THE NEW SPACE RACE: Space Force weighing new approach for selecting national security launch providers.. “An option under consideration for NSSL Phase 3 is to create ‘on ramps’ to allow emerging launch providers to compete.”
Archive for 2023
January 14, 2023
HOLLYWOOD IN TOTO: Why North Dallas Forty Is the Best Sports Film Ever.
The book “North Dallas Forty” is, of course, better than the movie, but for all Gent’s wit it might have been “Dandy” Don himself who got the best laugh.
Several former Dallas Cowboys attended the film’s premiere, and when asked about the movie Meredith quipped, “Heck if I knew that [Gent] was that good of a receiver I’d have thrown to him more.”
The ’70s Dallas Cowboys are legends, but Gent’s insight and willingness to speak the truth about the NFL has stood the test of time for its insight, humor and courage. There hasn’t been anything like it before or after.
I use this quote from the movie often:
“Every time I call it a game, you call it a business. And every time I call it a business, you call it a game!” – O.W. Shaddock (John Matuszak)
If that isn’t America’s Team well, it certainly is America’s psyche.
Other than the head coach (played by veteran Oklahoma-born character actor G.D. Spradlin) having hair, the film absolutely nails the atmosphere, egos, and paranoia of the Tom Landry-era Cowboys of the ’60s and ’70s. If only the budget had afforded an audience in the stands for the big game, instead of going the “we’ll shoot at night, add the crowd via sound effects, and hopefully nobody will notice” route.
MANY OTHERS ARE SEEING SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT: ‘I see love and strength:’ King family delivers powerful speeches as Embrace memorial honoring MLK is unveiled.
“I love this monument,” she said. “I see the love and strength and unity in these hands and how they symbolize a beautiful marriage and partnership. It was one that changed the world.”
At long last, the 20-foot tall, 40-foot wide monument — five years in the making — was officially unveiled Friday during a two-hour ceremony near the common’s 1965 Freedom Rally Plaza, the site of the memorial.
More than 1,000 people — many local and state officials, representatives and community activists and leaders — attended the celebration that featured songs and speeches, including powerful remarks from the King family.
The $10 million bronze sculpture, designed by Mass Design Group and American conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, depicts a photo of the couple hugging after MLK won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Guys, if you say so: Boston unveils its bronze sculpture honoring MLK and people have questions.
What is this?The EMBRACE? Why not a statue of MLK Jr. and Coretta standing? Does this look pornographic to anyone else? #Boston Did you approve this? #statues #art https://t.co/VZIF1LO8Gl
— TheXFactor (@DeborahTaylor01) January 14, 2023
I SAY, WHY TAKE CHANCES? Skipping Meals Could Be Much Worse For You Than We Realized.
I’d guess that meal-skipping is a marker for other traits. Before I started working out heavily, I could skip lunch without incident. Now if I do that, I feel starved and kinda weak.
WHAT WERE THEY COVERING UP, EXACTLY?
Related: Former FBI exec: Bureau has become completely political. “Ex-FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker on Tuesday became the latest law enforcement or political figure to support creating an independent commission modeled after the U.S. Senate’s 1970s Church Committee to investigate the FBI’s practices and impose reforms on the storied law enforcement agency.”
And expand this to the whole DOJ, Attorney General Merrick Garland very much included: Majority see FBI as Biden’s ‘personal Gestapo’ after Trump raid.
Flashback: Iran Threatened To Name Politicians Who Took Bribes To Pass Nuclear Deal.
IT’S OKAY TO TRAFFIC IN MISINFORMATION WHEN IT’S NARRATIVE-SUPPORTING LEFTY MISINFORMATION: “Climate Fraud”: Fusion GPS fingerprints surface yet again.
WHY IS PUBLIC ART IN AMERICA ALWAYS SO AWFUL? Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. with a hilariously/tragically bad monumental sculpture.
THE COMING GAS-STOVE CULTURE WAR: Don’t believe this week’s denials. Progressive Democrats really are coming for your kitchen appliances.
A sign of the media times is how quickly our leading progressive organs rally to deny that Democrats are doing what Democrats really are doing. A classic example was this week’s flare up in the coming climate war over banning gas stoves.
A Biden appointee on the Consumer Product Safety Commission explicitly threatened to ban gas stoves based on dubious evidence of public-health harm. “This is a hidden hazard,” said commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
We and others criticized the idea, and the media response was to rush to blame conservatives for starting it all. “Right’s new fight: Gas stoves,” said Axios, which pushes hard for the climate alarmist agenda. The Washington Post assured its readers that “regulators have no plans to ban gas stoves, but Republicans are slamming the Consumer Product Safety Commission for announcing it will examine the health impacts of the appliances.”
