MMN Editor

As NASA joins up with Europe to plan a lunar astronaut base, one EU designer envisions robotically building a fantastical Moon Temple open to all the world’s spacefarers.

Looking for help with today’s New York Times Pips? We’ll walk you through today’s puzzle and help you match dominoes to tiles.

China Scoffs At Iran Arms Transfer Report, After Trump Pours Cold Water On Allegation

China has given its response on Thursday to a prior Reuters investigation which strongly alleged that Beijing is preparing to transfer up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers MANPADS to Iran.

The Reuters report was highly specific, even identifying the Hong Kong-based company that facilitated the signing of the arms deal between the Iranians and Chinese, but Beijing has rejected the report as a lie and ‘groundless’, saying there’s no truth to it.

“China has made its position clear on relevant issues on multiple occasions. The report is not true and has no factual ground at all. China always works for peace and the end of the conflict,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced Thursday.
Source: Armament Research Services

President Trump had the day prior responded to the Reuters report too, saying it would be “surprising” since President Xi swore to him that arming Iran would not happen.

“I mean, things like that happen, but that would be surprising” the US president replied when asked about the report in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Even Pakistan, which was also named as a potential facilitator of the alleged deal, strongly rejected the report:

According to the plan approved by the parties, the weapons would first be flown from Urumqi, in western China’s Xinjiang region, to Pakistan and then transported to Iran, the sources told Reuters. They did not clarify whether the second leg of the journey would be by air or road. The exact quantities, delivery schedule and other details remain subject to change, the sources said.

China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as “completely groundless,” Reuters said. The public relations wing of Pakistan’s military called it “absolutely concocted and false.”

MANPADS could prove especially dangerous for US helicopters and other low flying aircraft, and for Iran can serve as layer of short-range protection.

The opening days of Operation Epic Fury saw much of Iran’s anti-air units get taken out, especially across the Western part of the country, giving US-Israeli jets air superiority. However, at times the Iranians have claimed to shoot down some aircraft, and since then the US has seemed to operate from further afar.

JUST IN: President Trump reacts to reports that China may supply Iran with hundreds of rocket launchers despite direct assurances from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“That would be surprising. I mean, things like that happen, but that would be surprising.”@JacquiHeinrich asked… pic.twitter.com/4tFz9ipnWW
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 29, 2026
Trump wrote on Truth Social just last week that “President Xi, at our recent meeting in Beijing, China, told me that he would not, under any circumstances, give or sell Weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran — And that statement included Chinese Companies.”

“Considering our relationship, I take him at his word and, besides, l am doing him very big favors, also. Likewise, President Putin … told me that he would not sell Weapons to Iran,” he stated. Trump continued, “Therefore, two major Countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my opinion, not participating. If they did, it would be very bad for them — Certainly not in their best interests.”

Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/30/2026 – 22:10

Screencap of Twitter/X video.
Republicans in the senate grilled Dr. Anthony Fauci this week, so leftists like Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNOW had to step up and defend him.
It’s all so predictable. You always know what the left is going to do because it’s always a knee-jerk reaction to whatever Trump or Republicans are saying or doing.
In the case of O’Donnell over on MSNOW, he was determined to go farther than anyone else on the left. Virtue signaling is very important to him.
From the TV Insider:
Lawrence O’Donnell jumped to Anthony Fauci‘s defense amid the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Senate hearing about his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights while being grilled by Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky, and O’Donnell supported his decision on the July 29 episode of The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell.
“Republican senators disgraced themselves today, attacking the man who saved lives, possibly millions of lives, during the COVID-19 outbreak,” O’Donnell began. “The man who helped speed the development of a vaccine because of the research that he had led and supported on exactly that kind of virus for years before the outbreak of the pandemic, of the anticipation of exactly the kind of pandemic that hit the world in 2020.”
He continued, “That’s why the vaccine that has saved so many of our lives reached us so quickly and not one senator in that room today did one thing to save a single life during the COVID-19 pandemic. But they lined up to get their COVID-19 shots as soon as they could and they neer thanked Dr. Fauci for helping to speed the development of that vaccine.”
In this clip, he says “He has done more in service to this country then every senator in that room and the entire current United States Senate combined.”
Watch the clip:

Lawrence O’Donnell on Fauci:
“He has done more in service to this country then every senator in that room and the entire current United States Senate combined.”
Just utterly delusional
There literally isn’t a single thing that Fauci wasn’t caught lying about. pic.twitter.com/NdmCZx3Z28
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 30, 2026

Could he be any more pathetic?
His devotion to Fauci is so over-the-top it seems fake.

