Hey, everybody, it's Moosh. Before we get started here, I'm really excited to tell you about a new partner of ours here in Mo News. You may have heard us talk about them before. Element electrolyte drink mix. If you're like me and you have trouble drinking all the water you need every day. Remember our bodies are more than 50% water. Then you should definitely check out element. Their electrolyte drink mix comes in a ton of flavors. I really like the watermelon and the citrus salt right now. The great thing is they don't contain sugar or other dodgy ingredients. You get in other sports drinks. And there's a lot of research coming out right now that optimal health outcomes occur when your sodium levels are two to three times government recommendations. And that's what you get with element. You just take the powder, you pour in a bit of water, you mix it and you are good to go. I like to parse it out and do multiple portions from that bag of powder into multiple glasses of water throughout the day. Electrolyte deficiency is a real thing. It creates headaches, cramps, fatigue, brain fog. And that's why getting your electrolytes is so important whether you're an athlete or you're just going about your day. So they have a special deal right now for the Monews community. Go over to drinklmt.com/monews. That is drinktheletterlmt.com/monews and you get a free sample pack with any element drink mix purchase. It allows you to try all the flavors. Again, the website, drinklmt.com/monews. (upbeat music) Hey everybody, it is Thursday, August 8th. You've listened to the Monews podcast. I'm Moshe Wannunu. And I'm Jill Wagner. This is the place where we bring you just the facts. And we read all the news and read between the lines so you don't have to. Jill, neither of us own cats, but I understand that today, August 8th, is International Cat Day. So a happy cat day to all the cat owners in the Monews community today. Including Taylor Swift, who is part of the news today. Yes, we'll get to that story in a second. I don't know what the cat ladies have up to. I know with the JD Vance remarks last week, there's a lot of people who are on the defensive. That's become a whole meme. As he attacked cat owners. Anyway, the few lines out there. Maybe there's a discount out there for cat food or something related to your pet. Go check it out. All right, and also a happy Friday eve to everybody. Let's get to the headlines here. Starting with presidential politics, dueling campaign events in Wisconsin and Michigan as both Republicans and Democrats sharpened their attacks against each other. And we'll call you why JD Vance walked over to Kamala Harris's plane yesterday, Air Force Two, on the tarmac, what he had to say. Meanwhile, an ISIS threat at a Taylor Swift concert foiled in Austria, but authorities are canceling the shows anyway, what we know. Jill, it's going to be the Swifties versus ISIS. My money's on the Swifties. My money is always on the Swifties. Also overseas, Ukraine launching an attack into Russia. What could be their strategy? And back here in the US, Tropical Storm Debbie drenching the East Coast with inches of rain, where the storm is headed next. Jill, we've been hearing from people stuck on the tarmac at various airports around the country trying to find routes around Debbie. And will the frozen housing market finally un-thaw? Some numbers show that things might be at least starting to turn around. And remember those Starliner astronauts who were supposed to spend eight days in space? Well, they're still up there. And now NASA says they may not come home until next year. But folks, don't worry. They have food, they have oxygen, we'll explain. But do they have enough underwear? That's my question. They're doing a lot of laundry. Way more larger than they thought they were going to be. And we will have an Olympics update, including the oldest skateboarder to compete. Plus, Moshe is on the same history. Jill, the clue today is, here's to you, Mrs. Robinson. Hmm, what could it be? It could be a music group, it could be a movie, it could be an actor, something related there. All right, let the campaign season officially begin. The full tickets are set, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, first Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. And the dueling campaign rallies are happening. On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly minted running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, held a rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was packed with people lined up as far as the eye could see just to get in. So two days into this new ticket, the enthusiasm is still quite high. Walz wasting no time attacking Donald Trump. He mocks our laws. He sows chaos and division amongst the people. And that's to say nothing of the job he did as president. (audience laughing) He froze in the face of COVID and it cost people's lives. He drove the economy into the ground and make no mistake about it. Violent crime was up when Donald Trump was president. (audience laughing) Harrison Walz made it to all of the blue wall states, as they're called, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the 36 hours after the announcement of their complete ticket. They're calling it the blue walls. Get it? Get it? (laughing) A campaign official says they've raised 36 million