Dawn Dispatch // August 4th, 2026
How Meteorologists Saved WWII (A Recommendation), Voting Day Info, All Eyes On Michigan, Iran Back And Forth, Spokane Burns, Crime On The Loose, And More...
Good morning, friends!
Before we jump in, I want to tell you about a great movie our family watched over the weekend. We (Sean and I) made Beef Stroganoff for Sunday Supper and wanted to relax with a film that would make our family think while also being enjoyable, so we decided on “Pressure,” a WWII film starring Brendan Fraser.
The movie covers the 72 hours before D-Day, and follows General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg as they decide whether to launch the largest seaborne invasion in history (or risk losing the war). The opening of the movie centers on the Allies rattled by Exercise Tiger (which I hope to write about soon), which was a rehearsal that went horribly wrong and killed more than 700 men. Basically, the movie tells the story of how meteorologists correctly predicted the weather for D-Day (which was scheduled for June 5th) and saved countless lives. We all really enjoyed it and recommend it to you!
* Yes, there is cursing, so if that is a deal-breaker, now you know. No other questionable content except several scenes of gunfire, exchanged in war.
ALSO…On Voting…
Five states vote today: Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia and Washington.
On The Ballot Today
Michigan isn’t voting alone (more on that below). Five states hold primaries today.
Kansas: An open governor’s race with Gov. Laura Kelly termed out, plus a crowded Democratic Senate field competing to take on Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in November. A ballot measure would change how the state picks its Supreme Court justices.
Michigan: This is an open governor’s seat. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson leads for Democrats; Rep. John James has Trump’s endorsement is on the Republican side but faces businessman Perry Johnson. In Detroit, Rep. Shri Thanedar is fighting off a Sanders-backed challenger. (More on Michigan Senate below).
Missouri: This will be the first test of the new Republican-drawn map, which flipped Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City seat from solidly blue to solidly red. In St. Louis, Rep. Wesley Bell faces a rematch with Cori Bush. Voters also decide whether to restrict citizen ballot initiatives.
Virginia: Senate and House nominees, including two of the most competitive districts in the country. Rep. Jen Kiggans looks headed for a rematch with Elaine Luria in the 2nd.
Washington: Everyone runs on one ballot and the top two advance, regardless of party. The race to watch is the 4th District, where three very different Republicans are competing for a safe seat.
Tennessee votes Thursday and Hawaii on Saturday.
(🔗: NPR · 270toWin live results)
Trump Calls Off “The Biggest Attack Since World War II”
So, President Trump pulled the plug late Saturday on a multi-day air campaign against Iran, posting that the U.S. was “locked and loaded” but had been asked to hold off because the outline of a deal had come together. When he was on Air Force One on Sunday, he said the canceled operation would have been the biggest attack since World War II, and that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Iran itself all urged him to call it off. War Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the U.S. was ready to strike Saturday night.
The deal covers two things: the complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat. He said negotiations were going to start Monday afternoon and called an agreement “imminent”, but set no deadline.
Tehran, on the other hand… Iran’s foreign ministry said unequivocally that it is not negotiating with the United States, and that the talks underway are with Oman over a temporary transit route for shipping and not what the POTUS said. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the Oman channel is in its final stages. So, of course, Trump pushed back and insisted talks are indeed happening and called Tehran’s denials duplicitous.
As expected, the market was impacted: Brent crude fell roughly 4.5% to just over $83 a barrel Monday, at one point dropping as much as 7.3%. No matter what you think is going to happen, that’s a pretty clear signal that traders believe the shooting will stop, at least for the time being. In simplest terms, however: We are five months into a war, and Iran still controls Hormuz, CENTCOM has redirected two dozen commercial vessels since restarting its blockade, and Iran-backed militias in Iraq hit U.S. interests with drones on Monday. It’s not going great in my opinion; major media outlets aren’t even reporting on it much anymore, and the general public is tired of this conflict.
Michigan Is The Canary In The Coal Mine
ALL EYES ON MICHIGAN. Michigan Democrats will head to the polls today in what some are saying is the most consequential primary of the 2026 cycle. Sen. Gary Peters is retiring, and the open seat has become a proxy war between the party’s progressive/socialist insurgency and the more establishment wing, but if we are honest, it looks like the insurgents are poised to win.
