I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE’D BE DOING DIFFERENTLY: Does Biden Want a ‘Forever War’ in Gaza?
Author Archive: Stephen Green
May 6, 2024
NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to watch NASA’s first Boeing Starliner crewed flight launch today “Watch along today as NASA’s Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test finally — most likely — blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA should start streaming its coverage at 6:30PM ET on its YouTube channel, with the official launch set for 10:34PM ET. The spacecraft will carry two astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.”
LIGHT RAIL IS USUALLY A VERY EXPENSIVE AND UNFUNNY JOKE: Is Austin’s Toy Train Finally Dead? “Austin’s liberal establishment has been trying to trick taxpayers into pouring billions into their light rail boondoggle for decades, finally winning an apparent victory when voters approved a scheme in 2020. But it turns out that the terms of the ballot language may have doomed the project.”
THE RATCHET EFFECT: Biden Races to Trump-Proof His Agenda. “The past few months have seen a frenzy of regulatory activity. In April, government agencies finalized nearly three dozen economically significant regulations, more than during any single month of Biden’s presidency, according to the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center. New policy announcements from the White House are being rolled out multiple times each week on issues ranging from tighter environmental rules to new restrictions on noncompete agreements.”
THEY’RE ALREADY HERE OR ON THE WAY: Warren Buffet Warns You’re Going to Get a Tax Hike.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX Gears Up for Starship Flight Test 4 with Unprecedented Upgrades and Preparations.
The technological advances and rigorous testing at Boca Chica are at the heart of SpaceX’s preparation for Starship Flight Test 4. This phase of development is not only about refining the spacecraft but also about validating a host of new technologies that will be crucial for the success of future missions. As Marcus House pointed out, “SpaceX is conducting the fastest tower arm tests ever seen, suggesting that the company is on the brink of mastering the booster catch mechanism, which could revolutionize rocket reusability.”
The tower arms, crucial for the innovative booster catch technique, are being tested under extreme conditions to ensure they can handle the dynamic stresses of catching a booster as it returns from space. If successful, this method will eliminate the need for traditional landing legs on the booster, reducing weight and complexity and potentially allowing for quicker turnaround times between launches. “These arms need to move with precision and speed, and the recent tests show that SpaceX is making significant strides towards achieving these goals,” House explained.
Would it be rude to ask, “Faster, please?”
HMM: Judge mulls sanctions over Google’s “shocking” destruction of internal chats. “According to the DOJ, Google destroyed potentially hundreds of thousands of chat sessions not just during their investigation but also during litigation. Google only stopped the practice after the DOJ discovered the policy. DOJ’s attorney Kenneth Dintzer told Mehta Friday that the DOJ believed the court should ‘conclude that communicating with history off shows anti-competitive intent to hide information because they knew they were violating antitrust law.'”
AMERICA’S RED GUARDS: George Washington Students Hold ‘People’s Tribunal,’ Call for Faculty’s Deaths.
ETHNIC CLEANSING: Egypt: Islamist Mobs Attack Christians, Set Fire to Homes.
Videos circulating on Twitter apparently show angry Egyptian rioters chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and burning homes with joyful Arabic music in the background.
“The attack occurred after word spread that residents of the village, which is home to 3,000 Christian families, had obtained a permit to construct a church building,” the watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC) reported. According to Islamic Sharia law, non-Muslims, or ‘dhimmis,’ living under the Muslim-rule are not allowed to repair their places of worship, let alone build new ones.
Muslim rioters reportedly had tacit backing from the Egyptian security services. “Despite promises of safety from security forces, the cries of help from the archbishop and the local Coptic community went unanswered as the attack unfolded. Security forces arrived only after the attack, leaving a yet unknown number of Christians to perish in their burning homes,” the ICC added.
Previously: Persecution of Christians ‘coming close to genocide’ in Middle East.
And right now in Great Britain:
Muslim men go wild as they celebrate another local election win in Bradford, UK.
“We did it.”
The English city of Bradford has a 30.5% Muslim population while Christian’s make up 33.4%.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 4, 2024
Holy shit. Meet the new City Councillor of Leeds, UK who just won their Election. pic.twitter.com/W5JaTMjcIg
— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) May 4, 2024
If you were looking for examples of genocide and settler-colonialism…
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Yeah, President Joe Is Getting Dumber. “The man’s cognitive decline is painful for anyone to watch. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have long-lived families are aware of how things change with older relatives even in the best of circumstances. We love our elders, and we do all we can to accommodate the aging process.”
ENGINEERED TO FAIL: ‘Equity’ Grading Is the Latest Educational Fad Destined To Fail.