bucks in just the 24 hours since Harris announced Walz as her running mate, not to be outdone. Republican JD Vance, also campaigning in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and he had a campaign stop in Michigan early on Wednesday. He even tried to approach Kamala Harris on a tarmac in Wisconsin to quote, check out his future plane, a little tongue in cheek there. And he did stop to talk to the press who follows the vice president, questioning why she hasn't really answered any media questions. - Why does she refuse to answer questions from the media? And I also thought that the press gaggle following her might get a little lonely. I at least have enough respect for you all and to the American people you report you to come and talk to you and to answer some questions. - And Moshe, it is a fair point, as we've talked about on the podcast, the vice president's job in many ways is to support the president and his or her positions. And of course, this has been an unprecedented campaign season with President Biden dropping out after the primaries. So do you expect that Harris will at some point lay out her positions on the issues? - She's gonna have to JD Vance yesterday a note. It's been 17 days, July 21st was the day that Biden dropped out. So more than two weeks now that she hasn't sat down for a formal interview. Now, keep in mind, we talked about this on the pot, there's a whole process you typically engage in during normal campaign years. You spend time, you have teams together, you're like, okay, healthcare team, you know, like let's dive into what I should do on this. Energy team, what should I do in climate change? A foreign policy team, what are my views on China, on Taiwan, on Ukraine, et cetera, et cetera. Now, obviously she has a vantage point 'cause she's been vice president, but where is she gonna zag? Where is she gonna differ from Biden here? She has not laid that out. I certainly expect that to come soon. In fact, as we record this jail, they might be announcing a 60 minutes interview, you know, she's gonna do a 60 minutes sit down probably at some point. She might do like a formal sit down with some of the other networks. She's gonna have to do that. She's gonna have to do some print publications, The New York Times, The Washington Post. Some of those typical publications now keep in mind, the Republicans have been mainly sticking to friendly media, you know, the Fox News, et cetera. So maybe they launch her with a, you know, more liberal reporter or liberal outlet that'll offer a more friendly interview, a Rachel Maddow, perhaps. So we will see what happens there, but certainly this scrutiny will get louder. JD Vance has a strategy here, which is, hey media, why aren't you asking these questions? Why aren't you pushing her harder? She has to spoken to you. She took one question on the tarmac, when the prisoners came home, when Gershka came home. So she's basically spoken for about 35 seconds in two and a half weeks in an impromptu way. So wait for the volume to get louder here on Harris. What does she stand for? What are her issue positions? Again, is she just, you know, copy paste Biden? Or is she going to differ here in some ways? So they're making their way across the Midwest. These are all key states, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, probably just like 2016, just like 2020, are going to dictate who the winner is this year. States that are very 50-50 right now. One of the other attack lines, the Republicans are trying out is they try to, you know, basically characterize Tim Walz, who's not known to 70% of America, according to the latest polls, who is he? So Vance, one of the issues he brought up yesterday, was Walz's military service, which is Democrats have been playing up, you know, more than two decades in the National Guard. Well, Vance was also, he was a Marine, right? He fought in Iraq in the war in 2004. It turns out that Walz, who had spent more than two decades in the National Guard, went and left the National Guard and ran for Congress in 2005, when he would have ended up being sent over there. Take a listen here at a JD Vance. - When the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do it and I did it honorably, and I'm very proud of that service. When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him, a fact that he's been criticized for aggressively by a lot of the people that he served with. I think it's shameful. - So just to wrap that up, Walz ran for Congress from Minnesota in 2005. That was about the time he was gonna be deployed, though Harris Walz's campaign responds, quote, after 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired the Veterans Affairs Committee. He was a tireless advocate for men and women in uniform. As vice president, he will do the same. He's faced his attacks in the past when he was running for re-election in Minnesota in 2022. His Republican opponent questioned the decision again, the timing in 2005 of leaving the service just before he was about to be deployed. Walz at the time responded with a letter from a more than 50 veterans praising his record, his leadership, his time in the National Guard. He was an opponent of the war in Iraq, notably at this juncture. Both Democrats and Republicans, one of the things they agree on was that the war in Iraq was a mistake. Still, they're trying to