Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Jim Acosta, the former CNN hack who President Trump notoriously said “YOU are fake news” to at the White House is now LITERALLY living up to the description after he put out an ‘interview’ with an AI generated avatar of a deceased Parkland shooting victim as a way of pushing gun control.

Acosta, now broadcasting from his living room like all the other fake legacy media failures, put on a serious face and presented a ‘discussion’ with Joaquin Oliver, one of the students who died in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.

Acosta prompted the ‘interview’ as a “show you don’t want to miss” and a “one of a kind interview” in the lead up to it.

NEW: Former CNN host Jim Acosta gives an interview with an AI version of a deceased Parkland victim to push gun control.

Acosta: “I would like to know what your solution would be for gun violence.”

AI Joaquin Oliver: “Great question. I believe in a mix of stronger gun control… pic.twitter.com/ArAvRy939l

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 4, 2025

“What happened to you?” Acosta began the exchange, to which the AI responded in a monotone and fake sounding voice “I appreciate your curiosity. I was taken from this world too soon due to gun violence while at school.”

“It’s important to talk about these issues so we can create a safer future for everyone,” the stilted voice added.

“I would like to know what your solution would be for gun violence,” Acosta creepily asked the AI avatar.

“Great question. I believe in a mix of stronger gun control laws, mental health support, and community engagement. We need to create safe spaces for conversations and connections, making sure everyone feels seen and heard,” Oliver’s avatar responded.

“It’s about building a culture of kindness and understanding. What do you think of that?” it added, giving the exact answer you’d expect from an AI chatbot.

“I think that’s a great idea, Joaquin,” Acosta creepily replied.

Acosta also threw in demented questions about the NBA and Star Wars.

Later he added “He’s a symbol of something that is deeply, deeply wrong with this country. People give up, and I think something like this is maybe going to give some people some hope, that we should keep charging, keep pushing for this.”

Just insane.

Acosta further noted “Yes, I know that it might be a little startling to see one of these young people, a child like Joaquin, come back to us in this fashion, in the form of artificial intelligence, but please understand after watching this that this AI experiment is an expression of love from the Oliver family for their son.”

Acosta then interviewed the father of the victim. While it’s understandable that the loss is unbearable for the family, many found the whole thing with Acosta in extremely poor taste.

I live in Parkland.. let me get you a real live person to interview Acosta, this is actually gross

— Jillian Anderson (@Jillie_Alexis) August 4, 2025

I think this is morally evil.

I wouldn’t and I don’t think anyone wants anyone else to put words in their mouth after death.

There honestly should be a law against this to protect the memory of those who have died.

This is evil evil stuff.

— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) August 4, 2025

Even with his parents creating it it’s still pretty sick. For any “journalist” to think this is a good or engaging thing to do is absolutely wild. pic.twitter.com/pebTqP7KUH

— Garrett Bridges (@garrettbridges) August 5, 2025

The answers to his guests and from his guests were always scripted to begin with, this is not that far off of what he has always done he just doesn’t have to pay a studio guest.

— That Guy (@Beachtrash72) August 5, 2025

I know the parents probably got convinced to do this and all the other stuff by people who are telling them that they are “saving lives” and “causing change.”

This isn’t going to cause any of the change they seek and will simply make a mockery of their dead son. Absolutely…

— Misha Turtle Island TV: X Society Xperience 🐢🐰𝕏 (@MishaTurtleX) August 5, 2025

Without authority from the family this is criminally immoral, and even with their authority, it is distasteful.

— Trevekuri (@Trevekuri) August 5, 2025

What’s even more disgusting than resurrecting someone to push gun control is scripting a whole narrative and trying to act like it’s an actual interview with candid answers.

— Doom Rider (@CommonArms) August 5, 2025

I really hope this is rock bottom.

— Kaizen D. Asiedu (@thatsKAIZEN) August 5, 2025

Oliver’s AI likeness was previously used last year by his father to pressure members of Congress to push voting for gun control measures.

“It’s been six years, and you’ve done nothing, not a thing to stop all the shootings that have continued to happen since,” the message said, adding “I died that day in Parkland, my body was destroyed by a weapon of war.”

