HISTORY: Resting Place of Sunken World War II Carrier Identified 78 Years Later. “The USS Ommaney Bay was transiting the Sulu Sea near the Philippines on the evening of Jan. 4, 1945, when it came under attack by a twin-engine aircraft flown by a Japanese kamikaze pilot.”

COOL, LET’S START WITH THE UAE: Hypocritical UN Climate Talks Chief (and UAE Oil Company Head) Calls for ‘Attacking All Emissions, Everywhere.’

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Blue Origin engine explodes on test stand. “No big deal, ULA boss says … Tory Bruno, ULA’s CEO, said the BE-4 engine failed during an ‘acceptance test’ before Blue Origin was set to deliver it to ULA’s factory for integration with a Vulcan booster. The two BE-4 engines already integrated with ULA’s first Vulcan flight vehicle passed their acceptance testing, and engineers are confident in the engine’s design. Bruno said an explosion during an engine acceptance test is ‘relatively routine’ early in the engine’s production run. But this isn’t great news for ULA’s Vulcan rocket program, which is already dealing with an explosion that occurred during a ground test of the rocket’s Centaur V upper stage in March. That has pushed back the Vulcan rocket’s debut from mid-year to the end of 2023, at the earliest.”

KRUISER: Marjorie Taylor Greene Doesn’t Care Whom She Offends and It’s Glorious.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Gun group tells residents to consider moving from blue state after lawmaker proposes gun control bill.

The 140-page omnibus bill, An Act of Modernizing Firearm Laws, makes sweeping changes to Massachusetts gun laws. This includes mandating that all firearms and feeding devices be registered, banning people under 21 from buying or carrying a semi-automatic shotgun or rifle, banning concealed carry of firearms on private property unless expressly permitted and much more.

“This is real bad news for any gun owner that lives in Massachusetts,” Hein said. “Basically, pack your bags and leave because it’s untenable if this thing passes.”

The National Association for Gun Rights issued a travel advisory for anyone who lives in Massachusetts or is traveling to Massachusetts because of the bill last week.

The bill also cracks down on firearm-adjacent areas including banning targets with human silhouettes at ranges, banning people under the age of 18 from possessing mace or pepper spray and adding stun guns under the definition of firearms.

“So what this bill will actually do is prohibit a young high school girl from being able to defend herself with even mace,” Hein said.

“I think the states are trying to ban stun guns because I honestly think they just want to leave you defenseless,” he added.

To state power, yes.

MUST BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED: You Won’t (???) Believe What Disney Is Doing to Snow White. “The formerly “fair maiden” known as Snow White is now Latina and the Seven Dwarves are now One Dwarf and Six Painfully Diverse Magical Creatures Dressed in Garb Cast-Off from the Greater Des Moines Renaissance Faire.”

AND THIS TIME THERE ARE NO COVID LOCKDOWNS TO BLAME: China’s exports record biggest decline in more than 3 years.

China’s exports to the U.S. plunged by 24% in June to $42.7 billion from a year ago, while imports fell 4% to nearly $14 billion, according to CNBC calculations of official data accessed via Wind Information.

China’s exports to the 10-member ASEAN bloc fell by 17% to $43.3 billion in June from a year ago, while imports fell by 4% to $34.1 billion, the data showed.

China’s trade with “Belt and Road” countries slowed to 9.8% growth in the first six months of the year from a year ago, down from a 13.2% pace in the first five months of the year, official data showed.

Previously: “People talk about ‘deglobalization,’ but the proper term is ‘reglobalization minus China.’”

AI CANNOT BE EXPLAINED BY A LACK OF THE GENUINE ARTICLE: Kamala Harris Tries to Explain AI, and Much Hilarity Ensues.

LAUGHING WOLF: IRR????

A lot of the public is unfamiliar with the IRR, or Individual Ready Reserve. Technically, that’s pretty much anyone who has ever served. Some in the IRR are completing terms of military service, and the fact that IRR members can be involuntarily recalled is often downplayed IMO. The idea is to have a cadre of (semi) trained troops that can be called upon “in time of national crisis.” In other words, something really bad has happened.

IRR does not maintain current military ID, does not drill or participate in regular training, draw uniforms, etc. They do have to do a yearly readiness screening. Cough.

So, drawing on the IRR is not something one does lightly. Those recalled have to be brought back in, the rust blown off, and unless they are recently detached that takes time. Those pulled back in involuntarily are likely to be a bit grumpy and uncooperative. Cough.

So, the decision by the Biden Regency to use the IRR is raising eyebrows in the military/veteran community. I’ve heard rumors that this particular action in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve is normal and happens every year. However, I’ve not been able to confirm that and people who should know if it is true or not have not said it is. Going to keep an ear open on that.

The use of Guard/Reserve troops in support is not surprising. There are units that are tasked to step into various roles, including critical roles, in the event of war and that they would take part is a given (and smart). It’s the use of IRR that is concerning.

Absent a national crisis that has depleted resources in Active and Guard/Reserve formations, or pulling a few people with extremely select MOS, why hit the IRR?

I fear it says much about our readiness, manning, and capabilities.

Read the whole thing.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: A Guy Walks Into the White House With an 8 Ball… “This is the most boring connect-the-dots ever. There are only two dots.”

OUCH: VW electric car sales ‘fall to zero’ as Tesla and China EV makers win price war.

Volkswagen’s domestic sales of electric cars in Germany are far behind the company’s plans, insiders told business daily Handelsblatt.