poke holes in his service. Something you saw Bush do to carry 20 years ago, John Kerry having been a veteran, George W. Bush having avoided Vietnam, but Republicans going on the offensive there to question Kerry's time in Vietnam. And you see this happening here. Despite the complication here, Trump is accused of also avoiding a war. This happens to be Vietnam. He's much older by getting a doctor's diagnosis that he had bone spurs. That was a common thing you could do if you had a certain amount of money in clout. During that Vietnam era is suddenly you had bone spurs so you wouldn't be drafted into the war in Vietnam. So one of the attack lines here is they try to frame Tim Walz at the same time you have Harrison Walz trying to frame themselves. You also have policies being rolled out here. Donald Trump has been down in Mar-a-Lago. He's done some interviews, though he hasn't been on the campaign trail for a few days. Now, he does plan to go back out on Friday. He happened to call into Fox News yesterday morning. He says he's thrilled with the wall spake. He's like, this is our dream. They were very fearful, as we told you, about just Shapiro and the impact he or Mark Kelly could have had as a moderate, helping Democrats lock in in Arizona or Pennsylvania. As far as policy, among the things Trump is talking about right now is floating the idea of more tax cuts. He is calling for the end of tax and social security benefits, which would give a boost to retirees. Of course, retirees is a very large group here in America as all the boomers have retired. The plan would cost the federal government, though, nearly $2 trillion in revenue at a time we're already running huge deficits. We have a huge debt. So that is very unlikely to pass because it's the opposite we need to do. We need to find ways for the government to bring in more money to cut the debt. But Trump is calling for a bunch of tax cuts here. Remember, in the last 90 days of the campaign, there's gonna be a lot of things called for historically that never get passed, but people will hear about it and be like, oh, I should totally vote for that person if they're gonna do that. It's likely not happening, folks, reality-shuck. Trump has also floated a tax cut for hotel and restaurant workers in Nevada, people who earn tips that likely is also not going to happen. Again, campaign promises, politicians, throwing out promises and campaign season. Does that feel new to you? It goes back to high school days when you'd be running for class president and you're like, "Free ice cream on Fridays, two prongs." - This triggers me. I ran for sixth grade class president and I lost. Why? Because I was an honest broker. And the person who ran against me said that they would get more stuff in the vending machines, more snacks. And I was like, "You can't do that." Well, my fellow 12-year-olds decided that they would go with the person who was promising better snacks in the snack machines and more snacks. Anyway, bottom line, I lost. It disenchanted me. I doubled down. I'm here today as a journalist, as a podcaster, because my attempted politics in sixth grade failed me. And I was like, "I need to go to a place where I can call balls and strikes and be honest with the people." - So it all started with the sixth grade student council around. I appreciate it. - It just, that triggered me. And by the way, Trump's not alone here. There's a bunch of stuff the Democrats are promising. We told you about Biden's promise, about the Supreme Court reforms, all the various things that he's promising right now. And Harris is likely taking up. A lot of those things are not gonna happen either. And so we'll try as they roll this stuff out to give you a reality check on all of them. - So Trump has been very active on his social media platform, Truth Social, in one post writing that perhaps President Biden will crash the Democratic National Convention, where he's, by the way, slated to speak on the first night. - Right, the first night, August 19th is like the tribute to Biden, right? - Yeah. - But he's gonna crash and be like, "Guys, new speech, I won't back in." Anyway, Trump wrote that Biden might try to take back the nomination from Kamala Harris. I don't know a lot, Moshe, but I don't think that's happening. - Well, first of all, the last six weeks have been unpredictable, Jill. And I appreciate Donald Trump's creativity here as he sits in Mar-a-Lago and puts out these posts where he's like, "You know what would be cool? Biden should take back the nomination." It speaks to a couple things. One, Trump is desperate to run against Biden again. He was doing amazing against Biden. He was gonna crush Biden in the fall. So he's like, "Are you sure, Joe? "You don't wanna run against me anymore?" Now, Joe Biden, I'm sure, is still annoyed. There was an interesting interview this week with Nancy Pelosi, where MSNBC asked her like, "Hey, have you talked to Joe since the poll "him dropping out?" And she goes, "No." She goes, "Are you guys still close?" She goes, "You'll have to ask President Biden. "I respect him greatly." Nancy Pelosi having run the secret campaign to push Biden out. So there's definitely still splits in the party. Clearly Biden would prefer to be running again. He's not, but Trump is sitting here and there's some critique here from Republicans who are like, "You should be