FASTER, PLEASE: Here Is the Safety Trick That Will Help SpaceX Fly You to the Moon.

MADE FOR TELEVISION: Trump ‘Assumed the Ratings Would be Far Higher’ Announcing Arpaio Pardon as Hurricane Started.

AN “UNHOLY ALLIANCE” OF SODA COMPANIES AND CERTIFICATION ENTREPRENEURS WANTS TO REQUIRE WEIGHT TRAINERS TO BE LICENSED.

Just say no to shady rent-seeking.

UPDATE: From the comments: “So the same government that forced on us high-carb diets and trans-fats is going to set official doctrine for exercise?”

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: President Big Brother? Years ago, a Zuckerberg-like figure might have been able to run as a stainless nerd-knight, above the culture wars, but Silicon Valley’s enlistment on the liberal side leaves it looking like a creepy cyborg.

ARMY GREEN ON POLICE BLUE: White House reverses Obama ban on police getting military equipment.

Former President Obama put a halt to the so-called 1033 program in 2015 after images of heavily armed police responding to protests in Ferguson, Mo., shocked the nation.

Obama’s initiatives blocked the transfer of armored vehicles, grenade launchers, armed aircraft, bayonets and guns and ammunition of .50 caliber or higher.

Semi-militarizing the police was never a good idea. Their job is to “protect and serve,” not to occupy. That’s a job for the National Guard, on the rare occasion that the need arises.

GEORGE KORDA: Bob Corker and Donald Trump: Will the right thing to say result in the right thing to do?

FRITZ LODGE: Israel and Hezbollah Eye Their Next War.

On August 15, Israel’s Channel 2 news revealed satellite photos of an Iranian missile production facility near the town of Baniyas in northwestern Syria, capable of producing long-range rockets. Iran’s formidable military presence in Syria is nothing new, but the revelation of this production facility underlines how deeply the war in Syria has changed the balance of military power in the eastern Mediterranean.

Faced with the possible collapse of Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s regime, Iran and its regional proxies have poured millions of dollars and thousands of soldiers into its Syrian ally. Now, with Russian help, that investment has paid off, and the regime has reestablished control over much of central Syria, and is stabilizing the front along “de-confliction zones” guaranteed by Russia, Turkey, and Iran.

This is a problem for Israel. As the battle lines in Syria begin to stabilize, Iran and its allies will be able to focus more energy and attention on the Jewish state. Nowhere is this threat clearer than in Lebanon, where the Iran-allied and financed group of Hezbollah boasts thousands of soldiers, deep political influence in the Lebanese government, and an arsenal of up to 150,000 rockets.

Israel perhaps will pay the largest price for Obama’s dithering over Syria and his execrable deal with Iran.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: Free Speech In The Crosshairs.

YOU DON’T SAY: Lurid Trump allegations made by Louise Mensch and co-writer came from hoaxer.

Claude Taylor tweeted fake details of criminal inquiries into Trump that were invented by a source whose claim to work for the New York attorney general was not checked, according to emails seen by the Guardian. The allegations were endorsed as authentic and retweeted by his co-writer Louise Mensch.

The source’s false tips included an allegation, which has been aggressively circulated by Mensch and Taylor, that Trump’s inactive fashion model agency is under investigation by New York authorities for possible sex trafficking.

The hoaxer, who fed the information to Taylor by email, said she acted out of frustration over the “dissemination of fake news” by Taylor and Mensch. Their false stories about Trump have included a claim that he was already being replaced as president by Senator Orrin Hatch in a process kept secret from the American public.

“Taylor asked no questions to verify my identity, did no vetting whatsoever, sought no confirmation from a second source – but instead asked leading questions to support his various theories, asking me to verify them,” the source said in an email.

After being approached for comment by the Guardian on Monday, Taylor posted what he described as a “mea culpa” on Twitter. “As a ‘citizen journalist’ I acknowledge my error and do apologize,” he wrote.

Mensch denied using the bogus information and said her allegations about Trump’s model agency came from her own sources.

I wonder if this means Mensch stands by her claim that “the Supreme Court notified Mr. Trump that the formal process of a case of impeachment against him was begun” after he’d been secretly indicted, or that “Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah is being given security briefings to prepare him for the Presidency.”

ROGER SIMON: Make Harvey a Catalyst for Something Good.

AFTERMATH: Looters Ransack Stores in Houston as Waters Recede.

Meanwhile… Good Samaritans help woman rescue 21 dogs from floodwaters in southeast Houston.

THIS IS NOT NEWS TO INSTAPUNDIT READERS: OPEC-Shale War Could Freeze Oil at $40 to $50.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: VIDEO: Profs bully TPUSA prez while she recruits on campus.

Professors at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln harassed the president of the school’s Turning Point USA chapter Friday afternoon while she was tabling on campus grounds.

According to chapter President Katie Mullen, at least three professors circled the table while carrying signs and yelling things like “f**k Charlie Kirk” and “TPUSA Nazis.” . . .

Mullen told Campus Reform that a university administrator eventually came out and told her she could not table because she was in a free speech zone. Campus police were called, however, and after assessing the situation they informed Mullen that she had the right to stay and table.

“I was honestly shocked and scared. I was there for a couple hours and had no real issues but a couple debates,” Mullen told Campus Reform. “They came with posters screaming profanities at me and people passing by.”

“I didn’t even engage, but I kept tabling as I wasn’t going to let them silence me,” she continued, but conceded that after a while, “I got overwhelmed and scared and started to cry,” at which point the professors “screamed [that] I was crying for attention.”

“It shocks me that these are professors that are supposed to teach and support students and they were bullying me,” she remarked.

It wasn’t “bullying,” it was “peace through violence” because shut up you Nazi. It may also have been a conspiracy to deprive her of her civil rights, a federal felony.

BLUE-LIGHT SPECIAL: Amazon slashes Whole Foods prices by up to 43 percent on first day.

Amazon had said last week that it would cut prices when the deal closed so that Whole Foods — whose natural and organic products often carried premium prices that resulted in the upscale chain being derisively dubbed “Whole Paycheck” — would instead start to become “affordable for everyone.”

“It’s impressive they would execute the pricing strategy so quickly,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com.

More price cuts on more items are expected at the 470 Whole Foods stores in the United States, Canada and Britain, and Whole Foods said the price cuts were not temporary.

It’s that aggressive approach to pricing, a hallmark of Amazon, that has sent shock waves through the $611-billion U.S. grocery industry.

Whole Foods had experimented with cutting prices to drive more food traffic, but without much success. I suspect part of the reason may have been a consumer expectation that, Whole Foods being Whole Foods, the cuts would be short-lived. With Amazon in charge, the expectation game might change.

THEY TOLD ME IF DONALD TRUMP WERE ELECTED PRESIDENT, BLACK INTELLECTUALS WOULD HAVE TO WALK ON EGGSHELLS. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! Black professor suspended for controversial statement against Black Lives Matter.

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: President Big Brother? Years ago, a Zuckerberg-like figure might have been able to run as a stainless nerd-knight, above the culture wars, but Silicon Valley’s enlistment on the liberal side leaves it looking like a creepy cyborg.

UPDATE: Yeah, there’s some kind of coding glitch so only the first paragraph shows. I blame Zuckerberg! Should be fixed in a few minutes.