Earlier this year, Acosta declared that he was ’going independent’, which is fake news code for “nobody wants to hire me.”

Acosta told the few viewers CNN has left live on air that the network basically offered him a shittier time slot and reduced pay to spew his anti-Trump venom, but that he decided to “move on.”

He started his own Substack and called it ‘The Jim Acosta Show.’ Truly awful.

*  *  *

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One week after the Treasury’s refunding announcement unveiled no major changes to the coupon auction schedule for the next few months, instead punting everything to Bills and leading to the following headline this morning:

• *US TREASURY TO AUCTION $100 BILLION IN FOUR-WEEK BILLS

… moments ago we got the first actual refunding auction of the week when the Treasury sold $58BN in 3Y paper in a very mediocre auction. 

The high yield was 3.669%, down from 3.891% in July and the lowest since last September as the market braces for the Fed’s September rate cut. As a reminder, high yields for the tenor peaked recently at 4.332% in January, and have dropped ever since. This was a 0.7bps tail to the 3.662% When Issued, the 3rd consecutive tail and 9th in the past 11 auctions.

The bid to cover was 2.526, above last month’s 2.509, but below the six-auction average of 2.589. 

The internals were uglier: Indirects dropped to 53.99 from 54.11, the lowest since Dec 2023. And with Directs once again awarded a surprisingly high 28.1%, which was down from the record 29.4% in July but otherwise was the 2nd highest on record, Dealers were left with 17.9%, up from 16.5% and the highest since April as buyside demand among foreigners, for 3Y paper remains surprisingly weak.

Overall, this was a poor, tailing 3Y auction, with disappointing foreign demand and a surge in Directs to offset, and not surprisingly the bond market was less than excited after the break, although surprisingly yields have remained subdued with the 10Y trading at 4.20% before and after the auction. 

“If energy goes down enough, Putin is going to stop killing people,” President Trump said in a fresh interview on CNBC Tuesday.

“Putin will stop killing people if we get energy down another $10 a barrel. He’ll have no choice because his economy stinks.” The stark comments come days ahead of the White House’s Friday August 8 deadline for President Putin to commit to peace in Ukraine.

Trump in the media appearance put India on notice too, saying: “They’re buying Russian oil, they’re fueling the war machine. If they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy.”

He pledged to soon raise tariffs on India “very substantially” over the ongoing Russian oil purchases. And yet these threats from Washington have so far failed to deter Russia, China, or India.

Commenting on increased production on the part of OPEC countries and others, Trump stipulated that he expected additional declines ahead – putting the squeeze further on Russia.

“If you notice OPEC and OPEC+, they’re drilling more because I think they want me happy,” Trump said further, after OPEC+ agreed over the weekend to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September.

Here is China’s reaction to the secondary tariff and sanctions threats, issued yesterday:

“China will always ensure its energy supply in ways that serve our national interests,” China’s Foreign Ministry posted on X on Wednesday following two days of trade negotiations in Stockholm, responding to the U.S. threat of a 100% tariff.

“Coercion and pressuring will not achieve anything. China will firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests,” the ministry said.

President Trump:

“If energy goes down low enough, Putin’s going to stop killing people. If you get energy down another $10 a barrel, he’s going to have no choice, because his economy stinks.” pic.twitter.com/gWweMdMWrS

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 5, 2025

The US president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling to Russia this week, in what’s being described as a ‘last chance’ effort at jump-starting a path to peace in Ukraine and restoring bilateral US-Russia relations.

Trump told reporters on Sunday he wants a quick ceasefire deal “where people stop getting killed” – and after repeat Russian drone and missile attacks have unleashed large amounts of casualties in the Ukrainian capital and elsewhere.

Six months of Trump-led diplomatic efforts have passed, and still the warring sides are no closer to a lasting truce, which has proven elusive. But so far, there’s no evidence that Trump has put real pressure on Ukraine’s Zelensky to given up territory – which is probably the only concession significant enough to achieve ceasefire.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Democrat Rep. Delia Ramirez (D., Ill.) is locked into a fierce fight with the White House over controversial remarks at the second annual Panamerican Congress held in Mexico, including declaring, “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American.”

