Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Everybody saw this coming.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Falcon Heavy Live Stream

Falcon Heavy Live Stream

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Space X’s Falcon Heavy rocket is now scheduled to test launch at 3:45 PM EST. The Falcon Heavy is three Falcon 9 rockets bundled together in a new configuration from the regular Falcon 9s. The main rocket has a payload attached with two Falcon 9s as boosters. The Falcon heavy has 27 engines and generates more than 5 million pounds of thrust at lift off.

Musk has given it just a 50% chance of actually lifting off for its test flight without blowing up.

Here’s a live feed to watch it.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

280Comments

  1. 1.

    Corner Stone

    I feel kind of bad for that rocket. Hasn’t even tried to break the surly bonds of earth yet and already they are doing their best to give it a weight complex.

  5. 5.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    Rockets are REAL news! So they’ll be of no interest to these folks – Oxford study, via the Guardian: Fake news sharing in US is a rightwing thing

    “On Twitter, a network of Trump supporters consumes the largest volume of junk news, and junk news is the largest proportion of news links they share,” the researchers concluded. On Facebook, the skew was even greater. There, “extreme hard right pages – distinct from Republican pages – share more junk news than all the other audiences put together.”

    ETA: Link to study.

  6. 6.

    Anonymous At Work

    Musk gave it a 100% chance of being really cool, but a 50-50 chance as to how.
    Those are good odds!

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    Looks a bit cloudy to the east, but I’ll go outside and see if I can get some pictures. I’m on the opposite side of the state, but we can see launches from the yard sometimes, and it’s pretty cool — particularly at night!

  12. 12.

    mad citizen

    I like this Musk guy. A sense of humor is almost always correlated with good humans, and vice versa.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    @mad citizen:

    I like this Musk guy. A sense of humor is almost always correlated with good humans, and vice versa.

    Plus, he always smells great!

  18. 18.

    Steve in the ATL

    I’m in Fort Lauderdale. Can I see it? From the conference room where I’m prepping (not coaching!) witnesses?

  20. 20.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 6

    On one hand, it’s great that the launch vehicle goes up today.

    On the other, it is fucking embarrassing that the payload is Musk’s car. Really? What a joke.

  27. 27.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    What’s the ultimate significance of this? Is this another step in Musk’s plan to land people on Mars? I haven’t been following this as closely as I should have been.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    @RobertDSC-iPhone 6:

    On the other, it is fucking embarrassing that the payload is Musk’s car. Really? What a joke.

    Supposedly, the car actually costs less than the test payload typically used.

    In any case, the Falcon Heavy costs $90 million. Why quibble over the cost of a $100,000 Tesla thrown in for fun’s sake?

  33. 33.

    MazeDancer

    Quite remarkable watching. Felt like old school NASA excitement. The people cheering so loudly!

    Also love that if Falcon Heavy achieves its eternal orbit, inside the Red Tesla, David Bowie will be singing “Rocketman” forever.

  34. 34.

    Mike in NC

    Does Trump have a juvenile nickname for this Musk fellow? “Little Rocket Man” appears to be already taken.

  36. 36.

    Rob

    That was amazing to see the two rockets land at virtually the same second back at Cape Canaveral.

  37. 37.

    Yutsano

    @ Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) : Hoping more than anything this means that the US can stop relying on the Russians to get stuff into orbit for us. Especially ISS supplies.

    EDIT: also: science. Because every launch, successful or not, teaches us something further about breaking our gravity well. Pulling this off is amazing tho.

  42. 42.

    frosty

    Couldn’t see it from Fernandina Beach. I *think* I was looking in the right direction. Southerly anyway.

  44. 44.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @MazeDancer:

    Also love that if Falcon Heavy achieves its eternal orbit, inside the Red Tesla, David Bowie will be singing “Rocketman” forever.

    INORITE!?! I just love that.

    I miss Bowie.

    And there are lot worse things an eccentric billionaire could be doing with his money than Teslas in Space (which makes me think of Pigs in Space).

  45. 45.

    mad citizen

    Really cool. It’s interesting that CNN plays a private company’s feed. Did space x pay for the time?

    I just like that they are doing stuff. Too much BJ reading made me think of similarity to late 1960s, divided nation yet cool space thing happening too

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    Couldn’t watch the launch on work PC. Fired it up on my phone.

    Beautiful.

    For some reason, I keep wanting to call the rocket Heavy D, instead of Falcon Heavy.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    Hot damn that was cool! The booster double-touchdown was a nice bonus, as is “Don’t Panic” on Elon’s radio.

  50. 50.

    chris

    Loved the boosters’ double landing, a still shot would look like the cover of some 50s sci-fi novel.

    PS Thanks, Adam!

  51. 51.

    LeeM

    That roadster reminds me of the opening scene of Heavy Metal. I liked the Don’t Panic! subreference to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on the dashboard.

  52. 52.

    Alain the site fixer

    Just amazing! So glad I saw that, wish my mom had. I have tears of joy, just joy. Perhaps we are going to see some space stuff pick back up before we die. I vaguely remember the space program excitement in the mid-late 70’s (I was very young but living in Texas and spending many weekends at the Johnson Space Flight Center near Houston) and it was certainly still present with the early years of the shuttle, but seems to have faded. SpaceX and soon, Blue Origin and Virgin Galatic, are going to be pushing lots of exciting things. In this area, I welcome the dreams and drive of billionaires. We need to get off this rock!

  53. 53.

    Mike in DC

    The Mars mission calls for the Big Falcon Rocket design, capable of putting 150 tons into low earth orbit, 250 tons with the expendable version. That sounds about right for a Mars mission. Anything larger than that, and you’re looking at a seaborne launch platform. Too big and dangerous to launch from the Cape.

  55. 55.

    Isua

    The twin boosters landing together was like rocket ballet, I love it. Thank you for posting this, I saw it just in time to watch live. And now I can show it to my rocket-obsessed 4 year olds tonight.

  58. 58.

    justawriter

    My sister’s comment: “Everything worked, that’s how you can tell Trump had nothing to do with (the launch).”

  59. 59.

    Matt McIrvin

    No live footage of the droneship landing, but I think there usually isn’t. I wonder if it went OK (they seem to take it in stride whenever it doesn’t; Musk likes posting the explosions on Twitter).

