A Military Base Shooting & Trump vs D.C.

Welcome back! Sometimes even newsletters need summer vacations. Hope you enjoyed the news hiatus. Today we’re covering the Fort Stewart Shooting, a new Trump tariff target, the prospect of peace in Ukraine, a helicopter crash, federalizing Washington D.C., gerrymandering in Texas, and Apple burning cash.

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust

The Worst Possible Place For A Shooting

Another week, another shooting in America. This time, though, the setting was a bit out of the ordinary. Yesterday, an active-duty soldier opened fire on his colleagues at Fort Stewart military base in Georgia, injuring five people before he was taken into custody. Luckily, all five victims are in stable condition and are expected to recover. The shooter was quickly shut down thanks to decisive action by nearby soldiers, who “immediately and without hesitation tackled the soldier, subdued him,” according to Brigadier General John Lubas, the commander of the third infantry division and Fort Stewart-Hunter army airfield. “That allowed law enforcement to then take him into custody.”

“The shooting occurred at the soldier’s place of work,” Lubas said in a press conference in the wake of the shooting. “It did involve his co-workers. We’re still not certain about the motivations, but again, he’s been interviewed by army investigators, and we believe we’ll gain more information here shortly.” He noted that authorities believe the shooter used a personal handgun in the attack instead of a military weapon.

Fort Stewart is home to about 9,000 people, including service members and their families. The base was put under lockdown at the time of the shooting, but the all-clear came soon after the shooter was taken into custody. Trump called the shooting an “atrocity,” promising that he will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

India In The Crosshairs

Over the past decade or so, the U.S. has been cozying up to India, attempting to foster a positive relationship with the country of 1.45 billion in the hopes that it might act as a counterbalance to China in Asia. Whether the White House should be cozying up to Modi’s Hindu nationalist government is a discussion for another day, but that relationship-building was just put on halt by Trump.

Yesterday, the U.S. president signed an executive order slapping India with 25% tariffs as a punishment for New Delhi’s continued purchasing of Russian oil. When it’s implemented, the new tariff will bring U.S. duties on Indian imports up to 50%, making India one of the White House’s biggest tariff targets. 

India’s foreign ministry called the tariffs “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable,” adding that it’s “extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest.” New Delhi added that “India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.” If you recall India’s recent assassination campaign in Canada, that statement actually does sound a bit more threatening than the usual diplomatic bluster, although the U.S. isn’t Canada and Donald Trump isn’t a Sikh separatist.

Stay Refreshed & Replenished All Summer Long

Mixed Signals From Moscow

• This Friday marks Trump’s arbitrary deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. Yesterday, the U.S. president claimed that his envoy Steve Witkoff had made “great progress” in “highly productive” peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of that deadline, though Moscow’s takeaway from Wednesday’s meeting was less glowing. Russia’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov described the talks as the two countries exchanging “signals” as part of “constructive” dialogues, but didn’t indicate that any significant progress was made.

• “Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,” Trump said after briefing Western allies on the talks. If Russia doesn’t agree to a ceasefire deal by the Friday deadline, the president has promised to slap Moscow with a mountain of sanctions, and has also threatened to impose secondary sanctions on the country’s close trade partners.

I Wish You Would Step Back From That Helicopter, My Friend

• It seems like there’s been at least one high-profile fatal helicopter crash every year in recent memory, and unfortunately this year is no exception. Yesterday, Ghana's ministers of defence and environment – as well as six others – were killed in a fatal military helicopter crash over the country’s Ashanti region. It’s unclear exactly what caused the crash, with Ghana’s military only revealing that the chopper went “off the radar” shortly before the deadly incident. 

• Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment, Science and Technology Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were headed to an anti-illegal mining event in Obuasi, a gold mining town in southern Ghana. The country’s Chief of Staff Julius Debrah described the crash as a “national tragedy,” and flags are being flown at half-mast across the nation.

