vxbush 10/21/2024 5:37:37 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in yesterday's #3:

I saw that graphic this weekend and knew the guys here would like it!

vxbush 10/21/2024 5:45:13 AM

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So Trump will either be praised to the moon for this or he will be denigrated as pandering. I know who I expect to take each view: Trump's McDonald's Visit Was One of the Greatest Political Stunts of All Time, Thanks to Kamala’s Blunder

I've never heard of any politician running for president taking time to work at a McDonalds. Naturally this is freaking some democrats out. 

I need to go pop some popcorn.....

vxbush 10/21/2024 5:46:19 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 2:

I'm having a hard time seeing a downside on this, given that he's demonstrated with crystal clarity that he's just like anyone else and doesn't think he's too good to work at McDonalds. It's great.

vxbush 10/21/2024 5:58:03 AM

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Claim: Death of Sinwar Opens the Door to Possible Cease Fire and Hostage Return

Analysis: Somehow, I doubt it. I have no doubt there is someone else just ready to take on the mantle of Hamas and try to kill as many Jewish citizens as possible. The question is, how strong is the self preservation instinct? 

vxbush 10/21/2024 5:58:49 AM

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vxbush 10/21/2024 6:08:17 AM

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Quoting from ArsTechnica: 

Bloomberg calls for cancellation of the SLS rocket. In an op-ed that is critical of NASA's Artemis Program, billionaire Michael Bloomberg—the founder of Bloomberg News and a former US Presidential candidate—called for cancellation of the Space Launch System rocket. "Each launch will likely cost at least $4 billion, quadruple initial estimates," Bloomberg wrote. "This exceeds private-sector costs many times over, yet it can launch only about once every two years and—unlike SpaceX’s rockets—can’t be reused."

Considering that SpaceX has had 100 launches this year and NASA has had.....wait, let me count that out.....let me get my hands out of my gloves......

vxbush 10/21/2024 6:08:58 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 6:

Bother. That last paragraph is me writing; only the middle paragraph is from ArsTechnica. 

vxbush 10/21/2024 6:10:20 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 6:

From that same link: 

Artemis II likely to be delayed. A new report from the US Government Accountability Office found that NASA's Exploration Ground Systems program—this is, essentially, the office at Kennedy Space Center in Florida responsible for building ground infrastructure to support the Space Launch System rocket and Orion—is in danger of missing its schedule for Artemis II, according to Ars Technica. The new report, published Thursday, finds that the Exploration Ground Systems program had several months of schedule margin in its work toward a September 2025 launch date at the beginning of the year. But now, the program has allocated all of that margin to technical issues experienced during work on the rocket's mobile launcher and pad testing.

Not covering themselves in glory.....

vxbush 10/21/2024 6:20:56 AM

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Oh, this is interesting: 

In bombshell letters to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines obtained by Just the News, House Administration Committee (HCA) Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., revealed that Congress is probing whether four specific foreign adversaries have routed money to Democratic Party campaigns during the 2024 election.

“We write to you to raise an urgent concern regarding potential illicit election funding by foreign actors,” the lawmakers wrote Yellen in a letter dated Thursday. “CHA has been investigating claims that foreign actors, primarily from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China, may be using ActBlue to launder illicit money into U.S. political campaigns.

The money that ActBlue is crediting as coming from people all over the US who say they haven't sent in a dime of that money has to come from somewhere (see the work that James O'Keefe did on this earlier this year). I'm not saying that this assumption is correct, but not enough is being done to control the flow of any money that is being routed to ActBlue. I'm sure this is intentional on the part of the federal government, but I would like to know where that money is coming from. Note: 

Two months ago, Steil’s committee completed a computer analysis of hundreds of thousands of small donations passing through ActBlue to Democrat candidates, and the finings triggered concerns that donors living in low income areas were being credited with making hundreds of donations through ActBlue far beyond their financial means. 

Those findings led Steil to refer evidence to attorneys general in five states for possible criminal or civil investigation under consumer fraud statutes. In a few short weeks, those investigations expanded to 19 states.

The article recounts Chinagate money that went to support Bill Clinton, but the money going through now has to be significantly more than what happened in the 1990's.

vxbush 10/21/2024 6:24:50 AM

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The Cato Institute released a report that graded states by spending, revenue, and taxes. Iowa came in first, and Minnesota came in last. I don't expect this news to show up in the MSM anywhere, of course. 

(Hat tip: JustTheNews.com)

JCM 10/21/2024 6:57:59 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 6:

SLS is a white elephant. It has no new technology, it's all reused repurposed components from the shuttle. The only reason Artemis exists is after the shuttle the Orion program got cut and the congress critters with aerospace companies created Artemis / SLS as a make work program.

We should keep our aerospace industries with real projects not make work. Currently space is shifting from only something government can do to commercialized.

NASA still has a place for space science missions.

vxbush 10/21/2024 7:33:38 AM

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In #11 JCM said: SLS is a white elephant. It has no new technology, it's all reused repurposed components from the shuttle.

And that tells me right there the bureaucrats are the ones running NASA, not engineers and not scientists. Compare and contrast with Musk, an actual engineer, looking at the problem and hiring people to solve the big problems. 

buzzsawmonkey 10/21/2024 9:14:27 AM

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In #6 vxbush said: Considering that SpaceX has had 100 launches this year and NASA has had.....wait, let me count that out.....let me get my hands out of my gloves......

Is whatever passes for the US government space program still centered at Cape Kennedy (nee "Canaveral")?  If so, maybe they should change the name again---to "Incapable Kennedy."

vxbush 10/21/2024 9:23:25 AM

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In #13 buzzsawmonkey said: Is whatever passes for the US government space program still centered at Cape Kennedy (nee "Canaveral")?  If so, maybe they should change the name again---to "Incapable Kennedy."

Heh. No, the main administration building is in DC, and they have 19 centers across the country for various aspects of research. But boy, every launch that SpaceX has, NASA takes a lot of credit for.

JCM 10/21/2024 1:20:41 PM

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vxbush 10/21/2024 1:49:52 PM

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In #15 JCM said: Found on internet, Trump on SNL? making fun of himself.

That's great! I'm trying to imagine Kamala doing something like that.....I can't see it.