  61. 61.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Yutsano: as Elon Musk wants and plans to go to Mass and colonize it, I expect there are some experiments onboard the Tesla that will radio back status updates on things like batteries, materials, alloys, etc. When the next one launches and there’s some extra room, I expect he’ll put some kind of rover or lander or something to get onto Mars if the timing and physics allow, of course. Or perhaps just an orbiter.

  63. 63.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:
    Car is probably a crusher in any event, as all mfg have because some cars can not be sold. Prototypes, test cars, production set ups….they get destroyed.

  64. 64.

    Alain the site fixer

    And thanks Adam for posting this. If I’d been home today, I would have. I really dig space stuff.

  66. 66.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Yutsano:
    Yeah, it’s a travesty we have to rely on our enemies to ferry us into space. The Russians have been using their Soyuz spacecraft as a space taxi for decades. The Apollo CSM could have served the same function.

  67. 67.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Alain the site fixer:

    Perhaps we are going to see some space stuff pick back up before we die.

    I hope so. It’s funny, last night at dinner I showed my husband Charlie Pierce’s tweet about how he’s “watching a video from Mars on a computer in my hand” and we were reminiscing about how amazing it felt – still feels! – when we were kids and saw film of men walking on the moon. (Our 14-year-old son was kind enough to not roll his eyes at the olds.) I remember going outside on a hot summer night in Connecticut in 1969, looking up at the moon, and being astounded thinking that there were people up there, right that minute. We need that sense of wonder and amazement not just to drive more scientific and engineering progress but to connect with our fellow humans and find common purpose.

  70. 70.

    trollhattan

    @Matt McIrvin:
    A bit of the barge feed came through but the exhaust blast obscured it before you could see anything occurring with the (possible) landing.

  74. 74.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Alain the site fixer: I’ve mentioned before, but in the mid 60’s we used to hear a loud roar and the windows would rattle for about 30 seconds or so out where I grew up on a pretty regular basis. We lived about 15 miles west of where they tested the engines for the Saturn-V.

    ETA: Part of my adventure on Sunday was a hike about a mile from where they did those tests. I couldn’t see where they did the tests, it was behind a ridge from where I was hiking.

  75. 75.

    Yutsano

    @Alain the site fixer: Oh there’s no doubt the Tesla isn’t up there just for shits and giggles, although I’m certain there’s some component of that up there. But even just the act of putting tons of steel outside the gravity well teaches us if we’re doing things right or just lucky this one time. But yeah all the toys playing around in the car have to be teaching us stuff too.

  76. 76.

    gene108

    @MazeDancer:

    Also love that if Falcon Heavy achieves its eternal orbit, inside the Red Tesla, David Bowie will be singing “Rocketman” forever.

    Major Tom has serious problems with his rocket in “Space Oddity”. I’m not sure, why people choose to play this for rocket launches.

    Jeopardy had a question on what song the BBC played prior to the Apollo 13 moon landing and it was “Space Oddity”.

  81. 81.

    Matt McIrvin

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: The boosters came down on land at KSC (beautiful side-by-side simultaneous touchdowns), the center core was supposed to land on a droneship at sea. SpaceX hasn’t said anything about the fate of the center core yet, though we saw it descend almost all the way to landing. (I think they generally don’t count their chickens until the stage has been bolted down on the droneship by the recovery crew.)

  82. 82.

    Alain the site fixer

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: wow. I used to play on the one at Johnson but never saw one fire. I will make sure I see a Falcon Heavy launch, I can assure you! I want to feel the ground and air shake.

  86. 86.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Related, perhaps. Posted to BBC two hours ago.

    A UK warrant to arrest Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is still valid, a court has ruled. The warrant was issued in 2012 after Mr Assange failed to answer bail over sex assault claims in Sweden, now dropped.

    Lawyers for Mr Assange, who has been living in London’s Ecuador embassy since then, argued the warrant had therefore “lost its purpose”.

    His lawyers went on to argue against it on other grounds and the court will rule on 13 February. At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, senior district judge and chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said, having considered the arguments, she was “not persuaded that the warrant should be withdrawn”. She told the court that not surrendering to bail was a stand-alone offence under the Bail Act and Mr Assange must explain why he had failed to do so.

    The offence carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: Who knows. The Ecuadorian embassy is sovereign territory. The Metropolitan Police only get access if invited in. So whatever has happened, Ecuador doesn’t want to be any more involved than they have to be.

  90. 90.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @trollhattan:Looks more like someone found a suspicious parcel, police cleared it, and it’s not related to Assange (or at least he’s not the source of the visit).

  95. 95.

    ? Martin

    @RobertDSC-iPhone 6:

    On the other, it is fucking embarrassing that the payload is Musk’s car. Really? What a joke.

    It’s a remarkable sign, actually. It means that the cost of the launch is so much below the cost of payloads that nobody was willing to risk their payload on an unproven rocket. If they can hit that $90M/launch cost, that opens up a lot of opportunities.

    But the real innovation here tends to not really get reported on. The reason space launches are uncommon is that it takes a long fucking time to build a rocket and then we throw it away, and nobody wants to spend hundreds of millions to expand production capacity. In short, we build rockets to order. SpaceX has changed that model. If they can build 6 per year then they can handle 6*n launches per year where n is the number of reflights each rocket can do, assuming that they retire 6 each year as well. If they can get 10 launches out of their block 5 rockets due out this year, they can launch one a week while not keeping any in service for more than a year.

    In short, because of their ability to reuse rockets, SpaceX can *quickly* bypass ever other launch provider combined in terms of total launches, and that’s a big part of why they can undercut on price. It’s really remarkable what they’ve done here. The entire rest of the industry should be ashamed after watching what happened today.

  96. 96.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @trollhattan:
    Are you kidding? Russia is trying to the bestest of friends with Ecuador. Assange is going to die an old man, I’m afraid. Real life doesn’t have a narrative where evil people get their comeuppance.

  98. 98.

    Heidi Mom

    Off topic, but encouraging: I just saw an ad in the local advertising weekly for a butcher shop in the western, more rural part of Cumberland County, PA (Adam: Newville area). In addition to “our own farm-raised local beef,” it says “halal butcher available” and “we offer lamb and goat.” This, and the “Eastern European foods” section of the local supermarket, suggests to me that the many Bosnian families in the area are becoming absorbed into the fabric of the community like all of the immigrant families before them.

