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Marvel Rivals Is About to Seriously Shrink Its File Size on PS5

Saving space

Aug 5 • 7:00 AM EDT • Technology • pushsquare.com

SpaceX's science fiction dreams come with an astronomical bill

SpaceX shares fell as much as 11% in overnight trading despite the company delivering an earnings beat on Tuesday.

Aug 5 • 6:07 AM EDT • Science • businessinsider.com

SpaceX slides as AI spending worries overshadow early returns

SpaceX touted faster-than-expected returns ​from its AI spending on its first-ever earnings call as a public company.

Aug 5 • 6:02 AM EDT • Business • reuters.com

These are the best things to do in Brevard this weekend, Aug. 7-13

Find your weekend adventure! Oddities Expo and space collectibles show top our list of fun things to do in Brevard.

Aug 5 • 5:02 AM EDT • Entertainment • floridatoday.com

Space for music on late-night TV has dwindled. New media seeks to offer an alternative

When CBS ended “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” earlier this year, it also shuttered the program’s robust music offerings.

Aug 5 • 3:04 AM EDT • Entertainment • news4jax.com

Asian shares jump on AI trade revival despite SpaceX, AMD setbacks, as oil prices dip

Technology stocks booming again while Brent crude trades below $80 a barrel amid hopes for a Middle East interim deal

Aug 5 • 2:59 AM EDT • Business • theguardian.com

NASA Engineers Help Prolong Voyager 2’s Science Mission

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have successfully freed up power on Voyager 2, extending how long the spacecraft can continue to do

Aug 4 • 6:45 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov

SpaceX quarterly revenue surges in debut results on strong growth in its Starlink business

SpaceX reported on Tuesday a 92% rise in revenue for the April-June quarter, in its first earnings since going public, buoyed by strong growth in its Starlink satellite-internet and AI businesses.

Aug 4 • 4:05 PM EDT • Business • reuters.com

SpaceX quarterly revenue surges in debut results on strong growth in its Starlink business

SpaceX reported on Tuesday a 92% rise in revenue for the April-June quarter, in its first earnings since going public, buoyed by strong growth in its Starlink satellite-internet and AI businesses. The company's stock has declined 8% since its record-breaking initial public offering in ‌June that valued the company at about $1.75 trillion. The stock could face additional pressure from the expiry of SpaceX's post-IPO lock-up period starting on Thursday, which may unleash ​a wave of insider and early-investor shares on the market.

Aug 4 • 4:05 PM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com

9 Of The Most Expensive Science Experiments Of All Time

Visiting outer space, exploring the ocean deep, and learning more about humanity are costly endeavors. Here are some of the most expensive science experiments.

Aug 4 • 4:02 PM EDT • Science • bgr.com

An old SpaceX rocket is about to crash into the Moon

The smashup could provide useful data for future lunar inhabitants

Aug 4 • 2:15 PM EDT • Science • economist.com

‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 Is Filming, and the Show Has a Message for Overexcited Fans

As season 2 of 'Heated Rivalry' begins production, the official account for the show has posted a statement asking fans to give the cast and crew the space they need.

Aug 4 • 1:03 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

A SpaceX rocket will hit the moon at 5,000 mph tonight. Experts explain what you could see, and when.

An upcoming collision of a Falcon 9 rocket part with the moon may be visible from Earth with telescopes, new research suggests. Here's what scientists and skywatchers are hoping to see.

Aug 4 • 12:36 PM EDT • Science • livescience.com

MrBeast Sales Slow, Angel Stock Falls, MUBI and Neon Look for Hits, and Will an NBA Franchise Set a Sales Record?