just fighting Kamala Harris. "She is your opponent. "Why are you engaging in fantasy "about running against Biden again? "You can frame her as a liberal, as untested. "The world's a crazy place. "The economy is unsure right now with the stock market." And he's putting out these posts about like Joe Biden should totally crash the convention and take back the nomination. It would be cool to cover. That's probably not up. - It also is a little bonkers, which some people have said that this is worth covering just because it's so out there that it is newsworthy in and of itself that this is what the Republican-- - Republican presidential nominee is talking about. - And former president is talking about, yes. Listen, it's gonna be a very interesting final 90 days here, folks. - And Moshe, a story that we did talk about over on the Instagram account, according to financial disclosures and confirmed by a spokesperson for Tim Walz, he does not own a single stock, nor does his wife. The disclosures show that he has no mutual funds, bonds, private equities or other securities. He doesn't even own real estate. The couple, apparently, according to Axios, sold their home in Minnesota after moving into the governor's mansion for below asking price. - Wait, in this market? - We've talked about the issue and problems with lawmakers owning stock and efforts to ban stock trading for members of Congress. In fact, Walz was one of the Congress members who was pushing that, but some have questioned if perhaps Walz is up to running the biggest economy in the world. - Yeah, I mean, obviously the scenario there is that somehow he has to replace Kamala Harris. How would he handle the duties he's present? It's something we've talked about a lot on this podcast is the electoral benefits of the VP, which go through November. But then ultimately, if you're actually VP, you have a couple duties. One, your only constitutional duty is to be alive. John Adams described it as such as the worst job in history. He was the first vice president. He's like the most inconsequential job in the world. My job is to be alive in case George Washington dies, and that's been the rule of thumb. Vice presidents, otherwise, in many cases had nothing to do, which is why they gave them president of the Senate as an official duty. Some vice presidents have been busier than others. Dick Cheney, probably the most prominent example in the past hundred years, 'cause W gave Dick Cheney like, "Hey, foreign policy, "what are we gonna do?" And obviously, they were 9/11 in Iraq, and Cheney actually, if he had his druthers, would have also invaded Syria and Iran based on what we know now. Bottom line, with that background, if for some reason something was to happen to Harris, Dan Tim Walz run the world, right? Deal with Iran, Russia, China, the economy, et cetera. So certainly, something people will look into. It's less of an issue because she happens to be 60. We no longer have an 81-year-old democratic presidential nominee. It's one of the things that people are scrutinizing about JD Vance, given that Trump, if he was to win, would be a year older than Biden was when he started this current term. So, both VPs being scrutinized there, I think the average voter, probably not thinking about this stuff. By the way, I should note, Jill, I looked this up as we were talking here. They sold the home in 2019, so before the COVID price surge. So, I think we can excuse Walz on below market for his home. Also, he probably was elected governor and had to sell it pretty quick. That said, interesting contrast here with Vance, who is a venture capitalist, multi-millionaire, owns several homes now, has a range of assets. He owns gold, he owns crypto, a variety of items according to his financial disclosure forms. And so, that's what we know. An interesting contrast between Walz and Vance there. Okay, now to a terrorism threat against Taylor Swift shows in Europe. Three Taylor Swift concerts that were scheduled in Vienna, Austria this week have been canceled. After two suspects were arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack, the two men were arrested yesterday after Austrian authorities became aware of them starting to prepare for that potential attack at the concert. The 19-year-old main suspect is believed to have ties to a terrorist group ISIS. While the second suspect was allegedly radicalized online, authorities seized chemical substances during a related house search on Wednesday. This is according to an Austrian newspaper. The substances are reportedly being evaluated. Swift's era's tour was set to play three shows this week in Vienna starting on Thursday. One of the event organizers, Barracuda Music, writing on Instagram that they have no choice but to cancel the shows to ensure the safety of everyone involved. Initially, Moshe, even after word of this terror plot was exposed, the show was supposed to still go on. - Yeah, and then they realized like we just had to cancel these shows, especially since an estimated 170,000 people, fans were expected at the concerts in Austria. They were all totally sold out, Joe. I'm sure some of the people who listened to this podcast have seen, there's also been a number of Americans who've been traveling to the European shows 'cause it's been cheaper to literally buy a ticket to Europe, stay in a hotel, see a Taylor Swift