Additional World News

• ‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians (Guardian)

• Dozens more countries face higher taxes on exports to US as new Trump tariffs come into effect (Guardian)

• China’s Exports Surged Again in July, but Not to America (NYT, $)

• One Piece: How a cartoon skull became a symbol of defiance in Indonesia (BBC)

• Mexican ranchers struggle to adapt as a parasite ravages cattle exports to the U.S. (NPR)

• China fights mosquito-borne chikungunya virus with drones, fines and nets as thousands fall ill (CNN)

Federalizing The Capital City

• On Sunday, former DOGE employee Edward Coristine – better known by his online nickname “Big Balls” – was assaulted in a carjacking attempt in Washington, D.C. Just a few days later, the president threatened to put the city under federal jurisdiction, claiming that crime in the nation’s capital is “totally out of control.” He went on to claim that "local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released.”

• “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore,” he threatened. In March, Trump increased federal control over the city with an executive order ensuring federal participation in certain municipal processes, but now he wants to change city laws to “prosecute these ‘minors’ as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14.” There’s a joke here about Trump having minors on his mind a little too much but we won’t make it.

Taking Slices Out Of Texas

• Something fishy is happening in the Texas summer. State Republicans are currently in the process of gerrymandering Texas’ voting districts at the request of Trump, redoing the state’s voting maps to slice up five districts which voted Democrats into the state legislature and turn them into Republican strongholds.In the U.S., districts are redrawn with the help of Census data every 10 years, making Trump’s push for a mid-decade redistricting even more out-of-the-ordinary. 

• Technically, Texas can redistrict anytime as redrawing voting lines just requires a vote by the Republican-held state legislature and approval by governor Greg Abbott. However, Democrats have thrown a wrench in the state GOP’s plans by… fleeing Texas entirely. Over 50 Democrat members of the Texas House of Representatives fled the state after Abbott called a special redistricting session, blocking the session temporarily because not enough legislators were present. 

• The plan is for the Democrats to take some nice summer vacations until the timer on the special session runs out in a few weeks. There are a few problems with that plan, though: first, the governor can just call another special session whenever he wants; second, the lawmakers are racking up fines of $500 per day while they’re out of office; last, GOP lawmakers are trying to drag their Democratic colleagues back into the state with “civil warrants,” which allow Texas law enforcement to detain the representatives and bring them to the state capitol. Luckily most of the Democrats are out of state.

Additional USA News

• In One of the Country's Poorest States, Crippling Budget Cuts Loom (NYT, $)

• The K-shaped economy is back in full force (WaPo, $)

• Border patrol agents jump out of rental truck and ambush people at LA Home Depot (Guardian)

• United Airlines flights grounded nationwide because of computer problems (NPR)

• Epstein scandal: JD Vance dinner seen as chance for Pam Bondi and Kash Patel to clear the air (CNN)

• RFK Jr. defunds a medical miracle (Vox) 

Half A Trillion For Trump’s Trust

• Apple is dropping $100 billion to stay in Trump’s good graces. Yesterday, the tech giant announced plans to spend $100 billion on expanding its manufacturing infrastructure in the U.S. at the behest of the president. That sum expands on a previous investment pledge from the company, which will see it spend $500 billion on U.S. manufacturing over the next four years.

• For some reason, Trump is convinced that Apple’s iPhones should be 100% American made. In order to make him happy, Apple has signed a new $2.5 billion contract with material manufacturer Corning in order to make all iPhone and Apple Watch glass in the company’s Kentucky factory. It’s also committed to work with smartphone rival Samsung at the Korean firm’s Texas microchip fabrication facility “to launch an innovative new technology for making chips, which has never been used before anywhere in the world.”

• “I’m proud to say that Apple is leading the creation of an end-to-end silicon supply chain right here in America, from design to equipment to wafer production to fabrication to packaging,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, who’s been busy sucking up to the president just like every other major tech CEO in the U.S. “We’re going to keep working with our suppliers to move even more of this incredibly advanced work to America.”

Additional Reads

• Hackers Hijacked Google’s Gemini AI With a Poisoned Calendar Invite to Take Over a Smart Home (Wired)

• A Ranch Four Times the Size of New York City for $79.5 Million (NYT, $)

• A zoo in Denmark asked patrons to donate their pets. Not as attractions, but for food (NPR)

• Nasa astronaut Butch Wilmore retires after nine months in space (BBC)

• It's 2025, the year we decided we need a widespread slur for robots (NPR)

• As influencers spread ‘toxic’ claims, what is the truth about sunscreen? (Guardian)

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