  99. 99.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @trollhattan: I’d be happy to see them both in the same box, à la No Exit.

    ETA: since it’s a 3-character play, they can stick Snowden in there, too.

  102. 102.

    Matt McIrvin

    @RobertDSC-iPhone 6: It’s a rich-asshole-showoff thing, but there was never going to be a real payload risked on this particular flight–it was that or some inert boilerplate spacecraft. It’s a test flight.

  104. 104.

    rikyrah

    ProPublica‏Verified account @ProPublica

    A ProPublica & @NPR investigation found insurance companies turning in undocumented immigrants who were injured on the job.

    A new bill under consideration by FL lawmakers would stop insurance companies from dodging payouts by aiding in the arrests:

  106. 106.

    trollhattan

    @? Martin:
    I’ll just add that synching twenty-seven engines was a tall mountain to climb and they got it right the first goddamn time. Mind=boggled. The approach somewhat echoes using computer arrays in parallel instead of lone supercomputers. Savings and reliability advances with time should be obvious.

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    Sarah Leavitt‏Verified account @sarahleavittcbc

    When asked question about where/when she would go if she had a time machine: “Well, I’m black. So I don’t really want to go back…” #LeadersBellCCMM #michelleobama

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Yes, but it was a chimera, the Shuttle never actually was cheap to fly. Too much politically motivated mission creep, and launching all your satellites with a crewed spacecraft turns out to be a terrible idea.

    The thing that strikes me, though, is that the impact of this on actual space activity may be smaller than meets the eye just because the cost of spaceflight was dominated by cost of payload already. The demand elasticity for space launch is pretty low, and it may be that there’s no nonlinear realm of cheapness you get into where it suddenly gets way higher, like space fans imagine.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: Considering how the debate went today on the law removing Robert E. Lee’s and Jefferson Davis’s birthdays as state holidays, I’m pretty sure that won’t pass.

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    Abolish ICE. Abolish CBP. Abolish Cash Bail.
    ‏Verified account @SeanMcElwee
    29 Jan 2016

    17% of Republicans say the government helps white people “a lot.”
    66% of Republicans say the government helps Black people “a lot.”

    Abolish ICE. Abolish CBP. Abolish Cash Bail.‏Verified account @SeanMcElwee

    These data make it clear conservative opposition to government is rooted in racial animus. https://today.yougov.com/news/2016/01/29/racial-attitudes-differ-ideology-

  114. 114.

    TenguPhule

    @Matt McIrvin:

    and it may be that there’s no nonlinear realm of cheapness you get into where it suddenly gets way higher, like space fans imagine.

    Anti-gravity. Solve that one and sky is literally the limit.

  115. 115.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TenguPhule: In the early stages they imagined the system as fully reusable with a crewed, winged flyback booster that would land on a runway, and the orbiter as the second stage. (Among many other designs. There was a really weird proposal from Chrysler that in hindsight looks almost like somebody’s 1960s attempt to imagine the SpaceX system.)

  117. 117.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Mike in NC: Shithole Rocketman since he is originally from South Africa and clearly is not down with the back-to-the-fifties energy plan of the current administration.

  118. 118.

    bemused

    I wasn’t able to watch launch real time but just watched the test video. Wow! Riveting, amazing, awesome. What a joy to watch.

  120. 120.

    Corner Stone

    @? Martin:

    If they can get 10 launches out of their block 5 rockets due out this year, they can launch one a week while not keeping any in service for more than a year.

    Do we have an understanding for the demand for payloads? Or are we thinking demand will rise as price lowers?

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    @cain:

    It was totally amazing from start to finish. And not like a B&W fiction movie, more like we are in the space age again. Especially the landings. Well, the blast off was pretty good. My phone line is dead, no dial tone. Frontier. Will be contacting them online via sat connection next thing.

    The launch/landing made me shed a few tears. So many people, so much work, had a tiny glass of bourbon in memory of the test pilots, astronauts and cosmonauts who have died to get us where we are today.

  126. 126.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Heidi Mom: I know where that is. Not sure I’ve ever been in it. I think it may partially be your suggestion, but also they’ve realized that there are approximately 30 or so Muslim International Fellows – officers from allied and partner nations – who are students at USAWC every year. A significant number of them bring their families with them, so that’s a lot of demand for Halal meat right there. Since they’re a 20 minute or so drive from USAWC, that would be a good market to tap.

  128. 128.

    cope

    I was literally brought to tears by what I saw today and I am a total nonbeliever in the ability of humans to ever exist beyond Earth.

    In any event, here is a link to the one pic I got of the flight and it is not very good. A night launch will give me a chance to take a time-lapse and make a more dramatic image.

    http://copelandscienceonline.weebly.com/astro-pics.html

    Scroll down to see it.

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Heidi Mom: Karn’s bought Nell’s? Cool. Karn’s alway had a decent butcher shop. Though I tended to get my meat at Wegman’s.

  131. 131.

    gene108

    @rikyrah:

    Talking with my mom yesterday. She said she noticed a real change with people, when Rush Limbaugh started becoming popular in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

    I think a lot of the resentment is fueled by the right-wing media machine.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    And just to prove that there are no safe spaces — that’s here in deep blue Los Angeles. The creatures walk among us.

  133. 133.

    cain

    @J R in WV:
    Hear hear! The David Bowie music and don’t panic in the car was all great touches. It’s great to see something amazing in our lives while we are living in this political shitshow. :(

  136. 136.

    TenguPhule

    @Corner Stone:

    Or are we thinking demand will rise as price lowers?

    This.

    Ideally you want cargoes that would not only stay up long term, but serve as building blocks to start building more stuff up there. Establish a basic manufacturing setup up there and a lot more opportunities open up for increased activity as costs would decrease since more of it wouldn’t be fighting gravity to get where its needed.

    So increased activity in the short run, but long term more of a passenger service going up.

  137. 137.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: @Mnemosyne: It is supposed to be the office to do the “extreme” vetting on potential immigrants. If I understand what happened today, all he did was sign a memorandum stating the formal intent to establish one. It would have to be approved and funded by Congress. So it is doubtful this is anything other than a photo op they scheduled for him as a feel good, he’s doing something to stop all those evil foreigners from coming and killing us all in our sleep event. He’ll brag about it in his next interview with the media or unscripted press gaggle or his next rally/appearance.