The post SO MUCH CRINGE: Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNOW Offers Over-The-Top Defense of Fauci (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Das: The End Of American Greatness?

Authored by Satyajit Das via New India Exporess,

A U-turn for the US in its 250th birthday

America’s claim to singularity rested on plentiful resources, cheap labour, govt largesse and military edge. With all of the factors fraying, it needs a hard look at the mirror

As the United States of America celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence, it is useful to reflect on the nation’s ascent. History and geography foremost. A virgin territory for European colonisers provided a fresh start escaping the encumbrances, distinctions, hatreds and internecine wars of the Old World. It is a continent protected by two, as President Donald Trump puts it, “beautiful” oceans. Other than the revolution for independence, war of 1812, the civil war and the Mexican-American war, it has largely avoided major warfare on the mainland.

Today, it happens to be the third-largest continent blessed with fertile soil, plentiful freshwater, forests and mineral deposits including iron ore, coal and oil—most of it obtained cheaply by forcibly dispossessing and exterminating indigenous owners. The drive and ambitions of generations of immigrants with little were central to development.

In the 20th century, it attracted talent from other countries across disciplines. Foreigners are central to US industry and science. Today, more than half of Silicon Valley’s technology workers are foreign-born and trained overseas at the cost of their native countries. Agriculture, hospitality and construction benefit from cheap immigrant labour, particularly for physically demanding, repetitive or menial jobs. Abundant resources facilitate a strong agricultural and industrial base, which underpins its military power.

America’s free enterprise ethos is overstated. Public investment on infrastructure, education and research, such as funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, are important. The Internet and Google’s search engine were partially supported by government funds. American industry benefitted from tariff protection.

Low wages are central. Many G20 countries have significantly higher minimum wages than the US level of $7.25 per hour (higher in some states). America’s Gini Coefficient—a measure of inequality—is higher than many comparable economies. America’s ‘get-rich’ and ‘everybody-can-be-a-winner’ culture is central to acceptance of these discrepancies. American tolerance for failure is significant. F Scott Fitzgerald was wrong believing “there are no second acts in American lives”. For most entrepreneurs, bankruptcy is conveniently a rite of passage.

The US dollar’s status as a reserve currency in the post-war monetary order allows American businesses to minimise currency risk, heavy government borrowing to finance large budget and current account deficits while boosting US financial markets. Strong protection of rights and good governance, historically, gave confidence to domestic and foreign actors.

These advantages have diminished over time.  America faces resource constraints. Agricultural output is affected by declining soil quality, the use of fertilisers and pesticides, and climate change effects on rainfall, wildfires and temperature. Monocultural farming practices have increased exposure to disease. Forests have been overharvested. Many raw material reserves are now reaching the end of their economic lives. The US’s oil reserves may last for roughly 50 years, depending on consumption and new discoveries. Their expected life, excluding shale oil, may be less than 10 years.

Deindustrialisation and outsourcing of production have substantially reduced its industrial base. Business largely provides services or focuses on branding, marketing, advertising and selling other’s products rather than on manufacture. Tesla views itself as a technology firm, recycling a product first considered by Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. It has fallen behind Chinese firm’s like BYD. Industrial giants, like GE and Boeing, are in decline. Important innovation hubs like Bell Labs and PARC are less influential.

This has been accompanied by loss of skilled workers. Despite being skewed by the results from expensive private schools, US students ranked 28th and 12th out of 37 OECD member countries in mathematics and science respectively, below major industrial peers. Favoured careers for American children include influencers, online content creators or professional athletes. America trains fewer engineers than Russia despite a population almost two and a half times larger. The decline of interest in STEM careers has meant growing reliance on foreign expertise in key areas. In the words of Russian physicist Sergei Kapitsa: “Mathematics is what Russian professors teach Chinese students in American universities.” 

America’s military, reliant on expensive high-tech weaponry, has repeatedly failed against patient opponents skilled in cheap asymmetric warfare willing to endure long campaigns of attrition and losses. Societal dysfunction is evidenced by deaths of despair, the rise in mortality rates from suicide, drug overdoses and alcohol-related deaths linked to social and economic factors.  

Restoring American greatness requires addressing these trends. Instead, the Trump administration is accelerating and entrenching them.  It is fomenting societal divisions for short-term political gain. Homeland and border security is now a vehicle for xenophobia, racism, vilification and legal mistreatment of foreigners, some of whom are legal residents. This immigration phobia is counterproductive given American dependence on foreign skills and cheap labour. The US is now a less favoured destination for global talent with scientists, engineers and researchers seeking opportunities elsewhere.