Ramirez does not deny making the remarks but insists that there is a double standard for “my white colleagues [who] identify as Irish-American, Italian-American, or Ukrainian-American to honor their ancestry.”

Ramirez was also criticized for her criticism of the United States as being “addicted to war” and threatening the world with its “imperialism, militarization, conquest, control, competition in its attempt at domination.”

The White House criticized Ramirez as well as the appearance of other high-profile Squad members, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA): “These Democrats’ comments are despicable and underscore their commitment to putting Americans last.”

The comments of Ramirez have clearly struck a nerve on both sides.

For my part, I am very proud of both my Irish-Sicilian background. My Sicilian grandparents came to this country at the turn of the century. They were deeply proud of their heritage but always insisted that their children identify as Americans first and foremost. As I discuss in my forthcoming book,  Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution (Simon & Schuster 2026), we share a common identity of a people who are joined by core principles of liberty and individual rights. This country is unique because it is composed largely of people who came here to embrace a new identity of shared values.

I was surprised that Ramirez did not simply say that ranking was a poor choice of words. There is a difference between calling oneself a Guatemalan-American and saying that you are Guatemalan first and an American second.

She has often publicly discussed how she is “the wife of a DACA recipient. I am the daughter of Guatemalan working immigrants,” including a mother who crossed the Rio Grande while pregnant.

It is a harrowing story of many who came to this country to seek a new identity and a better life. My grandparents came to this country in the filthy hold of a wooden ship where immigrants died and two gave birth. What drove them was the promise of a new start in a nation based on freedom and opportunity. This country has never had prouder Americans.

The anger over Ramirez is not about how she defines herself, but about what it is to be an American. It is a shared identity, an article of faith that defines us all. That does not mean that Ramirez does not love this country. You can criticize this country and still love it. However, she should also realize how her ranking insults many citizens who cherish their heritage but embrace their core identity as Americans.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter (yes, president Karin) and her economy minister Guy Parmelin scrambled to fly to Washington on Tuesday in a last-minute bid for a deal to lower the 39% tariff imposed last week by Donald Trump.

The trip is to “facilitate meetings with the US authorities at short notice and hold talks,” the government said in a statement. Keller-Sutter’s office declined to say whether she expects to meet the American president and what trade concessions she might bring before Thursday’s deadline to implement the levy.

The scramble follows a day after the Swiss government said it is determined to win over the US on trade after last week’s shock announcement of 39% tariffs on exports to America.

“Switzerland enters this new phase ready to present a more attractive offer, taking US concerns into account and seeking to ease the current tariff situation,” it said in a statement on Monday, highlighting its foreign direct investments and research and development push in the US. It also excluded countermeasures for the time being. 

With the new levies – the highest among industrial nations – scheduled to go into effect on Thursday, President and Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter convened an emergency meeting of the governing Federal Council to discuss how to proceed. Negotiators with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs have already reached out to their US counterparts to try and find a way forward. Bern is focusing on getting at least a longer timeline than Thursday, according to an official close to the talks, adding that anything improving the current situation would be a win.

Trump’s tariff decision last week stunned the Swiss after talks ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline were said to look “promising.” A Thursday night call instead focused on Switzerland’s trade surplus in goods with the US. The Swiss government stressed on Monday that the overhang “is not the result of any ‘unfair trade practices’.” 

Switzerland’s outsized gold exports are partly to blame for the distorted trade balance. The country is the world’s biggest refining hub for the precious metal, with billions of dollars worth of gold constantly flowing into and out of the nation. Pharmaceuticals, coffee and watches are the other main drivers. 

According to Bloomberg Economics, if the 39% tariff rate came into effect across the board – especially on pharmaceuticals – that would put up to 1% of Switzerland’s economic output at risk over the medium term.

The paradox faced by Keller-Sutter and her Economy Minister, Guy Parmelin, is that any concessions may be politically costly without meaningfully curbing the trade deficit with the US that Trump has criticized. 

“Switzerland has to get creative,” said Stefan Legge, a trade policy researcher at St Gallen University. He did not point out why it has to get creative, because if one listened to all the “expert” economists, the US had no leverage at all in tariff negotiations. Perhaps that wasn’t quite the case… 

In any case, Keller-Sutter’s shuttle diplomacy follows an emergency government meeting on Monday where ministers agreed to present a new offer to the US. Gold, agriculture, planes, drugs, and energy are just some areas that may feature in any talks.