show and come back than the ticket prices that we saw here in the US. The 19-year-old main suspect was arrested just south of Vienna, the second person in Vienna proper. After Vienna, Swift has six concerts scheduled for Wembley Stadium starting August 15th. Then the international tour continues, the tour ends in Canada in December. And I think they're being very cautious here given the events of recent years. You might remember back in 2017 Ariana Grande Show in Manchester, England, 22 people were killed when a suicide bomber set up a backpack bomb in Manchester Arena. That was at the end of Grande's concert as all these fans were leaving, more than 100 people were injured beyond the nearly two dozen killed there. There was an official inquiry that was done in Britain by the Domestic Intelligence Agency MI5. And they found in that inquiry that they didn't act swiftly enough on key information. They missed opportunities to prevent the bombing. And that was the deadliest extremist attack in the UK in a number of years. So I think the authorities in Austria, I mentioned, now the authorities in the UK are gonna be very cautious about security just given how large these shows are. All right, a lot more to get to in today's pod. But first we wanna thank one of our partners here at Mo News Factor Meals. Given it's summertime, we're all looking at max out, being outdoors and avoid the heat in the kitchen, especially since we're dealing with the heat outside. And so we're loving factor meals. They deliver chef crafted, never frozen meals that are ready in just two minutes straight to your doorstep. They offer 35 different meals, 60 add-ons every week. You can customize your order. There are always new flavors to explore. I've been loving some of their chicken and fish dishes lately. They're delivered to your door. They go straight in the fridge and then you can heat them up and have a delicious meal ready to go. No cleanup, no prep, especially this summer. And they have a lot of options. Lay me on shrimp, black and salmon. And they have an essential deal right now for the Mo News community. So definitely check it out. You can head to factormeals.com/monews50. Use the code monews50 to get 50% off your first box, 20% off your next month. Again, that is factormeals.com/monews50. Use the code monews50, get 50% off your first box, plus 20% off your next month. - And Mosh, we're always talking about health trends and food trends and how hard it is to get all of your nutrients. Well, one way to get all the important ones is HE1 powder. It is just one scoop with a glass of water in the morning. It is easy and quick. So you can replace multiple health supplements like multivitamins, digestivates, immune support, and more with just one simple scoop. There's things like folate, magnesium, my favorite, ashwagansa for stress support, vitamin C and zinc, all for your immune system. It's good to know that you could cover your nutritional bases and just set yourself up for success in just 60 seconds. So with your first purchase of HE1, they are giving monews listeners a free one year supply of their vitamin D and five free travel packs of HE1. Visit drinkagone.com/monews to take advance to this offer. You can get a discounted monthly subscription or try it one time for just a month. Again, that is drinkagone.com/monews. M-O-N-E-W-S for this special deal and really start to take ownership of your health. Time for the speed read for ABC News. A major move by Ukraine this week. Its army has launched a major attack with its troops into Russia and it appears to be the biggest and most serious incursion into Russia by Ukrainian troops in this two and a half year war so far. A Ukrainian force numbering in the hundreds backed with armored vehicles advanced on Tuesday across the border into Russia's Kursk region. Ukrainian troops appeared to have captured a number of settlements in the border area advancing perhaps as much as 10 miles inside of Russia. Ukrainian incursion prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold urgent meetings on Wednesday with his government and defense leadership. While local authorities said thousands of Russian civilians were being evacuated away from the fighting, Russia's defense ministry initially claimed to have rebuffed the Ukrainian attack and forced them to retreat. But it was clear on Wednesday that intense fighting was still going on as Russian officials announced even more evacuations of civilians from the region. So although the picture is still not exactly clear, what is clear is that this Ukrainian attack was the largest mounted yet into Russia. - Yeah, so just to reset here, the reason why this is so surprising is 'cause it was Russia that invaded Ukraine in 2022. It's Russia that controls about 20%, occupies 20% of Ukraine right now. Ukraine's been on the defensive in its own country trying to recapture territory. They're trying a new tactic here, going into Russia. And there's a number of theories here because the Ukrainians are not really commenting on why they did this, why they sent units across the border into Russia as opposed to just focusing on the defense of their own country. So one theory is that it's gonna force Russia to divert its forces out of Ukraine. So basically, now that Ukraine's on the offensive inside Russia, Russia's like, "Oh, we gotta pull some troops