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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Sunday Evening Open Thread: SPACE FARCE (Again)

Sunday Evening Open Thread: SPACE FARCE (Again)

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From the Washington Post, “The ‘Star Trek’ vision was hopeful. Trump’s is the mirror image”:

… I thought of [Star Trek episode] “Mirror, Mirror” after seeing the Trump administration’s new Space Force logo, which the president tweeted out Friday with a characteristically awkward nod to our “Great Military Leaders” of the “Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military!” (caps and punctuation his). Within minutes, the logo was lampooned widely for appearing to rip off the logo for Starfleet Command from “Star Trek.” Indeed, with the two logos placed side by side, the resemblance is so remarkable that I had to wonder whether Melania Trump was part of the design committee…

This somewhat comical appropriation of “Star Trek” imagery carries a certain irony. The universe of “Star Trek” has always provided a hopeful, near-utopian vision for humanity, where we have finally learned to set aside things like racial prejudice and gender inequality, and we all work together toward a common purpose and quest. Money is a thing of the past because no one wants for any material need, and we have united much of the galaxy in a peaceful assembly of sovereign worlds.

Contrast that for a moment with the current administration’s values and practices: racial resentments and fear stoked for cynical political purposes, the wealthy made even more obscenely so through grift and political influence, coarse and bullying behavior masquerading as diplomacy, to name but a few. Even the notion of a “Space Force” seems patently absurd coming from an administration where science is mocked and disregarded…

They’re deliberately doing a half-arsed job because they know it’s nothing but ooh!shiny! distraction for an elderly kleptocrat — and they want the rest of us to know that they know it. Ma Bell’s bastard offspring: We don’t care. We don’t have to.

Last week’s Space Farce PR Disaster, ICYMI:

Cold truth:

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  3. 3.

    Mike in NC

    It would only be appropriate that wingnut Tim “Buzz Lightyear” Allen be given the honorary title of Space Marshall.

  4. 4.

    germy

    Space Force didn’t copy Star Trek, Star Trek copied the Air Force space Force logo from 1961.

    Is this true?  I’m seeing it on RW sites like brightfart.

  6. 6.

    Another Scott

    It seems like the Pentagon is slow-walking this new command (as well they should since we are part of various treaties about not militarizing space).

    Military.com:

    The United States Space Force has only one member so far, but it appears the service utility uniform is already well under development.

    The official Twitter account of the month-old military service posted a teaser photograph Friday night appearing to show a variant of the Operational Camouflage Pattern used by the Army and Air Force.

    […]

    The uniform depicts four-star rank, indicating that the uniform belongs to Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, the first commander of U.S. Space Force. It also has the Command Space Operations badge embroidered above the service nametape.

    […]

    Many questions remain. Space Force has yet to announce a rank structure, a full system of uniforms or even what to call members of the new service. In a Thursday briefing, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Raymond was developing a plan regarding every detail.

    “We’ve got some steps to go through,” he said. “General Raymond’s team has a — a massive, incredibly well thought out and planned implementation process for … uniforms, pay, songs, that they need to go through to get a Space Force … I don’t know the timeline on it but we can probably get you guys an update on some Space Force-related issues in the near future.”

    As long as Donnie is happy…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    Space Force didn’t copy Star Trek, Star Trek copied the Air Force space Force logo from 1961.

    There was a space force in 1961?

  9. 9.

    Hunter Gathers

    Space.
    The Final Frontier.
    These are the voyages of the starship Covfefe.
    It’s mission: To destroy strange new worlds.
    To seek out new life and exploit it.
    To boldly grab ’em by the pussy where no pussy has been grabbed before.

  12. 12.

    mrmoshpotato

    1. Let all the Trump trash go fight Predator and all the xenomorphs.
    2. Zergnet is being a pile of shit about Kobe.

    ETA – In space, we will still know they’re Trump trash, but there’s no plan for space mail, so be stupid enough to forget to vote before launch.

  13. 13.

    Martin

    @germy: Sort of. The Air Force Space Command logo looked very similar to the new logo, but the Air Force Space Command was created in 1982.

