How it’s like national gun registration.
Category Archives: Media Criticism
Mexican Citizens Topple Drug Cartels
…and are rewarded with government retaliation:
If the liberty movement were not effective in its activism, if we did not present a legitimate threat to the criminal establishment, they would simply ignore us rather than seek to vilify us.
The militias of Michoacan have taken a stand. They have drawn their line in the sand, and I wish I could fight alongside them. Of course, we have our own fight and our own enemies to contend with here in the United States. As this fight develops, we have much to learn from the events in Western Mexico. Government retaliation has been met with widespread anger from coast to coast. And despite the general mainstream media mitigation of coverage, the American public is beginning to rally around the people of Michoacan as well. The non-participation principle prevails yet again.
The liberty movement in the U.S. must begin providing mutual aid and self-defense measures in a localized fashion if we have any hope of supplanting the effects of globalization and centralized Federal totalitarianism. We must begin constructing our own neighborhood watches, our own emergency response teams, our own food and medical supply stores, and our own alternative economies and trade markets that do not rely on controlled networks. We must break from the system and, in the process, break the system entirely.
It may be necessary if we continue to see illegal gangs allied with the legal ones. Let’s hope not. At least we’re seeing a new revolution against the corruption in Mexico.
ASAP And My Book
Over at Space Politics, Jeff Foust follows up on his book review from yesterday.
No, Vance Brand
Safety should not be NASA’s highest priority. That way lies stagnation.
[Update a few minutes later]
Hey, Vance, was safety “the highest priority” for Apollo 8?
Leadership
Green Energy In Germany
German businesses are considering jumping ship for cheaper energy prices in the developing world or (gasp!) the United States. For households, these subsidies have acted like a particularly regressive tax. The poor [more] feel the bite of higher electricity bills than do the rich. Germany’s new energy and economy minister Sigmar Gabriel is expected to announce a plan to cut renewable energy subsidies later this week in an effort to keep electricity prices down. That will be a step in the right direction, but significant damage has already been done.
And all in the name of junk science and pseudo-religion.
More on the EU’s turnaround at Der Spiegel.
Wendy Davis “Feminism”
…versus real feminism.
Also, fuzzy wording. As Glenn notes: “…she’s a Harvard-trained lawyer, but says she can’t express herself with precision. Is this what feminism looks like?”
Words mean whatever they say they mean.
Safe Is Not An Option
Jeff Foust has a review of the book (in the context of last week’s release of the 2013 ASAP report, which I’ve been meaning to comment on), over at The Space Review.
[Update a while later]
And of course the server at The Space Review would go down the day that he reviews my book. I must have crashed it with my link. 😉
Last Week’s Forgotten Anniversary
Jeff Foust has a round up of the scant commentary on the 10th anniversary of Bush’s VSE announcement, including a link to my USA Today piece.
And no, the problem with Constellation was not that it was underfunded. It simply cost more than the planned budgets. Mike hoped that once it was a fait accompli, he’d just get the extra money. It didn’t work out that well.
[Update in the afternoon]
I haven’t read it in detail, but Stephen C. Smith has a lengthy history.
SLS
NASA doesn’t plan to use it very much. This isn’t really news, but it’s nice to see them point out the implications:
Given the SLS Block 1 launch processing manifest (4-5 years with little to no activities), there is a potential of not having sufficiently trained personnel. Issue – Yellow (May require personnel with advanced skills not readily available).
As I write in the book, even ignoring the cost implications:
From a safety standpoint, it means that its operating tempo will be far too slow, and its flights too infrequent, to safely and reliably operate the system. The launch crews will be sitting around for months with little to do, and by the time the next launch occurs they’ll have forgotten how to do it, if they haven’t left from sheer boredom to seek another job.
What a mess.
