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As far as Yankees prospects go, George Lombard Jr. was about as untouchable as they come as the trade deadline passed Monday.

The league played a game of musical catchers chairs Monday, and when it stopped, the Yankees got left out.

Israeli Finance Minister Requests Netanyahu Approve Three Jewish Settlements In Gaza 

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday repeated his call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to approve the establishment of three Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, as senior Israeli ministers continue to speak openly about their plans for permanent Israeli control of the Palestinian territory.

Smotrich made the call in a post on X, in which he referenced the withdrawal of settlements from Gaza and from an area of the northern West Bank, which he calls "northern Samaria," a policy known as the "disengagement." Israel is re-establishing the settlements in the northern West Bank, and he is calling for the same in Gaza.

via Reuters

In the post, Smotrich referenced the upcoming Israeli elections, warning that a "left-wing" government won't expand settlements as aggressively.

"Before us stands the choice, between a right-wing government that will continue the momentum of construction and expand it, and a dangerous left-wing government that openly declares its intention to evacuate settlements and outposts and to promote a 'political agreement,'"7 Smotrich said.

"And from northern Samaria – to Gaza! The Settlement Administration under my leadership is prepared to establish 3 settlements in the northern sector of the Gaza Strip, and I call on the Prime Minister to give the green light to the move. Together we correct the sin of the disengagement," he added.

Smotrich also holds a ministerial position in the Israeli Defense Ministry, where he oversees the Settlement Administration. He first announced in June that the body had drawn up plans for three settlements in Gaza and was just waiting for the green light from Netanyahu.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, has also said that Israel will establish three "Nachala outposts" - a type of settlement that starts as a community for IDF soldiers with the goal of establishing a permanent civilian presence.

Katz recently boasted of the destruction of Gaza cities during a visit to the northern part of the Strip. When asked how the view of the destruction made him feel, the Israeli minister said, "I feel good. Thank God. This is all the result of a deliberate policy aimed at removing threats. Instead of the raid method—going in and out—the IDF is inside, the terrorists are outside, and the houses are destroyed."

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/03/2026 - 21:45

You can add Armand Membou to the expanding David Bailey fan club. 

The Mets may have saved their best two additions at this trade deadline for last.

The Islanders added to their front office Monday while also completing their AHL overhaul.

Their three superstars (Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones) took control early.

There were already groans about the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sustained greatness and penchant for picking up available star players, both in free agency and via trade. Then the Dodgers traded for two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, before this season’s trade deadline. As a result, groans have turned to full-blown gripes about the...

Observations from Jets training camp on Monday.

Ashley Ruhland, 35, allegedly told cops it was "either him or me" after gunning down Justin Emmick.

SpaceX In "Final Stages" Of Securing New Massive Rocket Launch Site In Louisiana

Several Louisiana media outlets report that Elon Musk's SpaceX is in the "final stages" of securing approximately 130,000 acres on Pecan Island for a massive new spaceport to launch rockets into orbit.

The Times-Picayune reports a source with knowledge about the deal said SpaceX is poised to take control of roughly 130,000 acres at Pecan Island - more specifically, the coastal Vermilion Parish - as part of a settlement resolving long-running coastal lawsuits against ExxonMobil. Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to announce the agreement this month.

The outlet KPEL provided additional details:

Gov. Landry announced a settlement of the coastal lawsuits in June. Under that agreement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, ExxonMobil is expected to turn over land it has owned in Vermilion Parish since the 1950s, property long leased out for hunting and fishing. The terms have not been made public.

SpaceX would then take control of the site, with provisions built in for coastal restoration and protection, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.

Landry has confirmed the coastal settlement but declined to discuss the SpaceX deal specifically, and Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois has offered no comment either. SpaceX hasn't named Louisiana directly, though the company acknowledged in a social media post that it's scouting new sites to expand Starship launch operations.

KPEL explained why Pecan Island best fits SpaceX's launch requirements:

Pecan Island has a permanent population of about 100 people along Louisiana Highway 82. Aerospace experts point to a handful of reasons that sparse setting appeals to SpaceX: deep-water access along the Intracoastal Waterway for barging in rocket hardware, a location roughly midway between the company's Texas and Florida facilities, and a local supply of natural gas. SpaceX has also told regulators it wants to launch up to a million low-Earth-orbit satellites in the coming years, a plan that will require more launch pads.

Everything Elon Musk blog Elon Chron's S.E. Robinson, Jr. wrote on X:

SPACEX: Louisiana State Senator Bob Hensgens, who represents Vermilion Parish, confirmed yesterday, ongoing talks between "a space exploration company" and Exxon-Mobil for the potential purchase of 136,000 acres south of Hwy La. 14, west of Intracoastal City, north/south of Pecan Island, extending to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Cameron Parish.

The land is owned by Exxon-Mobil with surface rights managed by Vermilion Corporation. Hensgens could not name the space company, but stated he declined to sign a non-disclosure agreement for transparency purposes.

There is also talk about the possible construction of a coastal levee. The area is prone to hurricanes, so this would be a necessity.

More SpaceX news in today's ELON CHRON below!

