06/26/23
Good morning! It’s Monday, June 26th.
National Barcode Day.
Finally! Just like.. such a super important holiday. Really vital. Justice for barcodes, ya know?
And now, the news.
A Russian… Coup?
Let’s start with the news of the weekend that was… first it was not covered, then it was being covered and confusing, and then it ended and everyone was like: wait. What??
I’m talking, of course, about the Russian coup that almost and sort of kind of was.
Let’s start with some backstory. The Wagner Group, which is the paramilitary group, not banking group (even though that’s what it sounds like), was founded in 2014 by someone that used to be a catering chef whose company won contracts with Putin so often that he was known as “Putin’s chef.”
And then, in 2014, not satisfied with flipping eggs (I guess. I actually don’t really know what their go-to meal was), the founder moved into the private military space and has worked not only in Russia but Syria, Mali, and the Central African Republic, among other countries. But when it comes to Russia, the group was a big part of Putin’s Ukrainian strategy. For example the Wagner Group is who help Ukraine’s Bakhmut, though they were initially critical of what Russia was originally doing in the city, since it left both sides with serious loses.
Recently though, the group has been critical of Russian military and refused to sign a contract of cooperation with Russian Defense Military, which is the country’s military organization.
Then on Friday, things escalated as the group said Russian troops attacked them in eastern Ukraine and, without providing evidence, said that 2,000 members of the Wagner Group had been killed by Russia’s miliary leader.
That brings us to Saturday, when the Wagner Group began a casual coup. They began in Rostov-on-Don, a Russian city of just over a million people, where they seized the military headquarters. Then they made their way to Moscow, but not before shooting down aircraft that the Russian military sent to try and stop them.
It was wild because it was a very serious situation, and then all of the sudden… they stopped. The leader of the Wagner Group, Putin’s chef, called off the coup with Putin granting him amnesty as long as he goes into exile in Belarus.
And now… the coup is done.
Now, to be clear, what it’s done has shown the weakness of Putin. And you know… Putin is bad but there’s the question of the literal devil you know versus the could-be-worse devil that makes eggs or whatever.
But in the meantime, it was just a really wild news cycle and then all of the sudden it was done. We’ll see what this means for the future of Russia. Nothing good, probably.
Kansas City Shooting
-via Kansas City Star
And back in domestic news… three people are dead and at least five people were injured after a shooting at an after party in Kansas City. Someone was told to leave, before they came back with a gun.
That’s eight people shot and many more affected by gun violence.
I wonder if that’s enough to even be covered in the news.
Oregon Will Vote on Ranked-Choice-Voting
-via Oregon Live
Okay, let’s end with some good news for democracy!
Next year, Oregon voters will have the opportunity to vote on whether the state will move to ranked-choice-voting in both national and statewide offices.
The state House and Senate gave the bipartisan bill the thumbs up emoji at the end of the session meaning that, if voters approve next year, starting January 1st, 2028, the state will utilize a system of voting that provides the best opportunity to bring the strongest candidates into office.
Currently, only Maine and Alaska do statewide ranked choice voting, But at least 50 other cities and counties use it for local elections. Including New York City which, with is the largest voting block that uses the system.
Very exciting. I love ranked-choice-voting. I mean, I love voting in general, but ranked choice voting is a fun one.
And that’s it. That’s the news!
Turns out, when there’s a short lived, but still very confusing, coup in Russia, there’s not a lot of other news to talk about.
Hey, tomorrow we’re going to talk about some Supreme Court rulings. So… get ready for that exciting episode!
I’m proud of barcodes. Really holding the whole economy together. Super impressive.
But more than that… more than the barcode tattoos that used to be really popular because even though we’ve had barcodes since 1948, they really had a mo-ment in the early aughts… because you’re just as popular today as you were in the early aughts… I’m proud of you.