Update no.1193

Update from the Sunland

No.1193

18.11.24 – 24.11.24

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

 

To all,

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

At 16:00 [S] CST {15:00 [T] MST; 17:00 [R] EST; (2200 GMT)}, Tuesday, 19.November.2024, as the 30-minute launch window opened, SpaceX executed its Integrated Flight Test number 6 (IFT-6). All 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster ignited successfully in order and lifted its Starship payload off the SpaceX launch complex at Boca Chica, Texas. The booster performed nominally all the way to the ‘hot staging’ separation of the Starship. All six engines on the Starship performed nominally.

Something was not precisely as they needed it to be (as yet unknown), and as a result, SpaceX opted for a water landing for the booster. They could not afford any problems with an attempt another re-catch of the booster, since they only have one fully functional launch complex. I regret that we did not get to witness another successful booster catch, but I laud the controllers for choosing safety over razzle-dazzle. Later, SpaceX announced they had aborted the catch attempt due to unspecified (as yet) “hardware issues.”

The re-entry of the starship was absolutely fascinating to watch. The vehicle survived and remained fully controlled all the way to a soft, vertical, touch down in the Indian Ocean. The only anomaly I noticed during the entire re-entry was a glowing, overheating of the forward root corner of a flap. No detectable damage was observed, and we watched the corner cool rapidly as the Starship continued its descent.

All in all, it was a magnificent flight test, well worth the time to watch the whole event. I eagerly await the 7^thflight test.

 

Just a wild guess on my part:

I suspect Matt Gaetz was given a heads-up that the House Ethics Committee report on his abuse of underage women and illegal use of controlled substances was in final preparation and was not good. The MAGAt leadership of the House advised him that his only hope was resignation, and the Speaker would strive to block the report. Then, and perhaps in concert with the House MAGAts, Little Fingers nominated Gaetz to be U.S. Attorney General. Now, to be fair, Gaetz does hold a law degree; however, he has not been a career professional attorney. Set aside the legal ramifications of the accusations against him (which he has denied), Gaetz has no experience in criminal prosecution

On Thursday, Gaetz withdrew his name from nomination. He announced the next day that he would not return to Congress. Wise move! You were doomed anyway, man.

The BIC quickly chose the former attorney general of Florida, Pamela Jo ‘Pam’ Bondi to replace Gaetz. She is a dedicated, staunch, election denier and MAGAt is good standing. Her evidence-less election denials is an automatic disqualification from my perspective. Unfortunately, integrity, morality, honor, and evidence-based facts do not matter a twit to the MAGAts, so on we go.

 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Minister of Defence of Israel during the warranted period, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024 (the day warrant applications were filed). The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, commonly known as ‘Deif’, for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the territory of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine from at least 7 October 2023. Other senior Hamas leaders were also cited for arrest warrants—Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar. However, following confirmation of their deaths, the ICC withdrew those applications.

I have mixed feelings about these ICC warrants. If Israel had taken a different approach to the Hamas in Gaza problem, this whole kerfuffle with the Israeli leaders could have been avoided. I have no complaint about the warrants against the three Hamas leaders for the choices they made. History cannot be undone. However, I must condemn the actions of the Netanyahu government for the brutality they imposed on Gaza Palestinians in dealing with Hamas. That said, Hamas sought that kind of tragedy by imbedding their infrastructure within the Gaza population; they sought world condemnation of Israel for every Palestinian casualty, and they were largely successful to that end. I will also add that Israel took extraordinary measures to warn Gaza Palestinians of impending offensive operations, but it still comes down to, where could they go. I fear that the only outcome of the Israeli methods is to create a new generation of terrorists. Yes, they sought to win the war, but they failed miserably to win the peace. There is an old saying, you break it, you fix it. The Netanyahu government had no problem breaking things, but it appears they had not planned to fix what they broke. As I have written in this forum, I have difficulty with calling the Israeli actions genocide, but I must say, Netanyahu has made that label far easier to apply.

Netanyahu is not likely to appear in dock before the ICC, but the arrest warrants will definitely complicate his life and decrease his effectivity as a prime minister.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1192:

Comment to the Blog:

“We shall see if Tiny’s appointees survive the ‘advise and consent’ process. Some Republicans still object to becoming rubber stamps.

“While I dramatically disagree with almost all of your other commentator's opinions, I share his distaste of the ‘alphabet’ (cable) news outlets. I haven’t watched any of them in many years, and from what I understand, their opinion shows fuel the less rational arguments. I’ll stipulate that I find more or less neutral outlets, which I doubt he does.”

My response to the Blog:

We shall see, indeed, the Senate’s constitutional ‘advise and consent’ process works in these conditions. If so, I shall be pleasantly surprised. My gut sensations have eroded much of my hope. Ihr Anführer wants ‘rubber stamps.’ He does not want dissent. I suspect he will pull out all the stops to deal with any dissenters that appear.

You are not alone, but I had to recognize his voice. 77M American citizens generally agree with the contributor’s opinions. I do not!

With respect, the problem is not the news sources; it is our evaluation and assessment of those sources. I do not and will not subscribe to the “Fake News’ mantra and ethos espoused by Little Fingers. Sources are sources; they do the best they can. The determination of accuracy, reliability, and relevance belongs entirely to We, the People.

 . . . Round two:

“The problem is partly the news sources. Cable TV brought with it a need for far more content than broadcast. One result of that is 24-hour news channels. Just reporting the news around the clock is depressing and scary, but then the wealthy owners of those channels realized they could compete for ratings and advertising by editorial choices and by presenting opinions, the more controversial the better. All of that has seriously aggravated the natural divisions of opinion that Tiny has exploited so well. I gave up on the cable channels long ago. Broadcast news and various trustworthy e-mailed ‘columns’ give me both information and opinions. I have partisan sources on social media, but I don’t treat them as news.”

 . . . my response to round two:

We live in a capitalist society. Surely, you are not proposing ‘state run’ Press where the profit motive can be eliminated. Every news outlet I am aware of is driven by profit. Even the broadcast news agencies are driven by the profit motive. There is a lot I do not like about the 24-hour news channels, but there is so much good. They cover stories in far greater depth than just about any other news source. As I said before, our task is to filter out the unnewsworthy stuff. I try to use a wide variety of sources of all political persuasions. I am not saying and never have said the assessment task is easy or effortless, but favoring one source, e.g., MSNBC or FoxNews, is simply wrong and myopic.

 . . . Round three:

“I have no idea how you got ‘state-run’ media from what I said. I never thought of that. I pointed out how the need for content has caused change in news media. There have been opinionated media back to Horace Greeley, but that had been moderated for a while by various factors. The increased demand led to all the major outlets benefitting from targeting specific audiences. What does that have to do with state-run media?”

 . . . my response to round three:

Easy! There is no profit motive with state-run media. They just give you the information they want us to have.

Broadcast and 24/7 news channels all have commercials. They have to make money to pay for the service. As a consequence, we get a fair amount of drivel mixed in with important news. We must filter out the drivel. I do not see how to get money out of news delivery except by state-run media. There are a lot of things that piss me off with 24/7 news, and even broadcast news, e.g., cute puppies found in a park, a new merry-go-round at the amusement park. We just have to filter out that kind of stuff.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)