Abdul El-Sayed is a former Detroit health commissioner who lost the 2018 governor’s primary to Gretchen Whitmer by more than twenty points. He’s now being backed with endorsements from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and running on Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and higher taxes on the wealthy. Of course, when pushed (like on CNN), he refuses to call himself socialist and calls himself a progressive (who just enjoys the endorsement of socialists). His competition, Rep. Haley Stevens, flipped a Republican-leaning suburban Detroit seat in 2018 and has the full weight of the party behind her (Whitmer, Peters, and Chuck Schumer), and her pitch is that she’s the one who can hold a seat in a state Trump has carried twice.
As would be expected (especially in Michigan), Israel has become the defining issue. Michigan has the largest Arab American population in the country (and the largest mosque in all of North America), and El-Sayed has called for ending U.S. military aid to Israel. Pro-Israel groups answered with one of the most expensive primary spending campaigns in American history (some are reporting more than $60 million in outside spending benefiting Stevens against roughly $4.6 million for El-Sayed, with the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project accounting for over $30 million of it). Roughly thirteen to one, and it does not appear to have worked.
The final polls are showing El-Sayed is up double digits (Emerson had him 57 to 41, Tavern Research 48 to 37, and both Kalshi and Polymarket put him near 98% to win). More than a million Michiganders have already voted before today, and the majority of that is by mail. The generational split is the story I’m really interested in: Emerson shows voters under 50 breaking for El-Sayed by 42 points while voters over 60 favor Stevens by 14. Whoever wins faces Republican Mike Rogers in November, who lost to Elissa Slotkin two years ago by about 19,000 votes. If El-Sayed were to win, he would be the first Muslim Senator in U.S. history.
Get out and vote, Michigan!
RELATED: I recommend this documentary to you re: the Muslim takeover of Michigan. It’s about 20 minutes and worth your time.
(🔗: PolitiFact · Newsweek)
Armed Bystander and a Week-Old In-N-Out
Over the weekend, a 24-year-old man walked into a brand-new In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, carrying a long rifle and opened fire. Three people were killed and seven critically wounded. The restaurant had been open exactly one week.
The shooter then moved out into the parking lot, and two armed men engaged him. Jordan Salinas, a 35-year-old from nearby Kimberly, and an off-duty Idaho State Police trooper who happened to be there both jumped into action. Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson called them “true heroes” and said their actions diverted the gunman and saved lives. Police Chief Matthew Hicks echoed the sentiment. A witness stopped at a nearby light told the AP that the shooter became so fixated on the man shooting back at him that the cars ahead were able to escape.
A third man, Austin James, ran toward the gunman but (according to his father) deliberately did not draw his own firearm, because he didn’t want responding officers to mistake him for the attacker. He came face to face with the shooter and was critically wounded. His wife and a friend both worked at the restaurant.
Police identified the gunman on Sunday as Chad Williams, 24, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They say he acted alone and his family is cooperating. As of this morning, no motive has been released. One of the dead was an In-N-Out employee, confirmed by CEO Lynsi Snyder; a relative confirmed to CBS that 59-year-old Christopher Claunch was also killed. The FBI has since set up a digital tip line, and hundreds of witnesses are expected to be interviewed.
Spokane Burns
Three fast-moving wildfires tore through Spokane County, Washington, beginning Saturday afternoon, and as of last evening, none was contained. Roughly 65,000 people have evacuated, and more than 700 homes and businesses are gone.
The Old Trails Fire started around noon Saturday in open brush, and then jumped the Spokane River, pushing into neighborhoods on both the northwest and northeast sides of the city. It is now grouped with the Autumn Lane and Fairview fires as the Spokane Complex; it has burned 8,026 acres with zero containment. The National Guard was activated on Saturday night, and Gov. Bob Ferguson requested federal emergency support after speaking directly with President Trump. Large sections of the city are now under Level 3 orders.
Not helping the situation is that Washington is in a record-setting statewide drought, and Ferguson issued a statewide burn ban Saturday. More than 1,000 fires have burned roughly 425,000 acres in the state this year, which is the most since 2021, and it’s only the first week of August. No deaths or injuries have been confirmed, though that could change with time and final assessments.
Things To Watch…
UH yes🫶
Cruise For One, Cruise For Literally All —> “Zac Brown Band celebrated their 15th straight sold-out concert at Fenway Park in Boston Sunday night with a huge surprise.”
UH no🫸
New Studies, New Fears —> “Scientists in Brazil found microplastics in the brain tissue of cadavers, according to a new study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open.”
Would Move Immediately —> “A Calabasas family got a terrifying wake-up call on Friday when a venomous intruder was discovered lurking right where their children play.”
Naked And Not Afraid (?) —> “The miraculous survival of a disturbed man who leaped from the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday could have come down to a handful of factors — the likeliest being the precise position of his body when he landed in the East River, an expert told The Post.”