The over-hyped free-enterprise system has given way to control by wealthy insiders buying influence by their campaign contributions. The dollar’s supremacy is under threat from seizure of foreign assets, tariffs, secondary sanctions, expulsion from the dollar payment system and the risk of a constructive default by a forced exchange of US government bonds for less valuable securities. 

The rule of law is threatened by arbitrary rule using erratic Presidential fiat, disregard for court orders and weaponising an increasingly partisan Department of Justice and judiciary to attack adversaries. Unilateral claims on assets, like Ukraine’s minerals and energy plants, Venezuelan oil, TikTok, the Panama Canal and Greenland, which can then presumably be redistributed to the administration’s favoured lickspittles, undermine protection for property rights and will discourage foreign investors.

American society is now unstable. Some divisions, like those along racial lines, income and wealth, are familiar. A new element is resentment of an intellectual elite and experts captured by Pat Buchanan: “… it is blue-collar Americans whose jobs are lost when trade barriers fall, working-class kids who bleed and die in Mogadishu… the best and brightest tend to escape the worst consequences of the policies they promote… This may explain … why… the best and wealthiest Americans are the staunchest internationalists…” Consensus is nearly impossible. The chance of some form of civil war is now non-trivial. 

Rather than greatness, the US is transitioning to a failed First-World kleptocracy with high tariffs, unsustainable debt, budget deficits, oligarchy, corruption and societal dysfunction. For those seeking parallels, the reigns of Idi Amin in Uganda and Mobutu Sese Soku in Zaire offer helpful guides.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/30/2026 – 21:45

Spain is deploying its military to the North African enclave of Ceuta after thousands of migrants overwhelmed the territory’s border with Morocco, prompting a major security response as officials confirmed at least nine people died during the crossings.The Spanish government said the Armed Forces will support the Civil Guard in restoring order after local officials warned the city could no longer handle the influx. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska are expected to visit Ceuta as Madrid scrambles to contain the crisis.The surge marks one of the largest migrant waves to hit Ceuta since 2021, when more than 8,000 people entered the Spanish territory over two days, triggering a diplomatic dispute between Spain and Morocco.”The situation is absolute chaos,” Rachid Sbihi, who heads an association representing Spain’s Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, told The Associated Press. “It’s not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing.”WHITE HOUSE BLASTS SPANISH GOVERNMENT AS THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS SURGE FROM MOROCCO, EMERGENCY REQUEST DENIEDSpain’s government delegation in Ceuta said at least nine people died Thursday, though officials did not immediately explain the circumstances. According to the AP, bodies were seen floating in the water as rescue and security operations continued.Video from the area showed large groups of migrants entering Ceuta through the Tarajal border area, with many arriving by swimming around coastal barriers separating Morocco from Spanish territory. Most appeared to be young men, though families with women and children were also among those crossing.OVERCROWDED MIGRANT VESSEL WITH 240 PEOPLE ON BOARD INTERCEPTED NEAR TURKS AND CAICOSSpanish authorities said Morocco is cooperating with efforts to regain control of the border. Spain’s Interior Ministry said Moroccan police have intercepted numerous migrants attempting to cross and that both governments are working to return those who entered the territory illegally as quickly as possible.Authorities have not identified a single cause for the sudden surge, though Ceuta officials have pointed to a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling that limits the immediate return of migrants who arrive by sea without due process. Some migration advocates, however, questioned whether the ruling alone could explain the dramatic increase, arguing many migrants would likely have been unaware of the decision.The crisis has reverberated beyond Spain. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni threatened to suspend Italy’s participation in the Schengen open-border agreement with Spain, saying the move would be necessary “to defend our borders and ensure the safety of our citizens.”EU ADMITS IT ‘DIDN’T HAVE CONTROL’ ON MIGRATION AS BLOC RUSHES CRACKDOWN AHEAD OF NEW RULESCeuta, a small Spanish territory on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, has long been one of Europe’s most active migration flashpoints. Migrants from across Africa regularly attempt to reach the enclave by swimming from Morocco or scaling the heavily fortified border fence in hopes of gaining entry into the European Union.Spain’s Interior Ministry said nearly 3,000 migrants had entered Ceuta by land or sea this year through mid-July, before this week’s crossings dramatically increased those figures.Fox News Digital has reached out to Spain’s Embassy in Washington, the Department of Homeland Security, the Center for Immigration Studies and the Migration Policy Institute for comment.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason has filed for a domestic violence restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, 32-year-old Marilyn Maritza Melo Rodriguez, alleging she physically assaulted him, destroyed roughly $92,000 worth of his clothing and threatened to kill him.According to court documents obtained (via TMZ), Eason says he drove Rodriguez home at her mother’s request. After arriving, the two got into an argument, during which Eason alleges Rodriguez punched him in the face with a closed fist.According to the filing, Rodriguez didn’t leave the dispute behind. Eason alleges she went to his Airbnb residence and poured liquid bleach over his prized designer garments, causing roughly $92,000 in damage.BRONCOS STAR JONATHAN COOPER ARRESTED ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CHARGESThe filing also describes an alleged phone call from one of Rodriguez’s associates. According to Eason, the caller warned that Rodriguez would “break both of my legs” and “kill me.”Eason wrote that the statements left him fearing for his safety.JAMES HARDEN ARRESTED IN HOUSTON ON MISDEMEANOR WEAPONS CHARGE AFTER NBA PLAYOFF EXIT: REPORTThe hooper is asking a judge to order Rodriguez to stay away from him, his home, personal vehicle, workplace and any California arena where the Rockets are scheduled to play.Eason, the No. 17 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, is entering his fifth NBA season after helping Houston emerge as one of the Western Conference’s up-and-coming teams.The 25-year-old has averaged 10.4 points and 6.3 rebounds over his career.The allegations outlined in the restraining order petition have not been proven in court.Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela

An old tweet from Texas Senate Democratic Nominee James Talarico has come to light, where he idolized the mass murderer Dr. Anthony Fauci with an action figure on Christmas morning.
It’s almost satanic. This, of course, is the same guy who says he loves trans children and thinks God is nonbinary. Talarico has even said he “hates Christianity.”
“I got the coolest action figure for Christmas!” Talarico wrote on X on Christmas in 2021. “Thank you to all the health care superheroes working today. Let’s help by getting vaxxed and boosted!”

I got the coolest action figure for Christmas!
Thank you to all the health care superheroes working today. Let’s help by getting vaxxed and boosted! pic.twitter.com/tVWUrE5lyV
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) December 25, 2021

The post resurfaced after Fauci refused to answer questions before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, invoking his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times as Senate Republicans grilled him over the COVID pandemic and his many lies over the years.
After years of spreading COVID and vaccine disinformation, he couldn’t answer for any of it despite having a sweeping preemptive pardon from Biden.
Senator Rand Paul announced that the committee will vote next week to hold Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer questions and suggested that his invocation of the Fifth Amendment was unlawful.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) nuked the trans-kid-loving man-child on X, writing, “Do you think James Talarico still plays with his Fauci action figure?”

Do you think James Talarico still plays with his Fauci action figure? https://t.co/ZdTxxzoktN
— Brandon Gill (@realBrandonGill) July 29, 2026

Senator Ted Cruz also trolled Talarico, writing on X,
James Talarico called Fauci a superhero.
Today, Fauci took the Fifth 111 times.
Apparently accountability was sold separately.

James Talarico called Fauci a superhero.
Today, Fauci took the Fifth 111 times.
Apparently accountability was sold separately. https://t.co/Mm4UYgaNPy
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 29, 2026

The post BACKFIRE: James Talarico’s Fauci Action Figure Tweet Resurfaces After Damning Fauci Senate Hearing – “Let’s Help by Getting Vaxxed and Boosted!” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A Dozen Red States Join Trump’s SCOTUS Vote-By-Mail Shadow-Docket Push

The Supreme Court fight over President Trump’s mail-in voting order picked up reinforcements this week: twelve Republican-led states, with Alabama at the front, filed Tuesday in support of the administration’s emergency application, and the procedural clock now compresses the whole dispute into roughly the next two weeks – with the midterms 96 days out.

As we detailed Tuesday, the administration went to the high court Monday seeking to lift the injunction blocking Executive Order 14399 – the March directive ordering DHS and the Social Security Administration to compile citizenship-verified voter lists and instructing the Postal Service to restrict delivery of mail ballots to people on them – after the 1st Circuit upheld the block on Saturday in a 2-1 decision declaring that “state and local officials are responsible for administering federal elections.” The new development, per SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe, is the twelve-state filing urging the justices to pause the 1st Circuit’s order while litigation continues – and the argument it leads with is the one most likely to get a stay granted: a live circuit split. The states point to two recent D.C. Circuit rulings on the very same executive order, one of which, they say, “held that it is too early to challenge the EO,” and the other of which reinstated the order on that same basis.

