Update no.1182

 Update from the Sunland

No.1182

2.9.24 – 8.9.24

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

 

To all,

 

Polaris Dawn was delayed yet again due to an unacceptable weather forecast in either the launch or landing areas for the planned five-day duration of the mission. Because of the mission’s unusual orbital trajectory, the crew will have no divert place, like the International Space Station (ISS), to save the crew if something goes wrong; thus, the need for acceptable forecast weather at the anticipated time of landing. The current launch estimate is now Tuesday, 10.September.2024.

ERRATUM: In Update no.1181, I stated the mission’s planned farthest apogee was 827 miles. That was incorrect. The planned farthest away from Earth is 870 miles out there on Day 1, and then stabilized at 470 miles thereafter, still well beyond the orbit of ISS at 200 miles. My apologies for the error.

 

The follow-up news items:

-- Boeing Starliner successfully undocked from the ISS without a crew. They had launched in early June [1169] and remain on the ISS with a planned return as extras aboard a SpaceX capsule in February 2025.

Boeing declared the Starliner was safe for the return. NASA decided to take the most conservative approach, bringing the capsule back without the crew. Accordingly, they remotely undocked the Starliner from the ISS at 18:04 [R] EDT (2204 GMT), Thursday, completed a successful reentry burn, and safely landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 22:01 [T] MDT. The landing was passed my bedtime, so I watched the video coverage the following morning. We are not likely to see another Starliner flight for a year or more as they assess what happened, make appropriate corrections, and rigorously test those changes.

-- The federal election interference case against [the person who shall no longer be named] {United States v. Trump[USDC DC Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC (2023)] [1125]} is now back in the preliminary phase as Judge Chutkan considers the new superseding indictment. Special Counsel Smith filed the revised indictment {USDC DC Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC (2024) [1181]} intended to comply with the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity ruling—Trump v. United States [603 U. S. ____ (2024);] [1173]}. The defendant’s lawyers decided to spar with the judge as they sought to further delay the case. Judge Chutkan was having none of it. She parried, “This case has been pending for over a year. We’re hardly sprinting to judgment here.” Chutkan went on to say, “It strikes me that what you’re trying to do is affect the presentation of evidence in this case so as not to impinge on an election.”  Most poignantly, Chutkan declared that she was “not talking about presidents of the United States,” but rather a “four-count indictment” against a citizen for alleged federal crimes. Chutkan made it clear that she intended to proceed to trial as quickly and deliberately as possible.

-- [The person who shall no longer be named] was in court in New York City to hear the judge’s decision on his motion to delay his schedule 18.September.2024 sentencing until after Election Day. Unfortunately, District Attorney Bragg officially responded in essence that he did not care. Judge Merchan acted accordingly and postponed the sentencing until 26.November.2024.

Frankly, I am disappointed that Bragg and Merchan did not display more stalwart conviction to the judicial process against a common citizen more like Judge Chutkan. The convicted felon is no different from any other common felon. He deserves no special treatment, and yet they caved . . . regrettably. Oh well, we move on.

 

Hunter Biden surprisingly changed his plea in the tax evasion case to guilty and placed himself at the mercy of the court as his trial was set to begin. District Judge Mark Scarsi accepted Hunter’s Alford plea over the special prosecutor’s objections. He is now scheduled to be sentenced on 16.December.2024.

Daddy has already publicly stated he would not pardon or commute his son’s sentence when it comes . . . and rightly so. Although I must confess that doing so would be very tempting. Nonetheless, I am grateful the president placed integrity over fatherly compassion.

 

The latest Republican to publicly oppose the Party’s current candidate and announce their intention to vote for the Harris-Walz ticket is former Vice President Richard Bruce ‘Dick’ Cheney of Wyoming, father of former Representative Liz Cheney, AKA Darth Vader to Democrats of the era. Cheney made a public statement declaring [the person who shall no longer be named] as the singular greatest threat to the Republic and democracy in the nation’s 248-year history. I do not recall ever seeing so many party politicians abandon their party’s candidate in favor of the opposing party’s candidate. We are not talking about neutrality; we see a display of outright opposition. Incredible! And, I suspect we are not at the end of the defections, which is an indication of how despicable the Republican candidate is. Yet, all that aside, what matters is the Electoral College vote in December. All citizens must do their duty . . . to fulfill their obligation . . . and VOTE!

 

The 14-year-old shooter in the Winder, Georgia, high school attack that killed four (two teachers and two students) and wounded nine others was arraigned in court on Friday. He was followed by the arraignment of his father on similar charges. An arrest warrant has reportedly been issued for the boy’s mother as well. The arrest of the parents follows the charging, conviction, and punishment of the Chumley parents. Legal accountability of the parents for these teenage shooters should have started with the Columbine shooting [20.4.1999] and is long overdue; but, better late than never. I hope the trend continues until we gain some relief.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1181:

Comment to the Blog:

“SpaceX has a good rate with booster landings. I’m more concerned about Boeing’s ongoing failures and the fate of their astronauts.

“My current concern about Little Fingers is that he might have enough troops to try to take the White House by force when he loses the election. Most of us don’t believe his rants about the 2020 election, but an armed and committed militia probably still follows him.”

My response to the Blog:

Yes, they do. It will still be interesting to see what the final accident report says. SpaceX is planning to catch the massive, first-stage, super-heavy booster with the tower chopsticks at Boca Chica as part of the IFT-5 test flight, which should be an incredible event.

Oh my yes, the Boeing situation is a tragedy in progress. I never would have imagined such a great engineering company to have fallen so far and virtually across the board. Very sad!

That is a valid concern in many ways. I share your concerns. Well, frankly, it does not matter what you and I think about Little Finger’s persistent BIG LIE rants; we do not believe anything he says. We do not take up arms against the U.S. Government. His radical believers do believe him, and that is the problem.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)