SPACEX: Louisiana State Senator Bob Hensgens, who represents Vermilion Parish, confirmed yesterday, ongoing talks between "a space exploration company" and Exxon-Mobil for the potential purchase of 136,000 acres south of Hwy La. 14, west of Intracoastal City, north/south of Pecan… https://t.co/nSHbWqikKZ pic.twitter.com/HCwKGbco4G

— S.E. Robinson, Jr. (@SERobinsonJr) May 8, 2026

If SpaceX secures the Pecan Island site, it would establish the company's second major Starship launch complex, alongside Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, where it already employs 3,400 people. SpaceX is the world's leading launch provider, beating out entire nation states, and continues to rapidly expand its rocket and AI-driven manufacturing capabilities.

A second SpaceX launch site in Louisiana would be transformative for the state. The project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs during the build-out; although only a fraction of the 130,000-acre site would be developed, the remainder would serve as a safety and environmental buffer. Once operational, the launch, manufacturing, engineering, and support workforce could number in the thousands, establishing a major new aerospace hub along the Gulf Coast.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/03/2026 - 21:20

Ashley Garibay, one of three victims in the mass shooting at an Idaho In-N-Out, loved working at the restaurant, her first job, according to a heartbreaking statement from her family. “In-N-Out Burger was Ashley’s first job, and she fell in love with it. She proudly traveled to open new stores, and her dream was to...

The Detroit Tigers lost their two best starting pitchers at this year’s trade deadline—and another one of their starters is in his feelings about their absence. Two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend, in what was the biggest trade of the deadline by...

ARLINGTON, Texas — The roster assembled by Buster Posey was so disappointing, so underwhelming that the only question for weeks leading up to Monday’s trade deadline was just how much it would be dismantled and what could be fetched in return. The answer, on both fronts: Quite a bit. In his second trade deadline leading...

Kennedy High School's shutdown came after vapor test results showed levels of a dangerous toxin at the site.

Until Judge progresses to more baseball activities and gets the green light to do more on the field, there will continue to be a scary unknown in The Bronx.

Capital One Cites Anti-Money Laundering Review Over Trump Organization Debanking Claims

Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,

Capital One asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, part of the Trump Organization, claiming that the bank's 2021 debanking of hundreds of Trump-linked accounts followed an internal anti-money laundering review and not the political discrimination the plaintiffs allege.

President Donald Trump prepares to board Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., on Aug. 2, 2026. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

In a motion to dismiss filed on July 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida before Judge Roy Altman, Capital One said the accounts were terminated after a review by anti-money-laundering experts.

The filing said that "documents and Plaintiffs' own allegations make clear that Capital One closed Plaintiffs' accounts for anti-money laundering (AML) reasons."

"The closures were the result of months of analysis and a careful review by Capital One's AML team in accordance with bank policies and regulatory guidance," it added.

Capital One said in the filing that the Trump Organization's allegations of political pretext were "misguided" and "based on cherry-picked quotations unsupported by the full context" of documents submitted to the court.

It did not accuse the Trump Organization of money laundering.

The case, filed in 2025, focuses on Capital One's March 2021 decision to close deposit accounts held by the Trump Organization and related entities.

Capital One informed the Trump Organization in March 2021 that "hundreds" of its bank accounts would be closed by June 7, 2021, according to an original lawsuit filed by The Trump Organization and Eric Trump, the president's son, in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in March 2025.

The plaintiffs said they believed Capital One was harboring "unsubstantiated, woke" beliefs that "it needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views," which they alleged motivated the bank to abruptly close the organizations' accounts.

At the time, Capital One told The Epoch Times that it "has not and does not close customer accounts for political reasons."

Capital One's recent filing said the rules governing the accounts allow it to "close any account in our sole discretion at any time for any or no reason."

Capital One's first attempt to dismiss the case, filed in May 2025, was withdrawn after the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint the following month.

Its second attempt succeeded in March this year, when a judge dismissed the case but gave the plaintiffs another chance to refile.

Capital One is now asking the court to dismiss the current complaint and said that the latest version "suffers from the same fundamental flaws as their prior two pleadings."

President Donald Trump also filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase in January over alleged debanking.

Alejandro Brito, the president's personal attorney, filed a $5 billion lawsuit on Jan. 22 in Miami's Florida state court on behalf of the president and his hospitality companies.

Following the January 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol, the largest bank in the United States shuttered the accounts of Trump and his related entities.

JPMorgan told The Epoch Times that the case "has no merit."

Trump signed an executive order in August 2025 to stop banks from denying people financial services because of their political or religious beliefs, a practice known as debanking.

According to a White House fact sheet, the executive order requires federal banking regulators to investigate whether banks have engaged in "politicized or unlawful debanking" and to issue penalties such as "fines or consent decrees."

The order also directs regulators to remove terms such as "reputational risk" from their guidance - language that has allegedly been used to justify debanking.

The Trump Organization and Capital One did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times' requests for comment.

Troy Myers, Andrew Moran, and Emel Akan contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/03/2026 - 20:55

The magic trick by Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees was never making a righty-hitting catcher or late-game reliever appear.

The run game was a focus Monday for the Giants as players donned pads for the first time on a rain-soaked field.

Who knew the 3 R’s might include “relocation”? Enrollment is tumbling in many large California school districts — a trend on pace to accelerate. The California Post reported this week that Fresno Unified School District — the state’s third-largest — continues to lose students at a rapid clip. The California Post reported this week that...