Update no.1140

 Update from the Sunland

No.1140

13.11.23 – 19.11.23

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

SpaceX executed their Integrated Flight Test number 2 (IFT-2) of their Moon/Mars Starship spacecraft. The massive first-stage booster and spacecraft lifted off from the SpaceX Starbase at Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, 18.November.2023, circa 08:10 [S] CST / 07:10 [T] MST / 14:10 UTC. All 33 booster engines lit off and appeared to perform nominally through main engine cut-off and hot staging of the Starship space vehicle. All six engines on the space vehicle appeared to light off and perform nominally.

Something happened during the booster’s return to base maneuver and engine re-light burn that appeared to result in the activation of the termination system, presumably because they lost control of the booster. All 13 control engines on the booster did not light off or remain functional, which may have led to the loss of control. Loss of the booster after staging is an economic loss but not a functional loss. IFT-2 was a significant advancement over what happened on IFT-1 last April [1110].

The SpaceX “fail fast, learn faster” approach toward rocket design and development is a bit disconcerting at times, but the process does lead to some spectacular failures for us to talk about.

Well done, SpaceX. The next test flight may produce an even more spectacular success with a splashdown of the unmanned Starship vehicle in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. Fail fast, learn faster, indeed!

 

The follow-up news items:

-- On Tuesday, 14.November.2023, the House of Representatives passed yet another continuing resolution after the last one on 30.September.2023—Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024 and Other Extensions Act [PL 118-015; H.R.5860; Senate; 137 Stat. 71] [1133]. The latest one extends appropriations for the federal government once more, this time in two parts—some to 19.January.2024, and the rest to 2.February.2024. The House passed H.R.6363 by a vote of 336-95. The Senate passed H.R.6363 without amendment the next day—87-11. The president signed the bill into law on Thursday, 16.November.2023—Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 [PL 118-xxx; H.R.6363; Senate: 87-11-0-2(0); House: 336-95-0-3(1); 137 Stat. xxx]. Congress played kick the can for the umpteenth time in the past several decades.

Oddly, the latest continuing appropriations bill is exactly the same action that got the last speaker ousted by the Freedom Caucus radicals, paralyzing the government for three precious weeks. There was no discussion about canning the current speaker . . . presumably because he is ideologically closer to their thinking. It is a strange world in which we live. Hey, at least, the federal government is running for a couple of more months. I just say, helluva way to run a railroad!

 

A group of Americans of Palestinian heritage led by a human right organization known as the Defense for Children International-Palestine filed a civil suit accusing the U.S. Government of failing to prevent the Israelis from committing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza—Defense for Children International-Palestine et al v. Biden et al [USDC CA ND Case No.: 3:23-cv-5829 (2023)]. The entire case is based upon the premise that Israel is conducting genocide against the Palestinian people, i.e., attempting to eradicate all Palestinians. The suit was filed in the Northern District of California, presumably to get a sympathetic judge and jury assigned to decide the case. The complaint spent 43 pages recounting the timeline of this most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas before they address the root of the complaint—their perception and accusation of President Biden’s culpability in condoning Israeli “offenses.” They accuse Biden, Blinken and Austin of not using their influence to constrain Israel. The argument in the suit loses credibility when they exaggerate, embellish, or mislead. Paragraph 72 is a perfect example and not the only one.

¶72. On October 9, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant referred to the Palestinian population in Gaza as “human animals” and expanded on previous calls for collective punishment through conditions that would cause serious physical harm, if not death, to Palestinians in Gaza.

Gallant did not say or even imply that. He said, “We are fighting against human animals,” which is true and accurate. The Israelis are not fighting Palestinians. They are fighting Hamas, or more specifically the military wing of Hamas. Hamas in any form is NOT the Palestinians; they are a terrorist group deeply imbedded in a segment of the Palestinian population. Hyperbolic exaggeration and blatant expansion of one side or the other is not helpful. It is one thing for politicians to say such things. We expect politicians to obfuscate. But, the complaint was created by lawyers, and that fact is once again disappointing. Hamas has chosen to imbed itself within the Palestinian population. They carried out a ground incursion into Israel to slaughter innocent citizens and kidnap and hold hostage several hundred men, women, and children. Hamas has used Russian-built, Iranian-supplied, area ballistic rockets. They are area weapons. They are NOT precision weapons. They are, by definition, indiscriminate. The Israelis have utilized precision munitions (artillery and aerial bombs) to be precise in the application of force in Gaza (and elsewhere). They even took the unusual action to notify the populations to leave specific areas that would the predominant location of the tunnel networks from which the military wing operated.

This issue and this case are a classic chicken-and-egg conundrum that has existed in the Middle East for decades—my entire lifetime, so far, to be honest. I have seen no signs that Israel has assaulted Palestinians. Hamas is not the Palestinian people, and the fact that Hamas consistently utilize the innocent Palestinian people to hide their terrorist operations. In the suit, they sought to separate political and military wings of Hamas. Also, as this suit alleges, the Palestinians blame Israel for their plight rather than blaming Hamas—the rightful source. The argument is, they should not strike schools, hospitals, mosques, and other community buildings. In essence, those who make such an argument are saying the Israelis should not strike Hamas.

