ICYMI: Dem Message of the Day: GERRYMANDER HARDER

SAD: Titan Implosion Was Preventable, U.S. Coast Guard Says.

The 2023 implosion of the submersible Titan that resulted in the deaths of five people was preventable, a U.S. Coast Guard investigation found.

OceanGate, the company behind Titan, failed to follow engineering protocols for the maintenance, safety and testing of the submersible, according to the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation. The service released its report into the implosion Tuesday, highlighting issues with OceanGate that led to the submersible’s implosion. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was killed in the implosion, along with Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood.

“This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable,” Jason Neubauer, Titan Marine Board of Investigation chair, said in a Coast Guard release. “The two-year investigation has identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy, providing valuable lessons learned to prevent a future occurrence. There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework.”

The ocean tries to kill everybody. Don’t help it along with shoddy maintenance.

THAT’S CRAZY: Gavin Newsom Wants Mad Stacks to Fix Men’s Mental Health Trauma He Created. “California’s sartorial socialist governor, Gavin Newsom, has visited some serious havoc on the mental health of his state’s young male constituents, and now wants loads of cabbage to ‘fix’ the carnage he wrought.”

IT’S (D)IFFERENT WHEN THEY DO IT:

ILLINOIS GERRYMANDERING: The congressional districts here in 1970, then now in 2025. They are carefully crafted to ensure a Democrat would win a majority of the state. The hypocrisy of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to comment on Texas doing the same is insane. Yet another… pic.twitter.com/Dz3EQnJEVL

— Mark Weyermuller (@publicpolicyman) August 6, 2025

ANALYSIS: TRUE. There Is No Genocide in Gaza.

COME SEE THE ANTISEMITISM INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM: Schumer Picks His Successor.

It’s hard not to think of that vote when reading the news that, as expected, Brian Schatz has secured his place as Durbin’s successor as whip. That part is less important than what it sets up for the future: a relatively clear path for Schatz to eventually succeed Chuck Schumer as the party’s Senate leader. As Punchbowl reports today, the Hawaii Democrat “has secured commitments from a majority of Democratic senators in his bid to become their next whip, including a crucial new endorsement from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.”

Now, in fairness to Schatz, not all that much will materially change regarding anti-Semitism and Israel. The biggest difference with Schatz will be that he won’t pretend to agonize over his eventual concessions to the base. The party’s anti-Israel turn will speed up, mostly because we won’t have to sit through Schumer’s soul-[baring] monologues wherein he at least gestures at his lifelong promises to his Jewish constituents before doing nothing to protect or defend them.

Schumer’s betrayal is meaningful, because he came up through the most Jewish city in the world outside of Israel and insisted he be regarded as “Schumer the shomer”—Schumer the watchman, the guardian, the sentinel of his beleaguered people.

Just wait until New York voters replace Schumer with Squad member AOC.

INSURRECTION, STRAIGHT UP: Arizona Democrat Exposes ICE Agents, Defying Trump.

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN: Trump admin nixes giant wind farm approved ‘last-minute’ by Biden team. “Following a review of the project by the Trump administration, officials at the Interior Department claimed to find ‘crucial legal deficiencies’ with Biden’s approval of the project, including certain statutorily binding criteria that were ignored, according to a press release announcing the decision to terminate the wind farm project.”

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Dem Message of the Day: GERRYMANDER HARDER.

RE-SHORING: Tim Cook to join Trump at White House for Apple investment announcement. “Apple CEO Tim Cook will join President Donald Trump for an event touting what the White House calls a new $100 billion investment commitment by the tech giant in the U.S.”

TRUMAN MADE THE RIGHT CALL: Remembering the Bomb, Forgetting Why.

IN WHICH THE AP TRIES TO DRUM UP SYMPATHY FOR TERRORISTS WHO ABSOLUTELY DESERVED TO GET BLOWN UP: Portraits of survivors of Israel’s pager attack on Hezbollah last year.

Related:

🚨BOOM. Share this everywhere. An ex reporter for the @AP reveals how they are completely compromised and possibly complicit in the Hamas PR Jihad warfare
pic.twitter.com/8qhC4e7t7W
>

— Gal G., Adv 🇮🇱 (@ICK_GalG) August 6, 2025

Perhaps still not as shameful as what the New York Times did last week, though.

HIS NEW FRAGRANCE IS EAU DU DESPERATION: Thanks for the Bad Advice, Joe Scarborough!

2026 PREVIEW: Former Tennessee Football Coach Enters Georgia Senate Race As Republican. “[Derek] Dooley, 57, the son of famed University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, obtained his law degree from the University of Georgia and briefly practiced law before turning to football, where he became head coach at Louisiana Tech, then Tennessee before serving as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, the University of Missouri, the New York Giants and the University of Alabama.”

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: How Do We Avoid the Next President Autopen?

GERRYMANDER HARDER!

