“Every paragraph is terrifying.”
One recent arrival says word has gotten out to new graduates that Washington is where the work is. “It’s a place where a liberal-arts major can still get a job,” she says, “because you don’t need a particular skill.”
Doesn’t that just say it all? Particularly when it comes to the president.
Over at Open Market, I respond to criticism from Eric Dawson.
My thoughts on the implications of Dragon’s successful flight, over at PJMedia.
Well, OK, not the cavalry, but the teddy bears (or dogs, or whatever the heck they are), have decided to forgive me and help out with fundraising for the Kickstarter project, which has raised only a third of the needed funds. Go to the link to click on the video (on the image of the ISS).
…isn’t the 2008 McCain campaign.
The 2012 Obama campaign seems to be run by Wile E. Axelrod, Sooper Genius. But wait! Wasn’t he involved in 2008, too?
I have never bought into the prevailing media myth, which is part of the media myth about Obama in general, that the 2008 campaign was brilliant, or even competent. Obama beat Hillary not because he had a great campaign, but because a lot of Dems were looking for an alternative to the “inevitable” Hillary, and they could avoid not being a sexist by not voting for her by being not a racist by voting for him (race trumps gender among Democrats). He won in the general, again not because there was anything good about his campaign, but because:
Few of those factors will apply this year. He’s no longer this inspirational charismatic cipher, but a failed president. They got voting for a black guy out of their system four years ago, and no longer feel a need to do it again to prove they’re not a racist (fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me). And in particular, the Romney campaign is going to take the gloves off (as they showed in the primaries). Not to mention that we’re heading into another downturn going into the election. I think that Obama’s toast.
This is just pathetic:
Now CNN is put in the unenviable position to be, at best, second on a story involving harassment of one of their own people. Cripes did they hire the same news director as that Newspaper in Norfolk that didn’t find the beating of their own reporters newsworthy?
None of this was necessary. In fact if CNN and the other media entities made the choice to report the news rather than serve as a filter for stories the left wanted killed, not only would it have ratings, but there would be no FOX or Drudge etc because there would have been no market for them.
Instead you have a network so pathetic that Donald Trump is making fun of CNN’s ratings on their own network. I don’t blame him, when a news organization becomes incapable of recognizing a story then that news organization will be a laughing-stock, and rightly so.
Apparently, as with the New York Times, their loyalty to their leftist ideology trumps staying in business. They really could compete with Fox by simply reporting all of the news (not just what they want us to hear), and doing it better, but as long as they insist on being filters in the service of the state, they’ll continue to leave the field to their competitor.
[Update mid morning]
Wouldn’t it be great if the Tides Foundation (among others) lost their tax-exempt status over this? Of course, it won’t happen with this administration’s IRS, but there could still be some interesting congressional hearings.
This is one my pedantic pet peeves. The vehicle is has never entered before, so it’s not true that this is a “re” entry. If SpaceX uses it for another mission (unlikely — I’ll bet it goes to the Smithsonian), then it would be a reentry.
Anyway, either way, it should be down within the hour, and if it is, that will be pretty much a perfect flight (with the exception of the LIDAR issue with Kibo during final approach).
[9:09 PDT update]
Dragon has landed, according to SpaceX. Well, splashed down, anyway. Not sure that “landed” is the right term here.
[Update after reading email]
I only glanced at the subject. In the body of the email, it says “Dragon has (splash) landed.”
OK, back in the office after over a week of travel to DC and the Bay area.
Over in this comment thread, the question arises of the disposition of the first-stage from last week’s launch. I was wondering too, so at the gala banquet at the Air and Space Museum on Friday night to honor John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, I asked Stephanie Badnarek, director of government relations for SpaceX. As I suspected, she told me that they’re not worrying about recovery of the first stage right now, and probably won’t until they start to attempt to fly it back, pending results of the Grasshopper flights. That wouldn’t surprise me — I don’t think they’ve come even close to an intact entry, and the recovery systems are just parasitic weight at this point.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Clark Lindsey has some notes from the SpaceX press conference on the mission so far, and plans for Dragon entry tomorrow.
SpaceX has signed on their first commercial customer for Falcon Heavy:
Washington, DC / Hawthorne, CA May 29, 2012 – Today, Intelsat, the world’s leading provider of satellite services, and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the world’s fastest growing space launch company, announced the first commercial contract for the Falcon Heavy rocket.
“SpaceX is very proud to have the confidence of Intelsat, a leader in the satellite communication services industry,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer. “The Falcon Heavy has more than twice the power of the next largest rocket in the world. With this new vehicle, SpaceX launch systems now cover the entire spectrum of the launch needs for commercial, civil and national security customers.”
“Timely access to space is an essential element of our commercial supply chain,” said Thierry Guillemin, Intelsat CTO. “As a global leader in the satellite sector, our support of successful new entrants to the commercial launch industry reduces risk in our business model. Intelsat has exacting technical standards and requirements for proven flight heritage for our satellite launches. We will work closely with SpaceX as the Falcon Heavy completes rigorous flight tests prior to our future launch requirements.”
This is the first commercial contract for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. Under the agreement, an Intelsat satellite will be launched into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).
I’m guessing that last week’s successful Falcon 9 flight sealed the deal.
Apparently, SpaceX got permission to approach, and are just outside the Keep-Out Zone, a few hundred feet away. The grab may occur within an hour or so.