Part 1:
Category Archives: Political Commentary
Islam
…and the future of the west.
We’re not too far gone yet, but Britain may be.
The Onslaught By The Media
Jeffrey Carter describes it. We’re in a fight to save the Republic.
[Update a few minutes later]
Question everything. They are not deserving of our trust.
[Update a while later]
The establishment are fighting like the cornered rats they are.
Boeing And SLS
The fiasco continues.
But hey, let’s keep giving them billions of taxpayer dollars for a launch system that is behind schedule and that no one needs except Boeing and its pet Congresspeople.
[Update a few minutes later]
More from Eric Berger.
[Update a while later]
This seems relevant: Our crisis of institutional incompetence. Fortunately, SpaceX doesn’t suffer from this. Yet.
[Update mid morning]
Thoughts on Boeing and the defense implications from Jared Isaacman.
Some additional context: the headlines of stranded astronauts are unfair and misleading, but not necessarily clickbait, as I think the public has a genuine interest in the situation. My comments on Starliner are based entirely on what is in the public domain and has been… https://t.co/KDPd7yjMJS
— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) August 10, 2024
And yes, it is probably the most consequential safety decision NASA has made since Columbia.
[Late-morning update]
Has NASA’s safety culture changed since Columbia?
[Afternoon update]
The fall of Boeing is complete.
Oh, I don’t know. I think that they still have some room below.
The Second Space Race
A review of Greg Autry’s and Peter Navarro’s new book on China. Greg gave me a copy last Saturday at an event in downtown LA, but I haven’t read it yet.
[Update a while later]
“The book serves as both a wake-up call and a reminder of the importance of space exploration.”
I hate that phrase. It’s the importance of space development. Exploration is just a means to that end.
Justice
A federal appeals court has ruled that a takings lawsuit against the CDC on the eviction moratorium during covid can move forward.
Unfortunately, if the landlords win, it will be the taxpayers on the hook for this, not the bureaucrats responsible, so it’s not clear how this will create the proper disincentives.
An Environmental Success Story
Grizzlies have become so common in the lower 48 that they’ve become a problem.
I think it’s been well over a century since the last one died in California, but in a sense it was the state animal of the Bear Flag Republic. Though possibly it referred to black bears, which remain plentiful there.
Then And Now
In this 3 min video, I break down the real reasons why America divorced Britain, and it wasn’t over taxes. I recommend American citizens and British subjects alike listen, because history often rhymes. pic.twitter.com/2T2i119EYR
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) August 11, 2024
The Latest On The USSS
Rowe personally crippled Trump’s Secret Service team.
I ask again: If they didn’t want to get him killed, what would they have done differently?
[Tuesday-morning update]
Thoughts on the Secret Service.
[Bumped]
Safe Is Not An Option
Thoughts on flight rationale from Wayne Hale.
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, now I see why Wayne wrote that:
As NASA is working to balance all of these risks—the risk to crew on board Starliner, the risk of an uncrewed departure to the ISS, the risk to astronauts on board the space station, and more — Boeing has been lobbying to bring Starliner home with crew. Although NASA and Boeing engineers have yet to identify a root cause for the failure of the thrusters, Boeing has been urging NASA to accept “flight rationale” as a substitute. That is, Boeing believes it has provided enough data to NASA to be confident the thrusters will not fail in a catastrophic manner.
Boeing seems willing to risk the lives of the astronauts to save the vehicle. I don’t personally think it’s worth saving. I wonder what Boeing’s new CEO thinks?