https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4KeRa5DyCQ
Friday, August 7, 2026
ICE will not reveal body-camera footage unless in agency’s ‘best interests’
Much-delayed devices to be deployed by end of month after immigration agents involved in deaths or serious injuries…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/07/ice-body-cameras-footage-release
FCC plows ahead with scrapping TV ownership cap - POLITICO
The Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 on Thursday to wipe out a longstanding limit restricting the reach of any one TV station owner to no more than 39 percent of U.S. households, setting the stage for bigger broadcast mergers in the years to come.
But the FCC is also bound to face court challenges, with many detractors arguing the agency is treading past its own statutory limits and warning about the potential ills of media consolidation...
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/06/fcc-plows-ahead-with-scrapping-tv-ownership-cap-01027287
Emails reveal Palmer Luckey’s political fundraising as his company wins sole-source contracts
Anduril, launched just nine years ago, has emerged as a major military contractor for the Trump administration, working on contracts for everything from drones to autonomous jet fighters to space-based interceptors.
In March, the US army awarded a $20bn sole-source contract to Anduril for a variety of drones it sells, though it is not clear which of its weapons systems are operational or have been deployed for combat in US operations.
Anduril, though it is not widely known as a space contractor, announced in May it would work, with a team of other companies, on what may be the mother of all contracting opportunities offered by the Trump administration, the so-called “Golden Dome” anti-missile space-based interceptor effort. Estimates for the Golden Dome range between $185bn and $1.2tn...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/06/exclusive-palmer-luckey-political-fundraising
Hellbent on putting Fauci in jail, Rand Paul wants to skip a Senate vote - POLITICO
“This is just another example of boys gone wild, tearing loose from the mores of procedure, regular order, constitutional doctrine to vindicate some political vendetta,” Brand said. “And it’s going to fail like all the others have failed.”…
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/06/rand-paul-anthony-fauci-covid-contempt-01027906
Human-driven climate crisis fuels Canada’s deadly wildfires, study finds
Current blazes roaring across country more than twice as likely to occur because of fossil fuel-driven global heating…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/06/canada-wildfires-climate-crisis
Louisiana AG Liz Murrill Keeps Opposing Compensation for Wrongfully Convicted People — ProPublica
Hard Line on Payments: In her two years in the role, Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill has opposed almost all compensation claims by wrongfully convicted people.
Freed After Four Decades: Elvis Brooks’ murder conviction was thrown out after a prosecutor admitted he hid potentially exonerating evidence. Murrill maintains he’s guilty.
A Higher Bar: Twenty-three people have sought compensation after judges threw out their convictions. Murrill has asserted that 22 have failed to sufficiently prove their innocence…
The Fauci Witch Hunt: Accountability or Political Theater? (Dr. Zachary Rubin; From Bench to Bedside podcast and YouTube, episode #16)
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a contentious Senate hearing about the COVID-19 pandemic. Does that suggest wrongdoing—or has one scientist become a convenient scapegoat for an extraordinarily complex global crisis?
In this episode of From Bench to Bedside, Dr. Melanie Matheu and Dr. Zachary Rubin examine Fauci’s scientific legacy, the mistakes made during the pandemic, and the difference between legitimate criticism and political theater.
We discuss:
• Why no single person controlled America’s pandemic response
• What public-health officials got wrong about masks and messaging
• The vaccine reactions Zach actually encountered in clinical practice
• Fauci’s complicated but consequential role during the HIV/AIDS crisis
• The evidence surrounding a laboratory leak versus natural spillover
• What gain-of-function research actually means
• Why lockdowns were intended to prevent hospitals from collapsing
• How social-media misinformation overwhelmed public-health communication
• What we should be learning before the next pandemic arrives
The COVID-19 response deserves serious, evidence-based scrutiny. But meaningful accountability requires examining the entire system—not blaming every national, state, local, hospital, school, and law-enforcement decision on one person.
*CHAPTERS*
00:00 – We’re back—and there is a lot to discuss
02:24 – Fauci’s Senate testimony and the Fifth Amendment
04:05 – Fauci’s background in science and medicine
06:55 – Pandemic decisions were a team effort
11:18 – The personal and emotional toll of COVID-19
13:38 – COVID vaccine adverse events explained
17:15 – Fauci, HIV/AIDS, and changing scientific evidence
21:10 – Masks, shortages, and failed public messaging
25:55 – The lab-leak hypothesis versus natural spillover
29:08 – What gain-of-function research actually means
33:35 – Why pandemic preparedness still matters
35:18 – Why hospitals overflowed and lockdowns occurred
38:02 – Social-media misinformation and collapsing trust
40:34 – The pandemic’s lasting impact on patients and clinicians
42:25 – What history should remember about the response
43:28 – Cyclospora and upcoming episodes
In this episode of From Bench to Bedside, Dr. Melanie Matheu and Dr. Zachary Rubin examine Fauci’s scientific legacy, the mistakes made during the pandemic, and the difference between legitimate criticism and political theater.
We discuss:
• Why no single person controlled America’s pandemic response
• What public-health officials got wrong about masks and messaging
• The vaccine reactions Zach actually encountered in clinical practice
• Fauci’s complicated but consequential role during the HIV/AIDS crisis
• The evidence surrounding a laboratory leak versus natural spillover
• What gain-of-function research actually means
• Why lockdowns were intended to prevent hospitals from collapsing
• How social-media misinformation overwhelmed public-health communication
• What we should be learning before the next pandemic arrives
The COVID-19 response deserves serious, evidence-based scrutiny. But meaningful accountability requires examining the entire system—not blaming every national, state, local, hospital, school, and law-enforcement decision on one person.
*CHAPTERS*
00:00 – We’re back—and there is a lot to discuss
02:24 – Fauci’s Senate testimony and the Fifth Amendment
04:05 – Fauci’s background in science and medicine
06:55 – Pandemic decisions were a team effort
11:18 – The personal and emotional toll of COVID-19
13:38 – COVID vaccine adverse events explained
17:15 – Fauci, HIV/AIDS, and changing scientific evidence
21:10 – Masks, shortages, and failed public messaging
25:55 – The lab-leak hypothesis versus natural spillover
29:08 – What gain-of-function research actually means
33:35 – Why pandemic preparedness still matters
35:18 – Why hospitals overflowed and lockdowns occurred
38:02 – Social-media misinformation and collapsing trust
40:34 – The pandemic’s lasting impact on patients and clinicians
42:25 – What history should remember about the response
43:28 – Cyclospora and upcoming episodes
Interview:
Trump admin defunds abstinence-only programs in chaotic budget cuts - POLITICO
The Trump administration’s sweeping grant cuts are hitting sexual abstinence programs long favored by Republicans…
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/06/trump-admin-cuts-teen-pregnancy-prevention-funds-01027294
DOGE overstated savings, government watchdog says - POLITICO
A report from the Government Accountability Office found that the cost-cutting operation counted savings it didn’t secure and criticized its opaque methodology...
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/06/doge-savings-overstated-watchdog-report-01027797
Trump administration unveils major Head Start overhaul - POLITICO
“After trying and failing to defund it altogether, Trump is putting the program to the torch by rolling back federal standards that ensure Head Start be high quality,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor earlier this week.
And Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee who has long been supportive of Head Start, said removing regulations could increase class sizes and lead to fewer services.
"[I]f this administration later points to struggling students as proof Head Start does not work, we should all understand what this is – a self-inflicted wound used to justify another round of cuts,” DeLauro said in a statement Wednesday…
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