January 1, Dorian Slamming Carolinas as a Category 3

Good Morning Middle Americans!

Well, good morning to everyone except Hurricane Dorian. The stubborn storm is now hammering the Carolinas with bad storm surge flooding, heavy rain and high winds.

For the latest complete forecast briefing, click here.  

Meanwhile, President Trump is drawing fire from meteorologists and fact checkers after touting what appears to be a doctored map of Hurricane Dorian’s path. Former Vice President Joe Biden had a bad night at CNN’s climate change town hall, complete with a black, I mean bloody eye.  And the Navy is the fattest branch of the Military. Read all about it.

Trump Slammed For Doctored Dorian Map

(AP) – During an Oval Office briefing Wednesday, Trump displayed a map of the National Hurricane Center forecast for last Thursday that showed Dorian could track over Florida. The map he displayed included what appeared to be a hand-drawn half-circle that extended the cone of uncertainty over a swath of Alabama.

Trump had raised eyebrows and drawn an emphatic fact check from the National Weather Service on Sunday when he tweeted that Alabama, along with the Carolinas and Georgia, “will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.”

Find out more from the Associated Press here

Biden Stumbles, Gets Bloody Eye During Climate Town Hall 

(Politico) – Even the shallow matter of what we now call “optics” went badly for Biden. He chose to sit through his appearance—Harris, Sanders, and Warren all stood—and by the end of it, a burst blood vessel in his left eye was noticeable.

A broken blood vessel in the eye, also known as a subconjuctival hemorrhage, can be caused by several things, including high blood pressure, bleeding disorders, blood thinners, or even excessive straining.

Read more from Politico here

The Navy is the Fattest Branch of the Military

(Military Times) – The overall rate of fat service members is also up from recent years, with the percentage of personnel weighing in at obese standards climbing to over 17 percent, according to a Health of the DoD Force study. That number spiked to over a quarter of service members over the age of 35. For the Navy, the overall number of obese personnel was a shocking 22 percent. 

Find out more from the Military Times

This Day in History | 1985

President Gerald R. Ford survives an assassination attempt in Sacramento, California.