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: Eventually one of these morons is going to pull this crap in Florida or Georgia or Austin and is going to get perforated.

  143. 143.

    gene108

    @Corner Stone:

    Do we have an understanding for the demand for payloads? Or are we thinking demand will rise as price lowers?

    How many satellites can we chuck into orbit, without having them smash into each other on a regular basis?

    The distances from the Earth, where satellites can be effective and maintain orbit is not infinite.

  144. 144.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: Have you all considered stand your ground laws? And constitutional open carry? I’ve been told that this makes everyone much, much more polite. I’ve never actually seen anyone being much, much more polite in reality, but I’m assured, usually with a reference to Heinlein, that this is the case.

  145. 145.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Eventually one of these morons is going to pull this crap in Florida or Georgia or Austin and is going to get perforated.

    Wishful thinking. Being armed while of the wrong color can be a death sentence if a cop spots you in any of those areas.

  147. 147.

    Corner Stone

    @Matt McIrvin: Well, that’s one aspect I’m trying to understand. The payloads themselves will still be costly, and the barrier to entry for companies that want SpaceX services still seems to be high.
    So the carrier fee may lower or become more manageable, but then what?

  151. 151.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike in DC: The President’s proposal is never going to pass. My best estimate of what I think is going to happen is 1) There will be no major revisions to immigration. Whatever reasonable revisions the Senate might pass is DOA in the House because of the Hastert Rule. 2) Because of the Hastert Rule and Speaker Ryan’s unwillingness to do anything unless/until the President endorses it in the House, no minor revisions, such as just a DACA fix and increased money for border security, will also not pass. 3) Because of who is advising the President (Miller and Kelly), even if a reasonable set of major or minor revisions to immigration cleared Congress, it would be vetoed. They’ve made it clear, it is the 4 Pillars plan or nothing. 4) No matter what the Senate Democrats try to do, it is unlikely there will be a DACA fix. They will continue to fight, but at the end of the day they just don’t have the leverage given the way the Senate rules are set up and the Senate functions.

  152. 152.

    The Moar You Know

    Are you kidding? Russia is trying to the bestest of friends with Ecuador. Assange is going to die an old man, I’m afraid. Real life doesn’t have a narrative where evil people get their comeuppance.

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: True, but that idea goes out the window when said “evil people” decide to hang out with and take money and favors from violent criminals with a very, very long track record of open murder.

    I don’t know when, but at some point Assange is going to die from transcortical lead poisoning at the hands of his Russian friends. And I won’t be rejoicing. The open slaughter of people, innocent or guilty, by Russia in other nations (especially Britain) needs to just stop.

  154. 154.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    It is supposed to be the office to do the “extreme” vetting on potential immigrants. If I understand what happened today, all he did was sign a memorandum stating the formal intent to establish one. It would have to be approved and funded by Congress. So it is doubtful this is anything other than a photo op they scheduled for him as a feel good, he’s doing something to stop all those evil foreigners from coming and killing us all in our sleep event.

    Except that ICE keeps taking actions that harm and humiliate people. Photo-ops aside, people need to pay attention to what the Trump administration does with respect to immigration enforcement, not just presidential utterances.

    Also we have to push back against Trump’s attempt to normalize racism. I hear pundits and some ordinary people start to nod and agree that “merit based” immigration is a good approach.

  155. 155.

    rikyrah

    Iowa Starting Line‏ @IAStartingLine

    Even with the huge snowfall, Iowa Democrats handily broke their record for turnout from the last two off-year caucuses. Lots of enthusiasm seen around the state:

  158. 158.

    Manyakitty

    @LeeM: I saw some references to Heavy Metal on Twitter. Been too long since I watched that. Imma go dig it out.

  162. 162.

    trollhattan

    @Corner Stone:
    Cost is a thing but only one thing–the other being instantly doubling the current maximum launch lift capacity and raising the upper bound design limit similarly. NSA, for one, is thrilled.

    If they prove reliable then launch insurance costs drop.

  163. 163.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: TheHill says there’s a 2 year budget plan in the works in the Senate, with Immigration to come later:

    Senate leaders are close to a two-year budget deal that would avert a government shutdown, Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) announced Tuesday.

    The deal would set spending levels for fiscal 2018 and 2019 and avoid the prospect of a government shutdown when a stopgap spending measure expires on Thursday.

    “There are still some outstanding issues to be resolved, but we are closer to an agreement than we have ever been,” Schumer announced on the Senate floor.

    He met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in McConnell’s office Tuesday morning and an aide familiar with the meeting said both leaders were pleased with the progress made.

    McConnell late told reporters that he had a “good meeting” with Schumer.

    “I’m optimistic that very soon we’ll be able to reach an agreement,” he said.

    The current plan is for the Senate to vote on a stand-alone, yearlong defense appropriations bill either Tuesday or Wednesday.

    That vote is expected to fail.

    The vote is intended to demonstrate that a six-week spending measure expected from the House that would fund military programs for a full year does not have enough votes to pass the Senate, according to a senior Senate aide familiar with internal deliberations.

    If Democrats block a stand-alone defense spending bill, showing that the House stopgap can’t pass the Senate, McConnell could amend the House resolution to include whatever deal he and Schumer work out in the next 24 hours.

    If Senate leaders fail to finalize the deal within the next day, McConnell could amend the House resolution with a fallback option to keep federal agencies open.

    Either way, leaders don’t expect another shutdown this week.

    “There’s no appetite for continuing that type of approach. I sincerely hope I never face that again,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.).

    A Senate Democratic aide said an immigration debate could begin on the Senate floor as soon as this week after the government funding resolution passes.

    McConnell has yet to announce the component details of the base immigration bill that lawmakers will work off of.

    Votes on amendments to that legislation are expected to take place next week.

    If they can really pass a 2 year budget deal in 2 days, then Immigration isn’t impossible either.

    Donnie will declare it the Biggest Bestest Deal in history and go have some ice cream. He doesn’t care about policy, he cares about “winning”. An immigration deal would distract all the MAGA-types from the stock market falling back to earth and such – I think he’d take it.

