Good morning, the week is halfway over already – well, almost. It’s Wednesday.
The New York Times magazine recently ran a fascinating – and, quite frankly, terrifying – feature entitled “The ‘Panic Industry’ Boom”, documenting the significant uptick among wealthy individuals in investing in fortified bunkers in preparation for, well, I guess the end of the world? The zombie apocalypse? Natural disaster? Nuclear war? All of the above?
The article cites a 2023 survey that found one-third of all American adults are spending money on doomsday prepping and had collectively spent $1 billion over a 12 month period on emergency preparedness. To be clear, for most people that translates into purchasing some basics – like food, water, and toilet paper (we all learned a little something during the COVID crisis) to have on hand – just in case.
But for those who have more means – in some cases, a lot more – prepping has extended into the purchase and/or construction of fortified bunkers, often underground, where they and their families could comfortably live for an extended period of time.
For the ultra wealthy, that can look like a full-on replica of an above-ground home – complete with gyms, greenhouses, and room for a care (though why one would need a vehicle while living underground, I don’t know…maybe for escape?)
But, according to the Times article, more middle class people are starting to invest in what I would call downscale bunkers – small spaces that might be safer, but aren’t necessarily a place you could comfortably spend more than a few days, and can set one back multiple thousands instead of millions.
Once upon a time, humans lived in caves for safety. So there’s certainly precedent for underground – or, in that case, in-ground? – habitation. Also, has anyone seen “The Hobbit”? Read “The Wind in the Willows”? There’s something sort of whimsical and cozy and safe about the idea of a burrow – a well-decorated one, mind you, and preferably one where multiple breakfasts are served.
There’s actually a formal name for this type of partial-to-full underground living: “Earth-sheltered architecture”. The idea was championed by an architect named Malcolm Wells, who was a fan of what he considered a more “gentle” approach to building – one that didn’t significantly alter the landscape on its face.
Wells in 1974 founded National Underground America Day, which is celebrated today – May 14 – to highlight the many benefits to earth-sheltered living, which, aside from safety, also include decreased heating and cooling costs, natural soundproofing, and less outdoor maintenance. Of course, these are not cheap to construct, and also require specific soil, topography, and groundwater levels in order to be successful.
Weather-wise, it might be a good day to stay inside – above ground or below, as it suits you. It will be cloudy with a slight chance of a rain shower. Temperatures will top out in the low 70s.
In the headlines…
Trump defended accepting a $400 million aircraft from Qatar to temporarily replace Air Force One, arguing that the aircraft is more “impressive” than the current presidential plane.
“The plane that you are on right now is almost 40 years old,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity, in an interview conducted as the president traveled to Saudi Arabia aboard Air Force One.
Trump said he thinks the U.S. “should have the most impressive plane” compared to aircraft used by other world leaders and described the existing Air Force One as “much smaller” and “much less impressive” than planes other countries have.
Trump was set to attend a summit with leaders from six Arab countries in Saudi Arabia today – the second day of a major trip to the region.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he expects to have a deal on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap today, after both sides of the tenuous negotiations reported progress following a Tuesday afternoon meeting.
House GOP leaders and the so-called SALT Republicans from high-tax blue states are discussing ways to further boost the limitation on the state and local tax deduction.
House Republicans are holding meetings to advance three of the most controversial pieces to the “big, beautiful bill” at the heart of Trump’s agenda — and there have been some contentious moments.
Lawmakers bickered, protesters shouted and senators came to take in the moment as a House committee considered a critical portion of a bill to enact Trump’s domestic agenda.
Average-income people would see double-digit percentage declines in their tax bills under House Republicans’ tax package, according to a new official analysis that’s sure to inflame partisan fights over who would get what under the plan.
The Senate Finance Committee scheduled a May 20 hearing on the nomination of former Rep. Billy Long to head the IRS.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman, hinted this week that he’s preparing to roll back one car feature that every driver “hates.”
“Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy,” Zeldin tweeted Monday in a post that has since racked up more than 8 million views.
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), who announced late last month that he had filed articles of impeachment against Trump, moved yesterday to force an impeachment vote against the president.
A forthcoming book that promises explosive new details on former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s mental and physical decline while in the White House has revived the subject of how his aides and top Democrats handled his decision to run for re-election.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called for the congressional lawmakers involved in a heated confrontation with law enforcement outside a Newark immigration detention center to be censured.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries warned Republicans and federal law enforcement against sanctioning or arresting three Democratic New Jersey lawmakers who were involved in a tense immigration protest.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka returned to the gates of an ICE detention center days after he was arrested for allegedly trespassing at the same facility.
Erik and Lyle Menendez will be eligible to leave prison after serving more than 30 years behind bars for the vicious 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents, a Los Angeles judge ruled yesterday.
The decision, by Judge Michael V. Jesic of Los Angeles Superior Court, came after a day of testimony by family members, who said the brothers had turned their lives around inside prison through education and self-help groups.
After he resentenced the brothers, Judge Jesic said he’d given the matter “long thought,” acknowledging they committed an “absolutely horrific crime, and there’s no way around it.” But he said he was moved by the brothers’ behavior behind bars.