out." Well, they gotta pull the troops out from where? From Ukraine, which then potentially enables Ukraine to take back more of its territory. So sort of an end-around play in terms of what they're doing there. Separately, this could also be an attempt to preempt a planned Russian offensive. The Russians have been trying to invade different parts of Ukraine in recent months to set up new battle fronts beyond the 600 mile battle front that's currently in the east, that's been the case for about two and a half years. And so the idea is to stop them from another incursion. Russia's been doing its thing 'cause they're trying to exhaust and deplete Ukrainian forces here. The third theory is that Ukraine's actually trying to take a piece of Russia because if you wanna negotiate, bring it into the war, and you want some of your territory back, taking some of Putin's territory, might give you some leverage. So that's another theory here. So we'll look out for statements from Zelensky and Ukrainian authorities. Again, they're not really talking right now and acknowledging all of this, but it is certainly risky. Ukraine is suffering from a lot of troop shortages right now. Jill, when you and I were at NATO in recent weeks in Washington, one of the things the official sold us there is that you have a lot of Ukrainian soldiers, some of them amputees returning to the battlefield because Ukraine is so short on resources right now. So does invading Russia right now and taking a piece of Russia makes sense tactically. I'd be surprised if Ukraine did this without talking to the Pentagon and UK authorities first, but it's gonna be something we're watching. - From USA Today, it's Tropical Storm Debbie strengthened along the Atlantic coast Wednesday. Millions in the Carolinas braced for the system to make a second landfall, further inundating rain-soaked communities and extending widespread flooding through the mid-Atlantic region. Forecasters say Debbie could be the wettest landfalling hurricane ever. It has drenched parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and over a foot of rain, the flash floods forced evacuations, overwhelmed drainage systems and breached multiple dams in Georgia. At least five deaths have been tied to the storm. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper says that they've activated 17 swift water rescue teams and they're staging them all along the coast and deploying more than 350 members of the National Guard. - Yeah, we've been hearing from a number of you affected in the region, a number of you who've had flights trying to get around this storm on the east coast. It's gonna be a very messy couple of days. Debbie could dump another up to nine inches of rain in areas of the Carolinas. Local amounts could range up to two feet of rain in South Carolina, just over one foot of rain in North Carolina. One meteorologist warning people should be prepared to seek higher ground and no of an evacuation route and have one in place if you don't already. Some mid-Atlantic cities already beginning to feel Debbie's effects, New York City, Philadelphia, Newark, getting messy, again, leading to a lot of travel delays, et cetera. And this is expected through the weekend, potential urban flooding here. As we've seen in recent years, a lot of these storms packed are really a big punch when it comes to rain, can drop a lot of inches in a short amount of time, overwhelming certain areas. So stay close to your weather apps, folks. - For a market watch, applications for mortgages, rose as home buyers and homeowners raced to seize on a drop in mortgage rates. The 30 year rate fell to 6.55% that's the lowest level since May of last year after the Federal Reserve indicated that an interest rate cut was on the table. A separate report from Fannie Mae this week showed that refinance applications rose by 21% from the previous week. An activity jumped to the highest level since September of 2022. The housing market, as we've been reporting, has pretty much been frozen recently with higher mortgage rates and inflated home prices. There's been little incentive for homeowners to put their houses on the market and lose their lower mortgage rates. - This also gives some people who bought homes in the last year when rates were higher than this, the opportunity to refinance. The 30 year average topped out at nearly 8% last October before now slightly coming down. And the possibility of this rate cut, which could happen in a matter of weeks here, could help bring that 30 year even lower, refinancing applications rose to the highest level in two years this week. But purchase activity, edging up about 1%, the issue as we've told you, as many of you are aware, if you're looking for a home, just not that much inventory, not that much building. So prices have gone up even with the rates coming down here. So the thinking is some people could come off the sidelines here as rates start to get into the 60s after being in the sevens and nearly the eight for some folks. And so we'll watch the housing market here. But again, the bottom line is, depending on what categories you're purchasing in, there might still not be a lot of inventory. - From Reuters, the two astronauts that we've been telling you are stuck in space for the last two months, well, it might be a while before they get to come back to Earth. NASA said on