Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
Monday, October 31, 2022
Sunday, October 30, 2022
It’s time for the United States to use the power of Starlink to deliver space-based information to anywhere on Earth to extend its reach to Russia. No technology has greater power to not only end Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine but to end his tyrannical and ruinous rule.
Saturday, October 29, 2022
Friday, October 28, 2022
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Monday, October 24, 2022
Sunday, October 23, 2022
About a year ago Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and CEO of Blue Origin, had what seemed to be the brilliant idea of sending Shatner on a suborbital hop on the New Shepard rocket. Indeed, Shatner gushed in awe and wonder about the experience at the time.
That was then. Now, Shatner has just published his latest memoir, “Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder.” He says that his experience of flying into space was depressing.
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Friday, October 21, 2022
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Employing a similar playbook in the Ukraine war today would entail a combination of vertical and horizontal escalation with quiet (and perhaps public) outreach to Putin and his generals making clear that the U.S. does not seek a nuclear conflict — but will severely punish any nuclear use. I do not here attempt to lay out a detailed operational plan; what matters most is first adopting the right strategic framework. But just to offer a few examples of specific steps that could be taken: The United States and our NATO allies should immediately increase missile-defense support to Ukraine, including Patriot batteries and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System units (both of which derive from technologies first developed in Reagan’s SDI program). These should be combined with increased counterbattery fires to enable Ukraine to destroy Russian missile launchers targeting Ukrainian civilians, and with other offensive weapons such as the game-changing HIMARS. The White House should also lead NATO in deploying naval assets in the Black Sea, as a visible display to Putin of our capabilities and as further deterrent to any nuclear detonations.
To increase domestic pressure on Putin, the U.S. should launch a massive covert information campaign — targeting the Russian public via computer screens, television, radio, and print — that makes the name of Alexei Navalny and other Russian dissidents known in every Russian home. It should also make every Russian aware of Putin’s hundreds of billions of dollars in pilfered wealth, and broadcast images of the tens of thousands of Russian men fleeing their country to evade the draft.
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Monday, October 17, 2022
Sunday, October 16, 2022
Inclusion in the Artemis Alliance as an inducement for Russia’s good behavior would have another benefit for the United States and her allies. If Russia signs the Artemis Accord, it will set itself at odds against China, which harbors ambitions concerning the moon and beyond. A central feature of American foreign policy has been to keep Russia and China antagonistic to one another since Nixon went to China in the early 1970s. The policy broke down sometime during the Obama administration. It’s time to restore it.
Saturday, October 15, 2022
Friday, October 14, 2022
Thursday, October 13, 2022
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Demonstrating how unafraid OPEC is of President Joe Biden, the oil producing cartel has announced a 2-million-barrel-a-day cut in production. The decision will likely cause a spike in energy prices, including gasoline, just in time for the 2022 midterm elections.
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Monday, October 10, 2022
Sunday, October 09, 2022
NASA and SpaceX recently announced that they had signed a Space Act Agreement to study the possibility of reboosting and even servicing the Hubble Space Telescope with the Crew Dragon. It’s welcomed news for those who care about space exploration and science. Hubble has returned an incredible amount of scientific data, not to mention beautiful images, in the over 30 years it has scanned the heavens.
Saturday, October 08, 2022
Friday, October 07, 2022
Thursday, October 06, 2022
Wednesday, October 05, 2022
Tuesday, October 04, 2022
Monday, October 03, 2022
Sunday, October 02, 2022
Two of the strongest human emotions are fear and greed. The former will motivate us to develop a planetary defense against asteroids and comets. The latter will spur us on to tap the riches these space rocks contain for the betterment of humankind.
Update - The Washington Post agrees with me: NASA’s asteroid-hitting mission is a call to action