Here’s an overview of some concessions the Swiss could make according to Bloomberg:

Agricultural Tariffs

• Switzerland abolished industrial tariffs in 2023, leaving levies on only 5% of its imports. The only area where the Swiss maintain tariffs is agriculture, motivated by a politically charged belief in self-reliance. Any concessions would surely infuriate farmers, who have previously pledged to “vehemently fight” any changes to the current regime. While the political pain would be large, the win for Trump would be rather symbolic since agriculture amounts to a small fraction of the economy.

Gold

• Trump’s aides claim that Switzerland’s out-sized trade deficit with the US is why the president imposed such high levies. On average, two thirds of last year’s $38 billion deficit was due to shipments of bullion. That’s because of the price of the metal itself rather than any added value by Swiss refineries, which largely focus on resizing bars. “Gold is special,” said Simon J. Evenett of IMD Business School in Lausanne. “It isn’t really manufactured in Switzerland. Processed is a better word.” 
• One fix could be a high tariff, say of 50%, just on gold, hitting refineries but with a limited wider economic fallout. Alternatively, handing over buillon trade to the central bank or another state institution could provide a justification for taking it out of statistics on both sides of the Atlantic. But it’s not clear if this would appease Trump.

Planes

• Switzerland is currently buying 36 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. for its air force, but has run into disagreements over the price. According to the Swiss, a fixed price of 6 billion francs ($7.4 billion) was contractually agreed, which voters backed in a plebiscite, but the US now wants as much as $1.3 billion more to account for higher production costs and inflation.
• Accepting the higher charge, and possibly symbolically ordering one or two more planes, could help convince Trump, given how arms purchases featured in his other trade deals. But voters might balk at that.

Drugs, Investments and Energy

• One of Trump’s major peeves is pharmaceuticals, where Switzerland specializes. Novartis AG and Roche Holding AG have already announced plans to invest huge sums in the US over the next few years, and the Swiss government could pressure them to cut prices there too. While that might align with the interests of the companies themselves to to get out of Trump’s crosshairs, officials can’t actually force them to do so. An easier approach could be to gather pledges for US investments by Swiss companies. Such a package could be combined with a pledge to buy US energy, in particular liquefied natural gas. While the landlocked country is focused on hydroelectric and nuclear power, it does use a small amount of gas, primarily in the winter.
• “We could buy oil, arms and LNG and we could give concessions on agriculture and at least give our best endeavor to put pressure on Swiss pharmaceutical companies to lower prices,” said Thomas Borer, a former Swiss diplomat.

Something Else 

• Switzerland’s rude awakening in its diplomacy with Washington has forced officials to realize that winning over Trump himself is key, rather than talking to underlings. So perhaps a gesture such as a present to charm the president could do the trick, said St Gallen’s Legge. He cited the example of the birth certificate of Trump’s German grandfather that Chancellor Friedrich Merz brought him in June. “Maybe it would be best to give him a golden Swiss watch,” Legge said.

Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,

It looks like Senate Republicans aren’t just talking tough on corruption – they’re laying the groundwork for real accountability, and Democrats like Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James may finally have reason to worry.

Sen. John Cornyn has introduced the Law Enforcement Tools to Interdict Troubling Investments in Abodes—or the LETITIA Act, pointedly named after the New York AG herself. But this isn’t just a symbolic jab.

The bill represents a serious move to expand criminal liability and, more importantly, stiffen penalties for public officials who abuse their positions for personal gain—specifically through shady dealings like mortgage or tax fraud.

There’s no mistaking the intent behind this legislation.

Letitia James is famous for her partisan pursuit of President Trump, yet she herself now entangled in a federal investigation over mortgage fraud.

But the real intrigue emerges with the bill’s potential impact on Adam Schiff—the very same Schiff who for years cloaked himself in the language of integrity while leading partisan witch hunts against Trump and his allies.

The tables may be turning.