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) You probably remember egg prices spiking a few years ago. This led to a lot of debate between the pro-market/pro-competition/antitrust/Neo-Brandesian crowd and the center/center-right/center-left/abundance/libertarian crowd over the cause, whether it was the avian flu outbreak or whether industry consolidation led to price fixing, using avian flu as a convenient cover. Basel Musharbash wrote a whole investigation at BIG looking at it. Well, two years later, we have our answer: it was price fixing. The Justice Department found proof, via emails, of price fixing. Indeed, just the threat of an investigation brought prices down two years ago: I bring this up because at least half a dozen of my favorite political writers and pundits, who were skeptical about price fixing at the time, haven’t written any mea culpas on this issue. It’s really dispiriting and makes it much, much harder to trust their work on other issues. If you take a hard stand on an issue, then you get it wrong, you need to explain how and why you got it wrong. Or update your priors. This is how epistemological bubbles are formed! All of which is to say, it’s time for another installment of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. Last issue, I mostly focused on the “wrong” side of the equation, so today’s is a bit more balanced, but with one big mea culpa (though I still stand by my original concerns). Let’s dive right in! Subscribe CORRECTION: UFC Didn’t Release Subscriber Data (But Seems to Have Bragged About It Internally) In my analysis of the viewership of UFC Freedom 250, I wrote... “Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers.” Well, that datecdote did not come from a PR rep, but from great reporting from James Faris at Business Insider. The actual quote was this: “Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.“ This wasn’t the biggest goof in the world; even Faris emphasized to me that this is more a “clarification” than a correction. Still, it sounds like, internally, the folks at Paramount were very happy about this result—and I’m guessing they were happy with this news getting out—even though the gains didn’t last through the quarter, dropping to 700K adds. RIGHT: MrBeast’s Struggles Continue... I’m very skeptical about MrBeast’s burgeoning media “empire” and, in particular, its $5 billion valuation, as I wrote earlier this year and last year. Sure enough, according to Business Insider, regarding its “booming” consumer products division_:_ “US sales volume grew 13% year-over-year in 2025, following a 33% leap the previous year, according to a presentation deck dated May 2026....A February 2025 investor deck viewed by Business Insider showed Feastables’ net revenue more than doubled in 2024 from 2023, to $215 million, and was forecast to grow 74% in 2025, to $375 million.” [Emphasis mine.] If you told investors that you projected 74% growth but delivered 13%,1 that’s not ideal. But it’s not just MrBeast. Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime had sales drop in half for their energy drinks. It’s one thing to build a successful entertainment company and an entirely different thing to succeed in the heavily-consolidated-but-also-very-competitive consumer packaged goods space! CPGs are dominated by a few firms with very wide moats compared to YouTube, which has few barriers to entry. These businesses require different skill sets and have completely different business environments. WRONG: Does the NBA Have an $8 Billion Bidder? Almost as soon as I published my article about the NBA’s finances, casting skepticism on NBA expansion, I saw this Front Office Sports headline: One group “claims to have already raised $8 billion” for the Vegas expansion team. I mean, wow. That’s just $2 billion less than what the Los Angeles Lakers were valued at when they were sold just last year. And they’re arguably the most popular team in the NBA. (Side note: the new owner is now under an investigation for fraud in how he went about financing the Lakers and the Dodgers purchases.) So much for the “dried up” language I used in that article. (This is why I usually stick to my “Entertainment Nuance Guy” tone in articles...) I went off old information—from April, when I read/heard about the NBA downplaying expansion efforts—instead of doing a quick double-check for new news. That said...if you read the article, the market for Seattle is “slow”, with just one reported bidder. So I wasn’t entirely off. This goof has annoyed me since I first published it, mainly because it undercut that article’s real point, which I stand by: NBA franchises are really overvalued right now. Now, I get why NBA teams are overvalued. When it comes to owning sports teams, it’s basically never wrong to assume that some rich person somewhere will care more about owning a team (or just being part of a group since they’re so expensive) than the actual financials. There are only so many teams to own, and opportunities to buy in preferred markets don’t come along very often. This explains why the teams sell for such high multiples (usually above a 10 to 12.5 revenue multiple, which is very high). You only need one person to overpay! Beyond the ultra-wealthy luxury good explanation, I worry NBA teams are becoming speculative assets. More and more private equity investors are buying into NBA teams. But the value, in owning a team, comes from selling it later, not any meaningful relationship to revenue or profit growth. In other words, the newer NBA owners are increasingly expecting someone later to buy their inflated asset. That’s not sound economics; that’s the “greater fool” theory at work.2 At some point, actually making money has to matter. Especially since revenue growth is now below the growth of the stock market. (And this matters because the NBA doesn’t have easy levers to pull to drastically lower their costs—half of their revenue has to go to players and then you actually have to run a team, including coaching, training, travel, media expenses, and more—or raise revenues aside from one-off expansions in America and overseas.) I just don’t see how investors make their money back buying NBA teams, except for selling at a higher price later on down the line. But if revenue/profit growth continues to slow, at some point, someone will be left holding the bag. RIGHT: Baseball and Basketball are about equally popular. Related to the above, I wanted to cite two quick pieces of evidence for one of my other theories: that the NBA and MLB are about as popular as each other, but the NBA gets much, much better media coverage. One YouGov survey has that fans prefer basketball to baseball by 52% to 48%, which I’m guessing is within the margin of error for that poll. That’s virtually even, meaning they’re about the same popularity. Over on NBC, a recent Red Sox-Yankees game averaged 4 million viewers, higher than Sunday Night Basketball’s average of 3.4 million on the same network. A Yankees-Dodgers game averaged 3.9 million two weeks ago. Not every game averages this much, but it shows you that baseball isn’t far off from basketball, depending on the matchup. Altogether, the NBA is just slightly more popular than baseball, but NBC is paying MLB a fraction of what they pay the NBA, a point I’ve made before. RIGHT: Angel, MUBI and Neon Updates... I’ve long been skeptical about many of Hollywood’s buzziest startups/smaller indie studios. It’s not that they don’t make great movies—films like Anora and Everything Everywhere All at Once are amazing—or that they’re not (rightfully) pushing the majors to make better films, but...they get a ton of hype, and that hype often doesn’t live up to the reality or difficulty in scaling up. Starting with MUBI, well, The Wall Street Journal wrote a feature on MUBI’s struggles last April, best summarized by the subheader “After Sequoia valued Mubi at $1 billion, a left-wing revolt sent the indie film company into a tailspin”. MUBI lost $7.3 million on $200 million in revenue in Q4 2025, but reportedly hit a record 1.7 million subscribers at the end of Q1. As for Neon, Department M purchased a “significant stake” in the company earlier this year. How much is that “stake” worth? According to Deadline, “No financial figures for the Neon-Department M deal were disclosed.” So...that’s not great! If it was a big valuation, we’d hear about. Also, I found this curious: “Both Neon and Department M already have separate partnerships with Qatar. The Qatar Film Committee has a slate deal in place with the former, and a biopic production pact with the latter.” Color me skeptical about much Middle Eastern investment dollars. See: LIV Golf. Finally, as for Angel (formerly Angel Studios), their stock very, very slightly popped last month after Young Washington ($20 million budget) which made $45 million in the US, but their stock is still way down from its opening. Smaller Updates RIGHT: The WGA should focus on antitrust concerns! I’ve been on this for years. Post-WGA/AMTPT deal in 2023, I wrote an article for the Ankler calling on the WGA to focus and organize against industry consolidation. Sure enough, the WGA filed a lawsuit against the Paramount-WBD merger, and people are organizing around this issue now. I wish this energy had coalesced earlier (specifically to lobby Washington much earlier), but better late than never! WRONG: Actually, the chip shortage might be due to market manipulation. In my last “Long Reads for the Long Summer” article, I shared an article about how LLMs are causing memory chip prices to spike, which will make all electronics more expensive. Well, turns out, three RAM manufacturers control 90% of the market, and now a private lawsuit accuses them of price-fixing. So yeah. WRONG/UPDATE: The Odyssey will hold! Two weeks ago, I wrote, “As of this moment, we haven’t had a super-blockbuster, though The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday could all cross the $500 million mark. (At this point, The Odyssey would need a very strong hold to get there.)” Well, it’s safe to say it’s going to have that hold! It only dropped 30% in weekend two and IMAX screenings are sold out all month. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also off to a great start. RIGHT: People are rushing to get shows out yearly. I’ve long been bullish on yearly, weekly-released shows, and Leslie Goldberg at The Ankler wrote about how many people in town are now listening. WRONG: Mark Carney reverses Canada’s stance on homegrown production. After writing about Canada installing domestic production quotas, Canada has backed off. WRONG: I don’t trust Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s online “views”. When I originally wrote about the latest Spider-Man film’s record-breaking trailer, I thought this was just YouTube views, but after watching this Corridor Crew video and doing more research, well, it’s all social views of the trailer globally. Really? That stat includes TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts views. Basically, I don’t trust it anymore. (This film will probably set record, but I trust the pre-sales data more.) RIGHT: Celebrity Production companies are still struggling. I’ve written about this for years, but the company that I didn’t track was Kevin Hart’s HartBeat, which was valued at $650 million but is struggling now and might just end soon, especially after Kevin Hart pulled his endorsement deals. And Bad Robot is moving to NYC. CORRECTION: SpongeBob is a “second run” title. In my 2025 recap article, I had _SpongeBob SquarePants_labelled as a “library” title, when it is still a “second run” show, with new episodes still coming out on Nickelodeon. CORRECTION: In my last “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong” update, I offered a correction from Doug Creutz and misspelled TD Cowen. Thanks, Grammarly! 1 Though he could have increased prices to make up for the gap, he couldn’t have increased them that much. 2 There’s a theory, which I think that Daryl Morey created and Bill Simmons popularized, that, to be successful building your team, you only need a handful of bad GMs in the league to take advantage of. To be clear, Daryl Morey’s theory was also for signing bad contracts, that you could always get out of bad contracts. Basically, there’s always someone who will make a bad trade. It’s not the same exact thing, but similar enough to the Greater Fool Theory that I really like it.