Wednesday that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams, who made their way up to the International Space Station in June using Boeing Starliner, might not be able to return until next February. So we're talking 2025, Moshe. - They had plans, Joe. It's a Gilligan's Island. It's supposed to be an eight day trip. It might be an eight month trip, an eight hour tour, eight day tour, yeah. - Weddings, bar mitzvahs, baby is so close nothing is planned. - Right, I was gonna say a lot of family members might have to reschedule some stuff because they were gonna be back for the 4th of July and now they're gonna be spending new years and potentially Valentine's Day in space. - So there is a scenario that they'll have to come back on a different craft. The SpaceX's Crew Dragon, if they're Boeing Starliner, is still deemed unsafe to return to Earth, which would be a huge blow for Boeing. The Starliner spacecraft launched in June, carrying those two astronauts to the ISS and a test mission required before NASA can certify the spacecraft for routine astronaut flights. This is a big deal, the Boeing Starliner. It was years delayed, over budget. They finally got it off the ground in June. We heard from some people who worked on the project being like, finally, we're ready to go. And the deal with NASA is we're gonna do a bunch of trips. Well, the first trip gets up there and they're dealing with helium leaks, other issues. And now there's a scenario, Gill, and if they have to return via Elon Musk's SpaceX craft, that the Boeing Starliner comes back to Earth with no people in it, which doesn't portend well for Boeing and the deal they have right now. But again, they're supposed to go for eight days. It might be eight months here. There's been an array of issues with the propulsion system, et cetera. And they tried to reschedule like, "Hey, it's gonna be another week. "It's gonna be another two weeks. "It's gonna be another three weeks. "Oh, it could be a couple months. "Now it could be next year." - NASA has said, and Boeing has said that they perhaps made a mistake saying it was gonna be eight days because maybe they set expectations a little too high. - Right, like there was a scenario that could have gone up there and be like, "Hey, they're gonna enjoy their time in space "and we'll let you know when they come back." Well, Boeing hasn't been very good at PR in communications for a while here. And it's just some of the other issues we've seen. And so that has obviously been with their 737 Maxes and this has to do with their Starliner. So there's a lot of scenarios here. SpaceX, the Dragon, which has had much more success and has been used for a couple years here as NASA's been waiting for Boeing, has a trip that was actually planned for this month. That's been pushed back to September. They were gonna send up four astronauts. Now they might send up two to have two extra seats available. So we could bring home Wilmore and Williams before February. It could happen this fall. They have to figure out the logistics of space transport. Now, for those of you who are worried, they're on the International Space Station. The space station right now, right now, there's seven other astronauts there on a different mission, plus Wilmore and Williams, that's nine. I'm told that they can take the space station, they can take it up to 13 people. There's oxygen, there's food, we can send up rockets with extra supplies, no issue. So it's not like some sort of Hollywood movie here, like, "Oh my God, we're running out of time." They're good. There's also an emergency craft. They're good up there. It's a little tight, as you noted earlier, they're probably doing more laundry than expected. They weren't, they've been taking it to service by the space station being like, "Hey, why you guys are around? "Can you help us with some projects here "and some spacewalks and various experiments? "We're doing it in space." So they're doing that, but just think about this. You thought you were going up to space for eight days, you had some plans in July, and now you're like, "Guys, I might see you next March. "I'm stuck up here." - It's one thing for it to be extended by a couple of weeks. - Yeah. - It's now gonna almost be a year. (laughs) - Yeah, I imagine they have a lot to say. They'll probably be more honest about it after this trip is over, as opposed to from space. By the way, we should know Boeing and NASA don't like using the term "stuck," even though we're using the term "stuck." They're not stuck up there. They have oxygen, they have food, they have supplies. It's just taking a bit longer to ensure the safety of the Boeing Starliner is up to snuff, so we can put them back on it and fly back to Earth. But the last thing Boeing wants is to, God forbid, worst-case scenario that the craft doesn't... There's some sort of accident, right? So that's why I think they're trying to be super, super cautious about this. Anyway, we're thinking about you right now, butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams. We hope you're keeping busy up there. You're just a doku or something. - Given what's going on here on Earth, good for them. (both laugh) - Maybe it's the... Who knows? Oh, it's just gonna go. Maybe it's much better to be up there than down here. - Some Olympics news from the athletic Cole Hawker, an American distance