“Obama’s 3-Part Benghazi strategy: Lie, lie, and lie again.”
I haven’t posted much on Benghazi, but even a nonchalant read of the subject reveals the same pattern of blatant lies from the Obama administration as we saw with his promise that “If you like your healthplan you can keep it.” Why anyone with any intelligence trusts anything this administration says is beyond me.
Theft by government: Iowa City police seized $48K in cash from a Minnesota couple during a traffic stop in March and now refuse to return it.
The publication says Kearnice C. Overton, of St. Paul, was pulled over March 16 for speeding. Overtonโs kids were in the car at the time. Police say a K-9 signal gave them the authority to search the car, the Press-Citizen reports. So they did, found the $48,000 in cash, and seized it.
Overton says he got the money from his wife, Tiffani D.S. Barber, to buy some property in Iowa; he drove down there, the deal fell through so he was on his way home. Barber and Overton filed a petition stating the money was wrongly seized โ no charges were filed, Overton was not arrested, and he claims it wasnโt illegally earned โ and they want it back, the Press-Citizen reports. [emphasis mine]
So, police can take your money, even if you broke no law, and keep it. A good deal, especially since there is no one around to arrest them for theft.
The competition heats up: Boeing and Bigelow show off their respective manned capsule and space station module. More here.
The images of Bigelow’s mock-up of its BA-330 space module are what is especially interesting, considering that we have seen similar mock-ups already of the interior of Boeing’s CST-100 capsule.
For the first time astronomers think they have measured the rotation rate of an exoplanet, thus determining the length of its day.
Ignas Snellen and his colleagues at Leiden University in the Netherlands report in Nature1 that a gaseous planet orbiting the star ฮฒ Pictoris rotates at 25 kilometres per second at its equator โ faster than any planet in the Solar System and about 50 times faster than Earth. A day on the planet, called ฮฒ Pictoris b, lasts just over eight hours, even though the planet has a diameter more than 16 times that of Earth’s and carries more than 3,000 times Earth’s heft.
This result falls under my category of “the uncertainty of science.” Though quite cool, and based on real data, the uncertainties are great. Don’t bet the house that this result will stand up to closer observations in the future.
Engineers commanded Curiosity to drill its third drill hole on Tuesday on what looks like an outcrop of sandstone in Gale Crater.
This hole is shallow and is merely a test to see if a deeper full bore would be worthwhile geological.
That Curiosity has only drilled three holes, and is now only doing a test bore first is partly because engineers fear that using the drill too much will cause a short circuit that will disable the rover entirely. This fear is because of a design flaw in the construction of the rover and the drill.
A gigantic forest fire threatens Russia’s new spaceport under construction in Vostochny.
[Spaceport construction chief Konstantin] Chmarov reportedly characterized the fire-fighting effort in the region as “chaos.” Fueled by hot weather and strong winds, the fire approached the airport in Svobodny and was also moving toward Vostochny. In the meantime, satellite images showed heavy smoke blanketing the future space center.
The Putin government has been giving the completion of this spaceport a high priority. Having it burn down before completion is not what they want.
SpaceX has won an injunction from a federal judge, preventing ULA from buying any further Russian engines.
Federal Claims Court Judge Susan Braden said her preliminary injunction was warranted because of the possibility that United Launch Alliance’s purchase of Russian-made engines might run afoul of the sanctions. NBC News’ past coverage of the issue was cited in Braden’s ruling.
Wednesday’s injunction prohibits any future purchases or payments by the Air Force or United Launch Alliance to NPO Energomash, unless and until the Treasury Department or the Commerce Department determines that the deal doesn’t run counter to the U.S. sanctions against Russian officials. Braden stressed that her ruling does not affect previous payments to the Russians, or purchase orders that have already been placed. United Launch Alliance says it already has some of the engines on hand.
This injunction is not directed specifically at the Air Force’s bulk buy from ULA, nor does it address the cartel-like nature of the ULA monopoly for Air Force launches that SpaceX is challenging. However, it does put a serious crimp, if temporary, on the use of Lockheed Martin’s Atlas 5 rocket, which depends on the engine for all its launches. Though the company has engines in stock, they will quickly run out with no way to immediately replace them.
The competition heats up: Thaicom has chosen Orbital Sciences to build its next major communications satellite and SpaceX to launch it.
Thaicom used a Falcon 9 in January to launch its Thaicom 6 satellite, also built by Orbital Sciences. Apparently they were very satisfied with both companies.
I will be making a special appearance on the Space Show this coming Tuesday, May 6, at 7 pm (Pacific) to discuss at length how the political friction between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine might impact the situation at ISS.
Should be quite fun. Feel free to tune in and to call in questions.
Orbital Sciences is considering using ATK’s solid rocket motors to replace the refurbished Russian engines in the first stage of its Antares rocket.
This helps explain the merger between the two companies, as it gives Orbital control over the equipment it needs to keep Antares viable. More important, it also could make it entirely American made, which will be attractive to both Congress and many U.S. commercial satellite companies.
Fascists: Senate Democrats plan a vote to amend the First Amendment to curtail criticism.
Think of the big issues facing the American public. We now routinely borrow about 40 cents on the dollar for our federal budget, our entitlement programs are heading for a fiscal collapse in the hundreds of trillions of dollars, and our economy has stagnated through nearly five years of Democratic-run economic policy in the โrecovery.โ What do Senate Democrats plan to do about this? Make it harder for us to complain about it.
The text of the amendment specifically gives Congress the power to limit the right of citizens to support the candidates of their choice. Who thinks they won’t abuse that power, should they get it?
It’s just another government land grab, but this time in California, not Nevada.