    AFSC handles national security related launches – spy satellites and such.

    So, it’s not a rip-off of the Federation logo, it’s a direct migration from the AFSC logo, which itself was probably a rip-off of the Federation logo.

  21. 21.

    Martin

    @geg6: So, there have pretty much always been two space division in the US. NASA handled civilian matters and some portion of the Air Force handled military matters – such as spy satellites, and such.

    NASA and the military space agencies are often at odds – military demands multiple launch platforms for redundancy and NASA can’t afford to prop up two competing launch platforms.

    Space Command is a promotion of the Air Force division, possibly incorporating the Army space operations? Who knows. So NASA isn’t part of the pedigree, the Air Force is. Here’s their previous logo. 

    Clearly the new logo is derived from that. But that division only dates back to 1982 – it doesn’t predate Star Trek as is being claimed.

  23. 23.

    Ohio Mom

    Off this specific  topic but still on the topic of Dump, I just read he really is cutting SS and Medicare in next year’s budget.

    I know the saying is “It is not necessary to hope in order to persevere,” but I am so tired of this.

  25. 25.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: Jonathan Hoffman at the Pentagon had to be trolling when he said that.  Right?  Right??

    On the other hand, this is the Air Force after all…  >;-p

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  26. 26.

    hells littlest angel

    @germy:  The United Federation of planets won’t be founded until 2161, so obviously, they will be stealing Trump’s design.

  32. 32.

    West of the Rockies

    Using a CT Scan to peer into Trump’s brain, the astonished space physician murmured in wonder:  “My, God!  It’s full of shit.”

    End transmission.

  34. 34.

    Daoud bin Daoud

    The Air Force is doing its damnedest to troll The Malignant Mango Manbaby & His Minions. May the USAF live long and prosper!

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    Some Democrat should campaign on "Don't you just want this shit to be over with? Don't you want to wake up in the morning and not wonder, 'What the hell is that dumb fuck gonna say today?'" Or "If elected, I will never tweet."— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) January 26, 2020

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ohio Mom: Off this specific topic but still on the topic of Dump, I just read he really is cutting SS and Medicare in next year’s budget.

    His handlers would like him to propose those cuts, because they always do, and he might not be around to do it next year.  But because it is an election year, the chances Trump will actually cooperate with those handlers are not large, IMO.

    And if he does, the Democrats in the House will tell him to get bent — and then use his own words in election ads.  So, yeah, it’s depressing, but not liable to amount to much this year.

  43. 43.

    Ohio Mom

    Thanks for that more balanced and hopeful view, Anne Laurie.

    It’s been a hell of a week for me personally. I would like things in this country not to get any worse before I can regroup.

    Of all the things Trump has done, the Space Force is comic relief.

  46. 46.

    lamh36

    GRAMMYS tonight at the Staples Center.

    Kinda need the distraction.

    I’m rooting for Lizzo for all the things!

  47. 47.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Baud: It’s definitely part of it. But there’s more to restoring the soul of America than not obnoxiously tweeting.

  50. 50.

    zhena gogolia

    I pray to God that Sanders is not the nominee. But Trump has gotten to the point that — yes, if Sanders is the nominee I will work to elect him.

  53. 53.

    Amir Khalid

    A “Space Force” more likely modelled on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers than on Starfleet. Forest camouflage uniforms. A logo copied off Star Trek. This whole business just keeps on getting goofier.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: I haven’t seen anyone here today talking about Adam Schiff on MTP.

    The Toad: “Was what the president said about you today a threat?”

    Adam Schiff: “It was intended as one.”

  62. 62.

    Baud

    Trump Tied Ukraine Aid to Inquiries He Sought, Bolton Book Says

    NYT > Top Stories / by Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt / now

    Drafts of the book outline the potential testimony of the former national security adviser if he were called as a witness in the president’s impeachment trial

  67. 67.

