Nicholas Kristof: The “greatest hoax” hits Florida

Denying climate change doesn’t actually prevent it View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, October 11, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Kristof »]( [The “greatest hoax” hits Florida]( [Hurricane Michael hit Port St. Joe, Fla., with full force on Wednesday.]( Hurricane Michael hit Port St. Joe, Fla., with full force on Wednesday. Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times, via Associated Press My sympathies to the people of Florida and nearby states being hammered by Hurricane Michael. But [my new column]( argues that news coverage must not be reduced to heroes on boats rescuing widows on rooftops. We need to keep an eye on the larger issue, which is that [climate change makes these severe storms more likely]( and worsens the damage. We know that climate change exacerbates storms in several ways: It increases storm intensity, it increases rainfall, it increases wind velocity, it raises the base sea level for flooding, and it may increase the risk of a storm stalling over one area (that is less certain). Yet President Trump has scoffed at climate change in more than 100 tweets, even saying it’s a Chinese hoax. And Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, wrote a book calling climate change “The Greatest Hoax.” Sigh. At some point, we’ll reach a new consensus about the risks of climate change. But by then it may be too late. So when you talk to people about Hurricane Michael, encourage them to think not just in terms of today’s weather, but also in terms of this century’s climate. [Here’s my column.]( Originally, I was going to write my column about Saudi Arabia, following the disappearance — and feared murder and dismembering — of [Jamal Khashoggi]( whom I’ve know for more than 15 years. If this is confirmed, and the reports from Turkey increasingly suggest it is, then the United States needs to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia and make clear to the royal family that the crown prince is turning Saudi Arabia into a rogue state and will not be welcome in our country. Murdering Jamal in Turkey, if that’s what happened, was extreme, but Saudi Arabia has engaged in outrageous actions for years — and it has gotten away with it because the international community hasn’t adequately called it out. I’ve written about the Saudi writer sentenced to be [lashed 1,000 times]( a [child sentenced to be crucified]( the pernicious Saudi influence on repressive Bahrain, and several times about [Saudi Arabia’s horrifying starvation of Yemen](. Saudi Arabia has made progress in some ways, such as allowing women to drive and curbing its funding of extremist madrassas in Africa and Pakistan. But Crown Prince MBS has fundamentally shown that he is reckless, by confronting Qatar, by going to war in Yemen, by kidnapping the Lebanese prime minister, and now, I fear, by murdering Jamal. The Saudi royal family should find another crown prince. Let’s be clear that prime responsibility for these acts rests with MBS and those around him. But it’s also true that the U.S. has enabled him and refused to challenge him and other Saudi leaders. This was to some extent true under President Obama, and has become far more true under President Trump. Jared Kushner formed a strong relationship with MBS, and Trump has praised him regularly, even making his first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia. Trump’s comments about Jamal’s disappearance have been pathetically weak — and it doesn’t help when Trump denounces journalists here as enemies of the people. The stock market plunged Wednesday, with the Dow falling 800 points. I only make stock market predictions about the past…. :) But I will say that I’ve been surprised by the market’s strength this year: Yes, the economy and corporate profits are strong, but the market seemed to bake in everything positive while ignoring risks of rising interest rates, a China trade war, conflict in the Middle East, and simply the business cycle. Markets always overshoot. But my only market advice: Buy low, sell high! One reason for the falling market: tension with China. The U.S. has for the first time [brought a Chinese spy to the U.S.]( for prosecution, and this strikes me as part of the broader confrontation between the U.S. and China, starting with the trade war but likely to escalate into other dimensions. I fear that both China and the U.S. are underestimating the other, and that this could get worse. There are plenty of ways the U.S. can cause America pain that don’t involve tariffs. I lived in China for five years, and there’s a Chinese expression, æ¬èµ·çŸ³å¤´ç ¸è‡ªå·±çš„è„š, meaning to lift a rock and drop it on one’s own foot. I’m afraid that both the U.S. and China are doing that. I can’t think of a more important profession than teaching. Yet [this chart shows]( that, relative to average wages, teachers are substantially lower paid in the U.S. than in Europe. Spain and Portugal pay teachers particularly well; Poland pays them particularly poorly. If you missed [this extraordinary article]( a two-year-old child brought before immigration court, read it and weep. The issue of family separation has faded a bit from the news, but our immigration policies remain gratuitously cruel. Now with thoughts for those in the path of the storm, [here’s my column]( on the need to address not just the immediate needs of those who lose homes but also the larger issue of climate change. [Please read!]( Our planet depends on us. ADVERTISEMENT Recent Columns [Justice Delayed, With a Life on the Line]( By NICHOLAS KRISTOF Gov. Jerry Brown is still reviewing a murder case that advanced DNA testing could settle. [Two Nobel Heroes, in Their Own Voices]( By NICHOLAS KRISTOF A collection of interviews, videos and articles about Dr. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. I welcome suggestions for what to include in this newsletter. You can connect with me on [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google]( [Instagram]( and [Pinterest](. If you have friends who might enjoy this newsletter, forward this email; they can [sign up here](. Send feedback or tech questions to newsletters@nytimes.com. 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