Genocide from ISIS
More peace from the religion of peace: The Islamic State in Syria (ISIS) is exterminating the entire population of religious Yezidis.
Tag: freedom
British medical journal bans Israelis
Modern debate: The British medical journal, The Lancet, has banned Israeli academics from responding to any anti-Israeli papers that it publishes.
You’d think these Israelis were skeptics of climate change or something.
More about the Lancet’s antisemitic attack here.
Video of the Falcon 9 first stage doing a soft splashdown
Video taken from a chase plane during the July 14 Falcon 9 launch shows the first stage appearing from out of the low clouds, engines firing, vertical and ready for landing. The video, below the fold, also shows the stage slowing just before it hits the water, much like the test vehicles Grasshopper and Falcon 9R do.
Though SpaceX has already claimed their first stage had done this during the July 14 launch, this video proves it. All they need to do now to recover their first stage is to direct it to a land-based landing site.
Hat tip to Doug Messier and Parabolic Arc for this story.
» Read more
Another successful SpaceX commercial launch
The competition heats up: After a launch abort at T-12 seconds, the countdown was recycled and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at the very end of its launch window early Tuesday morning, putting an Asiasat communications satellite into orbit.
They still have to fire the thrusters to get the satellite to geosynchronous orbit.
SpaceX strikes deal with Texas to build spaceport
The competition heats up: Texas today announced an agreement with SpaceX, finalizing the company’s plans to build the world’s first commercial spaceport near Brownsville, Texas.
More here. The deal remains contingent on SpaceX getting all required permits from the federal government, but I doubt that will be a problem.
Hamas propaganda becomes Israeli comedy
At the start of the Gaza war four weeks ago Hamas released a propaganda music video calling for the destruction of Israel and for Palestinians to “exterminate the roaches.”
The problem was that the video was in Hebrew, not Arabic, and Israelis have found it hilarious and have made it a summer music sensation!
Surprisingly, though, Israelis found the tune of “Attack! Carry Out Terror Strikes” extremely catchy. Making it even more fun was the flowery Hebrew, dotted with nonexistent words sung in a heavy Arab accent, all of which led to the song’s becoming a summer hit. It has since spawned numerous covers and tributes.
Videos at the link. I especially like the Smurf version.
If you own a gun stay out of New Jersey
Fascism in New Jersey: A Philadelphia mom with a permit and legal gun makes the mistake of taking it into New Jersey and now faces 3 to 5 years in prison.
If Chris Christie wants to seriously run for president, he should be commuting every single one of these cases as they appear in the press.
The library that tried to ban conservative news researchers backs down.
Victory for free speech: The University of Arkansas has backed down from its attempt to ban a news research team because it was using that research to publish articles critical of Hillary Clinton.
The University of Arkansas library has backed down from its decision to block the Washington Free Beacon from accessing its special collections archives following a month-long public uproar. The library suspended the Free Beacon’s research privileges in June after the outlet published a story based on audiotapes from university archives that included Hillary Clinton discussing her 1975 defense of a child rapist.
The article clearly documents that the university was working on behalf of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, trying to impose the ban for political reasons.
News crew threatened with arrest if they didn’t turn over their footage
Free speech in modern America: A news crew filming was temporarily detained and threatened with arrest on July 24 for filming at a national park.
Watch the video below the fold. The arrogance and ignorance of the Constitution by these officers is appalling.
» Read more
Ukraine tensions disrupt more U.S.-Russian science
It appears that several U.S. scientists have been forced to cancel their appearances at science conferences in Russia because of the increased tension between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine.
The disruptions seem to be almost random and are not being applied across the board, as the story also notes that many other programs are not being affected at all.
Ebola patient arrives in U.S.
Doctors in charge of the specialized isolation unit for treating dangerous infectious diseases are confident that they will be able to treat the infected patients safely without the disease escaping.
I have complete confidence that a well run facility like this, with modern technology, could keep the disease isolated. The key words, however, are “well run.” I pray that this description still applies to Emory University Hospital.
Netanyahu tells off the Obama administration
In a phone conversation with the U.S. Israeli ambassador, Benjamin Netanyahu bluntly told the Obama administration to never “second-guess me again.”
The sources also say that Netanyahu said something quite similar to US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had tried and failed to broker a ceasefire that would have given Hamas everything it wanted.
See also this article, which notes how the Obama administration has not only antagonized Israel by its bumbling, it has also pissed off the moderate Arab world, which apparently does not support Hamas and has been backing Israel in its effort to neuter it.