ORBIT: Sierra Nevada’s slick new space plane ditches capsules for the shuttle route.

This stylish unmanned space plane was recently given its official name, Tenacity, and a pair of exotic composite material wings to complete its sleek design. Constructed by the Colorado-based aerospace firm Sierra Nevada Corporation, Dream Chaser is meant to launch vertically atop a booster rocket and completes its missions with gliding runway landings similar to NASA’s retired fleet of space shuttles.

Tenacity is tentatively scheduled to blast off for its debut in late 2021, locked to the tip of a powerful United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“It’s an SUV for space — a Space Utility Vehicle,” Kimberly Schwandt, Sierra Nevada’s communications director, told Space. “Our dream is to have a whole fleet of space planes.”

Photos at the link — it really has a Jetsons vibe.

NATO: Trump, France’s Macron voice concern about Greece-Turkey tensions. “NATO allies Turkey and Greece are embroiled in a dispute over Turkish oil and gas exploration in disputed eastern Mediterranean waters. Turkey said on Friday France should refrain from steps that escalate tensions after the French military conducted training exercises with Greek forces in the region on Thursday.”

HMM: Is AOC’s ‘Squad’ Running the Rioters? One Just Called for MORE ‘Unrest In the Streets.’

FACT CHECK: No, Trump Never ‘Promoted’ the Birther Conspiracy Theory About Kamala Harris.

MATT MARGOLIS: Kamala’s Big Fat Lie About The Trump Economy.

WHY NOT TAKE A BREAK FROM THE SERIOUS NEWS FOR A FEW MINUTES? Florida Man Friday: Ever Been So Drunk You Assaulted a Restaurant?

DAVID HARSANYI: No Kamala, Ebola Was Nothing Like Coronavirus.

Though the Ebola talking point might end up being a potent political attack, it’s also complete nonsense. It’s tantamount to the Trump administration taking special credit for its excellent work stopping the Eastern equine encephalitis pandemic of 2019. Ebola wasn’t a crisis or a pandemic, but rather an outbreak in West Africa. At the time, the highly esteemed Dr. Anthony Fauci noted that the risk of a normal person contracting was “extraordinarily low” and an “extraordinarily remote threat.” The Mayo Clinic tells us that Ebola is not “transmitted through the air and does not spread through casual contact.” Those who do contract it are obviously ill and easily avoided.

Not one person who contracted Ebola in the United States died from the disease. An American had a far higher chance of being killed by a bee sting or being eaten by a shark than they did of contracting Ebola. Coronavirus, on the other hand, is a highly contagious worldwide pandemic that nearly every nation has struggled to contain, with a fatality rate higher than the common flu.

Yes, but did Harsanyi pronounce Harris’ first name correctly when he typed it?

UGH: Family kicked off Southwest Airlines flight after boy with autism wouldn’t wear mask.

I HAD BEEN TOLD THAT WE ARE AS WE SELF-IDENTIFY: NOW Board Member Accused of Claiming to Be Woman of Color to Boost Re-Election Chances.

PSYOPS, NOT PSYCHO: The Media Is Absolutely Wacko for Claiming Kamala Harris Is a ‘Moderate.’

OVER THE TARGET, TAKING FLAK: China accuses US of ‘smearing’ Confucius Institutes after designating them a foreign mission.

WE’LL NEVER BE RID OF HER: Hillary Clinton says she would accept job in Biden administration.

VIDEO: Four Tankers Carrying Iranian Oil ‘Confiscated’ By Trump’s DOJ.

IT’S ON: John MacArthur Sues Newsom for Banning Church While Encouraging Protests.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: Nuke Lab Goes Nuclear on White Men, Minneapolis Says ‘F— You, Pay Me.’

Insanity Wrap needs to know: What’s the fastest way to ruin a weekend getaway at a tony resort?

Answer: Turn it into a mandatory self-loathing session on race.

Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap.

• Minneapolis tries going full Goodfellas on property owners.

• BLM wants to indulge in a little ethnic cleansing.

• Hong Kong crackdown? What Hong Kong crackdown?

And so much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

GRAND REOPENING: AMC movie theaters will reopen on Aug. 20 with 15-cent tickets.

COUP PORN: Resistance sees military removing Trump from office. “The speculation might have been less fevered had anyone actually noted how Trump has behaved in office. For example, what has Trump, as president, done when a judge tells him to stop doing something? He stops doing it. Starting with his travel ban and going on through his plan to end DACA and his move to impose new rules on asylum, his effort to revoke a reporter’s White House credential and his effort to detain families at the U.S.-Mexico border and his move to stop former national security adviser John Bolton’s book and his action to end sanctuary cities and his plan to impose a ‘public charge’ test on immigrants and his multiple attempts to change various environmental policies and his plan to streamline the deportation process and his plan to liberalize energy restrictions and much, much more, Trump has done what judges tell him to do. No, he doesn’t deserve a medal for simply respecting the rule of law. But his conduct in office suggests he will not defy the legally certified result of an election.”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): When I wrote my paper on military coups, I thought I was being entirely theoretical.

Related: Would the Military Side with Leftist Tyranny or with America?

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Vote Biden-Harris 2020 If You Want to Kill the Republic. “If you want to see the federal government transition from egregious tax collecting to tax vampirism, Biden-Harris is the ticket for you. I mean, it’s no secret that everyone’s taxes will go up under Democrat rule, but — and I didn’t think this was possible — they’ve gotten even more cavalier about gouging the American taxpayer in the last two years.”

OH:Maine Democrat Sara Gideon Killed Bills Outlawing Female Genital Mutilation. “Gideon leveraged her leadership position in the Democrat-controlled legislature to kill two separate bills that would have criminalized the practice of severing the clitoris of infant girls and sewing their vaginas shut. Instead, the Democrat supported a different law that would have funneled $150,000 to her political allies to educate Mainers about the practice instead of criminalizing it, according to a former state legislator who spearheaded the push to stop the mutilation.”

It’s always about the payouts, and never about protecting the kids.

GASLIGHTING, BUZZFEED-STYLE: Facebook’s Preferential Treatment Of US Conservatives Puts Its Fact-Checking Program In Danger.

This is CNN-quality reality-bending.

THEY CHOSE… WISELY: Democrats Severely Limit AOC’s Speaking Role At Convention.

CHARLES LIPSON: The Fiasco of “Go Ahead, Break Our Windows” Policing. “Their soft-on-crime strategy raises two questions, beyond its dubious ideology. One is whether it will lead to a safer, most just society. (Spoiler alert: It won’t.) The other is whether a single prosecutor, even an elected one, has the right to abolish whole categories of criminal laws. No one even raises this issue, but they should. It goes to the heart of our constitutional government, its separation of powers, and the ways we make and enforce laws.”

Nailed it.

OF COURSE THEY DID: Devin Nunes Says Obama and Biden Knew About Spying on the Trump Campaign.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Turns the Tables on Civil Rights Commission With Appointment of J. Christian Adams.

Boom.

MATT MARGOLIS: Tucker Carlson Gets the Last Laugh in the Faux Controversy Over How To Pronounce ‘Kamala.’