Welcome to Wednesday, June 30th, friends...

As of early this morning, the death toll in the Miami condo collapse climbed to 12 with 149 still unaccounted for.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, seven additional task force teams from Florida, and the Israeli Task Force continue to search layer by layer of debris at the Champlain Towers South Condo.

Two days before the condo collapse, a pool contractor photographed this damage in the garage:

“There was standing water all over the parking garage,” the contractor, who asked not to be named, told the Miami Herald. He noted cracks in concrete, exposed rebar, and a wet floor under the pool.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit Surfside on Thursday. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the president supports mobilizing federal agencies, including the FBI, to investigate the disaster.

Read the latest on the disaster here.

What's in the Intelligence Community's UFO Report?

On Friday, the intelligence community released a report on sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), which the federal government refers to as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

Congress required that a declassified version of the report be made public through a provision in the intelligence authorization section in the spending package enacted at the end of 2020.

The UAP Task Force (UAPTF) focused its review on reports submitted between 2004 and 2021, the majority of which were submitted through formalized reporting processes established by the military in the last two years. It found:

“Most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects given that a majority of UAP were registered across multiple sensors, to include radar, infrared, electro-optical, weapon seekers, and visual observation.”

The task force added:

“In a limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis.”

Read all the key findings here, then join the conversation:

How do you feel about the UAP report?

U.S. Approves Arms Sales to Pacific Allies

The U.S. has recently approved several prospective arms sales to allies in the Pacific with the goal of improving their defensive capabilities to deter aggression by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Earlier this month, the Dept. of Defense and State Dept. gave a green light to a request by the Philippines to purchase 12 F-16 fighter jets along with related weaponry, in addition to anti-air and anti-ship missiles at a total estimated cost of about $2.6 billion. 

Historically, military aid has augmented economic aid in U.S. efforts to provide assistance to foreign countries, with the latter outpacing the former except for a brief period at the outset of the Cold War.

This USAFacts chart shows total annual foreign economic and military assistance in inflation-adjusted 2019 dollars dating back to the end of World War II:

How do you feel about arms sales to U.S. allies Australia and the Philippines?

All The Memes Fit To Post
 

And, In The End...

The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded on June 30, 1966, and today we celebrate:

Equality for all,

—Josh Herman

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