runner, not favored in this week's 1,500 meter final, surged past Norway and Great Britain's runners on the final turn to win gold. And then there's skateboarding. If you paid attention to skateboarding in its Tony Hawk heyday, you may have heard of Andy McDonald's. Well, he's still around. He's still going strong and at 51 years old, he's the oldest skateboarder to compete in the Olympics. He's actually competing for Great Britain. McDonald's ultimately did not make it to the final. He finished 18 out of 22, but he does not care. He said, "I could have fallen on every run and just be as happy as I am now. It doesn't matter. This has been the experience of a lifetime. The first few days I was here, I was getting like four hours of sleep because I was up in the Olympic Village. I bought an electric skateboard. So I was just zooming around, meeting everybody. - Fun fact for you, because this is, we're getting to the portion of the podcast where we age ourselves. Tony Hawk is now so old, his son, Riley Hawk, just married Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's daughter. So just FYI, the kids. - Oh my God, that hurts my head. - Just the offspring of Nirvana and the offspring of Tony Hawk, they're now old enough to be married. So anyway, dinner table conversation for you later today. Meanwhile, while we stick with the Olympics here, the US women's national team went on to the final after a heart-stopping won nothing win in extra time against Germany. Sophia Smith scored in the 95th minute there. They're gonna play against Brazil for the gold medal on Saturday morning. And the men's basketball, we're watching Team USA make its way through various countries. They breeze past Brazil by more than 30 points in the last day. Their next semi-final matchup is against Serbia. That's 3 p.m. Eastern today, if you're looking to watch that. And then a gold medal game against France or Germany. The good news after we told you recently about their slow start against South Sudan, the Americans, LeBron and company have been crushing it. They keep playing their very good games. And so, that's sort of the expectation these days at the Olympics that there's a few guarantees in life, death, taxes and the dream team winning in basketball. All right, on this day, August 8th, 8th. We begin in the year 1588. The Spanish Armada was defeated. It was an enormous 130-ship naval fleet that was dispatched by Spain as part of an invasion plan against England to make England Catholic again after Henry VIII left the church. It would have dictated the future of the new world. I mean, think about all the explorers. What part of the Americas speak Spanish for English? Well, the English would defeat the Armada, Queen Elizabeth I was a secure Protestant rule, the future of the English crown. And there you have it. There's a Billy Madison reference in there. I don't know if anyone will obsessively watch that film as a kid, as I did. - My husband. - Spanish Armada. Yeah, tell your husband to be like Spanish Armada and see if he knows the reference. All right, on this day in 1846, what's called the Wilmot Provisio, was a congressional amendment to prohibit the extension of slavery across new territories in the US like Texas. It was proposed, it failed, but notably out of that, the Republican Party launches that as part of its platform, this new party, the Republican Party, wants to stop the expansion of slavery. And so they would start to gather strength and then they would run their first presidential candidate who would win a guy by the name of Abraham Lincoln a decade later. All right, sticking with presidential news here, we go a century ahead, 1974 on this day, faced with near certain impeachment, that's back when presidents were scared of impeachment. The Watergate scandal is at its peak. President Nixon announces his resignation on this day. Here's a bit of that speech. - Would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the president and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as president at that hour in this office. - The following day, the famous scene of Nixon walking off onto the presidential helicopter, giving the salute with his two arms, Gerald Ford succeeding him. And we end here with some music history on the stay in 1969. The cover for the Beatles album Abbey Road was photographed, that famous photo that I'm sure has been replicated at this point tens of millions of times, the Abbey Road cover album photo on the stay in 1988. NWA releases their debut album, straight out of Compton, featuring a very young Dr. Dre and in sort of viral, meanish music news on this day in 2005, Nickelback released their song. Look at this photograph. - Of course I do. - We won't put it in your head though. Sorry, Nickelback. And your clue today, Mrs. Robinson, Dustin Hoffman turns 87 today, Jill. - Wow, wow. - He's almost old enough to run for president. - All right, everyone. Thank you for listening to the Mo News podcast. If you like what you hear, please share this with your friends. We'll help us grow, follow us, subscribe. This way you don't miss an episode and throw us a review in the app store. We would really appreciate it. - Yeah, five stars. You know how to do it. If you haven't done it already. - Bye everyone. - Thanks for listening to the Mo News podcast. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
