Future of Crew Dragon weighs on commercial spaceflight industry

Source: Space News

“While SpaceX says there is a ‘significant’ amount of life left in its fleet of Crew Dragon spacecraft, the company has hedged on how long it will continue flying the spacecraft as it transitions to Starship. The upcoming Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for launch no earlier than Sept. 12, will be the second flight of this Crew Dragon spacecraft, called Grace, the newest of the fleet. Grace made its first flight last summer on the Ax-4 private astronaut mission to the ISS. Crew-13 will be SpaceX’s 18th human spaceflight mission to the ISS …. SpaceX does not plan to build additional Crew Dragon spacecraft beyond the five currently in service. While the spacecraft were originally certified for five missions each, the company has been working with NASA to extend the spacecraft lifetimes to up to 15 missions each.” (08/04/26)

https://spacenews.com/future-of-crew-dragon-weighs-on-commercial-spaceflight-industry/

Brexit, Ten Years On

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler

“In the run-up to the UK’s referendum on EU membership in June 2016, extravagant claims were made by both the Remain and Leave campaigns. Leaving the EU, the so-called Remainers warned, would propel the UK into recession and mass unemployment. Brexiteers, as they were dubbed, countered with promises of enhanced sovereignty, tighter borders, and liberation from Brussels’s stifling bureaucracy. The latter won the Brexit vote (as it came to be known) by 52% to 48%. But just over a decade on from that historic decision—and six and a half years since the UK officially left the bloc—it’s less clear whether they also won the argument.” (08/04/26)

https://fee.org/articles/brexit-ten-years-on/

Fauci’s legacy of lies paved the way for RFK Jr. and his conspiracy theories

Source: New York Post
by Isaac Schorr

“Opposite every outrageous pronouncement from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the long shadow of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the formerly canonized COVID-era hero who has already been stripped of his sainthood. The lifelong liberal conspiracy theorist who endorsed President Donald Trump to secure a job in his administration sat down with CNN’s Dana Bash for an explosive interview on Sunday, just a few days after Fauci spent the entirety of a Senate Homeland Security Committee meeting pleading the Fifth Amendment. Yin and yang, but both incompetent and ruinous. Fauci’s sins are both too grave to exaggerate and too many to enumerate in full. The ex-NIAID director and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden sought to undermine the lab leak theory of Covid’s origins publicly even as he contemplated it privately.” (08/03/26)

https://nypost.com/2026/08/03/opinion/faucis-legacy-of-lies-paved-the-way-for-rfk-jr/

US federal judge blocks New York’s ban on ICE gang masking

Source: The Guardian [UK]

“A New York law banning US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [gang members] from wearing face coverings and requiring that they wear visible identification has been put on hold by a federal judge. But a state law prohibiting cooperation between local police departments and ICE has been allowed to stand. The mask ruling comes after federal judges have blocked similar laws in California, Virginia and Pennsylvania that sought to ban federal [gang members] from covering their faces. They are still required to wear agency [gang colors]. … The preliminary ruling means local police officers are blocked from arresting ICE [gang members] for covering their faces in public settings.” (08/04/26)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/04/judge-blocks-new-york-ban-ice-officers-masks

Pilot caught with 70,000 ecstasy pills at Indonesian airport

Source: BBC News [UK state media]

“CCTV footage released on Monday showed the moment a pilot was caught at Jakarta airport trying to smuggle 70,000 ecstasy pills in his suitcase. A group of officers at the airport can be seen removing several bags full of drugs – which amounted to around four stone (26kg) – from a silver suitcase. The man told authorities that he was paid the equivalent of £9,000 to smuggle the drugs. According to authorities, the Malaysian pilot was under the influence when he was arrested.” (08/04/26)

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c1l1d429m8eo

Anatomy of Total Failure

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Harvey Risch

“What America saw in the Senate hearing of Anthony Fauci on Wednesday is the end state of the toxic paternalism of an incompetent bureaucracy. The numerous discrepancies between Fauci’s diary entries and his public pronouncements over the Covid-19 pandemic were not just self-protection coverup of his earlier disastrous decisions. They reflect the standard model of public health administration: we know better than you how to manage a pandemic, and in fact we know it so well that we refuse to discuss any of it and instead use censorship and smear of contrary expertise and coercion rather than persuasion to effect our policies.” (08/04/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/anatomy-of-total-failure/

ALL Mainstream Western Institutions View Palestinian Lives As Worthless

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“The BBC recently interviewed an Israeli settler who said that all the Palestinians in four surrounding villages should be exterminated to avenge an Israeli who was killed while terrorizing a Palestinian village last month, adding that just a single Jewish life is worth ten million Palestinian lives. ‘I think now after they kill one Israeli people, we need to kill all the people in Tal and Sarra, even Jit and Farata,’ lawyer Yehuda Shimon told the BBC. ‘It sounds like you’re saying one Jewish life is worth hundreds or thousands of Palestinian lives,’ replied the BBC’s Lucy Williamson in the interview. ‘Million,’ Shimon corrected her. ‘One Jewish life, it’s ten million, okay?’ ‘That just sounds racist,’ Williamson responded, to which Shimon replied, ‘Yes, I know, I know. But this is the truth.'” (08/04/26)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/08/04/all-mainstream-western-institutions-view-palestinian-lives-as-worthless/

World’s third-smallest country changes its name

Source: National Public Radio [US state media]

“The Pacific Island country of Nauru has changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, its president said, matching the spelling and pronunciation in the national language. The country’s international code will change from NRU to NRO and its people will be known as dei-Naoero instead of Nauruan. Commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of Now-roo, the new name is spoken as Now-ero. The move would return the remote South Pacific island nation to its traditional name, a statement posted Thursday to the government’s Facebook account said. The country became known internationally as Nauru only because its local name was difficult for foreigners to pronounce and was a matter of convenience rather than one of choice, according to an earlier government statement.” (08/04/26)

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/04/g-s1-137261/nauru-name-change

Speech on UAPs at the Organization of American States in Panama

Source: Cobden Centre

“I [Max Rangeley] gave this speech at the Organization of American States in Panama, at the USA House. I talk through this fascinating topic from the perspective of evidence-based policy.” (08/04/26)

https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/08/speech-on-uaps-at-the-organization-of-american-states-in-panama/