DON’T QUESTION HER PATRIOTISM: Ilhan Omar Refuses to Condemn Al-Qaeda: ‘I Will Not Dignify It with an Answer.’

SAD: American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts.

To be fair, it’s been a long time since NASA let astronauts do anything terribly exciting, and hasn’t had a manned launch vehicle in years.

NOT THE ONION: Joe Biden: I’ll challenge Trump to do push-ups on stage if he makes fun of my age or mental state.

NICE: Tesla drops cheapest Model X, S variants, cuts prices to simplify lineup.

To simplify its offerings, the automaker on Tuesday limited variants of its Model X sport-utility vehicle and Model S sedan to “Long Range” and the more expensive “Performance”. It also trimmed the price of its now entry-level Long Range variants.

The discontinuation of the standard-range variants, however, means a rise in starting prices – to $84,990 for the Model X and $79,990 for the Model S, excluding potential buying incentives.

Tesla also lowered the starting price of its mass-market Model 3 to $38,990.

Increasing the exclusivity of its more exclusive models while making its budget model even more budget-friendly is not a bad indicator at all.

KRUISER: Dear Republicans Rushing to Condemn Trump’s Tweets: The MSM Still Hates You.

RAYMOND IBRAHIM: Eastern Europe’s ‘Subconscious Fear’ of Islam: The Siege of Vienna, 1683.

I love a good history session in the morning, and this is one.

VIVIENNE MING: Why I’m turning my son into a cyborg.

Imagine if everyone spoke a language you don’t understand. People have been speaking it around you since the day you were born, but while everyone else picks it up immediately, for you it means nothing. Others become frustrated with you. Friendships and jobs are difficult. Just being “normal” becomes a battle.

For many with autism, this is the language of emotion. For those on the spectrum, fluency in facial expressions doesn’t come for free as it does for “neurotypicals.” To them, reading facial expressions seems like a superpower.

So when my son was diagnosed, I reacted not just as a mom. I reacted as a mad scientist and built him a superpower.

This isn’t the first time I’ve played mad scientist with my son’s biology. When he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I hacked his insulin pump and built an AI that learned to match his insulin to his emotions and activities. I’ve also explored neurotechnologies to augment human sight, hearing, memory, creativity, and emotions. Tiger moms might obsess over the “right” prep schools and extracurriculars for their child, but I say why leave their intellect up to chance?

This is a longer piece, but thought-provoking and worth your time.

ORBITAL DEBRIS: Can We Use Special Sails To Bring Old Satellites Back Down To Earth?

Some exotic-sounding solutions involve harpoons, nets, magnets, even lasers. Now NASA has Purdue University-related startup Vestigo Aerospace money for a six month study that looks at using drag sails to de-orbit space junk, including satellites, spent rocket boosters, and other debris, safely.

Vestigo Aerospace was started by David Spencer, an associate professor in Purdue’s College of Engineering. “Through the six-month study, we will advance drag sail technology for the deorbit of small satellites and launch vehicle stages,” Spencer said in a press release. “The safe disposal of space objects upon mission completion is necessary to preserve the utility of high-value orbits.”

Drag sails are a bit different than other methods. While the harpoons, lasers, and nets proposed by various agencies are meant to deal with the space junk that’s already accumulated, drag sails are designed to be built into a satellite and deployed at the end of their useful life.

Faster, please — it’s getting crowded up there.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: The SQUAD Holds a Trump-Bashing Press Conference. “At the presser, out came accusations of racism, xenophobia, sexism, Islamophobia and the usual clap trap. But Trump didn’t single out these exhibitionists because of their religion or gender. Trump attacks all his detractors equally. These ladies and the larger progressive coven have made horrible charges against Trump for years: he’s a white supremacist, he’s a Nazi, he runs concentration camps, he’s a racist, he’s abusing children, he’s killing children, he’s a retard, he’s a cheeto, he’s a rapist, he’s a RUSSIAN spy, he’s a crook, blah, blah, blah. Why shouldn’t he hit them back? There was no pearl-clutching about the hateful environment the leftists have created with their dehumanizing name-calling that facilitated violence like a crazy antifa malefactor trying to fire bomb an ICE agency over the weekend, or a Bernie Bro trying to assassinate a group of GOP congressmen. Were there calls to tone down the rhetoric following any of the hateful anti-Trump rhetoric? No. Well guess what, we are all going to follow the same rules, so suck it up buttercup.”

GOLDIE TAYLOR: Trump Is a Racist. If You Still Support Him, So Are You.

Trump isn’t a racist, a charge I’ve been defending him even when I opposed him during the primaries. Trying to make millions of other non-racists feel guilty for something they aren’t or haven’t done is likely going to have the opposite effect of the one Taylor is shooting for.