Aug 4 • 11:55 AM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

MySpace Is Coming Back. I Owe It My First Business

The old network is growing again as people flee the algorithm. It's a reminder of something every business gave up.

Aug 4 • 11:34 AM EDT • Business • inc.com

NBC Tower owner plans hundreds of apartments amid downtown conversion wave

The preliminary plan would add another high-profile address to a wave of downtown office conversions since the COVID-19 pandemic upended workspace demand.

Aug 4 • 11:11 AM EDT • Business • chicagobusiness.com

Scientists propose nuking solution to Doomsday asteroid — as thousands of city-killers swarm Earth

Scientists have devised an unorthodox solution to stop a potential Doomsday asteroid from destroying Earth — by nuking the space-rock with a force equivalent to multiple Hiroshima bombs.

Aug 4 • 10:14 AM EDT • Science • nypost.com

Tesla's China footprint complicates path to possible SpaceX merger

Tesla's electric vehicle business in China looms as a key hurdle to a potential merger between Elon Musk's automaker and SpaceX because of complications it could pose ​for the space firm's business with the U.S. government.

Aug 4 • 6:10 AM EDT • Business • reuters.com

Digital Science launches AI-native research workspace Papers AI

Developed by the team behind Overleaf, tool is designed to provide single environment for research projects

Aug 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • researchinformation.info

Digital Science Launches Papers AI: An AI-Native Researcher Workspace for Writing, Data and Code

Researchers and students now have a new AI-native workspace, with the launch of Digital Science's Papers AI – where they'll never have to re-explain their work every time they turn to AI for assistance.

Aug 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • newswise.com

Ocular Therapeutix Reports Second Quarter Revenue, Provides Business Highlights

BEDFORD, Mass.—Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCUL), an integrated biopharmaceutical company in the retina space, has reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026, and provided recent business highlights. Total net revenue was $13.5 million for the second quarter of 2026, flat as compared with the same period in 2025. The company also reported a net loss of $78.8 million for the quarter, compared with a net loss of $67.8 million for the comparable quarter of 2025.

Aug 3 • 8:21 PM EDT • Business • visionmonday.com

Spacewalk Preps, Health Research on Station as NASA Introduces SpaceX Crew-13

Spacewalk preparations and health research awaited the Expedition 75 crew aboard the International Space Station at the beginning of August. The next crew to visit the orbital outpost, SpaceX Crew-13, introduced themselves today during a news conference from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Aug 3 • 4:04 PM EDT • Health • nasa.gov

Effective August 12: Bipartisan Legislation to Prevent Harms Caused by Addictive Sports Betting

DENVER, CO – Bipartisan legislation to prevent harms caused by addictive sports betting practices will go into effect on August 12. SB26-1 31 , spon sored by Senator Matt Ball, D-Denver, addresses problems arising from the growing online sports betting industry by implement

Aug 3 • 3:33 PM EDT • Sports • senatedems.co

With state funding, Harrisburg co-working space to offer free small business help

Local entrepreneurs can get a business boost through a new program that is kickstarting during National Black Business Month. Harrisburg-based Culture & Commerce on Monday announced that it is opening a business assistance center for historically disadvantaged businesses inside its downtown space. With partnership from the Covation Center, based in Williamsport, Culture and Commerce will […]

Aug 3 • 2:47 PM EDT • Business • theburgnews.com

If Not AOC, Then Who?

