Cygnus completes mission to ISS
Cygnus has successfully completed its cargo mission to ISS, burning up upon re-entry on Sunday.
The story includes images of the re-entry taken by astronauts on ISS.
Year: 2014
What’s next in Gaza if Hamas rejects peace
If Hamas continues to reject a proposed peace plan negotiated by Egypt, Israel is likely to return to Gaza with a much broader offensive.
A broader ground offensive can take multiple forms, and its scope can vary as well. On one end of the spectrum is a smaller operation that can last a few weeks, in which ground forces seize Gaza, deliver a powerful blow to Hamas’s military assets, and withdraw.
On the other end of the spectrum is an operation that would last at least about a year, in which ground units would spread out and go after all of Hamas’s guerrilla cells. Several intermediate options exist, too. Targets would include the remainder of Hamas’s weapons storage facilities, command and control sites, regional battalions, and its junior and senior leaders from its armed wing.
I hope Israel goes for the broadest most aggressive plan. The most humanitarian thing that could be done for the people in Gaza would be to remove Hamas and free them from its tyrannical, insane, and vicious rule.
The background to the Rick Perry indictment
A look at the historical background behind the absurd indictment this weekend.of Texas governor Rick Perry.
This indictment appears to be an example of the new Democratic Party modus operandi: Make up criminal charges against your opponents when you can’t beat them at the ballot box. They tried it in Alaska against Sarah Palin, they tried it in Wisconsin against Scott Walker and as many tea party activists there as possible, they tried it in Texas against Tom Delay, and back in the nineties they tried it against Newt Gingrich. In every case the charges were absurd and were eventually dropped or dismissed.
Now they are trying it against Rick Perry. If this is the best they can do it is no wonder no Democrat has won a state-wide election in Texas in years.
Puddles Pity Party – Dancing Queen
An evening pause:
I’ve posted a performance by Puddles the sad clown (Mike Geier) previously. This cover by him of the ABBA hit is truly original and makes you actually hear the real meaning of the words.
“Delete this email.”
Cover-up: New evidence shows that the top official in charge of the Obamacare website at least once ordered her subordinates to delete her email, a direct violation of the law.
The life story of a meteorite
A close analysis of a meteorite that landed on the roof of a California home have allowed scientists to traces its history from inception to Earth impact.
IRS tech claims Lerner’s hard drive wasn’t damaged.
Cover-up: An IRS computer technician has contradicted the sworn testimony of IRS officials, stating that Lois Lerner’s hard drive was not damaged prior to its destruction.
Aaron Signor, an IRS technician that looked at Lerner’s hard drive in June 2011, said in IRS court filings that he saw no damage to the drive before sending it off to another IRS technician, leading some in the media to suggest that the lost emails scandal is basically over. But Signor’s statement, issued in response to the Judicial Watch lawsuit, does not jibe with sworn congressional testimony.
This testimony is one of the reasons Judge Emmet Sullivan has ordered an independent inquiry into the IRS’s lost emails.
Visiting the memorial to a forgotten astronaut
Link here.
Cygnus leaves ISS
After a month docked to ISS the latest Cygnus cargo freighter has unberthed in preparation for a Sunday deorbit.
Six common sounds of the past that we no longer hear
Link here. I agree with the first commenter that another sound no longer heard and not included in the list is the sound of a dial-up modem getting online. There is also the sound of rotating the radio dial past many stations.
Judge orders independent investigation into lost IRS emails
Dissatisfied with the response from the IRS, the judge in a court suit has launched an independent inquiry into the loss of emails at the IRS.
Step by step, this cover-up is going to come apart.
Only some in the Muslim world condemn ISIS
The Islamic world’s reaction to the ISIS persecution of non-Muslims is decidedly mixed.
This sentence from the link sums the situation up nicely:
At the same time that Islamic religious leaders are mostly silent on the genocide, Islamic political leaders have spoken out.
It appears that Islamic political leaders have generally been forthright in condemning ISIS’s actions, something that we should take heart from. Islam’s religious leaders however have taken a more partisan stand, worrying that ISIS’s actions might harm Islam and thus condemning it for that reason. That Christians and other non-Muslims might be murdered however does not seem to be a concern for these Islamic religious leaders.