    But who knows, really, with that clown.

    tl;dr – Donnie will sign whatever they put in front of him.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  164. 164.

    Heidi Mom

    @Adam L Silverman: Very true. It’s my understanding that it was the Muslim fellows’ desire for a nearby mosque that led to the establishment of the Islamic Peace Centre off Cavalry Road. The Bosnian community has recently established a mosque on Simpson Ferry Road in Mechanicsburg. For what it’s worth, I live in the Pheasant Run apartment complex (just to the west of the supermarket and the Peace Centre), and there are quite a few Bosnian families here (and occasionally people from the AWC). The woman in the adjoining apartment, in fact, came here at least 10 years ago with her two daughters, both of whom have since married and had children. Because of the awful precipitating events that led to the Bosnian emigration, it sounds callous to say “it’s good they came when they did,” but I’m sure the current occupant of the White House would not be thrilled to be admit them today. Sad! They’ve followed what is undoubtedly the usual pattern: the old folks will smile and say hello in response to a greeting, but they don’t speak English; our neighbor (45-50?) speaks enough English to make herself understood; her daughters are fluent in English, with an accent that’s barely detectable, if at all; and their kids, I’m sure, will have no accent at all.

  166. 166.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mike in DC: Think of that–going to all that trouble, creating so much misery and it gets them a single-digit number of years in the majority. It’s like the Thousand Year Reich.

  167. 167.

    Corner Stone

    @trollhattan: Do satellites as an entity also get cheaper due to more frequent launch windows or some mix of Moore’s Law, et al ?
    Or if your main customer is Nancy’s Super Awareness does the cost of the payload not matter that much? The ability to replace older technology with constantly improved designs makes life better?

  168. 168.

    SgrAstar

    @Mike in DC: Ahem. The BFR’s full name is not “Big Falcon Rocket”. It’s a big Biden deal, ie Big Fucking Rocket. Those guys n gals at spaceX have a sense of humor, in addition to world-beating engineering chops.

  173. 173.

    VeniceRiley

    NASA could take a lesson in the production of this event. The cheering, the cameras, the lead-up. The less than dead-voiced alacrity of the launch voiceover folk …
    I teared up; as the era of manned interplanetary exploration has truly begun with, not a bang, but a rumble!

  174. 174.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    4) No matter what the Senate Democrats try to do, it is unlikely there will be a DACA fix.

    So are you saying that beginning March 6, the government will begin throwing Dreamers out of the country (or trying to)?

  175. 175.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Corner Stone: sort of. Year after year, components get smaller, more powerful, and more energy efficient. So what took up 2 cubic feet ten years ago needs a phone sized area. So capability-wise, they get cheaper but still cost many many millions. Of course if your budget is 100 million and the cost to launch is only 50 as opposed to 75, that gives you more room for state of the art, and expensive, upgrades.

  176. 176.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: You’re misreading this. This is an internal plan to jam the House. My take is that Ryan wants this to happen as he can’t hold his caucus together for anything reasonable. Getting this done does not mean getting anything on immigration through will happen. Immigration has been a bridge too far in the House of Representatives since the Bush 43 Administration. The House GOP caucus has only gotten worse since then

  180. 180.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: Depending on what happens with the current Federal court order staying the withdrawal of the DACA EO, most likely. My understanding from reporting is they scarfed up one yesterday. Which puts ICE and DHS in open opposition to a Federal District Court ruling.

  182. 182.

    TenguPhule

    @Another Scott: Schumer better be trolling the GOP on this. Passing any kind of actual budget the Republicans find tolerable is a surefire recipe to tank the 2018 elections. Remember, we’re supposed to be working AGAINST these Nazi fuckers. Not enabling them.

  186. 186.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @catclub:
    Look how that turned out. I can’t believe Saturn-Apollo got killed by that white elephant.

  187. 187.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman:

    None of these people are normal.

    I find it interesting/amusing that she’s deliberately contradicting Nunes and his “The president never even met Mr. Popodopolis or whatever his name was.”

  188. 188.

    trollhattan

    @Corner Stone:
    Micro satellites launched in virtual clouds are already dramatically dropping the total price of attaining orbit so I suppose yes, although the Heavy will doubtless be reserved for more ambitious pursuits. The forthcoming Webb Telescope had to be a folded design to fit existing launchers. Future projects will not be so-constrained, e.g., the next generation of Mars robots.

  189. 189.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: The only thing that will stop ICE, CBP, and DHS on these matters is 1) a change in congressional majorities, allowing the Democrats to rein them in via proper oversight and control over their budgets, 2) a change in who is the President, and/or 3) Federal court action and enforcement.

  191. 191.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Brachiator: But actual skills based immigrants are treated poorly. Its red herring this merit based immigration business. Just something to say to sound somewhat reasonable without actually meaning it. It is the new, we are only against illegal immigration.

    ETA: Employment based greencard application process has become harder than ever before. T’s USCIS requires interviews now, the forms are longer and the long term visa renewals (H1-B, 0-1, J etc) while you wait for GC number to become available has become cumbersome too.

  195. 195.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @The Moar You Know: Speak for yourself. If I had super powers I’d be paying Vlad a little visit to teach him a lesson about interfering in the democratic elections of other nations.

    Y’know, It’s probably a good thing super powers don’t exist in real life. They’d bring out the worst in people.

  197. 197.

    Matt McIrvin

    @trollhattan: I would love to see one of these super-heavy launchers used to send a decent mission to Uranus or Neptune. Nobody’s been to either planet since Voyager 2, and that was such a brief glimpse.

  202. 202.

    germy

    About Elon's big day… this is a car commercial in space. Everyone: pls stop participating.

    — Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) February 6, 2018

    What do you guys want??

    Uh, affordable healthcare?

    How about a FUCKING CAR IN SPACE???

    Or, like, maybe the healthcare thing?

    WOOOHOOO HONK HONK YOU PIECE OF SHIT ALIEN MOTHERFUCKERS

    — Jason (@longwall26) February 6, 2018

  206. 206.

    trollhattan

    @Matt McIrvin:
    Agree completely, planetary exploration has just begun and hopefully, once NASA is in sane hands and with a budget we can pick up where we left off. (Three more years, three more years….)

  214. 214.

    Corner Stone

    @debbie:

    Not even a real person at the wheel!