Reading the complaint, the real culprit for their injuries is Hamas, not the Israeli government. From my perspective, the complaint is misdirected and offers no evidence of genocide other than by Hamas. The Israeli government has striven to avoid civilian casualties by issuing warning upon warning pending attacks on Hamas infrastructure. They offered zero evidence of purposeful, intentional killing of Palestinians. Collateral injury is not genocide. The complaint dramatically overstates their case, which is not to say the Palestinians do not have a legitimate beef with the conduct of the Israeli government in Gaza and the West Bank. I understand, appreciate, and accept that the Palestinians have grievances against Israel, but following Hamas into the abyss is NOT the way forward in dealing with those grievances. As long as they allow themselves to be used by Hamas as human shields, they are de facto acting in support of Hamas. I have never understood the justification or rationale for the Israelis to expropriate land on the West Bank and Gaza other than they wanted to de facto reduce the land holdings of the Palestinians before they gained full statehood.

This is going to boil down to what the judge will allow and what the jury decides. I doubt this case will ever make it to trial. It should be dismissed in pre-trial motions or hearing. If the case does make it to trial, I think the jury will see the facts for what they are unless they choose to see the case on an emotional basis, i.e., someone must be blamed and held to account.

 

Epiphany! For some time now, I have cogitated within the words of this humble Update forum about the genesis of or basis for all the millions of American citizens who so blindly ignore the blatant, anti-American character flaws of [the person who shall no longer be named]. It was one thing in 2016 when the man was largely unknown, hidden from public scrutiny, and unproven in public service. It is entirely a different matter in 2023, when we have countless public words and conduct of the man. We learn more every day that affirms the conduct in every year since he declared himself a candidate in 2015. I see now! I can only conclude that his lemming supporters WANT a dictatorship as long as they are within the ruling class in the favor of ihr Anführer, which they presume will be the case. Apparently, they were all in favor of our constitutional representative democracy as along as they held some semblance of an operating majority to control the laws, the legislation, the direction of the country. Once their numbers or their share of the voting population began to shrink, they [here, my use of the third person plural pronoun refers to the fBICP, MAGA bunch and their myriad supporters] have sought every means possible to subvert our democracy, including the violent interference of the constitutional, quadrennial, election affirmation process. To be frank, this is eerily similar to 1933 Germany, when one third of voting German citizens (33.1%) supported and voted for Adolf Hitler and his NSDAP (the Nazi Party), and that was sufficient for what grew from the historic and ominous vote on 6.November.1932. Our contemporary version of the man is much less cagey about his intentions. The rest of us must believe him and stop him before he can subvert the Constitution any further. Those who refuse to learn history are destined to repeat it. We are still headed down that dark road as long as [the person who shall no longer be named] remains a candidate or able to spew his lies, falsities, fallacies, and disinformation in the public domain; he belongs in prison, removed from the public domain altogether.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1139:

Comment to the Blog:

“Ivanka predictably played her testimony smarter than the rest of the gang. She evaded questions but didn’t incriminate herself.

“As soon as I learned of Rashida Tlaib being censured, I contributed to her campaign.

“The election went well for the Democrats. However, Biden’s still a problem and the platform’s not populist enough.

“Your Roman source was an opponent of the rights of the plebeians, per Wikipedia. If the story about him resigning is true, he probably just realized he couldn’t function among civilians for long.”

My response to the Blog:

I agree; she is smarter than the bunch of ‘em, including papa. I suppose I naively hoped she would stand up to the mark. She did not. Ivanka is just a smoother version of the rest of them; very disappointing. Yes, indeed, that is exactly what she did—evaded truthful answers. “I do not recall” . . . give me a break.

Good for you. I cannot go that far. Nonetheless, I support her freedom of speech, although I must say she is dreadfully close to the line of tolerance.

Yes, it did, and yes, he is. Yes, I still believe he is better in his old age than anyone else in the field from any party.

Cincinnatus was a reluctant citizen-soldier who stood to the mark to defend his people and then returned to his farm. Judging him with today’s metrics is wrong. I think your supposition is wrong based on history, as I know it.

 

Another contribution:

“My God-we have a political row going on over here too. Politicians, I sometimes wonder just what the word means. They are meant to lead us, make decisions on our behalf and as we’re expected to do obey the rules. When they decide they cannot follow the rulebooks that they and their forefathers emplaced then it is time to go and we the people need to be certain that they do.

“So Cap, be rid of him soon.”

My reply:

I am beginning to see politicians more and more as the years go by as grifters bilking good people for money to enrich their lives. Fewer and fewer seem to serve the common good. It is quite sad. Grifters do not respect anyone; they are only after money . . . money, money, money! Worse from my perspective, far too many citizens refuse to see reality, and they vote to give those grifters more money. It is tragic.

I agree; I wish we could be rid of the chief grifter among us, but I am afraid it will not be quick. The current trial is a civil case. His and his progeny’s punishment for their fraud is likely to be significant and hurt a lot, but it will not be enough to put him in prison for the rest of days, where he should be. The other federal and state cases may achieve that objective. There is always hope, until there isn’t.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)