Flying car gets airworthiness approval from the FAA – National & International News – TUE 4Jul2023

Flying car gets airworthiness approval from the FAA.

Shootings in 4 cities over 4th of July weekend leave at least 10 dead.

Israel carries out “military operation” in Palestinian refugee camp.

NATIONAL NEWS

Flying car gets airworthiness approval from the FAA

In 2015, a group of four friends realized there wasn’t yet a flying car on the market (as envisioned in “Back to the Future”, a movie they loved). They formed the company Alef Automotive and set to work making one of their own. Nearly a decade later, Alef has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a flying car. The approval is limited for now for test and demo flying. Alef hopes to bring its “Model A” to market in 2025 for about $300,000. 

A photo from Alef Automotive showing the Model A’s DeLorean-inspired doors.

The Model A is not the first flying car prototype to receive FAA approval, but Alef claims it is the first true “flying car” since it can drive like a normal car (albeit with a top land speed of 25 mph) and fit into a normal parking space. Capable of vertical takeoff and landing, the Model A is fully electric and has flying range of 110 miles and a driving range of 200 miles. The car’s elegantly upsweeping doors are a fitting homage to Dr. Brown’s DeLorean.

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Shootings in 4 cities over 4th of July weekend leave at least 10 dead

Shootings in Philadelphia, Baltimore; Wichita, and Ft. Worth have left 10 people dead and dozens injured in the lead up to Independence Day. The circumstances differ in each case, but some appear to have been random shootings of strangers. The deadliest so far took place yesterday in Philadelphia. There, a man in a bulletproof vest killed 5 people with an AR-style rifle. In Ft. Worth, an assailant fired indiscriminately into a crowd of hundreds attending an independence festival, killing three people.

Over the last decade, July 4 has emerged as one of the deadliest days of the year for mass shootings. On average there have been 5 mass shootings on every Independence Day in the last 10 years. 2023 is already on track to be the deadliest year for mass shootings since at least 2006. 

Disturbed people with access to guns seem to delight in creating mayhem at celebrations for a holiday meant to bring everyone in the community together. One community that knows that heartache is Highland Park, near Chicago, IL. Last year, a gunman with a history of violent disturbances and mental illness killed 7 innocent people attending a parade. Today, Highland Park is remembering the victims.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Israel carries out “military operation” in Palestinian refugee camp

For a second day, the Israeli military is carrying out a massive raid and bombardment of Jenin in the West Bank. Jenin is a huge refugee camp where Palestinians displaced by the Israeli occupation have lived for decades. For the last couple of years, it has also been a focal point for violence, by Israeli military, Jewish people living in illegal West Bank settlements, and the displaced Palestinians themselves.

Some resistance groups have formed into cells, allying themselves with ISIS or similar organizations and carrying out retaliatory strikes in both the West Bank and elsewhere in Israel, usually targeting civilians. For months, there have been violent and deadly raids by the military or by Jewish settlers, followed by deadly attacks against civilians by pro-Palestinian terrorists.

The latest campaign by the Israeli military has included aerial bombardments by drones as well as a ground invasion of hundreds of troops into Jenin. The shelling by Israel has also destroyed much of the civilian infrastructure around the camp, cutting off electricity and running water to the tens of thousands of people who live there. 

Israel also destroyed nearly all the roads into the camp, claiming they were booby-trapped. Adding insult to injury, Israeli soldiers also tossed tear gas inside a hospital. Purposefully destroying basic civilian infrastructure and attacking hospitals are both war crimes.

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