    They couldn’t find anyone from the Heartland, AKA Real Merica ™ , to volunteer to go looking for the aliens that violated his Grandpappy lo those many years ago?

  217. 217.

    Baud

    @germy:

    The inspiration for Trump’s push is last year’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which the president attended as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was awestruck by the tableau of uniformed French troops marching down Avenue des Champs-Elysees with military tanks, armored vehicles, gun trucks and carriers — complete with F-16 fighter jets flying over the Arc de Triomphe and painting the sky with streaks of blue, white and red smoke for the colors of the French flag.

    Too bad he didn’t look at France’s health care system.

  221. 221.

    Brachiator

    @Alain the site fixer:

    they already are, it will just accelerate.

    Fair point.

    @schrodingers_cat:

    But actual skills based immigrants are treated poorly.

    Fair point.

    Its red herring this merit based immigration business. Just something to say to sound somewhat reasonable without actually meaning it. It is the new, we are only against illegal immigration.

    Actually, it is a way to skew the immigration process in favor of white people and to find ways to exclude nonwhite people.

    ETA: Employment based greencard application process has become harder than ever before. T’s USCIS requires interviews now, the forms are longer and the long term visa renewals (H1-B, 0-1, J etc) while you wait for GC number to become available has become cumbersome too.

    I haven’t seen much about the Trump administration trying to hire more people and streamline procedures related to immigration. Just stuff about “vetting” and enforcement.

  222. 222.

    rikyrah

    Chris Hayes‏Verified account @chrislhayes

    Chris Hayes Retweeted Jeanne Heo

    Racists everywhere invoke the president’s name to announce their racism. They literally use it as a slur.

  223. 223.

    germy

    @Baud:

    Too bad he didn’t look at France’s health care system.

    He has asked his advisors “Why can’t we just have Medicare for everybody?” which I suspect scared the hell out of McConnell and Ryan.

  224. 224.

    No One of Consequence

    Wow.

    Redundant Man is Redundant. (redundant)

    One of my first politically aware moments was listening to some conservative talker that dad had on some cassette. He was advocating the Privatization of Space, using the US Federal Government as a guarantor of market. Musing that if someone wouldn’t give you a payload for x-pounds per low-earth orbit, etc. ; then the government would guarantee a payload. If they said a given entrepreneur could not, and they went ahead anyway, the entrepreneur could launch water or even sand and the governement would have to pay them.

    I did not realize at the time, that (i later believed) that the person was likely advocating for the dissolution of the NASA budget and programs.

    I wonder what opportunity might have been lost, had ego not suggested a payload (of the Tesla car), but rather offered a global opportunity for scientists to create and deliver instrumentation and sensors that could assist in the continuing evaluation and analyzation of Mars.

    That said, it was a big risk, and wow, that was something to see for a private sector accomplishment. Impressive to see as a matter of engineering, period — but that it was mounted privately, wow.

    What a time to be alive, eh?

    Peace to us all, if we make it through now, the stars will eventually beckon us.

    Let us cultivate compassion and wisdom before we embark.

    – NOoC

  225. 225.

    rikyrah

    The New York Times‏Verified account @nytimes

    $100,000 taken from a safe. Garbage bags full of stolen prescription drugs dumped on the black market. A motorist robbed of $25,000. The crimes were not carried out by normal criminals, but by Baltimore police officers.

  226. 226.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: Normally, I’d agree with that. I remember Goodlatte sitting on the bi-partisan Senate bill (maybe on the direction of Boehner, maybe not). But if Schumer and McConnell can ram through a 2 year budget deal through the Senate and the House, that’s going to make a lot of the Teabaggers upset (since they love being able to claim that they’re stopping government from doing anything). Once that happens, assuming it does happen, and the pressure of the (supposed) impending DACA deadline of March 5 appears in the headlights, and the supposed 70% of Americans who support the Dreamers, etc., etc., then it’s not impossible for Goodlatte and the rest of the troglodytes to be worked around. (“You’ve held things up long enough – we’re going around you, even if we need Democratic votes…”)

    IOW, when the levee breaks, they got no place to stay.

    Don’t forget there was a DACA/”border security” deal until Miller and Kelly blew it up. If Trump wants a deal badly enough, he will go around them and sign what’s presented. And if the House feels enough pressure, the people in the way will be routed around as well (they can always make up stuff to counter the inevitable “amnesty” boogieman – they’re really good at making stuff up.).

    Trump is getting weaker by the day, and the GOP in Congress knows it. The ones sticking around want to be re-elected and they know that gerrymandering (and simply winning the primary) and incumbency isn’t an impregnable wall to save them this time.

    Will the levee break after the budget deal, if there’s a budget deal? Dunno. We’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Who doesn’t expect there will be an immigration deal, but who think’s it’s possible.”)

  227. 227.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Corner Stone: Obama was not keen on funding interplanetary exploration. It was a perpetual sore spot with the Planetary Society and such. He came in, like just about every President, wanting to have some massive lavish human spaceflight program like landing people on Mars, and like just about every President he got hit with the sticker shock and canned any concrete plans. Trump’s first White House budget proposal was actually way more generous for Solar System exploration than Obama ever was.

    NASA got a fair bit of funding for Earth science, though, and of course Trump is slashing all of that, because it’s evil Obama Al Gore treehugger stuff. I just heard somebody say he’d proposed abolishing NASA and rolling space exploration into the Air Force just so he could avoid funding any Earth science missions at all.

  229. 229.

    rikyrah

    Will Democrats have the money to win Congress? The Kochs are making me nervous.
    Jesse Ferguson, Opinion contributor
    Published 12:01 a.m. ET Feb. 6, 2018 | Updated 11:24 a.m. ET Feb. 6, 2018

    If you don’t think money matters, you’re wrong. We may have the advantage in enthusiasm, but Republicans will try to buy a ground game to match it.

    The Cook Political Report has said that “A wave is a comin.” And FiveThirtyEight argues “The Democrats’ Wave Could Turn Into A Flood.” In just over nine months, we’ll know whether Paul Ryan is still Speaker of the House and President Trump still has control of Congress.

    In January 2010, President Obama had a positive approval rating (49% to 46.7%), and even he got shellacked in his first midterms. By contrast, Trump is under waterby more than 11 points.