Crime On The Loose with the ATTRM
(🚨viewer discretion advised🚨)
When In Greece: CBS NEWS Link
—> Summary: “Greek police on Sunday said they had arrested a suspect in their investigation into the death of a British woman whose body was found in a suitcase in Athens this month. The police in a statement said they had arrested a 26-year-old man, identified in media reports as an Afghan national, adding that he had ‘confessed his actions.’
‘Officers of the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime have solved the homicide of a 38-year-old U.K. national, whose body was found inside a suitcase in an abandoned building in the Kypseli area on July 18,’ they said.”
Creature Corner😽
✨“Dogs of all breeds and sizes took to the ruff waters at the World Dog Surfing Championships in Pacifica, California on August 1.” (Daily Mail)
✨“Oscar, a six-year-old French bulldog who died suddenly from a brain tumor earlier this year, has been given one final adventure after his ashes were sent to the edge of the atmosphere in a weather balloon.” (NYP)
LOL
Wrong And Laughable On So Many Levels:
“‘It's just racism. It's just dog racism. To be afraid of a breed of dog is completely ridiculous. It's like being afraid of somebody for their race or their sexual orientation. It's completely ridiculous,’ Bernthal said. He then alleged, "Look, if a pit bull bites you, it's going to suck. But they're no more likely to bite you than a Chihuahua or another breed.’” (USA Today)
A Different Kind Of Intermission: “A “Spider-Man” screening in Cartagena, Colombia was evacuated after one of the audience members suffered from an extreme fart attack.”
On This Day In History…
70 BC – The trial of Gaius Verres for corruption opens in Rome, with Marcus Tullius Cicero as prosecutor.
598 – Emperor Wéndi of the Sui dynasty orders an invasion of Goguryeo (Korea).
1181 – Chinese and Japanese astronomers observe the supernova SN 1181 in Cassiopeia.
1265 – Battle of Evesham: Prince Edward (later Edward I) defeats and kills Simon de Montfort, ending the main phase of the Second Barons’ War.
1320 – The “Black Parliament” at Scone tries nobles who plotted against Robert I of Scotland.
1356 – Edward the Black Prince begins a major chevauchée (mounted raid) during the Hundred Years’ War.
1578 – Battle of Alcácer Quibir (Battle of the Three Kings): Moroccan forces defeat the Portuguese; both King Sebastian of Portugal and the Moroccan sultan die.
1701 – The Great Peace of Montreal is signed between New France and First Nations.
1704 – Anglo-Dutch forces under Admiral George Rooke capture Gibraltar from Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession.
1753 – George Washington becomes a Master Mason.
1783 – Mount Asama in Japan begins a major eruption (Tenmei eruption), contributing to famine and thousands of deaths.
1784 – Russian fur traders establish the first permanent Russian settlement on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
1789 – The French National Constituent Assembly abolishes feudalism and many aristocratic privileges (the “August Decrees” / Night of 4 August).
1790 – The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (forerunner of the Coast Guard) is created by tariff act.
1821 – The Saturday Evening Post is first published as a weekly newspaper.
1830 – Plans for the city of Chicago are formally laid out.
1873 – George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry has its first clash with Cheyenne and Lakota near the Tongue River, Montana.
1889 – The Great Fire of Spokane, Washington, destroys about 32 blocks of the city.
1892 – Andrew and Abby Borden are found murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts (Lizzie Borden is later tried and acquitted).
1902 – The Greenwich Foot Tunnel under the River Thames opens.
1944 – Anne Frank, her family, and four others are arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam after a tip-off.
1964 – Bodies of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney are found in Mississippi; the second Gulf of Tonkin incident is reported.
1977 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the Department of Energy.
1987 – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission votes to rescind the Fairness Doctrine.
1991 – The Greek cruise ship MTS Oceanos sinks off South Africa; all 571 people on board are rescued.
2007 – NASA launches the Phoenix Mars lander.
2020 – A massive explosion of stored ammonium nitrate at the Port of Beirut kills more than 200 people and causes widespread destruction.
Alright friends….get out and vote and I’ll see you back here tomorrow!
Pressure was very good. I recommend watching 36 Hours - it’s an old movie with James Garner. We watched it the weekend before Pressure and thought Pressure dovetailed nicely with this movie.
I live in Spokane County in Washington state and the damage to parts of our city from the fires is absolutely horrific. The fire came through neighborhoods and has caused so much destruction. So many have lost their homes and everything. It’s heartbreaking.