What do we do if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decides not to run for president in 2028? It makes sense that many leftists are currently focused on calling on her to take the plunge. But the absence of a Plan B, or even much discussion about one, is worrisome. The US Left can’t afford to sit out the 2028 Democratic primary. Doing so in 2024 was a disaster: our abstention self-marginalized anti-billionaire politics from the national conversation and thereby gave space for Harris to pivot to the “center” (i.e. the policy preferences of corporate donors, establishment hacks, and AIPAC). Abstaining again in 2028 would be especially counterproductive since democratic socialists now have so much wind in our sails after our big electoral wins in NYC and across the country. It’s time to deepen our momentum, organization, and profile — not to retreat to the margins during America’s single most important political battle. Even more urgently, keeping Trump’s heir out of the White House may depend on whether leftists and the party’s unprecedentedly disenchanted base can force the Democrats in 2028 to take meaningful steps towards a very angry electorate and away from the corporate-consultant blob that has helped get us into this mess. If AOC (or Abdul El-Sayed) decides to run, we should enthusiastically go all in — DSA, fighting unions, progressive organizations, anybody who wants to see a better country and world. But, as far as I can tell from the outside, there’s a real chance that she doesn’t run. And we can’t just wait and see where she lands before discussing alternatives, since AOC’s decision might not come for quite a while, giving us little time to scramble at the last minute for an alternative. So we should start working now on getting a Plan B into motion, and recruiting a good candidate for the role. Here’s one idea. A Worker Candidate — Healthcare Not Warfare 2028 Run a union worker Leftists don’t need to always run experienced, well-known socialist politicians for high-profile contests. Lula, the current president of Brazil, began his political career as a metalworker militant who ran for governor of São Paulo in 1982. Especially in an era of institutional distrust, it’s possible to lean hard into making a virtue out of a working-class comrade’s distance from traditional politics. Experience abroad shows this clearly. Rachel Kéké — an immigrant hotel housekeeper — ran as the candidate of the leftist La France Insoumise for the National Assembly in 2022, defeating a former minister in the Macron government. The Belgian Workers’ Party in 2024 won its first Flemish seat in the European Parliament by running Rudi Kennes, a three-decade veteran of the Opel Antwerp auto factory. And the South Korean left in 2024 elected auto factory militant Yoon Jong-oh to the National Assembly. If a tiny French Trotskyist organization could make such a big splash in 2002 and 2007 by running a well-spoken postal worker cadre for office — the LCR’s Olivier Besancenot received about 1.5 million first-round votes — it’s not far-fetched to expect that a much larger organization like DSA, together with a broader coalition of the willing, could run this playbook to much greater effect. This is especially the case now that almost everything DSA does immediately becomes a national news story. We don’t need someone famous. We just need a charismatic, well-vetted comrade who works in a relatable working-class occupation — e.g. a nurse, or a worker in auto or construction, or at Amazon. Ideally, they have a compelling personal story or have been part of a significant strike or organizing campaign, but even those criteria don’t necessarily have to be deal-breakers. The main lesson of the Graham Platner fiasco isn’t that we should never run outsiders for office (the momentum he generated proves the exact opposite), but that they need proper vetting and roots in democratic membership organizations like DSA or a union. In any case, there are plenty of ways to signal working-class authenticity without resorting to Platner’s or Fetterman’s performative macho white dude affect. Better to have someone of any gender or race who is actually working class, with firm socialist politics, who can speak from experience about the day-to-day realities of trying to make it in America. There are surely at least a dozen such worker leaders in our movement nationwide; we just need to sit down and convince one that their personal sacrifice for the greater good (i.e. running for president) will be worth it. If we don’t have a frontrunner with a clear path to victory like AOC (or El-Sayed, were he to win Michigan), it’s better to embrace someone whose decision to run in itself tells an important story about US politics: workers have been iced out of our political system and are now fighting hard to break back in. The novelty factor, in itself, would generate press. And it would help democratic socialists signal to the American public that our movement’s defining characteristic is that we represent workers vs. bosses, not that we’re “the furthest left” force in American politics — a framework that suggests we’re extremists and that helps our opponents isolate us from non-college-educated voters by highlighting extremely minoritarian (and misguided) stances included in DSA’s platform like prison abolition. We don’t get many opportunities to speak to tens of millions of Americans; we need to use these opportunities to broaden our appeal beyond those already in our orbit. Run to polarize the 2028 primary and general election around “Medicare for All” and “End All Aid to Israel” Why should democratic socialists use our scarce time and volunteer energy to run in a race we’re unlikely to win? Running in the 2028 primary will not only recruit us scores of members (imagine having a DSA member intervening in eleven nationally televised primary debates!), but — more importantly — it has the potential to be a decisive leap forward towards an America that finally starts meeting the needs of working people instead of HMO and AIPAC billionaire donors. Polarizing litmus tests are good, actually — as long as they’re fought for around popular demands in a thoughtful and strategic way. Democratic socialists have an opportunity and responsibility to make the 2028 primary about two of the most widely and deeply felt issues of our moment: domestically, America’s unaffordable, family-breaking private healthcare system; internationally, America’s bankrolling of the genocidal Israeli government. A candidacy relentlessly demanding Medicare for All and No Aid to Israel would pose a sharp question to the American public, the Democratic Party, and other 2028 contenders: Why can’t working-class Americans afford their healthcare bills at the same time that our government is spending at least $3.8 billion yearly to fund an Israeli regime eager to keep dragging us and the world into more forever wars? Our candidate can agitate around a clear message: I’m running to give voice to all those working-class Americans who are struggling to get by. No matter what state you live in, who you voted for in 2024, or your background, it’s just plain common sense that we should make healthcare more affordable instead of spending billions to enable the Israeli government’s crimes against humanity. Every American who agrees with me when I say ‘Medicare for All — Not a Dime for Israel’ should make their voice heard through our campaign. Racking up a high number of votes for this agenda is a crucial way to show the Democratic Party and the country as a whole that we can’t keep supporting a life-destroying status quo in our healthcare system and in the Middle East. If we want to defeat Trump’s handpicked crony this coming November, we need to speak to ordinary people’s frustrations with the status quo — we can’t keep running the same tired establishment playbook and expecting a different result. For those highly engaged voters (or skeptical media pundits) who raise concerns about wasting votes, the candidate can take the time to explain why this isn’t the case: It's true I'm a long shot. But Zohran showed anything can happen — and voting for me is a pragmatic decision, not a wasted vote. In a heavily divided primary with a large number of candidates and a very discredited establishment, my campaign and the democratic socialist movement I’m part of are positioned to be the balance of power if we can get a large enough number of voters to loudly demand Healthcare Not Warfare. Since there’s a high chance no candidate will get to 50% in the 2028 primaries, the Democrats could very well be heading towards a brokered convention, where a disciplined, principled current committed to breaking from corporate donors can play an outsized role in making sure whoever ends up with the nomination raises the banner of single-payer healthcare and cutting aid to Israel. How exactly could running this sort of primary campaign be translated into actual leverage? The candidate replies: I’m aiming to win the nomination, but if I don’t achieve that goal, my delegates and I will pledge our support in the primary only for a candidate who agrees in the general election to call for ending US aid to Israel and establishing Medicare for All at home. These are both winning planks for November against the Republicans, and the only reason I can see that other candidates haven’t yet raised these is that they’re still more scared of the donor class than they are of the people. That needs to change. If Democratic leaders want young people, workers, and those sick of the status quo to show up in big numbers this November, they need to meet us halfway. In this way, whether or not we win the nomination, democratic socialists could still play a decisive role in 2028. The approach outlined here is similar to what radical left parties periodically do in parliamentary democracies like Denmark or Sweden when they find themselves as a junior partner electorally: they dictate to center-left allies what their terms would be for enabling, from the outside, the formation of a new government. Running a Healthcare Not Warfare candidate will make it significantly more likely that the 2028 Democratic candidate stands with ordinary people instead of donors on these two pivotal planks — a shift that will, in turn, make it easier to achieve the existentially important task of defeating MAGA’s heir in November. Look at how much popular traction the Uncommitted movement got with a similar strategy in 2024 with so little on-the-ground organization — surely we can go much further with a working-class candidate, a much bigger DSA, and a Democratic Party base that has turned against Israel, billionaires, and the