RICK BEATO: A WHITER SHADE OF BURN (Video).

JULY WAS BAD ENOUGH: Watch Out for August! Think July was historic? Tevi Troy looks back on previous summers and concludes: Beware the eighth month.

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Weird Edition.

CONSEQUENCES: Acquitted former student sues 15 groups for defamation after they called him a rapist: Experienced prosecutor should have known better than to call an acquitted person a rapist, filing says. “Saifullah Khan is suing fifteen organizations including the National Women’s Law Center, the Fierberg National Law Group, and the National Crime Victim Law Institute, along with attorney Jennifer Becker, for ‘defamation, false light, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and abuse of process action.’ Khan (pictured) is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.”

THAT’S THE GOAL: Prosecutors drop charges against 300+ anti-Israel encampment protesters nationwide; expert warns campus agitators might ‘escalate with impunity.’

DRAW THE LINE: Aerosmith retires from touring, citing permanent damage to Steven Tyler’s voice last year.

Aerosmith says Steven Tyler’s voice has been permanently damaged by a vocal cord injury last year and the band will no longer tour.

The iconic band behind hits like “Love in an Elevator” and “Livin’ on the Edge” posted a statement Friday announcing the cancellation of remaining dates on its tour and provided an update on Tyler’s voice.

“He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury. We’ve seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side. Sadly, it is clear, that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible,” the statement said. “We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision — as a band of brothers — to retire from the touring stage.”

Tyler announced he injured his vocal cords in September during a show on its Peace Out: The Farewell Tour. Tyler said in an Instagram statement at the time that the injury caused bleeding but that he hoped the band would be back after postponing a few shows.

Hopefully the band can continue in the studio. Very worst case scenario, last year, it was reported that British singer Sam Brown, whose vocal chords were damaged in 2007, used the pitch correction software Melodyne so that she could sing again in the studio. Between resting his voice by not touring, pitch correction software and/or the latest advancements in vocal AI, perhaps Tyler can at least still make records.

DARWIN ON MEN AND WOMEN: Yep, he said it, men are more highly evolved than women in all respects. Then the next question becomes is Darwin accountable for how those who followed in his analytical footsteps read or misread him?

DISSOLVE THE PEOPLE AND ELECT ANOTHER: Voters fail Harris on border, 60% say it’s key to their vote.

JOHN NOLTE: Imploding CNN Shutters ‘Opinion’ Site (No One Read).

Well, the delusion is over. CNN has announced an end to the ludicrous fantasy. CNN Opinion is no more. And I mean “CNN Opinion” is no more. Obviously CNN itself is all opinion, and lies and bullying to back up that opinion, but the vertical has shuttered.

Now that I’m looking at CNN Opinion for the first time (that’s not a joke), you can tell it was nothing more than an affirmative action program for leftists like Dean Obeidallah—people who could never survive on merit.

Here are some of the more recent headlines:

• The galling mistake that led the US to its current debt problem
• How Billie Eilish is unleashing queer imagination
• The real significance of the Supreme Court’s ‘Chevron deference’ ruling
• Andrew McCarthy deserves to be taken seriously
• Dear Joe, it’s time to go
• The real loser in Thursday’s debate
• The female gaze is taking over page and screen, and it is hot
• My teenage son had an influencer in his class. This is what it was like
• Fighting antisemitism, one curl at a time

CNN paid for that shit.

Here’s how CNN’s valued opinion contributors were informed they might have to get real jobs now…

“Just a quick note to let you know that unfortunately CNN has decided to shut down the opinion section,” an opinion editor sent in an email, per the Hill. “I hope our paths cross elsewhere!”

That’s it. That was the whole goodbye.

Well, that’s par for the course at CNN. Flashback to 2022: CNN+ (hey, remember them?!) folded so quickly that some staffers actually received welcome packages after the network pulled the plug on it.

REMEMBER THE ‘AMERICAN TALIBAN,’ JOHN WALKER LINDH? If you do, you may also recognize the name of one of Vice President Kamala Harris’ new advisors, Tony West. The Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo remembers all of this stuff and, among much else, his latest report suggests being a Far-Left radical is a Harris family affair.