Executives at some VW plants said demand for particular battery-electric models had fallen “to zero,” while car dealers pointed to a general reluctance of European consumers to buy electric cars, blaming subsidy cuts, high inflation and comparatively high prices.

With reference to price cuts by US rival Tesla, company insiders told the newspaper “the development is fatal,” adding there was also a “clear fall in orders” for combustion models. A VW spokesperson pointed to “a general reluctance to buy electric cars”.

Cars so good, their sales have to be subsidized and mandated!

Previously: If you are selling electric vehicles and your name isn’t Tesla, good luck getting your car off the lot.

SOD OFF, SWAMPY: Biden Regime Making Americans Sweat, Moves to Make Air Conditioning a Thing of the Past.

BIDEN TAPS THE INDIVIDUAL READY RESERVE: Ordering the Selected Reserve and Certain Members of the Individual Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty.

When George W. Bush issued recalled about 5,600 troops from the IRR during some of the heaviest fighting of the Iraq War, we were treated to 24/7 press outrage, servicemembers’ rights being trampled, impending fascism, etc.

We aren’t currently engaged in a regional shooting war, so it looks to me like Biden might be tapping SELRES and IRR in an effort to paper over the military’s recruiting crisis.

That’s just a guess, though, and I have a couple of contacts looking into it.

Whatever the case this time around, expect the press reaction to be much more muted.

VICTORIA TAFT: And Just Like That, It’s No Longer an Insurrection. “And just like that, the January 6 insurrection is no more. And the deconstruction story is really something. At the center of this narrative switcheroo is none other than Ray Epps.”

ANTI-GREENHOUSE GASSES: Guest at RFK Jr. Press Dinner Silences Climate-Alarmist With a Single Fart.

ONE TO WATCH: Supreme Court Considering a Case That Might Upend Hundreds of January 6 Prosecutions.

MEANWHILE, YOU’RE EXPECTED TO OWN NOTHING, GO NOWHERE, AND EAT BUGS: Private jets are descending on a small-town airport as the ‘summer camp for billionaires’ kicks off.

KRUISER: Now I Know: Losing a Pet Doesn’t Get Easier With Age.

Matt Margolis: Saying Goodbye to My Sweet Pup, Zuzu.

PJ Media is staffed almost (?) entirely by pet lovers, and it’s been a tough week.

SPACE: A new, thin-lensed telescope design could far surpass James Webb – goodbye mirrors, hello diffractive lenses. “Almost all space telescopes, including Hubble and Webb, collect light using mirrors. Our proposed telescope, the Nautilus Space Observatory, would replace large, heavy mirrors with a novel, thin lens that is much lighter, cheaper and easier to produce than mirrored telescopes. Because of these differences, it would be possible to launch many individual units into orbit and create a powerful network of telescopes.”

Camera makers like Canon and Nikon have been using diffractive elements in certain lenses to make them smaller and lighter while maintaining excellent optical quality. There’s no reason the same approach couldn’t work for space telescopes — where every gram lifted to orbit counts.

IT’S DIFFICULT WHEN YOU DON’T REALLY TRY: Dope Show: Secret Service ‘Can’t Find’ Owner of White House White Horse.

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Problem: Austin PD Is Down 500 Officers. Austin City Council Solution: Fire DPS.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Why Costco Unleashing the ‘Death Star’ on Bud Light Is Even Worse Than You Think.

PRIVACY: Tax preparers that shared private data with Meta, Google could be fined billions.

For its investigation, congressional staff interviewed representatives at tax-filing sites, as well as at Meta and Google. These interviews uncovered what their report said was “a troubling pattern and practice of data sharing by tax prep companies, a complete lack of corporate responsibility and accountability on the part of tax prep companies and Big Tech firms, and a potentially illegal use of sensitive taxpayer information.”

“Under the law, ‘a tax return preparer may not disclose or use a taxpayer’s tax return information prior to obtaining a written consent from the taxpayer,'” lawmakers’ letter said.

The only exception allows for data sharing with “auxiliary service providers” working “in connection with the preparation of a tax return.” However, lawmakers said that “Meta and Google likely do not meet the definition of ‘auxiliary service providers,'” partly because “the data sharing with Meta was for advertising purposes — not ‘in connection with the preparation of a tax return.'”

Plus:

A Meta spokesperson told Ars that Meta stands by a statement provided to Ars last year, saying that “advertisers should not send sensitive information about people through our business tools. Doing so is against our policies and we educate advertisers on properly setting up business tools to prevent this from occurring. Our system is designed to filter out potentially sensitive data it is able to detect.”

Translation: “Trust us,” says the company built on hoovering up every bit of personal data by whatever means are available.

KRUISER: Christopher Wray Is Still Trump’s Biggest Failure.

FALLOUT: Russia’s economy dealt a crushing blow as its current-account surplus collapses by 93%.

The nation posted a current-account surplus of $5.4 billion for the April-June quarter, which marks a 93% plunge from a record $76.7 billion in the same period of 2022, Russia’s central bank data show. That’s also the smallest excess since the third quarter of 2020.

It shows the heavy blow that Western economic sanctions – imposed on Moscow in response to its war on Ukraine – have dealt to the country’s economy, by squeezing its energy exports.

The worsening trade dynamics are also reflected in the plunging fortunes of the ruble. The Russian currency tumbled to a 15-month low of around 94.48 per dollar earlier in July, hit hard by the country’s weakening terms of trade.

Russia has enough resources to get by with a lot less trade, but the damage to the ruble and hard currency reserves make it more expensive to buy sanctioned goods on the black market.