hacks in the party who prop them up. Objections and Responses There are quite a few objections to this proposal, many of which are very reasonable. Let me briefly address each here. Socialists shouldn’t waste their scarce time and resources on a candidate unlikely to win. This is a good rule in general, but there are important exceptions, and presidential elections are the main one. There’s no other political contest that gets anything like this level of attention and engagement in the US, so if you want to be a serious force in nationwide politics, you basically can’t afford not to have a candidate. Far from being an overall drain on our resources, running a dynamic 2028 campaign would likely result in a major net increase in members and capacity. In that spirit, the very pragmatic Milwaukee sewer socialists — who mostly ran to win at home in Wisconsin — supported Eugene Debs’s propagandistic presidential campaigns, which they correctly saw as a crucial means of recruiting to the Socialist Party. And now that the (post-1972) Democratic Party gives more weight to voters than party operatives in determining its presidential nomination, it’s become feasible to run as a socialist in primaries without risking a split in the vote against the Republicans in November. We should just support Ro Khanna, who also supports M4A and ending aid to Israel. I like Ro Khanna and would enthusiastically vote and canvass for him for president were he to get the nomination. But there’s a real chance that Khanna’s bid for office doesn’t catch on; he lacks the grassroots organizational apparatus of DSA, and, because he’s not really of the Left or labor (despite his current very good positions), he’s unlikely to generate the type of buy-in and enthusiasm that a DSA candidate would. Moreover, Khanna would be running as an individual, not as someone emerging from and building an organized movement — his campaign would not likely focus on building sustained power from below, nor would it likely polarize the 2028 primary around M4A and Israel aid. Also, and not inconsequentially, the poor electoral results for Tom Steyer and Saikat Chakrabarti this spring suggest that there’s perhaps not much of a popular appetite in the Democrats’ base to support multi-millionaire class traitors. Much better, then, to run a democratic socialist worker. If by Super Tuesday it’s clear that our campaign has captured the main left lane in the primary, Khanna should drop out and endorse us; conversely, if he’s managed to capture this lane, DSA could at that point transform its Healthcare Not Warfare campaign into an independent campaign to elect Ro Khanna focused on winning (and holding him accountable to) those two critical planks. An openness to consolidating an anti-corporate candidate by Super Tuesday is a necessary component of the strategy I’m proposing, because otherwise we risk splitting the primary votes (per DNC rules, you need at least 15% to get any delegates to convention). We should convince Shawn Fain or Sara Nelson to run for president instead. I agree it’d be great if either ran for president, but my impression is that there’s basically no chance that will happen in 2028, because both are firmly focused on their union leadership duties (and, in the case of Fain, beating back a federal witch-hunt). This plan could have DSA end up endorsing a non-socialist, non-DSAer for president. That’s against our principles. It’s a myth, and bad politics, that socialists can’t ever support candidates who aren’t members of their organization and/or who don’t call themselves socialists. Bernie, after all, was not a DSAer. And socialists abroad regularly make tactical decisions about if and when supporting a non-socialist candidate makes sense from the standpoint of promoting working-class interests, defending democracy, and building a socialist current in the process. If your “principles” prevent you and DSA from helping achieve the momentous stride forward of having a Democratic candidate in 2028 run on Medicare for All and ending aid to Israel, those “principles” are not very good. In fact, they actively undermine the causes they’re aiming to support. We shouldn’t confuse principles (working-class independence) with tactics (the best way to advance this in a given context). In my recent article in Catalyst on Milwaukee sewer socialism (I’ve uploaded the full text here), I have a section showing how similarly rigid rules about endorsements had to be eventually discarded in the old Socialist Party nationwide after WWI because they tended to lead socialists towards a sectarian abstention from broader anti-corporate electoral insurgencies beyond their party’s control. For what it’s worth, Lenin’s current under Tsarism frequently backed bourgeois candidates in the second round of elections and Lenin himself advocated that British Communists support Labour Party candidates; for his part, Kautsky in 1912 defended the German Social Democracy’s electoral pact with the Progressives in the runoffs. If our predecessors could be that tactically flexible in an era before the limits of their underlying strategic assumptions about intransigent class politics in capitalist democracies were made clear, then there’s no need to insist on being more tactically rigid today, after a century’s worth of accumulated experience. As long as you maintain your own political profile and organization while engaging in broader coalitional efforts, there’s zero inherent contradiction with the principle of political independence. More specifically: DSA and allied organizations should enthusiastically back Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed if AOC declines to run and he throws his hat in the presidential ring. (I have no idea whether he’s even considering this path, but there’ll surely be chatter about it if he wins his Senate race this November.) Though he doesn’t call himself a socialist, El-Sayed is a principled Berniecrat, a consistent fighter for Palestine, and would have a clear path to victory. Using the “s” word is far less important than whether a campaign fights for the interests of working people at home and abroad — and whether actively participating in it can grow the organized working class and the Left. And the same holds true if a less anti-corporate candidate were, under pressure, to adopt our two Healthcare Not Warfare planks. Why focus only on M4A and ending US aid to Israel? There are so many other important issues to fight for! Obviously there are many pivotal issues beyond healthcare and Israel, and our candidate — and especially our organizations involved in the campaign — should be prepared to speak on all of these. But one of the crucial lessons of the Zohran campaign is that you have to relentlessly stay on message if you want to cut through the noise. CNN and Fox News will want to talk about DSA’s views on Venezuela and abolishing the police; we need to polarize the debate on the widely and deeply felt issues that are most favorable for growing the Left, isolating our opponents, and winning urgently needed changes. One recent poll found 63% of Americans support M4A, even after respondents were told it would raise taxes and eliminate most private insurance. Another found that 74% of Democrats opposed “providing additional economic and military support to Israel.” And focusing on two demands sets the campaign up to be able to leverage its mandate to make clear demands upon other candidates (which we can’t do if we run with a laundry list of demands). Talking about a Plan B is a distraction from the more urgent work of building a groundswell of calls on AOC to run. It’s good for DSAers, fightback unionists, and progressive organizations to try to convince AOC to run. This proposal is meant as an addendum to pushes to get AOC to run and to line DSA up for that eventuality, not as a substitute for those efforts. But I’m worried that, like in 2024, we might eventually find ourselves with no time to find a viable alternative unless we start now. DSA, with its abundant deliberative processes, moves slowly. The approach you’re suggesting seems risky. If a DSA candidate runs but doesn’t receive a lot of votes, it’ll undercut our current national momentum. This is a reasonable worry. All big initiatives always carry risks, and the path I’m advocating is certainly not free of these. That said, if a Healthcare Not Warfare campaign doesn’t catch on like we envisioned, it’s a pretty simple pivot in March 2028 to explain that in the future we really need our standard-bearers like AOC, or our growing bench of national electeds, to step up in presidential primaries. Moreover, it’s worth noting that the risk of my Plan B proposal is on the whole significantly less than the risk entailed by an AOC run. We should all back her if she runs, since she’d fire up the base, provide huge openings for organizing, have a real shot at defeating a Republican (especially given MAGA’s unpopularity), be a great standard-bearer for our issues, particularly M4A and ending aid to Israel, and be less willing than mainstream candidates to capitulate to any anti-democratic machinations from Trump and co. But it’s also true that AOC could lose, which would be a devastating setback to the country and the Left. Or she could win and find herself unable to pass much, if any, of her (and our) program, a demoralizing prospect. So if we’re willing to take these risks with AOC (and we should), it follows that we should be able to take lower-level risks if she doesn’t throw her hat in the ring. What’s Your Plan B? The US Left is facing its biggest opening for growth and influence since the 1930s. Initiatives that would have been impossible a few months ago are now potentially feasible. A President AOC is now easier to imagine, but if she ultimately assesses that the risks aren’t worth the potential reward in 2028, we can’t be left flat-footed. So even if you’re not convinced by the specifics of my Plan B, I hope you can at least agree that it’d be a disaster for us not to have one — and not to start getting a Plan B into motion. Hopefully other organizers and political currents will put forward their responses and alternative ideas ASAP. The stakes are too high to just wait and see. More As always, please share this article widely. This newsletter depends on all you lovely people to get the word out. Thank you! I uploaded the full text of my Catalyst article on Milwaukee sewer socialism here (it’s updated and 3x as long as the version published earlier on this substack). If you haven’t yet, please make sure to subscribe to Catalyst here; I read every issue front to back, highly recommend. 🌹🎵 Ivan Lins (arranged by Arthur Verocai) — “General da Banda” 🌹🎵

