Cecily Tynan Smacks Down Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Weather Conspiracy Theory
Plus: The Wing Bowl documentary you didn't know you needed.
Left: 6 ABC meteorologist Cecily Tynan (photo courtesy 6ABC). Right: United States Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. She has been promoting weather conspiracy theories after Hurricane Helene and ahead of Hurricane Milton hitting the U.S. (photo courtesy the Office of Marjorie Taylor Greene)
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Cecily Tynan Smacks Down Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Weather Conspiracy Theory
Some heroes wear capes. Others wear tailored dresses and killer heels. Such is the case with our hero of the day, 6 ABC meteorologist Cecily Tynan.
Local television personalities don’t normally wade into politics. And Cecily Tynan is no different. But that all changed on Monday when Tynan took on Marjorie Taylor Greene, that right-of-right Congresswoman from the great state of Georgia who has, for the entirety of her time in office, had us all scratching our heads saying, “Wait, did she really just say that?”
Greene’s most recent controversial comment du jour came in the wake of the destruction of Hurricane Helene. She took to the service formerly known as Twitter the other day. And she wrote the following to her 1.2 million followers: “Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”
It’s not entirely clear who “they” is here, but, who cares, right? Because it’s 2024 and facts don’t matter. Greene followed up her delusional post with another post on Saturday about using lasers to make it rain or induce lightning, a post tied to a decade-old CBS News report about scientists researching just that. Of course, scientists being able to spark lightning or trigger rain would be a lot different than creating a monstrous storm that will leave a horrible path of destruction in its wake.
In any event, as Greene’s post continued to gather attention and as the “they can control the weather” rhetoric continued to build, by Monday, with Hurricane Milton on the rise and barreling toward Florida, Tynan had had enough. She took to her own X account. “Just to clarify, no, the government did not produce Hurricane Milton, or any other hurricane, for that matter,” Tynan wrote. “I really can’t believe I have to post this.” (We can’t either, Cec.)
“And how can you be 100-percent sure that is not the case?” asked one of several trolls to respond. “There is factual information that it has been and can be done.”
“Because I understand the complexities of the atmosphere,” Tynan snappily touché’d, before wisely stepping away from the ridiculous argument.
Now if Tynan could just convince Greene that “Jewish space lasers” aren’t the cause of California wildfires, we’d be getting somewhere.
Did Mayor Parker’s Big Summer Street Cleanup Work?
When Mayor Parker announced her ambitious plan to clean up every block in the city over the summer, I said to myself, I should really drive around and take photos of a bunch of blocks throughout the city and then go back after the summer and take more photos for comparison. Then I realized that I simply didn’t have the time to do this. So I’m glad that our friends at the Inquirer did.
“No One Died”
That’s the name of the new Wing Bowl documentary premiering at the Philadelphia Film Festival on October 22nd. The documentary features interviews with Jason Kelce (because, of course), Wing Bowl co-creator Angelo Cataldi, and plenty of folks who ate way too many wings while strippers gyrated in front of them. I first heard about this documentary a couple of months ago, and you never know how these things are going to turn out. But I have to say, the just-released trailer makes it all look very promising.
By the Numbers
$1 million: Donation that Main Line philanthropist David Magerman just made to Tel Aviv University. That would be significant and newsworthy in and of itself. But it’s even more so because this is $1 million that Magerman isn’t giving to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. Magerman is one of the prominent Penn alumnae that pulled their financial support from the school due to Penn’s handling of Israel/Gaza protests on campus.
16: Consecutive years that CHOP has made U.S. News & World Report‘s top-ten list of pediatric hospitals in the nation since the publication started ranking them in 2009. Yes, that means CHOP has landed in the top ten every single year. You can see the full 2024 list here.
25: Tons of large items that city sanitation workers have picked up by appointment since the city launched a new online appointment system for bulk pickup two weeks ago. Here’s a primer on how to use the service and get the city to come grab your old fridge for free.
Local Talent
The fourth season of the ABC hit sitcom Abbott Elementary debuts on Wednesday night. So I got the fabulous Sheryl Lee Ralph on the phone to talk about her character on the show (that’s Mrs. Howard to you!), her long journey through Hollywood, and what it’s like being married to longtime Pennsylvania state senator Vincent Hughes. She’s on the cover of the brand-new October issue of Philly Mag, and you can grab a copy now. (They are reliably available at Barnes & Noble and Whole Foods stores in the Philly area). And here’s the online version of the interview. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making the interview happen.