Details in the public record are damning. Housing authority Bill Pulte has accused Schiff of falsifying bank documents and misrepresenting primary residences across multiple states to secure more favorable mortgage terms. These aren’t garden-variety clerical mistakes—they’re deliberate moves that, under Cornyn’s proposal, would be subject to mandatory prison terms. If signed into law, the LETITIA Act would slap public officials convicted of bank fraud, loan or mortgage fraud, or tax fraud with minimum sentences—one year for bank or loan fraud, six months for tax fraud—ratcheting up to five years for repeated patterns of abuse. No more tepid reprimands or backroom wrist-slaps for insiders who get caught.

So, is this the moment where the Senate GOP draws a legal bullseye on Adam Schiff? Cornyn makes no effort to hide his intention to empower President Trump and authorities to finally “hold crooked politicians like New York’s Letitia James accountable for defrauding their constituents, violating their oath of office, and breaking the law.” The context leaves little doubt: this bill is meant not just as a warning to all but as a calibrated legislative knife aimed specifically at the likes of James and Schiff—high-ranking Democrats who have made a career out of prosecuting their rivals and hoisting the banner of unassailable virtue.

Adam Schiff, having cultivated an image as the tireless force against corruption and chaos, now finds that the same legal tripwires he spent years setting for others could be lying directly in his path. The Justice Department hasn’t pressed charges yet, but the bill puts a powerful tool in their hands—one designed to close the loopholes that have too long separated members of the political elite from real-world accountability.

When law’s hammer falls, it must strike without favoritism. The message from Senate Republicans is unmistakable: if Schiff is guilty of the mortgage fraud allegations leveled against him, he should face the same jail time and personal ruin the system eagerly imposes on anyone outside the Beltway. The LETITIA Act, if passed and enforced, tears down the shield of privilege, daring to answer the question: Will Adam Schiff finally be held legally accountable?

The answer may come sooner rather than later. For now, the Senate GOP has set the stage. The only thing left is for the Justice Department to decide whether it will step up and bring the same intensity to prosecuting Schiff as he did to others.

The days of untouchable insiders skating by on technicalities could finally be over.

Following the significant weakness exhibited by the Manufacturing surveys (and worsening ‘hard’ data), Services data 

• S&P Global US Services PMI ROSE from 52.9 to 55.7 in July – the highest since Dec 2024

• ISM Services PMI FELL from 50.8 to 50.1 (below expectations) and near the lowest since June 2024

Just ridiculous…

Under the hood the two surveys agreed on weakness in the labor market and soaring inflation.

The employment index dropped to 46.4, contracting for the fourth time in five months and marking one of the lowest readings since the pandemic.

The group’s measure of prices paid for materials and services, meanwhile, climbed to 69.9 — the highest since October 2022.

“A strong rise in service sector business activity helped offset a slowdown in the manufacturing sector in July, signaling encouragingly robust economic growth at the start of the third quarter,” according to Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence

“While GDP has risen at an average 1.25% pace over the first half of 2025, July’s PMI is indicative of growth doubling to about 2.5%.“

“July’s expansion was driven by surging demand in the tech sector alongside rising financial services activity, the latter linked to improving financial conditions fueled in turn by recent stock market gains.

However, falling exports of services, which includes spending in the US by tourists, acted as a drag on growth alongside subdued demand from consumers more broadly.”

Spot the odd one out…

“The recent strengthening of demand has led to rising backlogs of work in the service sector, encouraging firms to take on staff again,“ Williamson added:

“There was some caution seen in terms of hiring and expansion, however, linked to sharply rising costs, often attributed to tariffs, as well as reduced optimism about future prospects.

Alongside a drop in optimism in the manufacturing sector, the reduced confidence in the service sector contributed to one of the gloomiest outlooks seen over the past three years, hinting at some downside risks to growth in the coming months.”

So once again, take your pick… choose your own adventure?

When will Trump fire the head of the ISM?!

The White House is about to unveil a new executive order that would punish big banks who discriminate against conservatives and crypto companies.

A draft of the order seen by the WSJ directs bank regulators to investigate whether any financial institutions may have violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws, or consumer financial protection laws – with violators facing monetary penalties, consent decrees or other disciplinary measures, according to the draft. 

People familiar with the EO told the Journal that it could be signed as soon as this week, though the order could become delayed or the administration’s plans may change. 

