CALIFORNIA/FINLAND/NATURAL DISASTERS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Puzzled Finns have taken to Twitter to post pictures of themselves raking the forest after U.S. President Donald Trump said California should learn a lesson from the Nordic country about how to protect itself against wildfires. While visiting California’s wildfire zones on Saturday, Trump told reporters that Finland spends ‘a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things’ to clear forest floors, citing his discussions with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. Niinisto told Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat that he had spoken with Trump about Finland’s wildfire monitoring system. He recalled telling Trump that Finland takes care of its forests, but added that raking didn’t come up. Hundreds of Finns posted under the Twitter hashtag #rakefinlandgreatagain, many posting pictures of themselves in the forest or their gardens with rakes.”
–Reuters, “Finns Respond to Trump by Raking Country Great Again,” The New York Times online, November 19, 2018