Heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
Western North Carolina is enduring a full-blown catastrophe. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, towns have been destroyed, roads have been washed out, people are frantically trying to locate loved ones, and hundreds of people have died. Enter Donald Trump, who just declared that the federal government—and Democratic Governor Roy Cooper—are deliberately neglecting MAGA parts of the state, and charged that the Biden administration is consciously letting Americans drown. It’s just another lie in a long stream of lies. When The Washington Post Fact Checker team first started cataloging President Donald Trump’s false or misleading claims, they recorded 492 suspect claims in the first 100 days of his presidency. On Nov. 2 alone, the day before the 2020 vote, Trump made 503 false or misleading claims as he barnstormed across the country in a desperate effort to win reelection. This astonishing jump in falsehoods is the story of Trump’s tumultuous reign. By the end of his term, Trump had accumulated 30,573 untruths during his presidency — averaging about 21 erroneous claims a day.
What is especially striking is how the tsunami of untruths kept rising the longer he served as president and became increasingly unmoored from the truth. But hey, his base doesn’t care so the lies will continue.
Houston traffic
I-45 in Houston.
It’s official. Starting in 2025, Houston’s highways will undergo another widening project to the tune of $11 billion, impacting 450 acres and displacing 344 businesses and 1,079 homes. I get it. We need another lane, but if I may….we, the driving delegation of the Bayou City, would like to let it be known that we are tired of driving everywhere. We’re tired of sitting in traffic, dealing with road rage, and we’d much rather you expand train service, light rail, high speed light rail…something, anything, other than one more lane to be backed up in!
Diddy drama
Diddy is facing even more charges now that more accusers are coming forward. Credit: Getty
Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee has announced that he would be representing more than 50 alleged victims in a lawsuit against rapper and record executive Sean “Diddy” Combs. In a statement, Buzbee said, “The violations against this group of individuals are mindboggling and can only be described as debauchery and depravity, exacted by powerful people against minors and the weak.” Buzbee said he expects many other individuals will be implicated. Earlier this week, a Harris County woman also filed a lawsuit against Combs claiming that he sexually assaulted and raped her in 2001 in New York. Last week, Houston resident Thalia Graves claimed that Combs and his then-bodyguard Joseph “Big Joe” Sherman possibly drugged and assaulted her. At the time, Graves was living in New York with her then-boyfriend who was allegedly an executive at Combs’ studio, according to the lawsuit. She said the lawsuit and alleged assault has interfered with her everyday life, causing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. Combs is jailed and has been denied bail twice while he awaits trial on racketeering charges. The bad boy is definitely living up to his moniker.
