Archive for 2021
July 30, 2021
SPACE: Report Flags Space Rescue Concerns.
The United States government and commercial spaceflight providers have no plans in place to conduct a timely rescue of a crew from a distressed spacecraft in low Earth orbit, or anywhere else in space.
Without rescue plans in place, today’s space travelers will journey at their own risk.
The present posture, of not planning for in-space rescue and not having responsive in-space rescue capabilities, needs to be addressed before the need for a rescue materializes. The U. S. has the wherewithal to establish space rescue capabilities and to do so with a sense of urgency.
A new report — The In-space Rescue Capability Gap — seeks to raise awareness of the need to revisit space rescue policies and put in place measures to address this issue.
Author of the report, Grant Cates, is a senior project leader for The Aerospace Corporation’s Space Architecture Department.
The report is here.
HMM: Navy charges USS Bonhomme Richard sailor with setting blaze that destroyed ship. “The statement did not identify the sailor, and Robertson did not respond to a emailed query by Stars and Stripes.”
RIOTS FOR THEE, BUT NOT FOR ME: Democrats want police protection for themselves, not for the rest of us.
(Classical reference in headline.)
MAYBE IF DEMOCRATS HADN’T SPENT SO MUCH OF 2020 DENIGRATING THE “TRUMP VACCINE,” NONE OF THIS WOULD BE NECESSARY: Joe Biden Calls on States to Bribe Citizens to Get Vaccinated.
THEY’RE JUST THROWING THEIR OFFICIAL LAWLESSNESS IN OUR FACES: House Democrats Pass Measure to Allow Some Illegal Immigrants to Work in Congress.
DON’T GET COCKY: Is the Harris Brand Poison for Midterm Democrats?
ROGER SIMON ON THE CASE OF FAUCI: Why Bureaucrats Need Term Limits More Urgently than Politicians.
Just the other day, he was seeming to wobble under withering examination from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over the NIAID director’s relationship, including possible funding, with the Wuhan Institute of Virology from emails recently exposed via a Freedom of Information Act request.
This points to the extraordinary danger posed by Fauci and other unelected bureaucrats who, due to years of basically unsupervised activity, make decisions that affect foreign policy as greatly as presidents.
What could be more alarming than the funding or sponsoring of gain-of-function research in communist China by American taxpayers?
Was the doctor not aware of information that is publicly available, such as this report from Japan Forward: “Biological Weapons the Focus of China’s Military Research in the Last 20 Years.”
In a way, we can read Fauci’s strangely erratic behavior over the past couple of years, including disagreeing with Trump over the then-president’s decision to block travel from China at the beginning of the pandemic, as an attempt to evade scrutiny of his relationship with the communist Chinese.
To this day, he’s avoiding answering questions on this relationship that could end up linking him to some of the most heinous research ever conducted, both abroad and, alas, at home.
Fauci himself could have what the French call “mains sales” (dirty hands) in the horrifying global tragedy that has transpired and is continuing to plague us.
Or not.
But what is he hiding and why are we, the citizens of a supposedly free country, prey to his edicts?
Speaking personally, I took the Pfizer shots and now wonder if I should have, as it becomes more clear that the death rates for healthy people are exceptionally low, even for 70- and 80-year-olds, and that readily available drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine work just as well, most probably better, than the vaccinations, to keep us healthy.
But someday this will end, or more likely be abated, and something else will come up. For that reason, term limits for the bureaucracy should be at the top of the agenda when the Republicans next hold the presidency and the Congress.
No more Faucis, please.
Endorsed.
Related: No, Karen, we’re not masking again: A winning GOP message for 2022 & beyond.
NEW FRONTIERS IN “RACISM:” U. of Illinois-Chicago professor reported to school for urging student to turn assignment in on time.
These students sound like characters in a Kurt Schlichter novel.
GREAT QUESTION: Which NSA (or other high-ranking executive branch) official unmasked Tucker Carlson? Prediction: The identity of Ashli Babbitt’s killer will be known before Tucker’s nemesis.
ANOTHER LOOK AT THE RESURRECTION HOAX: J. Warner Wallace, the “Evidence Whisperer” of NBC’s Dateline, knows a bit about evidence and conspiracies. His three reasons why Jesus’ resurrection could not be the product of a conspiracy among the disciples should give critics something to think about, carefully.
GREAT. DOES THIS MEAN THEY’LL FINALLY ACTIVATE BY BETA SERVICE SOON? SpaceX Will Resume Starlink Satellite Launch in August After Two-Month Pause.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Yeah, Nobody Really Likes Kamala Harris. “Biden ended up picking Kamala Harris as a running mate because he’d been studying the Book of Things Democrats Say and barfed up a diversity promise during a debate. Apparently, his entire team hadn’t paid any attention to the primary season that their boss had just triumphed in and was unaware that even Democrats don’t like Kamala Harris.”
OOPS: Russia’s new space-station module has glitched, firing its thrusters and pushing the entire station out of position. “The long-awaited science module had already encountered several technical issues on its way to the ISS, but once it docked to the space station on Thursday morning, it seemed to be in the clear. Then about three hours after its arrival — at about 12:34 p.m. ET — Nauka suddenly began firing its thrusters.”
LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME REAL ‘DARK MONEY:’ Wes Walker at The Lid looks at a new analysis that found $1.8 billion in political spending by Big Labor unions, plus another $67 million that went to politically active left-wing outfits but which was classified as either “charitable” or “representational” spending. All of it paid for with compulsory union dues.
VIDS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN; Release the Videos Showing Capitol Rioters Calling the Crying Police Officer the ‘N Word.’
PLAINLY ILLEGAL RACE DISCRIMINATION: The City of Portland, Oregon plans to spend millions in federal funds on “struggling artists of color.” Note that Portland isn’t talking about giving money to just any struggling artist. Whites don’t count, no matter how much they are struggling and no matter how artistically gifted.
This kind of blatant race discrimination isn’t going to stop until lawsuits—lots of ‘em—are brought. To do that here, we need a struggling artist of pallor in Portland who might be willing to be the plaintiff.
Instapundit is not exactly the place I expect to find a lot of struggling non-POC artists living in Portland, so this is a long shot. But if you are such a person and might be willing to help us fight this, please contact me via email. I will pass your info on to the lawyers who are hoping to mount a lawsuit. Alternatively, if your best friend from high school or your daughter-in-law’s mom lives in or near Portland and might know a struggling artist or two, please find out if they can help.
A MIND (AND SOUL) ARE TERRIBLE THINGS TO WASTE ON CRT: Greg Smith, writing for The Dissenter, points to the doleful results of Christians going woke, as is becoming a significant problem in evangelical circles these days.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY CONSERVATIVES CAN’T CONTINUE TO REMOVE OURSELVES FROM THE CULTURE: How Final Fantasy VII radicalized a generation of climate warriors.