    Democrats have a record number of compelling candidates, with veterans and women leading the charge. And according to Real Clear Politics, Democrats hold nearly a 7-point lead in the average generic congressional ballot.

    Surf’s up for the Democrats. Everything’s set for us to ride this wave to victory. Right?

    I’m not so sure. I stay up almost every night worrying not just that the wave won’t be there, but that we won’t be able to ride it even if it is.

    When I started in politics, people obsessed that money was everything — the difference between winning and losing. It was the “mother’s milk” of politics. Now, the zeitgeist has flipped. Everyone either says money doesn’t matter or believes it will magically be there in the end. I’ve had countless Democratic strategists and candidates tell me not to worry.

    Guess what? They’re wrong.

    Money won’t determine the fundamentals of the cycle. It won’t transform an overwhelming loss into an overwhelming win. You can’t buy a wave.

    But it can make a difference — a big one. In a cycle like this, I believe it’s the difference that could either end Republican control of the House on a close night, or limit our gains if the wind is really at our backs.

    My night tremors got worse when the Koch network announced recently that it’s committing $400 million to preserve Republican control of Congress. Unlike most Democratic fundraising, the GOP is being rewarded by their donors for passing an agenda that helps their donors. The Trump Tax gives the Kochs as much as a billion-dollar tax break each year. Pay-to-play is contemptible, but effective: that one donor is the equivalent of nearly 15 million Bernie-Sanders-style $27 contributions.

  231. 231.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Brachiator:

    Actually, it is a way to skew the immigration process in favor of white people and to find ways to exclude nonwhite people.

    That may be their intent but the top 5 countries getting the EB Green cards (Employment based which in the new lingo is the “skills based” GC)
    are India, China, Mexico and Philippines, forget the fifth one.
    I know BJers mean well but this assumption that white ==skilled is pretty insulting.
    Having lighter skin is a not a skill.

  236. 236.

    Humdog

    So Shitstain is going to insist on a military parade complete with big hardware in DC. And calling Dems treasonous, which the spokesman for the admin says was a joke, is now an ad run by Shitstain’s reelection pac. Seems we are galloping towards autocracy now. Going for a walk in the forest to regain my equilibrium and lower my blood pressure. I don’t recognize my country or my countrymen anymore.

  242. 242.

    Baud

    Ivanka Trump is reportedly expected to lead the presidential delegation for the Winter Olympics’ closing ceremony.

  243. 243.

    But her emails!!

    @rikyrah:

    We’re either going to pull it off or we’re not. Pissing ourselves in terror like the author of that piece isn’t going to help one way or the other.

  244. 244.

    rikyrah

    David Menschel‏ @davidminpdx

    With encouragement of new mayor, Atlanta City Council unanimously votes to abolish cash bail for those charged with non-violent misdemeanors or city ordinance violations.

  247. 247.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @But her emails!!:
    I’d argue that it’s likely going to happen, no matter how much money the Koch Brothers and others spend. Money doesn’t necessarily buy votes. The GOP and Trump are doomed. Mid-term elections are nearly always unkind towards the President’s party. That’s historically true. If the Republicans remain in power, then we’ll know the system can’t be trusted and the Repubs will have to be removed by other means. That will be their fault.

  248. 248.

    TenguPhule

    @Another Scott:

    Trump is getting weaker by the day, and the GOP in Congress knows it.

    Facts not in evidence. The GOP are in too deep as a party. The only path for them is through.

  249. 249.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @TenguPhule:

    Still, the official said Trump is determined to have a parade. “The president wants to do something that highlights the service and sacrifice of the military and have a unifying moment for the country,” the official said.

    Some stupid military parade is not going to unify the country. It will be as divisive and polarizing as anything else this administration has done. It will only add more gasoline onto the flames that he’s an authoritarian, especially after that whole “Dems are traitors for not clapping for me” bit. Trump is in for a rude awakening. Good. I want him to be eternally miserable.

  251. 251.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    I want him to be eternally miserable.

    I’m still willing to settle for his quick clean execution upon conviction of treason. I’d like to presume we’ll still have a functioning country at the end of this.

    But rolling tanks and live fire gear down DC streets is begging for trouble.

  252. 252.

    rikyrah

    Been reading the #WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe hashtag.
    A few of my favorites:

    Chelsea of the Dora Milaje. WAKANDA FOREVER!‏ @IfIWereMagneto

    #WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe
    Everything.
    I cried when it was announced. I cried at the visuals. I cried at the #SDCC Marvel booth.
    I cried in joy. Their blackness is mine. My blackness is theirs.

    Black Panther is a love letter, a celebration, and a victory march for the diaspora
    9:09 AM – 6 Feb 2018

  253. 253.

    rikyrah

    Rashida Parrish‏ @chefshida

    When my 9 year old son sat in the movie theater SHOOK seeing a black superhero on a big screen. And the emotion I feel as a life long superhero fan seeing the same thing at the same??damn??time????#WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe

  256. 256.

    rikyrah

    Reina Valentine‏ @ReinaVCosplay

    #WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe That I have lived long enough to see little black girls – dark skinned, natural hair, even bald– have these POWERFUL African women who are strong, beautiful & brilliant (in STEM at that) to look up to & buy toys & merch for. See themselves in ??

  257. 257.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Baud:
    I would hope so too since military officials want to tie it to Veteran’s Day:

    Trump officials had discussed Memorial Day on May 28, and July 4, but the Pentagon prefers Veterans Day on Nov. 11 — in part because it would coincide with 100th anniversary of the victorious end of World War I and therefore be less associated with the president and politics. “That’s what everyone is hoping,” said the military official.

    It is unclear what role Trump would play, whether he may perhaps serve as a grand marshal or observe the spectacle from a reviewing stand.

    The location is still being discussed, though Trump has said that he would like it to proceed along Pennsylvania Avenue, which links the Capitol and the White House. It would be the same route as Trump’s inaugural parade and pass by his family’s showpiece: Trump International Hotel.

    Additionally, DC officials (city I’m assuming) haven’t been contacted about this. I’m hoping this will be stuck in committee forever.

  258. 258.

    J R in WV

    @rikyrah:

    $100,000 taken from a safe. Garbage bags full of stolen prescription drugs dumped on the black market. A motorist robbed of $25,000. The crimes were not carried out by normal criminals, but by Baltimore police officers.