The draft order doesn’t name any specific banks but appears to refer to an instance where Bank of America was accused of shutting down the accounts of a Christian organization operating in Uganda based on the organization’s religious beliefs. The bank has said it shut down the accounts because it doesn’t serve small businesses operating outside the U.S. 

The draft order also criticizes the role that some banks played in an investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. -WSJ

As Cointelegraph notes, conservatives have also claimed that banks have denied them services based on political beliefs.

The banking industry calls the practice “derisking,” and financial institutions have broad discretion to close accounts, whether the account holder poses a legal, financial or reputational risk to the firm.

The Federal Reserve said in June that it would stop examining for reputational risk following similar moves made by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC.

Crypto, meanwhile, was long in the crosshairs of the Biden administration – in what industry executives have alleged was an effort to cut crypto off from the financial system by using regulators to pressure banks into backing away from clients involved in digital assets. 

As the outlet reports further, the reported draft order directs bank regulators to scrap any of their policies that may have contributed to banks dropping some customers, such as crypto firms.

It also directs the US government’s Small Business Administration to review banking practices that guarantee the loans made by the agency to small businesses.

The order asks regulators to refer some of the potential violations to the attorney general for the Department of Justice to follow up.

The Journal reported in June that the White House was planning for Trump to sign a similar order aiming at stopping banks from cutting off services to industries such as crypto.

“Operation Choke Point 2.0” claims

Crypto executives have claimed that former President Joe Biden began to cut off their industry from banking in late 2022 after the collapse of FTX, with the crypto exchange being revealed as a massive fraud.

Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal testified at a Congressional hearing in February that the Biden-era Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) “bludgeoned the banks” with examinations and questions around crypto and stablecoins until they “relented under the pressure.”

A Coinbase-supported Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FDIC showed the agency asked certain financial institutions to pause crypto banking activities, which Grewal said showed the industry’s claim “wasn’t just some crypto conspiracy theory.”

Crypto venture capitalist Nic Carter coined the term “Operation Choke Point 2.0” in February 2023 to describe the perceived debanking phenomenon, taking inspiration from the Justice Department’s “Operation Choke Point” against banks and payday lenders in the 2010s.

With an eye on beating Russia and China to the punch, the Trump administration is about to announce plans to fast-track the building of a nuclear fission reactor on the moon. NASA administrator Sean Duffy, who is also Transportation Secretary, is expected to announce the expedited program this week, according to documents obtained by Politico. 

“To properly advance this critical technology to be able to support a future lunar economy, high power energy generation on Mars, and to strengthen our national security in space, it is imperative the agency move quickly,” wrote Duffy in a directive issued Thursday. 

In that memorandum, Duffy points to a joint Russian-Chinese plan to build a lunar nuclear reactor of their own. In May, the countries signed a memorandum of cooperation by which they will collaborate on a reactor to power the planned International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), which they hope to have operational by 2036. Led by the Chinese, but part of a collaboration with many other countries including Venezuela, Belarus, South Africa, Pakistan, Egypt and Kazakhstan, the facility is intended to conduct scientific research within a 62-mile radius of the lunar south pole. Other outposts are to follow over the following decades.

If China and Russia beat the United States in establishing their station, they “could potentially declare a keep-out zone,” Duffy warned.  The rival US lunar program is called Artemis. Its first major milestone is supposed to return American astronauts to the moon in 2027, but there’s little chance of hitting that target, as critical components are still in development. China is working to put an astronaut on the moon by 2030.  

Micro-nuclear reactors are considered essential to a sustained presence on the moon because lunar days and lunar nights last for two weeks each, rendering solar panels and batteries insufficient. Per Duffy’s directive, NASA has 60 days to name a leader of the nuclear-reactor project and gather industry perspectives. The overarching goal:  launching a nuclear reactor with at least 100 kilowatts of generation capacity by late 2029.

Earlier NASA design work had a lesser, 40-kilowatt reactor tipping the scales at more than five metric tons. The contracted designers for that effort — at about an initial $5 million apiece — were Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and IX, a joint venture of Intuitive Machines and X-Energy. In May, Rolls-Royce said it was soliciting space-industry partners to develop a micro-nuclear reactor suitable for Artemis. 

