July 29, 2026

SPACE: NASA’s new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is about to launch. Here’s why it’s so cool.

After more than a decade in development, the Roman Space Telescope will launch at 7:20 a.m. on Aug. 30 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida — eight months ahead of schedule. Its mission? To study how the universe began, what it’s made of and how it has evolved over time — while (hopefully) helping scientists solve some of modern astronomy’s biggest mysteries in the process.

NASA will preview that mission at a virtual news conference today at 2 p.m. ET.

“We’re going to find one-in-a-million things over and over and over again,” Jeremy Perkins, a Roman Telescope scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, recently predicted.

What kinds of things? Habitable planets in our own galaxy, perhaps. And dark energy. And primordial black holes.

Bring ’em on.

Posted at 3:50 pm by Stephen Green

JUST THINK OF IT AS A SPECIES OF REPARATIONS:

Posted at 3:03 pm by Stephen Green

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE “NEVER AGAIN” MOMENTS:

Posted at 2:33 pm by Stephen Green

CAN SCIENCE DO THAT?

As always, America’s Newspaper of Record™ nails it.

And something a little more serious on the subject from John Nolte:

I suppose nobody understands the risks to Fauci better than Fauci, and he decided accordingly.

Posted at 2:01 pm by Stephen Green

LOL, CHRIS CILLIZZA:

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): To be fair, that’s what they pay him for.

UPDATE (FROM STEVE VIA GLENN):

And he’s been a willing (and well-paid) servant for a long time.

Posted at 1:57 pm by Stephen Green

SOCIALISM IN ONE SENTENCE: Austin’s Secret Amazon Land Grab. “All Austin City Council members are lefty Democrats these days, and nothing says ‘service to the downtrodden’ like bulldozing some peon’s house to satisfy an international megacorporation.”

Posted at 1:46 pm by Stephen Green

SORRY, BUT “INFAMOUS” IS THE BEST WE CAN DO:

Posted at 1:29 pm by Stephen Green

YES, BUT…: China’s reported chip breakthrough comes with some big caveats.

“Any machine built by an unknown state-backed company are starting from a much worse spot. Reliability takes years of iteration in the field, which ASML has [and] China still has yet to achieve,” Patience added.

Another challenge for China is scaling these machines. The Information reported that the Chinese firm developing the DUV tool is aiming to produce five units this year and around 20 in 2027.

In comparison, ASML said it plans for a capacity of around 130 DUV immersion machines in 2026, and is planning to add 30% in 2027.

“Tool performance, scaling production of the machine itself, fleet performance, surrounding ecosystem and poor economics against fully depreciated ASML machines all stack up against China DUV,” a team of analysts at SemiAnalysis told CNBC.

“Scaling production of the machine itself [is] the most underestimated part.”

Yes, but if there’s one thing China does well, it’s scale up.

Posted at 12:44 pm by Stephen Green

WAIT, IT’S STILL AFLOAT?

It’s a spaceship and a ship-ship.

But you haven’t really seen the soft splashdown until you’ve seen this just-released drone footage of the soft splashdown:

Impressive. Most impressive.

Posted at 12:28 pm by Stephen Green

ED MORRISSEY: Fauci Takes the Fifth.

“Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion,” he continued. “Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect that I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the 5th Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.”

That presents Paul and the Senate with an opportunity to pursue contempt charges. The Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination is not without boundaries. It applies when potential criminal liability exists, which – for most people, most of the time – is always present. In fact, it’s a very good idea to stand on one’s right to remain silent in most circumstances when hostile questioning takes place, at least until you get a good lawyer to figure out what the potential liabilities might be.

However, pardons create the rare exception to the use of the Fifth Amendment. Joe Biden granted a full pardon to Fauci shortly before leaving office for any federal crimes he may have committed during a ten-year period prior to 2025. That covers all of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then some. Fauci cannot be prosecuted or charged for any federal crimes that took place in that period, so he has no criminal liability in testifying. That puts Fauci in the rare position of being unable to refuse to testify under oath in any legitimate trial or hearing, including those in Congress.

Fauci claims that Paul is trying to spring a perjury trap on him today, but the Fifth Amendment cannot be used to avoid it, especially when a pardon exists. All Fauci has to do to avoid a perjury trap is to testify honestly. And as long as the questions focus on the period covered by the pardon, Fauci is required to testify.

Josh Hawley had plenty of fun with Fauci: Senator Hawley Hilariously Forces Fauci to Plead the Fifth on His Tie Color and the Day of the Week.

Related:

Tweet continues, “The chairman has DENIED your assertion of privilege and directed you to ANSWER, but you nonetheless refuse and stand on privilege despite the existence of the pardon. It’s AGAINST THE LAW to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today.”

But will there?

UPDATE:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

IT’S A FAR CRY FROM JAIL TIME, BUT AT LEAST HE HATED EVERY MOMENT OF IT:

Posted at 11:57 am by Stephen Green