The New Commercial Space Bill

Brian Weedon analyzes it, on Twitter.

It looks like a significant improvement over the current situation. It’s worth noting that in moving regulation to the Commerce Department, it could set the groundwork for a U.S. Space Guard. There have been times in history in which the Coast Guard was under Commerce.

[Late-morning update]

The Bridenstine era at NASA (finally) begins.

I think he’ll be one of the best administrators in recent history. I should add that Rubio’s (and others’, like Bill Nelson’s) statement that NASA should be run by a “space professional” are historically ignorant. Jim Webb was not a “space professional.”

Candace Owens

Now I understand why Obama thought that Kanye West was “a jackass.” It’s because he doesn’t march in lockstep with the Left and the grievance industry.

[Monday-morning update]

On the other hand, Cathy Young isn’t impressed with Candace (to say the least).

The DNC’s Lawsuit

The legal term for it “is bats**t crazy.”

Either the Dems really are nuts (not beyond the realm of possibility; Trump has driven many so far around the bend they need a JWST to see the bend from there), or this is a desperate fundraising ploy. Or (of course) both.

[Update a few minutes later]

The DNC is “on the verge” of a nervous breakdown? I think that ship sailed months ago:

Democratic strategist (apologize for that rancid term) Julius Epstein, looking justifiably anxious on Shannon Bream’s show Friday night, tried to argue this was a great opportunity for the Democrats to expose folks like Manafort and Kushner through discovery.

Good luck with that. Discovery in this matter would be disastrous for the Democratic Party. Wait until their leaders have to go on the stand to explain why the FBI wasn’t allowed to scrutinize the DNC servers that were supposedly invaded by the Russians. A raft of Democrat political factotums (Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, etc.) who made sweetheart deals and escaped true investigation by the FBI, perhaps even Hillary herself, will find themselves facing serious cross-examination for the first time. This civil trial would be curiously reminiscent of the OJ civil trial when the real truth came out. Wouldn’t you love to hear Strzok and Page deposed? How about Susan Rice?

Expect this to be dropped long before discovery.

The Latest Space-Industry Disruption

Speaking of Russia, they appear to have thrown in the towel in their competition with SpaceX. As I told some people in the UK this week, people who think that they need to be in the launch business to be serious players in space are thinking in 20th-century terms. The future lies in figuring out what to do on orbit with cheap launch, orbital assembly, and affordable satellite technology.

NASA Administrator

This is good news. We finally have one, and he’s the first in a long time to have his head screwed on straight with respect to private and commercial spaceflight. And (despite the fact that was a stupid criticism of Obama space policy, which had nothing to do with it, despite Charlie Bolden’s idiocy) he will never say anything about “Muslim outreach,” regardless of what news outlets he gives interviews to.

The House Freedom Caucus

They’re the only ones with any guts in Congress, unafraid to point out the obvious:

In addition to the potential crimes connected to the Steele dossier and FISA abuse, the lawmakers believe that the leaking of classified information, Clinton’s concealment of campaign payments to an opposition research firm, and Lynch’s threats to an FBI informant mentioning “reprisal” if he came forward with anti-Clinton information in 2016 also warrant investigation. The informant had provided the Bureau with information on the Uranium One scandal involving the approval in 2010 to sell roughly 20 percent of American uranium mining assets to Russia.

“We write to refer the following individuals for investigation of potential violation(s) of federal statutes,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter released by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). “In doing so, we are especially mindful of the dissimilar degrees of zealousness that has marked the investigations into Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, respectively. Because we believe that those in positions of high authority should be treated the same as every other American, we want to be sure that the potential violations of law outlined below are vetted appropriately.”

Having real consequences for Democrats’ abuse of power would be quite the novel approach.

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