With the prospect of shutting down the partially completed Empire Wind offshore wind project just days away, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she has “pulled out all the stops” in a last-minute attempt to persuade the Trump administration to lift its stop-work order.
State lawmakers have about a month to test if their aggravations with Hochul’s handling of this year’s budget process are potent enough to kickstart the process of changing the state’s constitution before they leave Albany for the summer.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie threw cold water on the idea of a constitutional amendment to correct what he views as an unequal process.
Some lawmakers in New York are calling for increased transparency and oversight over a controversial federal drug discount program that benefits many of the state’s larger hospitals, as a nationwide debate over prescription drug pricing intensifies.
Buried in New York’s recently passed state budget is an 18-month extension granted to a state panel studying the thorny issue of reparations for slavery.
The New York Farm Bureau and Northeast Dairy Producers Association are lauding the inclusion of multiple important agricultural funding items in the New York state budget.
The state Assembly approved a measure clearing the way for billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen’s bid to build a casino adjoining Citi Field in Queens. The 138 to 7 vote is the latest sign that Cohen’s once-stalled casino bet may have renewed life in Albany.
Long Island officials blasted the state’s new election law that is expected to reshape local campaigns — and benefit downballot Democrats.
AG Tish James’ onslaught of litigation against the Trump administration continued with the filing of two more lawsuits, both challenging federal policies that threaten to cut federal aid for any states that decline to support immigration deportation efforts.
The multi-state lawsuit targets new conditions set by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the attorneys general said unlawfully tie disaster relief funding to states’ participation in civil immigration enforcement.
The New York doctor previously charged in two southern states for allegedly mailing abortion medication to women is being investigated again for sending pills to a woman in Louisiana, according to that state’s attorney general, Liz Murrill.
Mayor Eric Adams pointed to his dyslexia as the reason he couldn’t unlock his phone for federal investigators who requested access as part of a corruption investigation into donations to the his campaign.
One surprising detail emerged in the trove of documents released about Adams’s federal corruption case: The mayor used at least seven different cellphone numbers during the yearslong period in which he was under investigation.
Adams took a page from Trump’s playbook and announced the city’s own antisemitism task force – after years of local Jewish groups pushing for action.
The creation of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, announced at a press conference, follows a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate incidents. The office will be led by Moshe Davis, a City Hall staffer who has served in the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs.
Adams said he felt offended and “targeted for humiliation” by his now-dismissed corruption case, adding: “They wanted to take my phones at the goddamn marathon.”
Adams’s comments were his most extensive, and pointed, since some 1,700 pages of documents from his case were released on Friday, revealing new details about the corruption investigation that had focused on the mayor.
Randy Mastro, Adams’ top deputy, is seriously exploring a proposal to spare Manhattan’s Elizabeth Street Garden from an affordable housing development by instead building the apartments on a nearby lot once reserved for a public school.
The city is moving to uproot the organizers of a Queens community garden who required prospective members to sign a “statement of values” that included a commitment to opposing Zionism, homophobia and transphobic behavior.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ campaign for mayor picked up a wave of endorsements, as a coalition of elected officials and women-led organizations rallied behind her candidacy.
The billionaire-backed political action committee supporting Andrew Cuomo for mayor made a $675,000 ad buy last week for the same commercial that earned his campaign a six-figure penalty — which they could soon see doubled.
Cuomo maintained his commanding lead ahead of next month’s Democratic primary for mayor — but his rival, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, has the edge with voters under 45 years old, a new survey released yesterday showed.
A federal judge overseeing New York City’s jails took Rikers Island out of the city’s control, ordering that an outside official be appointed to make major decisions regarding the troubled and violent jail complex.
The 77-page order by Manhattan federal Judge Laura Swain effectively appoints a federal receiver to correct dangerous conditions in Rikers that city and Department of Correction officials have tried and failed to do under a decade-old court case.
Police fatally shot a 25-year-old man yesterday afternoon inside a Brownsville apartment after he allegedly brandished a knife and advanced toward officers who were responding to a domestic dispute, police said.
Casandra “Cassie” Ventura took the stand at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial, relaying beatings by the hip-hop mogul and being forced to participate in dayslong and demoralizing sexual performances with male sex workers at his direction.
Ventura cried as she testified about drug-fueled sex sessions with male prostitutes that could last several days and made her feel “disgusting” and “humiliated.”
Broadway’s box office has finally surpassed its prepandemic peak, fueled by three starry dramas and one green witch.
Beyonce fans might be better off riding a horse to next week’s “Cowboy Carter” concerts at MetLife Stadium if a strike shuts down NJ Transit rail service.
Guests at the Quality Inn off Route 9W in Bethlehem were evacuated for about five hours early yesterday after a man who lives at the hotel barricaded himself in a room and threatened to hurt people.
The College of Saint Rose, which held its final graduation a year ago, lives on in the dozens of highway and street signs directing people to its empty campus.
The on-call pay scandal that led to a State Police investigation of City of Saratoga Springs officials is over.
Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson were reinstated by baseball commissioner Rob Manfred yesterday, making both eligible for the sport’s Hall of Fame after their careers were tarnished by sports gambling scandals.
Photo credit. George Fazio.