#JOURNALISM:

The Slack won't allow it! https://t.co/rP9ZwHwgnd

— Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) August 1, 2024

I’D RATHER HAVE THE REAL DR. PHIL: Who Is Kamala’s Dr. Phil? As Harris’s national security adviser, Phil Gordon brings a ton of experience to the job—and none of it good.

WE WE’RE THIS CLOSE IN GIVING HIM TO THE RUSSIANS:

Joe Biden climbed back up the stairs of an airplane he wasn't supposed to be on, as Kamala Harris and the Secret Service watched in disbelief. He clearly has no idea where he is or what he's doing. h/t @ianmSC pic.twitter.com/O82qcXyRzu

— @amuse (@amuse) August 2, 2024

FASTER AND MORE OF THIS, PLEASE:  Ohio removes hundreds more illegal immigrants from voter rolls.

THE BIRTH DEARTH: Why fewer people are choosing to have kids. “There were many reasons why people said they didn’t have kids, including financial concerns, infertility, or that it just didn’t happen, according to the research. For people younger than 50, the top reason reported for not having children was that they don’t want to.”

OLD AND BUSTED: President Ash Carter.

The New Hotness: President Lloyd Austin: Defense Secretary Revokes Plea Deal for Accused 9/11 Mastermind, Accomplices.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday revoked a plea agreement made days earlier with the accused mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and two alleged accomplices.

The plea agreement, announced Wednesday, would have spared the three men from receiving the death penalty.

Instead, Austin relieved the overseer of the war court at Guantanamo Bay on Friday and announced in a memo that he had assumed control as the convening authority for military commissions.

“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote in the memo addressed to retired Brigadeer General Susan K. Escallier.

“Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself,” he said. “Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024 in the above-referenced case.”

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is believed to be the main conspirator in al-Qaeda’s 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, and two co-conspirators had agreed to plead guilty with the U.S. military justice system.

In more news from President Austin: US sending aircraft carrier, warships and fighter squadron to Middle East as region braces for Iranian retaliation.

On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group, which is currently operating in the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh.

In addition, destroyers and cruisers capable of ballistic missile defense will also be sent to the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea. The statement does not say which warships have been sent, but two US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea took part in intercepting the barrage of strikes Iran launched against Israel in April.

Austin also ordered the deployment of a fighter squadron to the region, Singh said.

President Austin jokes aside, who is running the show in DC with Biden being non compos mentis? Because otherwise:

How it started: How Joe Biden Is Positioning Himself as a Modern FDR.

—Time magazine, October 28th, 2020.

How it’s going: “Jill Biden is becoming the Edith Wilson of America.”

—The Boston Herald, July 6th, 2024.

SHE DON’T CARE IF THEY PICK UP SOME CHANGE ON THE SIDE BY SELLING THE FETAL REMAINS?  Kamala Harris accused of ‘weaponizing’ California AG’s office for mega-sponsor Planned Parenthood.

IT’S FUN TO JOKE ABOUT LIFEGUARDS AT OLYMPIC SWIM MEETS, BUT THERE’S A REASON: Olympic swimmer Tamara Potocka collapses after race in scary scene.

SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED:  It Turns Out Hillary Clinton Is The Biggest Donor To Extremist Climate Protesters In The UK.

THEY DON’T LIKE CHILDREN, ANYWAY:  BOMBSHELL FDA Email Turns Transgender ‘Health Care’ Narrative on Its Head.

WELL, OF COURSE THEY DO. BUT HER STUPIDITY IS REAL AND WE CAN’T AFFORD IT:  Election Showdown Begins: Media covers up Kamala’s Stupidity. [VIDEO]

THE SHOCKED FACE RIDES AGAIN:  Charges against pro-Hamas rioters have routinely been dropped nationwide.

BEHOLD, MY SHOCKED FACE:  Biden’s Illegal Alien Flight Program Halted Due to Rampant Fraud.

THAT SWELL OF ENTHUSIASM FOR KAMALA?  Most of the attendees received a $150 incentive bonus and left halfway into her speech.

You don’t have to fear real enthusiasm for Kamala. You have to fear the pretense of enthusiasm that disguises the fraud. The way to fight that is to point and laugh early and often.

SOMEONE FLAG ELON AND POINT HIM AT THIS?  Appeals Court Paves the Way for Illegals to Potentially Steal the Election in Arizona.