Courts Split

The 1st Circuit blocked the order across the 23 Democratic-led states (plus DC) that sued in Massachusetts, reasoning that election officials there are already diverting resources and buying ballot envelopes to comply with a directive that may be unlawful. The D.C. Circuit, looking at the same order, lifted a broader injunction against the Postal Service rule – leaving open, as CNBC noted, the possibility that USPS could implement the restrictions in the 27 states that never sued. Two appellate courts, one executive order, opposite bottom lines, an election on the calendar: that is the fact pattern emergency relief was invented for, and the red states are making sure the justices cannot miss it.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer called it “an intra-branch directive from the president to his subordinates” that of its own force changes nothing in any state, per CNN – while simultaneously warning, per The Hill’s account of the application, that agencies would need to begin implementation as soon as early-to-mid August for anything to take effect by November, given state timelines for voter-roll verification and absentee ballot processing. Both things can be true, but the second one sets the real deadline: if the Court has not acted within days of receiving the states’ response, the order is functionally dead for this cycle no matter who eventually wins the merits.

Looking Forward

The challengers – the California-led coalition of 23 states and DC – must respond by 4 pm Monday, August 3, to both the government’s application and the twelve states’ supporting request. The application lands first with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency matters from the 1st Circuit, though the full Court customarily votes when an administration brings the request. This is, per CNN, only the administration’s third emergency appeal of the year after filing nearly 30 last year – the administration’s 35th overall, by The Hill’s count – a slowed cadence that makes the ones it does file read as the priorities.

Whether a president can direct federal agencies to build a national eligible-voter list and condition mail-ballot delivery on it, or whether that intrudes on election machinery the Constitution leaves to the states – will not be resolved on this timeline. What gets resolved in the next two weeks is simply whether the order operates in November, and in which states, and the answer may well arrive via a one-paragraph shadow-docket order with no reasoning attached. Ninety-six days out, with 23 states running one set of mail-ballot rules and 27 potentially running another, the map itself is becoming the story…

Tyler Durden
Thu, 07/30/2026 – 21:20

A Rhode Island man whose remarkable survival at birth was officially recognized as a miracle by Pope Leo XIV has been arrested in Virginia in connection with a double shooting.
Tyquan Johnson, 19, was captured Wednesday morning at a residence in Newport News, Virginia, by members of the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Johnson was wanted on charges of felony assault with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a compact area following a July 19 shooting in Newport’s Park Holm neighborhood, according to the Newport RI Police Department.
Two men, ages 22 and 25, were found with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to their lower extremities. Both were treated and released. Investigators identified Johnson as a suspect; he fled the state. A second individual remains wanted for questioning. Police described both as armed and dangerous.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Johnson on July 23 and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. Authorities believed he had fled Rhode Island for Virginia and contacted the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force.
Johnson was ultimately tracked to a residence on Chestnut Avenue in Newport News and taken into custody approximately ten days after the shooting, according to local reports.
The arrest warrant listing Johnson’s name, January 14, 2007 date of birth, and last known Virginia address immediately raised eyebrows.
Those details matched the young man whose premature birth at the former Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket had been investigated for years and ultimately approved as a miracle by Pope Leo XIV in June 2025.
Born via emergency cesarean after his mother’s complications, the newborn showed no detectable heartbeat and no improvement after roughly 65 minutes of resuscitation efforts.
Doctors expected catastrophic neurological damage or death. The attending physician, a Spanish native, prayed for the intercession of 19th-century Spanish priest Salvador Valera Parra. Moments later, the infant’s heart restarted without further medical intervention.
He recovered fully, speaking at 18 months and walking at age 2 with no apparent lasting effects from the prolonged oxygen deprivation.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints reviewed the case extensively. Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, approved the miracle, advancing Valera Parra’s cause toward sainthood.
The Diocese of Providence called it a powerful reminder of the efficacy of prayer. Johnson himself, interviewed last year after the declaration, said the recognition strengthened his faith and that he felt destined for a second chance at life. He had expressed interest in “paying it forward” and possibly joining the military.
Less than a year later, that same young man is facing serious gun charges after allegedly opening fire on two people in Newport and fleeing across state lines.

The post Rhode Island Man Whose Birth Was Declared a Catholic Miracle by Pope Leo XIV Wanted in Violent Double Shooting appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.