Always eager to embrace easy-button solutions rather than, say, ideas that promote competitiveness and excellence, our school bureaucracies are on to some “innovative” ideas that have a ballpark-zero chance of improving educational outcomes. The new ones are based around the concept of equity. As with every education reform fad, they sound OK in the elevator pitch. Who doesn’t support equity? But they will create a mess that further impedes student progress.
For instance, some Bay Area schools have approved “equity grading.” It’s strange to focus on grading rather than teaching, but the details are even stranger. The Mercury News reports that one district removed “the practice of awarding zero points for assignments as long as they were ‘reasonably attempted.'” It also eliminated extra credit for class participation. EG offers students “multiple chances to make up missed or failed assignments and minimize homework’s impact on a student’s grade.” Now it will be almost impossible to get an A or an F.
It brings to mind Garrison Keilor’s Lake Wobegon, the fictional Minnesota town “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average.” Parents rightly worry that the new grading system will promote slacking. Why work extra hard when you won’t be able to get an A? Why try to improve when you won’t get worse than a C?
If you think of it as training for our glorious socialist future — “So long as they pretend to pay us, we’ll pretend to work” — it all makes sense.
WHERE’S THE SURPRISE? Pro-Palestinian protesters are backed by a surprising source: Biden’s biggest donors.
The donors include some of the biggest names in Democratic circles: Gates, Soros, Rockefeller and Pritzker, according to a POLITICO analysis.
Two of the organizers behind protests at Columbia University and on other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Both are supported by the Tides Foundation, which is seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it in turn supports numerous small nonprofits that work for social change. (Gates did not return a request for comment, and Soros declined to comment.)
Another notable Democratic donor whose philanthropy has helped fund the protest movement is David Rockefeller Jr., who sits on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In 2022, the fund gave $300,000 to the Tides Foundation; according to nonprofit tax forms, Tides has given nearly $500,000 over the past five years to Jewish Voice for Peace, which explicitly describes itself as anti-Zionist.
Several other groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests are backed by a foundation funded by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire — and supporters of Biden and numerous Democratic campaigns, including $6,600 to the Biden Victory Fund a few months ago and more than $300,000 during the 2020 campaign.
The trail of donations shows a series of blurred lines when it comes to liberal causes and Democratic politics.
They look perfectly clear to me.
VICTORIA TAFT: We’re Now in Full Goat Rodeo Mode in the NYC Trump Trial. “How do you go on offense against this ever-changing target? Get out the Gatling gun and pray and spray in hopes of hitting the moving target. This is what’s happening on cross-examination by the defense.”
May 4, 2024
SAD NEWS FROM BILL WHITTLE: Dick Rutan has died.
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Richard Glenn Rutan flew west on Friday, May 3, 2024 at 7:08 PM PDT
The last time Dick Rutan flew towards the western horizon was on December 14, 1986 when he and copilot Jeana Yeager set the last great aviation record by flying around the world, nonstop and unrefueled, in nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds in an aircraft called ‘Voyager,’ designed by his younger brother, legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan.
A highly decorated Vietnam veteran, Dick Rutan flew 325 combat missions and was awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, the Air Medal with three silver oak leaf clusters, the Collier Trophy and was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross – twice.
During his time in the skies over Vietnam, Dick was a member of an elite group of Fast Forward Air Controllers, often loitering over enemy anti-aircraft positions for six hours or more in a single sortie. These extremely hazardous missions had the call sign ‘Misty’; Dick Rutan was, and will forever be, Misty Four-Zero.
He spent his last day in the company of friends and family, including his brother, Burt, and passed away peacefully at Kootenai Health Hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the company of his loving wife of 25 years, Kris Rutan. He is survived by daughters Holly Hogan and Jill Hoffman, and his four grandchildren, Jack, Sean, Noelle, and Haley.
Rest in peace.
May 3, 2024
#RESIST: Texas Sues Biden Over New ATF Rule.
FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: He Identifies As a Woman AND As a Thief.
YES, BUT CALIFORNIA AND NEW YORK MIGHT NOT BE TOO FAR BEHIND: The most dysfunctional state in America? Soaring unemployment, sky-rocketing debt and punishing taxes send residents fleeing.
MY DAYS OF NOT TAKING HIM SERIOUSLY ARE CERTAINLY COMING TO A MIDDLE: Mark Hamill’s Political Opinions Belong in a Galaxy Far, Far Away.
10 PRINT “The BASIC programming language turns 60.“
I DON’T KNOW, I CAN IMAGINE QUITE A BIT: It’s Hard to Imagine a Worse Day for Stormy and the NYC Prosecutors in the Hush Trump Case.