Aug 3 • 12:50 PM EDT • Politics • laborpolitics.com

Hughes files for bankruptcy after GEO business loses ground to Starlink

EchoStar’s Hughes geostationary satellite broadband business has filed for bankruptcy in the United States after years of mounting competition from SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.

Aug 3 • 12:06 PM EDT • Business • spacenews.com

The UAE’s bid for space sovereignty

Aug 3 • 10:03 AM EDT • Business • cnn.com

Exclusive interview: Science diplomat Paul Arthur Berkman

Strategic competition across the Indo-Pacific region presents challenges for nation-states and their ability to coexist within contested spaces.

Aug 3 • 9:56 AM EDT • Science • upi.com

Montclair State University Breaks Ground on $120 Million Science Building

The 110,000-square-foot facility will triple the university’s science lab space while adding state-of-the-art classrooms, research labs, and collaborative learning environments.

Aug 3 • 9:38 AM EDT • Science • jerseydigs.com

School’s out, play is in: Inside Louisiana’s evolving indoor playroom industry

Indoor playspaces have taken on a new form in the past decade, catering to infants, early elementary children and their parents with toddler-friendly playrooms and in-house coffeeshops.

Aug 3 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • nola.com

Elon Musk Dismisses Report Tesla Could Sell Chinese Business for SpaceX Merger: 'Absurdly Fake News'

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has dismissed reports of the EV giant mulling the sale of its Chinese arm that could have reportedly paved the way for a potential merger with Space Exploration Technologies Corp.. Elon Musk Says Sale Has...

Aug 2 • 9:30 PM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com

Giant waves are sweeping Mars’ atmosphere into space

The solar wind may be stripping away Mars’ atmosphere by creating giant rolling waves along its outer edge. Data from MAVEN and Tianwen-1 show that these waves form plasma clouds that carry atmospheric particles into space. The process is concentrated on one side of Mars and may have played a major role in drying out the once potentially habitable planet.

Aug 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Chinese rocket scientists find ‘most effective’ way to nuke a doomsday asteroid

China’s two-pronged method could blast apart an Earth-threatening space rock using a 3-megaton explosion equivalent to 200 Hiroshima bombs.

Aug 2 • 10:00 AM EDT • Science • scmp.com

Samsung has a new AI-powered health assistant, joining a packed market

This marks Samsung's foray into an increasingly crowded space. Whoop has an AI coach built into its platform, as does the new Fitbit Air from Google.

Aug 2 • 9:00 AM EDT • Health • seattletimes.com

Want to feel better? Go for a walk in a forest, NC State study says

Spending time in a forest or greenspace, especially if birds are present, has significant mental health benefits -- especially for urban residents.

Aug 2 • 5:01 AM EDT • Health • starnewsonline.com

The Ultra-Rich Are Moving to Miami, and Want Their Money Managers There, Too

Tax incentives, among other benefits, have drawn the ultrawealthy to the city. And they need space for the firms that manage their money.

Aug 2 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • nytimes.com

SpaceX is planning a rocket-launching spaceport in coastal Louisiana. Here are the plans.

After months of speculation, a source close to the deal has confirmed an 18-mile stretch of coastal south Louisiana called Pecan Island will be the site for a new space port for Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Aug 2 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • nola.com

6 Foldable Camping Gadgets To Add To Your Collection

Space is always a premium when camping, so make sure you're aware of these six foldable gadgets you can add to your collection.

Aug 1 • 4:30 PM EDT • Technology • slashgear.com

The highest-grossing entertainment franchise in the world isn't Star Wars, Marvel or Mickey Mouse — it's Pokémon, which began as a Japanese video game about collecting creatures and has since rung up north of a hundred billion dollars in retail sales

A $16 million trading card is just the beginning of how Pokémon became the most profitable entertainment empire ever built.

Aug 1 • 11:15 AM EDT • Entertainment • spacedaily.com

Tiny black holes may be secretly exploding stars across the Milky Way

Primordial black holes may occasionally pass through white dwarf stars and trigger enormous Type Ia supernova explosions. Researchers found that these events could explain chemical patterns seen in supernova remnants, nearby explosions, and stars across the Milky Way.

Aug 1 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Chile declares health alert for hantavirus

The Chile Ministry of Health issued a Health Alert for hantavirus and other diseases, such as some arboviruses and avian influenza. This is the first time this measure has been taken and it will be in effect until July 31, 2027 and it extends from the Atacama region to the Magallanes region. “Hantavirus causes a disease that is endemic to Chile, transmitted by the long-tailed pygmy rice rat that lives in rural and semi-rural areas throughout almost the entire country. As a ministry, we are constantly monitoring its behavior and are very concerned and actively working because this year the virus's lethality has increased, and for this reason, we decided to declare this alert. As of last week, there were 46 confirmed cases and 18 deaths, representing a 39% lethality rate,” reported the Undersecretary of Public Health, Dr. Alejandra Pizarro. Cases have occurred in the regions of Valparaíso, Metropolitan, O'Higgins, Maule, Ñuble, Biobío, La Araucanía, Los Ríos, Los Lagos, and Aysén. By comparison, in 2025, there were 44 infections and eight deaths (18% case fatality rate). The health alert, which is preventative and prepared, will allow for the granting of extraordinary powers in the event of serious health emergencies to strengthen surveillance, ensure timely resource management, hire specialized personnel, implement health control measures, and expedite the acquisition of supplies through direct procurement. The alert does not imply that there is an ongoing epidemic or that the healthcare system is overwhelmed. Subscribe to Outbreak News TV on YouTube “Hantavirus is not exclusively a summer virus, as the long-tailed pygmy rice rat is present year-round. Therefore, we urge everyone to take extreme precautions: avoid touching rodents, ventilate homes before entering if they have been closed, clean unused spaces with water and bleach, and keep garbage covered and food stored away. Furthermore, it is crucial to be aware of the symptoms: fever, intense muscle pain, and difficulty breathing. If someone experiences these symptoms and has been in rural or semi-rural areas where the long-tailed pygmy rice rat may have been present, they should immediately go to a health center and inform the medical staff so that a hantavirus diagnosis can be considered promptly,” the official added. Since December 2025, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has maintained an epidemiological alert due to the rise in hantavirus cases throughout the Southern Cone, and that the Ministry of Health had an epidemiological alert in place since November of last year. Chile eliminates leprosy As mentioned above, the Health Alert decree also covers diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti, Aedes vexans, and Anopheles pseudopunctipennis mosquitoes, such as dengue and Zika, which, according to the alert, “have a high epidemic potential, which could generate high demand and overload for health facilities.” For these diseases, the alert is in effect from Arica to Los Ríos. The authority stressed that it is essential to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in stagnant water and to monitor any suspected cases of people arriving from abroad infected with any of these diseases, in order to prevent any of these vectors from biting a sick person and starting to spread the disease. In the case of avian influenza, the alert was extended to the entire country, because unlike other years, the disease has been concentrated in wild and farm birds, not in poultry farms, increasing the risk of exposure for people. Outbreak News Today is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe

Aug 1 • 7:41 AM EDT • Health • outbreaknewstoday.substack.com

Former gym to be renovated into wellness focused business center

Rochester Realtor and developer Jay Christenson plans to soon give the former J.E.T.S. Gymnastics building a $3 million upgrade to transform it into a sporty business center combining office spaces with pickleball and basketball courts.

Aug 1 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • postbulletin.com

Musk funds GOP midterms after SpaceX contract. Coincidence?

Republicans eager for Elon Musk's money to win an edge in the midterm elections would be wise to show some caution.

