US regulators grant Boeing 737 MAX 7 certificate after years of delays

Source: France 24 [French state media]

“More than eight years after Boeing organised the maiden flight of the 737 MAX 7, US authorities announced Monday that they certified the aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced certification of the smallest version of the single-aisle MAX plane, a process that had been significantly prolonged by new requirements under federal legislation following two fatal MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The action, which Boeing and regulators had telegraphed in recent weeks, sent Boeing shares sharply higher. The MAX 7 is Boeing’s first new aircraft to be cleared since the crashes and other problems sent the company into a multi-year slump.” (08/04/26)

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260804-faa-certifies-boeing-737-max-7-after-years-of-delays

Thomas L. Knapp

Civic duty? Or vigilantism?

Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton

“There was nothing ‘instinctive’ about Mr. Salinas[s]’ actions. He trained and trained, and he used what he taught himself and applied it. Just as anyone that has a single ounce of civic duty should. Civic duty is far more than going out and informing yourself and voting wisely, well-beyond ‘being a good citizen’ and paying your taxes and driving at the posted speed limit. One key civic duty is to be able, prepared, and above all, willing, to defend yourselves, your family and friends, your community, and even your enemies.” (08/03/26)

https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/08/03/civic-duty-or-vigilantism/

Thomas L. Knapp

The Youth AI Privacy Act’s Privacy Paradox

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Maddie Daly

“The Senate Commerce Committee is poised to consider the Youth AI Privacy Act, a bill that would require AI companies to create kids-only privacy rules and implement so-called ‘safe design features,’ which would—like three other bills under consideration this week—require more data collection and make it harder for people to access lawful speech online. While the bill is narrower than some other proposed chatbot bills, it still has massive data security implications because it protects information for only certain users.” (08/03/26)

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/08/youth-ai-privacy-acts-privacy-paradox

Thomas L. Knapp

WA: Man charged with setting Spokane’s largest wildfire went to prison for killing his father

Source: SFGate

“A man who went to prison for killing his father in 2010 has been charged with intentionally setting the largest of the wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of buildings in and around Washington state’s second-largest city and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes. Aaron F. Farinacci, of Spokane, was arrested Monday and booked on suspicion of first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire, the biggest of the three blazes in and around the eastern Washington city, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said. His bond was set at $1 million and he’s due in court later Tuesday. The fires, which hadn’t been contained at all as of Tuesday morning, have destroyed at least 700 buildings and forced about 67,000 people to evacuate. Authorities haven’t said what might have caused the other two blazes.” (08/04/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/authorities-arrest-arson-suspect-in-connection-22372854.php

Steve Trinward

On Larken Rose: The “Economics” the Left “Doesn’t Understand” Gets Dumber Every Day

Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson

“[I]n fairness to Rose, this logic fail is one he shares with virtually all right-libertarian polemicists. These people will deny that businesses whose profits result from state subsidies, protections, or artificial property rights exemplify ‘real capitalism’ — and then turn around and celebrate as an ‘accomplishment of capitalism’ a product like the iPhone, created by a corporation whose entire profit model depends on intellectual property, government subsidies, and neoliberal foreign policy. … all of the things Rose celebrates came into being because of investments from people with a ‘crap ton of money’ in the same sense that everything people consumed in the USSR came into being because of state-owned industry and Gosplan.” (08/03/26)

https://c4ss.org/content/61260

Thomas L. Knapp

Republican Senators Pretend to Constrain Trump

Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner

“Over the weekend, it looked as if President Trump had backed himself into a corner in his efforts to get Todd Blanche confirmed as attorney general. Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who was recently primaried by Trump ally Ken Paxton yet remains a key vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the rest of the year, wasn’t budging in his insistence that Blanche commit in writing to killing the corrupt deal in which the government set up a $1.776 billion slush fund to compensate supposed victims of government violence and Trump personally got immunity from IRS audits. Trump himself poured oil on the flames in a series of comments and social media posts in which he walked back his previous commitment to end the slush fund and further insulted Cornyn and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who was following Cornyn’s lead.” (08/04/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/08/04/republican-senators-pretend-to-constrain-trump/

Steve Trinward

NY: Homeowner fatally shoots intruder during break-in

Source: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

“A Rochester homeowner shot and killed a man who allegedly broke into his house early Monday morning. … the homeowner told police he was awakened when someone entered through the rear of the residence. The homeowner then used a legally-owned and legally-registered handgun to shoot the intruder.
The intruder was located in the kitchen and was pronounced dead at the scene …” (08/03/26)

https://archive.is/mCUM0

Thomas L. Knapp