BREAKING: China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft touches down, the first to return to Earth from the moon’s far side.

Follow our free-to-read live blog for the latest: https://t.co/lFPipJdbhb pic.twitter.com/ryjRaG3QVr

— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) June 25, 2024

Last year, the Chinese notched a scientific victory, retrieving the first soil and rock samples from the far side of the moon and returning them to Earth. The Chang’e-6 craft used a drill and scoop to mine more than four pounds of material from the moon’s deepest crater. Their study of the material raised the possibility that the far side may be significantly drier than the near side, but the single sample isn’t conclusive.   

A second new Duffy directive orders an accelerated project to replace the fading International Space Station (ISS), awarding contracts to at least two companies within six months of NASA issuing a request for proposals. The ISS is scheduled for decommissioning at the end of 2030, after which it will be sent into a controlled de-orbit that should see most of it burned up, with the remaining hunks of glowing-hot metal landing in a hopefully-empty part of the Pacific Ocean. If it’s not immediately replaced, China would have the only operational space station. Companies who’ve pursued space station business include Axiom Space, Vast and Blue Origin, Politico reports.  

There’s no indication yet of how much these accelerated space ambitions will set us back. Sure, America has more than $150 trillion of debt and unfunded liabilities, but why not throw a lunar nuclear reactor on the credit card? We deserve it. 

Nuclear reactor on the moon and you’re bearish? https://t.co/WXjqQO2MBD pic.twitter.com/UIs90pf31I

— East Village Guy (@eastvillageguy) August 4, 2025

a “nuclear reactor” on the “moon” https://t.co/oXAdCvHCCH pic.twitter.com/ZK15cA4b36

— sclv (@sclv) August 5, 2025

“can we see the Epstein files?”

“best I can do is an imaginary nuclear reactor on the Moon” pic.twitter.com/Rpb7o9En6K

— ᐱ ᑎ ᑐ ᒋ ᕮ ᒍ (@Andr3jH) August 4, 2025

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Aug. 4 that it has ended a decree initiated more than 44 years ago, which imposed across the federal government hiring practices related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) theories.

In a court filing on Aug. 1, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division stated that it will eliminate a 1981 decree issued under the Luevano v. Ezell case, which was brought by minority job applicants who alleged discrimination in 1979.

The DOJ said on Aug. 4 that the decree had “limited the hiring practices of the federal government based on flawed and outdated theories of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and that it also “imposed draconian test review and implementation procedures” on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

“For over four decades, this decree has hampered the federal government from hiring the top talent of our nation,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “Today, the Justice Department removed that barrier and reopened federal employment opportunities based on merit—not race.”

The 1981 consent decree had the federal government agreeing to eliminate what was known as the Professional and Administrative Career Examination, or PACE, assessment tool and create two special hiring mandates, the Outstanding Scholar and Bilingual/Bicultural programs.

The government had agreed that PACE violated a portion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to an OPM memorandum issued in 2007.

“These programs were to be used where traditional competitive examining procedures produced adverse impact to try to help improve diversity in the occupations covered by the decree,” the memo said.

The decision from the DOJ comes days after the department put out new guidelines for entities or individuals receiving federal funding, saying they cannot be involved in DEI programs.

In a statement on July 31, the DOJ said recipients may not engage in “unlawful discrimination” by violating federal antidiscrimination laws and regulations that “apply to programs or initiatives that involve discriminatory practices, including those labeled” as DEI programs.

“Entities that receive federal funds, like all other entities subject to federal antidiscrimination laws, must ensure that their programs and activities comply with federal law and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics—no matter the program’s labels, objectives, or intentions,” the DOJ statement reads.

Recipients of federal funds range from schools, colleges, and universities to nonprofit organizations and private firms that are government contractors. The DOJ released the memo publicly on July 29.

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders targeting DEI or similar frameworks, saying that such policies are discriminatory, diminish merit-based systems, or create wasteful government spending.

Under the orders, the Trump administration has eliminated DEI-related programs within the government and dismissed a number of workers who were involved in those initiatives. The administration has faced some legal challenges.

Some private companies rolled back such initiatives in recent months, in some cases even before Trump took office.