Aug 1 • 4:02 AM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com

Efforts Continue to Stabilize LINK Spacecraft for NASA’s Swift Boost

Teams at Katalyst Space are making progress slowing the spin of their LINK spacecraft, which is designed to boost the orbit of NASA’s Swift.

Jul 31 • 6:28 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov

City of Mercedes welcomes families to free science event

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The city of Mercedes is inviting the community to its annual Earth X Space celebration. The free family-friendly event celebrates science and community building t…

Jul 31 • 5:10 PM EDT • Science • valleycentral.com

Promises made, promises kept: Trucker of the Month Jeffrey Crise

Owner-operator Jeffrey Crise, who runs two-truck A&J Transport & Recovery out of the Baltimore area, prides himself punctuality and service -- with clear dedication to customers.

Jul 31 • 1:10 PM EDT • Business • overdriveonline.com

Crew Ends Week with Spacesuit Checks and Science, Lab Hardware Maintenance

Expedition 75 ended July stepping up preparations for the first of three spacewalks planned for the month of August. The International Space Station residents also wrapped up the week configuring combustion research and Earth imagery hardware while continuing lab maintenance.

Jul 31 • 12:52 PM EDT • Science • nasa.gov

12 Interesting Mini Gadgets You Can Buy From Ace Hardware

Looking for clever gadgets that don't take up much space? Here are the most useful compact finds worth checking out at Ace Hardware.

Jul 31 • 12:30 PM EDT • Technology • slashgear.com

Go-kart racing venue coming to former Wonderverse space in Oak Brook this fall

A new multilevel go-kart racing and entertainment venue is set to open this fall in the former Wonderverse space at Oakbrook Center mall in Oak Brook. RPM Raceway, which has four locations on the...

Jul 31 • 11:12 AM EDT • Entertainment • dailyherald.com

Home Entertainment Installations Hold Steady in 2025, With Integrators Bullish on What Comes Next

Large screens, immersive audio, and a new kind of flex space are reshaping home entertainment installations, per CE Pro research.

Jul 31 • 10:46 AM EDT • Entertainment • cepro.com

Molten, Mushy Planet

35 light years away from Earth is a planet a bit bigger than ours that’s probably not hospitable to life -- because it’s molten. Scientists have known about L98-59d for years, but new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope helped reveal an atmosphere rich in hydrogen sulfide, which could only be explained if the planet was in a rare molten state. Living on Earth’s El Wilson and Bella Smith teamed up on this note on emerging science.

Jul 31 • 10:20 AM EDT • Science • loe.org

Tesla reportedly might sell its China business ahead of a SpaceX merger

Tesla had already reportedly prepped for the idea in the event that Beijing invades Taiwan.

Jul 31 • 9:45 AM EDT • Business • techcrunch.com

Drifting SpaceX rocket heading for accidental collision with moon

Scientists and sky gazers will watch intently as rocket’s upper stage slams into lunar surface on Wednesday

Jul 31 • 9:05 AM EDT • Science • theguardian.com

Tesla weighs sale of China business ahead of SpaceX merger

The Wall Street Journal reports some Tesla executives have been told to prepare for a separation of the company's China operations

Jul 31 • 7:56 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com

It’s getting more dangerous for kids to play summer sports » Yale Climate Connections

As the climate warms, young athletes face growing risks of heat illness – especially in communities without air-conditioned practice spaces.

Jul 31 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • yaleclimateconnections.org

We Tested the Best Website Builders for Businesses. Here’s How Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, and More Compare

If you need a website but you don't know where to start, read this guide.

Jul 31 • 6:00 AM EDT • Business • inc.com

Tesla weighs sale of China business to pave way for potential SpaceX merger, WSJ reports

Tesla executives have ​been told to ‌prepare for a separation ​of its ​China business ahead ⁠of potential ​merger with ​SpaceX , the Wall Street Journal reported ​on ​Thursday, citing a person ‌familiar ⁠with the talks.

Jul 30 • 9:12 PM EDT • Business • reuters.com

Tesla weighs sale of China business to pave way for potential SpaceX merger, WSJ reports

At Yahoo Finance, you get free stock quotes, up-to-date news, portfolio management resources, international market data, social interaction and mortgage rates that help you manage your financial life.

Jul 30 • 9:12 PM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com

Safety a top priority as more heart procedures move to outpatient settings

The push to move certain procedures to ambulatory surgical centers is one of the biggest business trends in electrophysiology. Medical societies are watching this space closely to ensure high quality remains the goal.

Jul 30 • 12:41 PM EDT • Business • cardiovascularbusiness.com

Summer program explores outer space with science fair and planetarium

With summer in full swing, students at Stout Middle School turned their curiosity toward the stars this week during the DiscoverWorks Program. Throughout the five-week program, students have...

Jul 30 • 12:14 PM EDT • Science • firstbell.dearbornschools.org

Scientists advance space agriculture for future moon and Mars missions

Space isn't known for rich soil or ideal agricultural conditions anywhere in the solar system. Yet amid extreme temperatures and vast distances, multidisciplinary teams at USF's Aerospace: Science, Technology, ...

Jul 30 • 12:00 PM EDT • Science • phys.org

Broncos have 9th-most salary cap space in the NFL

The Broncos have enough salary cap space to make some moves or give out extensions.

Jul 30 • 8:30 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature

Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.

Jul 30 • 8:00 AM EDT • Politics • iai.tv

ANALYSIS | U.S. FCC approves giant space mirror to deliver 'sunlight on demand,' but what are the legal implications?

Despite hundreds of public comments opposing a giant space mirror that would shine light roughly five kilometres wide, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has given it the green light. What could this mean for Canadians?

Jul 30 • 4:00 AM EDT • Science • cbc.ca

Brush fire destroys over 100 tile pallets at Kern County business, sparking fire safety concerns

A brush fire destroyed 100+ tile pallets at a Kern County business. Officials urge defensible space as fire season peaks.

Jul 29 • 9:32 PM EDT • Business • turnto23.com

How AI Can Help Your Business Grow: Real-World Use Cases and Potential ROI

Learn how to evaluate AI ROI for business, explore AI use cases for business growth, and see how Windows 11 Pro PCs and Copilot+ PCs can support AI-enabled work.

Jul 29 • 8:00 PM EDT • Business • microsoft.com

Mahoning Valley arts and entertainment

Art ARTS & EDUCATION AT THE HOYT, 124 E. Leasure Ave., New Castle, Pa.: “Shaping Space: PIttsburgh Society of Sculptors” and “Nicole May Luga — City Scrolls: Everyday Beauty,” both through Sept. 30. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. hoytartcenter.org and 724-652-2882. […]

Jul 29 • 8:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • vindy.com

Edwin Díaz back with Dodgers 3 months after elbow surgery

LHP Charlie Barnes designated for assignment, creating space on active & 40-man rosters.