    So, actually, ordinary normal criminals, right?

  259. 259.

    rikyrah

    Wakandas Favorite DJ‏ @djbenhameen

    Can you imagine being a little brown child and seeing Black Panther, only to find out that the creators look like you? That the director has the thickest Oakland accent ever? That the production was filled with black people? #WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe

  260. 260.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: this is so asinine on so many levels, but what is so fucking infuriating about this to me is the level of vetting that refugees ALREADY go thru’. “Extreme vetting” already *exists*, damn it! This is just one more jacked-up card in that shameful xenophobic pack that Trump deals out: the wall, birtherism, ICE raids.

    Fuck these fucking fuckers.

  262. 262.

    Miss Bianca

    @germy: Yes, Ms. Klein, let’s see if we can get Elon Monk to fund US healthcare instead of space rockets.You go, girl.That should keep you occupied for a little while.

  263. 263.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I know BJers mean well but this assumption that white ==skilled is pretty insulting.
    Having lighter skin is a not a skill.

    I think that we are really on the same page here, but let me spell it out for everyone’s sake.

    Trump, Miller and company are racists. There are two prongs to their immigration agenda. One is the “merit” nonsense. They believe that white people are superior to nonwhite people, and also that nonwhites are a cultural threat, and will swamp America with their ineluctable nonwhite values if allowed to become the majority. Nonwhites are shithole people from shithole countries. White people are fabulous.

    Trump and his people presume that nonwhite people will not measure up. But they will also try to back this up with explicit exclusions of non-white people to make sure that they get the results that they want.

    The only insult is coming from Trump and his ilk. This has been clear since the beginning of his run for the presidency, and his open flirtation with European nationalists, the Klan, the VDARE crowd and other vermin. And of course it was foundational in his birtherism.

  264. 264.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    Trump is getting weaker by the day, and the GOP in Congress knows it.

    I am not sure what you are basing this on. Trump is not rolling up victory and victory, but he got his tax cuts, he is getting judges and other nominees in place (with a few failing to pass muster), and still has idiots in almost all cabinet posts. The GOP is still solidly behind him. Even conservative pundits wring their hands, but still stay mainly in the Trump camp.

  265. 265.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Brachiator:
    People hate his guts and the Dems have largely been crushing Republicans in speical elections. The GOP sticks by him at their peril.

  267. 267.

    Brachiator

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    People hate his guts and the Dems have largely been crushing Republicans in speical elections. The GOP sticks by him at their peril.

    The Koch Brothers recently announced that they were just warming up, looking forward to unleashing a wad of cash to spend on the mid terms. This of course makes the GOP leadership feel warm and happy. This may also make them over-confident, but even less likely to see any risk in standing by their man.

    The mid-terms will be an interesting test of Trump’s supposed strengths.

  268. 268.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I know BJers mean well but this assumption that white ==skilled is pretty insulting.
    Having lighter skin is a not a skill.

    I can not recall ever seeing this notion at BJ. What would a statement here look like that suggested such a thing?

  272. 272.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:
    I doubt the Democratic party wants to be beholden to plutocrats like the other party has become. I doubt Warren Buffett would be as interested in owning a party as the Koch Bros are.

  273. 273.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator: Some of it may be wishful thinking, but consider this:

    1) He still doesn’t have his Muslim ban
    2) He still doesn’t have his Wall
    3) He still hasn’t repealed Obamacare
    4) He still doesn’t have a Budget to pay for his policy proposals
    5) He still doesn’t have a Debt Ceiling
    6) He still doesn’t have an Infrastructure Bill
    7) Polls still show the possibility/probability of a Blue Wave in November
    8) Record numbers of Democratic candidates are running.
    9) Record (maybe?) numbers of Republicans are retiring from the House
    10) Mueller’s still investigating his associates and getting closer to Himself
    11) The Ever Upward stock market under Trump has been shown to be an illusion
    12) His specific promises about protecting manufacturing jobs in the midwest have been shown to be lies
    13) The Courts continue to throw roadblocks up against his “executive actions”
    14) US auto production is falling from the 2015-2016 peak, indicating weakness in that very important sector of the economy

    and so forth.

    Every day Trump gets weaker. Will he end up being weak enough to be removed from office before January 2021? Dunno. But he’s getting less and less able to implement his agenda.

    We have to continue to fight him every single day, though.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  275. 275.

    joel hanes

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    I can’t believe Saturn-Apollo got killed by that white elephant.

    IIRC, that’s not how it happened.

    The narrative as I remember it:
    Saturn was a do-it-now spend-what-it-takes design. It got us to the moon first.
    NASA went to Congress and said “We need to develop a next-generation heavy launch capability to replace Saturn, and here’s the plan and the budget it will take.
    Congress (especially Rs) recoiled in horror, said “Nothing like that budget is going to happen. Tell us a story with much smaller yearly outlays”
    NASA said “We can do this ugly kludge by strapping a bunch of stuff together, and use it for a manned LEO stopgap while we work on the real thing on a greatly reduced budget and greatly extended timetable. The kludge won’t go very high (nothing like geosynchronous) but yearly program costs are fairly low. We can sell it as the space bus, make frequent flights because the shuttle part is re-usable, and because the other parts are much less expensive than a Saturn. ”
    Congress said “Do it.”
    NASA said “Here’s the plan for the real thing, the next generation of heavy launch. Can we have the funding you promised?”
    Congress said “Here’s something less”
    Next year Congress said “We don’t want to fund your next gen heavy lift program. Why can’t we use the shuttle indefinitely?”
    Next year Congress said “Budget deficits! We’re trimming the NASA budget. Do more with less.”
    etc.

  277. 277.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Manyakitty: You don’t so much need a gigantic launcher to get to Venus; the hard challenge there if you want anything that actually explores the surface is just designing a probe that will survive there. The Soviets got pretty good at it, as far as it went–all the pictures anyone has from the surface of Venus are theirs–but none of their landers were even intended to survive more than a couple of hours on the surface.

  280. 280.

    Amir Khalid

    @Corner Stone:
    Warren Buffett is a Democrat. He has called for raising taxes on rich people like himself, and he has highlighted that his personal secretary, whose income is mostly salary, pays a higher income tax rate than he, whose income is all from investments.

Comments are closed.