    Llelldorin

    Honestly, a lot of this looks like the military is doing the very minimum necessary so it’ll be easy to turn this back into AFSPC when a sane president takes over again. Surplus Air Force camouflage, a logo that’s a trivial reworking of the AFSPC one, and so on.

  70. 70.

    bjacques

    A lot of AFSC officers were posted to NASA-JSC when I was there, in the late ’80s, at the tail end of military launches—spy satellites, maybe some SDI stuff—but were reassigned in the early ‘90s. One poor guy made the mistake of saying he didn’t plan to re-enlist, so they sent him to Alaska.

     

    I only recently found out Harry Harrison was American, not British, as I’d always assumed, for posting Bill, The Galactic Hero on the space battle cruiser SS Christine Keeler.

     

    DEATH TO CHINGERS!!

  71. 71.

    HinTN

    This is a wise choice in the future when Space Force troops are deployed to Afghanistan

    As they will most assuredly be.

  74. 74.

    Redshift

    @Llelldorin:

    Honestly, a lot of this looks like the military is doing the very minimum necessary so it’ll be easy to turn this back into AFSPC when a sane president takes over again. Surplus Air Force camouflage, a logo that’s a trivial reworking of the AFSPC one, and so on. 

    That’s been my impression. The Air Force has long had a Space Command, and Trump hasn’t articulated anything this force would do differently (in part because he knows nothing about how the military works and refuses to learn.) Everyone can see it’s just a random throwaway live at a rally that lodged in his brain, and all he wants is to brag about creating a new branch of the military.

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The SS Bolton has sprung a leak.

    Maggie Haberman @ maggieNYT
    SCOOP: Bolton book draft, circulated to associates and sent to WH for review process, describes a convo w POTUS where he says he doesn’t want to release withheld aid till Ukraine turned over material related to investigations @nytmike and me

    emptywheel @ emptywheel
    Bolton may have far less courage than Marie Yovanovitch, Fiona Hill, or Alex Vindman, but he did learn the art of bureaucratic murder from Dick Cheney.

  76. 76.

    Sloane Ranger

    I don’t get it. The NY Times publishes eye witness evidence that the President of the United States hated Ukraine and held up aid for an investigation of a political rival and CNN interrupts its normal schedule to have a special breaking news programme on the death of a basketball player, said and tragic though that death is?

  78. 78.

    Gvg

    @Sloane Ranger: well you have to admit, it’s not NEW news that Trump held up the Ukraine aid. I think the evidence is considered conclusive by most journalists and has been for at least a month. It’s been extensively covered to the point that it is olds not news.

  83. 83.

    Gin & Tonic

    @chris: If Wilmer is the nominee, neither my efforts nor my vote will matter a whit, because Trump will get over 400 EV’s.

  84. 84.

    chris

    @Gin & Tonic: Eh, I keep forgetting about your quaint Electoral College. I don’t want Wilmer for all kinds of reasons but if it comes to that I really hope you’re wrong.

  85. 85.

    Duane

    @chris: G & T could be wrong about Sanders but I doubt it. Too much risk he’ll  blow it and voters will decide, “better the kook I know.”

  86. 86.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gin & Tonic: Yup. The amount of self-indulgence and delusion among Dem primary voters (at least according to polls) is continuously shocking to me

  91. 91.

    trnc

    If you steal the Star Trek IP, is it eminent domain or free Enterprise?

    And to think we are ostensibly in a major trade war with China over theft of intellectual property.

  92. 92.

    Bill Arnold

    @Baud:

    Can I suggest Space Oddity?

    Iain M. Banks, “State of the Art” novella, 1989, used that in a little joke/prank by the General Contact Unit Arbitrary:

    Also while I’d been away, the ship had sent a request on a postcard to the BBC’s World Service, asking for ‘Mr David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” for the good ship Arbitrary and all who sail in her.’ (This from a machine that could have swamped Earth’s entire electro-magnetic spectrum with whatever the hell it wanted from somewhere beyond Betelgeuse.) It didn’t get the request played. The ship thought this was hilarious.

    BTW, it’s a “spermatozoon” in the logo, not “sperm”. The elongated head is suggestive…

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