IT COULDN’T HAVE BEEN THIS LONG ALREADY, COULD IT? B-2 Bomber 30-Year Anniversary Special.

PLEASE DON’T THROW HIM INTO THAT BRIAR PATCH: Al Green to force impeachment vote following incendiary Trump tweets.

PLUS: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday urged members to support a forthcoming resolution to condemn what she described as the president’s “xenophobic” tweets.

That’s weird. I thought Pelosi only believed in condemning bigotry in general, but not particular individuals — or does that just apply when the individuals are members of her caucus?

KEVIN DRUM: Are Democrats Now the Party of Open Borders?

I have to admit that it’s hard to see much daylight between Warren’s plan and de facto open borders. As near as I can tell, CBP will be retasked away from patrolling the border looking for illegal crossings; if border officers happen to apprehend someone, they’ll be released almost immediately; if they bother to show up for their court date, they’ll have a lawyer appointed for them; and employers will have no particular reason to fear giving them a job.

Am I missing something here? Does Warren’s plan explicitly make it vanishingly unlikely that anyone crossing our border will ever be caught and sent back?

Did the Dems just make a Trump voter out of Kevin Drum?

Well, probably not. But if he’s going all wobbly, you can imagine how things are shaking out in the center — only you don’t have to imagine, because Axios has the numbers.

HAVE A DRINK: What Do You Do When Mental Health Professionals Treating Trump Derangement Syndrome Have TDS Themselves?

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update for July 15, 2019. “Biden still leads, Steyer is In, Warren, Sanders and Harris are all bunched up for second, Castro wants nothing to do with your germ-bearing meatbag spawn, and Williamson channels Neon Genesis Evangelion and raises Gravel’s campaign from the dead.”

OH: U.S. proposes barring big tech companies from offering financial services, digital currencies. “In a sign of widening scrutiny after Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) proposed Libra digital coin aroused widespread objection, the bill proposes a fine of $1 million per day for violation of such rules.”

Whatever you think of Facebook, Libra, or this legislation, $1 million a day probably isn’t much of a deterrent to a company which enjoyed revenues of nearly $56 billion last year. In fact, shares jumped last week when the FTC announced a fine on the company of “only” $5 billion.

OF COURSE THEY DO: 2020 Dems Support Amazon Workers’ Prime Day Strike.

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE SPELLCHECK: Millennial Writer Cries for Mother at Work When Editor Corrects Her Spelling.

WORST. RACIST. EVER. Trump DOJ summit focuses on rise in anti-Semitic attacks, racial hatred.

BECAUSE THEY’RE IDIOTS. THE SENATORS, THAT IS. Senators Want To Know Why WNBA Players Make Less Money Than NBA Stars.

THEY’RE SAYING IT’S ALIENS. BECAUSE IT’S ALIENS. More than 1 million people to raid Area 51 in Nevada in quest to see aliens.

The clearly tongue-in-cheek Facebook event page is titled “Storm Area 51. They Can’t Stop All of Us” and states “We can run faster than other bullets.”

It’s inviting users from around the world to join a “Naruto run” into the area. That’s a Japanese Manga-inspired running style featuring arms outstretched backwards and heads forward.

“We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry,” according to the event organizer.

But some social media users expressed concerns.

“Folks, bad news,” Facebook user Jen Petrilli, posted on the event’s discussion page. “This event is planned for September 20th. While I love this planning time, this gives them a lot of time to move the aliens out of Area 51. If we want to get our extraterrestrial pals into safe and loving arms, this needs to ASAP. Love, A friend to the aliens.”

Just be sure to go in during daylight hours — they’ll be expecting you at night.

HAMMERTIME? Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley Demand FTC Investigate Big Tech Firms That Can ‘Sway Elections.’ “Never before in this country have so few people controlled so much speech.”

FLIGHT RISK: Feds say fake passport found in Epstein’s safe.

Federal prosecutors say a search of Jeffrey Epstein’s home safe turned up a bogus passport that listed a Saudi Arabia residence along with “piles of cash” and “dozens of diamonds.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller revealed at a bail hearing Monday that the passport, issued in the 1980s, has a photo of Epstein but a different name. They also cited a mysterious lack of financial records.

So I guess the question is: Where’s the unexpired fake passport?

LEGACY WRITTEN IN SAND:

Sure he does.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF: On being told to go back where you come from.

You know that you are not imprisoned and kept by force where you are, don’t you? If you really so passionately dislike just about everything about your country, you have to ask yourself a question – why suffer? why keep putting yourself through this endless unhealthy rage and frustration? There are many different types of societies around the world, some of which are without doubt a lot closer to your vision of what an ideal community should be like. Wouldn’t you be happier living somewhere else? It just doesn’t make sense to me that you would want to live in a place you don’t like when you have options to live in places you would.

Some people are happy only when they’ve ruined something good for everyone else.