
0:57.6	Yeah, to be clear, I think like living in any urban area is like smoking once cigarette
1:02.6	a day.
1:03.6	It's probably ideal.
1:04.6	I am reminded during any air quality scare of my favorite story of all time, which was
1:09.3	the summer after, I think it was the summer after 9-11, or maybe the year after, which
1:13.8	was I was in high school.
1:15.1	I was doing my mom a solid and driving her in a bunch of random friends and friends of
1:20.3	her and my dad to like an event across town.
	...

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