But we didn’t make up Mr. Trumka’s quote. We and others responded to it. After withering public criticism, including by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, the CPSC Chairman denied any plan to ban, and the White House said President Biden also doesn’t want to ban gas stoves. But that’s cold comfort given that the climate left does want to ban them, and progressive cities and states are doing it.
Progressive cities such as Berkeley, San Francisco and New York City have already banned gas stoves and other appliances in new buildings. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this week proposed a ban on gas equipment including stoves in new small buildings in 2025 and larger ones in 2028.
Come 2030, New Yorkers won’t be allowed to replace their gas stoves with new ones if they break down. “As you begin making a transition, everyone will have to switch out appliances,” a state official explained. This is how the left’s green-energy “transition” will work for all things. Come 2035, New Yorkers and Californians won’t be able to buy new gasoline-powered cars either.
The Biden Administration is also aiding and abetting the anti-gas stove cause. . . . There really is a culture war coming over gas stoves, and everything else involving fossil fuels, because climate has become for the left a matter of core cultural identity. Progressives want to impose their values on the lifestyle of everyone else, including in the kitchen. If subsidies don’t work, coercion follows. When they can’t win the political debate, they resort to brute government force. They really are coming for your stove.
I can’t help but feel that the oppression of the masses wasn’t so much a bug as a feature to them.
Making the common people’s lives worse seems to be a steady theme in elite proposals for social change: Less policing making crime worse, less energy consumption for the hoi polloi – but never the jet-setting elites – demands to eat less meat, travel less, live in smaller homes, swap cars for public transit, submit to social media censorship, etc., etc. If it will worsen ordinary folks’ lot, it’s probably on the agenda.
Why the political class feels this way is a question for another column, but look at what they’ve done over the past few years and ask yourself: If they hated us, what would they do differently?
Well?
CHECK IN THE CLOSET WHERE HE KEEPS HIS PLAYBOYS: Still More Classified Documents Found In Biden Home.
READER FAVORITE: Bowflex SelectTech 552 Adjustable Dumbbells. #CommissionEarned
FAAFO, ALBUQUERQUE GUITAR CENTER DIVISION:
Albuquerque guitar center doesnt mess around. pic.twitter.com/hsx01RboQU
— 🥀_ Imposter_🥀 (@Imposter_Edits) January 13, 2023
DISAPPOINTMENTS ABOUND: Self-driving EVs use way more energy than you’d think.
I’VE COINED A WORD: “FOOLSPLAINING.” That’s when a moron ties to convince you of something that no rational person could believe, but it takes root with other like-minded fools.
The apologists trying to minimize Biden’s irresponsible handling of classified documents by comparing it to Trump’s is one such example of fools “explaining” things to us hoi polloi.
Their excuses are so sad, even the WHCA lapdogs aren’t buying it as eagerly as they would in the past. “Oh, Biden is cooperating, that’s a big difference.” Nope. It’s like saying, “I shot up the schoolyard, but surrendered when the cops encircled me. Please reward me for my restraint.”
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Why Biden’s backdoor student-debt bailout is a hot mess. “Of course, Biden’s move makes more sense when you consider it as a political maneuver. It will effectively accomplish his goal of funneling tax dollars to a constituency — young, highly educated people — that overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic Party (and possibly saved Dems in the midterms). But shrewd politics don’t change the fact it’s a foolish policy with awful implications — and a raw deal for taxpayers.”
BEATING COVID, DISCOVERING RARE EARTHS, AND NOW THIS: Sweden opens Mainland Europe’s first satellite launch spaceport.
SLOWER, PLEASE: Toyota President: Not So Fast with the EVs. “President Akio Toyoda said he is among the auto industry’s silent majority in questioning whether electric vehicles should be pursued exclusively, comments that reflect a growing uneasiness about how quickly car companies can transition…. [Said Toyoda,] ‘That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly.’”
WHEN DOES BIDEN ORDER AN FBI RAID ON HIMSELF? Five More Pages of Classified Documents Discovered at President Biden’s Home.
MICROBIOME NEWS: Antibiotic use may increase risk of bowel disease. “Among folks who were 40 or older, a new study found that antibiotics may increase the risk for bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, for one to two years after use. And the greatest risk was posed by two classes of antibiotics – nitroimidazoles and fluoroquinolones – often used to treat gut infections.”