A French Compromise, An Averted Strike, & A Spaceship Comes Home

September 9, 2024

Hello, readers – happy Monday! Today, we’re talking about gun violence in America, the Russia/Ukraine war, a typhoon, France’s government drama, the Trump/Harris race, Boeing avoiding a strike, and a spaceship returning home.

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” – George A. Moore

Trigger Tragedies

(Gun protest by Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images)

Late in the afternoon on Saturday, a gunman opened fire on a section of Interstate 75 near the rural town of London, Kentucky. The shooter wounded five people with his weapon – and caused an accident that injured two more – before escaping. As of writing, police are still conducting a manhunt for Joseph A. Couch, the main suspect in the shooting. Many schools in the area have canceled classes on Monday, and locals have been advised to lock their doors and remain vigilant.

Saturday’s shooting in Kentucky came just days after a 14-year-old student used an AR-style rifle to shoot and kill two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Georgia. The student and his father have been taken into police custody – the son for obvious reasons, and the father for giving his child a gun “with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others.”

It was revealed yesterday that the 14 year-old’s mother called the high school about 30 minutes before the shooting, warning of an “extreme emergency” and urging officials to “immediately” find her son. Apparently, law enforcement officials had knowledge that the shooter might pose a threat even further ahead of the shooting – last year, investigators were already looking into the then-13-year-old for his online activity.

Putin The Pressure On

On Saturday morning, Russia launched a wide-ranging drone attack on targets across Ukraine using 67 Iranian-made kamikaze drones, which hit targets across the country. The Ukrainian Air Force said it was able to shoot down 58 of the drones, including every drone targeting Kyiv, though some debris from a downed drone did end up falling near the country’s parliament building.

While the air force might have successfully fended off the latest wave of Russian drones, Ukraine’s military as a whole isn’t faring well in the face of Russia’s drawn-out offensive. According to interviews with six Ukrainian commanders and officers, desertion and insubordination are becoming a massive problem among the company’s soldiers. “Not all mobilized soldiers are leaving their positions, but the majority are. When new guys come here, they see how difficult it is,” said one commander.

Meanwhile, Russia has gained control of yet another key stepping stone in its campaign to take Povrosk. On Sunday, Moscow said its forces had seized the town of Novohrodivka, located just 12 kilometers away from Povrosk. If Russian troops are able to seize Povrosk, they’ll gain control over a vital hub for Ukraine’s road and rail networks throughout the Donbas region, which might tip the area fully into Moscow’s hands.

Typhoon Turmoil

(Typhoon Yagi damage in China by Meng Zhongde via Getty Images)

On Saturday, Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Vietnam after leaving a trail of wreckage in southern China. The typhoon, according to the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Center, whipped up maximum sustained winds of 127 mph and was equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.
Over eight million people in Vietnam’s northern provinces were experiencing power outages due to the storm, said state authorities. Over 48,000 people living in vulnerable coastal areas were evacuated ahead of the system as experts predicted that waves might reach as high as 13 feet.
“Strong winds in Hanoi will have a major impact on people’s lives,” said the head of Vietnam’s meteorological center’s forecast department. Apparently, he was right – “All houses with tin rooftops in my neighborhood have been blown away,” said one resident of Hanoi. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” said a resident of Ha Long City, to the east of Hanoi. “The wind was so strong it blew everything away.”

Marine Meets Michel & Macron In The Middle

Last week, centrist president Emmanuel Macron appointed Michel Barnier, a veteran center-right politician, as the nation’s prime minister. Barnier’s appointment was basically Macron extending an olive branch to France’s right wing with one hand while his other hand extended its middle finger to the French left. Now, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party has essentially agreed to ally with the country’s centrist bloc.
“We don’t wish to cause obstructions,” Marine Le Pen said about Barnier’s appointment as prime minister. “It’s undeniable that Michel Barnier seems to have the same position as we do on migration,” she added, referring to his party’s past proposal for “putting a stop to non-European immigration for three to five years,” which is similar to the National Rally’s position. If the far right decides to comply with Macron’s centrists, Barnier would be able to escape any no-confidence votes, as the country’s leftist coalition – which controls the most parliamentary seats – lacks a full-on majority in the legislature.

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Cracking Skulls Over Skullduggery

The presidential debate is happening tomorrow night, and former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are basically tied heading into this week, according to recent polling. Trump is up 48%-47% over Harris according to the survey from the New York Times and Siena College released yesterday.
The dead heat between the candidates makes the debate even more high stakes, but Trump doesn’t seem concerned about catering to any undecideds. In a Truth Social post late Saturday, Trump said his lawyers and other allies would be watching polling stations for alleged “cheating” and “Skullduggery,” and said they’ll be prosecuting anyone misbehaving “to the fullest extent of the Law.”
Despite the threat to “Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials” of being “sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country,” Trump hasn’t lost support. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday, North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Borgum downplayed the comments. “I think what President Trump is saying, if we have free and fair elections everybody has to follow the rules. And just putting people on notice,” he explained. Sure, Doug.

Things Are Finally Boeing Our Way

Boeing and the Machinists union have reached a tentative agreement that, if approved by the union, will avoid a strike that would have started on Friday. The contract covers production workers who build Boeing’s commercial jets at three factories in the Seattle area, as well as about 1,200 workers at a Boeing parts plant in Portland, Oregon. The rank-and-file members will vote on Thursday to approve the deal (or not).
Boeing said the agreement provides raises totaling 25% over the four-year life of the contract, improved contributions to 401(k) plans, reduced employee contributions for health insurance, and increased time off. It also includes increased job security for union members thanks to a promise to build the next new airplane at one of the union-represented plants in the Puget Sound region.

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Look, Kids, A Falling Starliner!

Speaking of Boeing, much like the company’s stock over the past few months, its Starliner capsule came crashing down to earth early Saturday (sorry, we couldn’t resist). The spacecraft parachuted into the New Mexico desert two days ago after leaving the International Space Station Friday night. Starliner returned home crewless, leaving the two astronauts it brought to the ISS still aboard the space station after it faced multiple issues with its thrusters.
When Starliner’s first manned mission to the ISS first took off, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams thought they were signing up for a cute little trip – their itinerary projected a short flight into space, an eight-day visit to the ISS, and a quick return back to solid ground. Now, thanks to a series of issues with Starliner that NASA and Boeing were unable to diagnose in space, their trip will be extended for a few months, with the pair expected to return home in 2025.
“There’s a piece of us, all of us, that we wish it would have been the way we had planned it. We had planned to have the mission land with Butch and Suni on board,” said Steve Stich, manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. However, most ambitious space programs like Starliner are run with the expectation that they’ll hit some major setbacks (like this debacle) along the way. With the spacecraft back down on Earth, Boeing and NASA will do their best to analyze what exactly went wrong with the ship and (hopefully) be able to launch a more successful flight sometime soon.

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