They built their empire on rigged maps and now cry foul when the other side catches on. Fair play is their nightmare. When red states push back with equal force the whole rotten house crumbles.

— For God & Country🇺🇸 (@RhombusReport) August 6, 2025

This is a level of desperation rarely seen, a governor strongly implying that she’ll keep gerrymandering until the Republicans have fewer than zero seats.

Amazing. She knows her state’s map is 9-0 blue. https://t.co/WS9V0Mob65

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 6, 2025

Maybe I shouldn’t joke. If there’s anyone able to rig negative representation, it’s Democrats.

LOCK’EM UP: Florida Preparing Second Immigration Detention Center In Addition To Alligator Alcatraz.

The second facility in north Florida has already been identified as Camp Blanding. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has, for weeks, fielded questions on the possibility of transforming Camp Blanding into a second immigration detention center in the Sunshine State but has consistently said that they were waiting until Alligator Alcatraz reaches full capacity.

“I’m willing to do Blanding once Alligator Alcatraz is filled, and so DHS has started moving in a significant number of people. I think you’re going to — and they’re starting to deport people from there too,” DeSantis said last month. “Remember, this is not the Ritz Carlton, ok?”

For that, you have to go to the UK: Inside migrant hotel in one of London’s poshest postcode with chandeliers and whirlpools.

DECOUPLING THE HARD WAY: Illegal AI Chip Shipments to China Trigger Arrests of Chinese Nationals.

FAKE NEWS: When You’ll Do Literally Anything to Restrict Americans’ Gun Rights…Including Reanimating Your Dead Son. “While no actual Frankenstein-like attempts to piece bodies back together and expose them to lightning have taken place, generative AI technology was used last night by disgraced former CNN reporter Jim Acosta to ‘interview’ the deceased victim of a school shooting on what would have been his 25th birthday.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: This Ain’t Bill and Hillary Clinton’s First Subpoena Rodeo. “Here’s the thing, though: these two have been slipping out of legal nooses for so long that it’s become almost reflexive for them. They’ve been on a roll ever since they got Susan McDougal to opt for some extended jail time rather than drop a dime on Slick Willy in front of a grand jury.”

ACCOUNTABILITY: Trump’s Visa Crackdown Begins—Foreign Travelers May Now Face $15,000 Bond Requirement.

The U.S. State Department is preparing to implement a visa bond pilot program that may require foreign nationals from specific countries applying for B-1 (business) or B-2 (tourism) visas to post bonds ranging from $5,000 to $15,000. The 12-month pilot, outlined in a public notice set for release Tuesday, seeks to address the issue of visa overstays and bolster the screening of travelers from nations deemed high risk due to deficient vetting information.

The notice does not yet specify the countries that will be included in the program but promises to release a list at least 15 days before the program takes effect, with clear explanations for each country’s inclusion. The program is set to begin 15 days after the notice’s official publication and will run through August 2026.

Smart.

YOU STAY CLASSY, JASMINE: Jasmine Crockett Uses Potty Mouth to Attack Trump at Rally.

A VERY PUBLIC EDUCATION: Chicago schools get $500K for services: Success won’t be judged by student outcomes, says mayor.

“The Sustainable Community Schools initiative has offered after-school programs, parent outreach, restorative justice support, and other services in tandem with community nonprofits at 20 schools since 2018,” she writes.

So far, there’s no evidence the extra services improved student learning, according to pandemic-era evaluations. “Academic outcomes were largely in line with those at schools with similar demographics not receiving the extra support,” Koumpilova writes, and the participating schools lost more enrollment than the district average.

At a press conference announcing the program’s expansion, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he “wouldn’t measure success based on student outcomes, such as test scores and graduation rates, but rather on the extra staff and programs the schools offer students,” reports Koumpilova.

$500k for the well-connected is the outcome.

HOME RULE HASN’T EXACTLY WORKED OUT AS ADVERTISED: DOGE Employee Brutally Beaten, Trump Threatens to Federalize D.C.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Lockheed Martin aims to test a missile-killing satellite by 2028.

With hundreds of billions of dollars potentially at stake, weapons maker Lockheed Martin said Monday it hopes to achieve a historic first: the test of a satellite weapon capable of destroying a highly maneuverable hypersonic weapon, within the next three years.

The concept is perhaps the most pivotal and ambitious portion of the Golden Dome missile defense shield plan, though Pentagon leaders are still considering key aspects of the shield’s overall architecture and few details are known about what it will look like. Gen. Michael Guetlein, confirmed recently to lead the effort for the Defense Department, said he would provide updated guidance to industry within the next 60 days. That guidance is expected to lay out more specifics of what the Pentagon wants industry to provide, without burdening them with overly specific requirements.

Regardless, the shield is likely to feature space-based interceptors, satellites designed to destroy adversary missiles before they hit their target.

Reagan smiles.