THE BIG STORY

Biden called Trump a “climate arsonist” as the president continued to deny climate science

As the wildfires burned in the West Coast, President Donald Trump was in California, taking part in a roundtable with the state's fire and emergency officials, during which he defensively told government and natural resource officials that he didn’t agree with climate science.

The president focused on forest management as the cause of the fires, and waved away concerns from climate scientists, government officials, and forest management officials about the impact of climate change.

In one particularly tense exchange, the secretary of the California Natural Resource Agency told the president they couldn’t ignore climate change’s impact on forest fires, and the president responded, “It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch.”

Meanwhile, Joe Biden positioned himself as the candidate who believes in science, under the pressure of a pandemic and worsening climate change. The Democratic candidate called Trump “a climate arsonist” for not acting to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Trump speaks to California Gov. Gavin Newsom in California, Sept. 14. Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Parents who double as essential workers are struggling more than ever. Here are their stories.

When the pandemic began, many people had to adjust to working from home. But there are plenty of people who didn’t have the option — people we now call essential workers.

The essential workers who are parents have had to confront the dual risk of exposing themselves to the coronavirus at work, often for wages so low they are earning less than what people have been collecting on unemployment, while their children are exposed in schools and daycares.

They parents who have had to continue in-person work through the pandemic have a bleak choice: risk exposing your family to the coronavirus, or face financial devastation.

SNAPSHOTS

A federal appeals court has allowed the Trump administration to end a program that lets 300,000 immigrants live in the US. The ruling about the temporary protected status for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Sudan is expected to affect over 200,000 US-born children in addition to the immigrants who have benefited from the program.

Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are “work friends.” Ruby Cramer wrote about how the future of Sanders’s movement — the rage against the establishment, the “political revolution” and his role in it — seems suddenly transformed in the Time of Biden.

The world is burning but there will still be an Apple event today. We will probably see new versions of the Apple Watch and iPad Air — but no iPhones. Here’s what to expect.

A news report from a Utah anti-mask rally is going viral because it almost feels like an SNL sketch. The “No More Masks” rally was held on Aug. 21 but the clip has recently gone super viral on Twitter.

abc4.com.

“I HAVE BLOOD ON MY HANDS”

Facebook is turning a blind eye to global political manipulation, according to an explosive secret memo

I’ve been floored by my colleagues’ reporting on the turmoil inside Facebook. And I’m pleased to say: they’ve done it again.

According to an explosive 6,600-word internal memo from a fired Facebook data scientist, the social network knew leaders of countries around the world were using their site to manipulate voters — and still failed to act.

“I’ve found multiple blatant attempts by foreign national governments to abuse our platform on vast scales to mislead their own citizenry,” the memo reads. It was written by former Facebook data scientist Sophie Zhang, and it’s filled with concrete examples of heads of government and political parties in Azerbaijan and Honduras using fake accounts or misrepresenting themselves to sway public opinion.

In countries including India, Ukraine, Spain, Brazil, Bolivia, and Ecuador, she found evidence of coordinated campaigns to boost or hinder political candidates or outcomes, though she did not always conclude who was behind them.

SWEET GIFTS

Taylor Swift made a hand-embroidered blanket for Katy Perry’s baby, and it’s adorable

A few weeks ago, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom welcomed their first baby, a daughter named Daisy Dove Bloom.

Katy has been posting about the sweet gestures and gifts from friends — for example, flowers from Beyoncé, a perk unavailable to me and you — and yesterday, she shared details of a sweet one: Taylor Swift sent a hand-embroidered silk blanket.

Perry wrote that she hopes “it’s one she drags around for years till it becomes an unrecognizable shred that she keeps in her pocket as a teenager.”

Wishing you a morning of little victories and particularly effective coffee,

Elamin