Jul 29 • 7:36 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

CFO of the Year honoree plans to expand aerospace firm's Boston team

Mariya Pylypiv, Airo Group's CFO and Business Journal's 2026 Rising Star, discusses her career evolution and plans to expand the aerospace firm's Boston presence.

Jul 29 • 2:55 PM EDT • Business • bizjournals.com

Summer Wellness: Hydration & Gut Health

Supporting gut health doesn’t have to be complicated. Summer is the perfect time to focus on wellness by staying hydrated and choosing fresh, nutrient-rich foods. Adding water-rich fruits and vegetables alongside fiber-rich ingredients can help support digestion, hydration and overall health throughout the season. Demos are FREE to attend but space is limited. For the […]

Jul 29 • 2:25 PM EDT • Health • tulsa-health.org

Redevelopment of Busy Bee site in Eastern Market gets $1.5M state boost

Property owner and developer Roger Basmajian is planning 17 apartments and 6,100 square feet of retail space at Gratiot Avenue and Russell Street in Detroit.

Jul 29 • 11:53 AM EDT • Business • crainsdetroit.com

Art Mart Owner Karen Fisher Expands Her Business in the Village

By Laurie Lunsford— MUNCIE, IN—“You are never too old to learn. Strive to do something new every day,” says Karen Fisher, teacher, artist, and owner of Art Mart. Fisher’s “something new” is construction. She is expanding her business in the Village by adding a large art classroom in the former tanning salon space in the strip mall. Along with wielding a paintbrush, she is learning to use tools to remove 20 tanning rooms, replace old flooring, and build fresh walls. Her dream is to create a place where people can gather and make art. She wants a place where she...

Jul 29 • 10:21 AM EDT • Business • munciejournal.com

NASA Webb Explores Family Tree of Newly Discovered Distant Objects

Since their discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2022, little red dots (LRDs) have been the subject of great interest to astronomers.

Jul 29 • 10:00 AM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov

Could this Utah suburb become a hub for youth sports? A pitch for a massive indoor athletic complex is on the table.

It can be a struggle for Utah's youth sports teams to find space for practices and games. One suburb is weighing a proposal that could alleviate the crunch.

Jul 29 • 8:00 AM EDT • Sports • sltrib.com

Bringing physics down to Earth through rocket science

Keith Cooper reviews It’s (Just) Rocket Science: Exploring Physics Through Spaceflight Missions by Trisha Muro

Jul 29 • 6:00 AM EDT • Science • physicsworld.com

Babies in space; China’s first Fields Medal winners: 7 science highlights

From China’s plans on its Great Green Wall to having babies in space, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting.

Jul 29 • 3:30 AM EDT • Science • scmp.com

Taylor Sheridan returns to movies after five years with NASA thriller, political drama

Taylor Sheridan's "Capture the Flag" follows a NASA engineer racing to build the first reusable spacecraft for a moon mission.

Jul 28 • 5:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • foxnews.com

Gemini can now generate diagrams and infographics directly inside Google Docs

Google is continuing to expand Gemini’s capabilities across Google Workspace, and the latest update brings some major visual firepower to Google Docs. According to a new post on the Google...

Jul 28 • 2:23 PM EDT • Technology • chromeunboxed.com

20 science facts that sound completely made up

Science facts that sound fake but are true, from cube-shaped wombat droppings to a pulsar spinning 716 times a second, all confirmed by research

Jul 28 • 1:44 PM EDT • Science • qz.com

Space Science’s Golden Age Problem

The White House released a sweeping vision for the nation's R&D enterprise, with significant implications for space sciences.

Jul 28 • 1:30 PM EDT • Science • payloadspace.com

Commissioning Update for Spacecraft to Boost NASA’s Swift

Over the weekend, Katalyst’s LINK servicing spacecraft experienced issues with attitude control.

Jul 28 • 1:05 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov

The biggest news at Comic-Con, from 'Black Panther' to 'Spaceballs'

SAN DIEGO – Just when you thought this year's San Diego Comic-Con was a bit quiet for entertainment news, Ryan Gosling said, "Hold my flaming beer."

Jul 28 • 11:39 AM EDT • Entertainment • centraloregondaily.com

Hawaiʻi County announces Science Night at Keaʻau Armory

The free event will feature activities related to science, technology, engineering and math as well as hands-on experiments, space and astronomy exploration and more.

Jul 28 • 11:00 AM EDT • Science • bigislandnow.com

BALLS on the moon: China set to launch Africa's 1st lunar science mission in 2029

"If this is successful, it will ignite the reality of space on the African continent."

Jul 28 • 9:00 AM EDT • Technology • space.com

Introducing Live Science Pro — a new space to get all the science with none of the distractions

Go beyond the headlines to read the latest in-depth science features, op-eds, book excerpts and more.

Jul 28 • 9:00 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com

BALLS on the moon: China set to launch Africa's 1st lunar science mission in 2029

"If this is successful, it will ignite the reality of space on the African continent."

Jul 28 • 9:00 AM EDT • Science • space.com

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft aces Mars flyby capturing stunning timelapse video

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft aced its Mars flyby, using the planet’s gravity to speed toward its 2029 encounter with a metal-rich asteroid. The spacecraft tested its cameras, magnetometer, and particle-detecting instruments, capturing unusual views of Mars and measuring its magnetic environment. It also detected neutrons from the planet and spotted the tiny moons Phobos and Deimos.

Jul 27 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Major $6M Jersey Shore container park nears opening with shops, dining and entertainment

A $6M shipping container park with food, retail, and community spaces is set to open this fall in Atlantic City's Orange Loop.

Jul 27 • 10:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • nj.com

Jodrell Bank Observatory facing closure after major funder cuts support

Scientists say decision is blow to UK astronomy as deep space observatory is home to world-leading facilities

Jul 27 • 8:10 AM EDT • Science • theguardian.com

BLOOMBERG: Sports Apparel Company Fanatics Inks BGC Deal for Prediction Markets Expansion

Fanatics struck a deal to buy a federally regulated derivatives exchange and clearinghouse from BGC Group Inc., as the sports-apparel company and broker-dealer seek to partner on prediction markets for retail and institutional investors.

Jul 27 • 7:04 AM EDT • Sports • fanaticsinc.com

Humanity's first look at the surface of Mars shared on 50th anniversary of historic NASA landing — Space photo of the week

NASA has unearthed the historic photos its Viking 1 lander sent home just after landing on Mars in July, 1976.

Jul 26 • 6:00 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com

Outdoor eating spaces became a fixture of D.C. dining. Now they are disappearing.

Business owners say the red tape and requirements of building permanent ‘streateries’ are burdensome and expensive.

Jul 26 • 6:00 AM EDT • Business • washingtonpost.com

This sugar is in raspberries, self-tanner and — scientists discovered — space. Here's why that matters

It's a sweet discovery that has the science world talking — and may help us better understand the origins of life on Earth.

Jul 26 • 4:00 AM EDT • Science • cbc.ca