Tag: oppression

Pushback: Judge rules lawsuit from professor suspended for refusing to favor black students can proceed

12:10 pm

King's dream banned at UCLA
King’s dream of equal treatment for all
called racist at UCLA

Don’t comply: The lawsuit of Gordon Klein, a professor at UCLA for 39 years who was suspended for three weeks in June of 2021 because he refused to favor black students in grading or exempt them from final exams, will proceed following a favorable ruling by a Los Angeles county judge.

On March 30, 2022, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Jay Ford III ruled against UCLA when it attempted to have Klein’s lawsuit dismissed. Ford ruled that Klein provided sufficient evidence to “support judgment in his favor” for several of his claims. The lawsuit is scheduled for a jury trial in April 2023.

I covered Klein’s story in a blacklist column in September ’21, describing how Klein was not only suspended but was also subjected to physical threats requiring a police presence at his home.

I also noted that Klein’s lawsuit, available to read here [pdf], specifically targets not just UCLA but “…the individual administrators at the Anderson School personally liable for their wrongful and slanderous actions.” With the lawsuit now proceeding those individuals, specifically Antonio Bernardo, the Dean of the Anderson School, and the entire 26-member Board of Regents of the University of California, are facing punishment for their slanders and bigoted policies.

As always, I strongly recommend my readers spend the time to read Klein’s complaint. Rather than depend on my shortened description, read the whole thing, in all its gory details. You will no longer look at modern academia in the same way. Once an oasis for open discussion, equal treatment, and intellectual thought, established academia has now become a haven for bigotry and hate, focused specifically in destroying anyone who does not support giving minorities favored treatment.

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Today’s blacklisted American: The media knives are now out for Elon Musk

9:22 am

Musk: a target of the leftist press
Musk now a target of the leftist press.

They’re coming for you next: Elon Musk’s effort to buy purchase of Twitter to end the ability of its leftist management and employees to censor opinions they don’t like has apparently activated this same blacklisting effort against Musk and his companies across many media fronts, based on two stories yesterday.

First we have this story in a local Florida newspaper, describing a handful of letters of complaint to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) about SpaceX’s proposal to build an industrial wastewater treatment facility on its leased facility on Cape Canaveral.

The draft proposal was first filed back on February 2, 2022. It requests permission from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to create a facility that would “discharge up to 3,000 gallons per day of non-process potable water to a stormwater management system that, under specific conditions, discharges to a ditch leading to the Indian River Lagoon.”

After notice of the draft proposal was published in Hometown News Brevard, it drew the attention of Titusville residents.

The article then proceeds to give us a detailed description of each complaint letter sent to FDEP, all five. Based on the similar language in all the letters, they appear to be part of a quickly organized campaign by local environmentalists to block any expansion of SpaceX’s Florida operations. Because of these letters, FDEP has been forced to hold a public meeting today to discuss SpaceX’s proposal.

Next, we have this story from Business Insider: » Read more

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Today’s blacklisted American: Rhode Island Democrats propose oppressing everyone who hasn’t gotten COVID shots

1:47 pm

Key language in Democrats' oppressive law
Click for higher resolution screen capture.

Blacklists are back and the Democrats have got ’em: Proposed legislation by the Democrats who control Rhode Island’s government will both double the state income tax as well as impose a monthly $50 fine on anyone who has not yet gotten COVID shots.

Furthermore, employers will be subject to a monthly fine of $5,000 if they are found to be harboring any employees lacking shots.
» Read more

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Pushback: Baseball scout sues over COVID shot mandate that got him fired

12:26 pm

1964 Civil Rights Act arbitrarily voided by the Washington Nationals
1964 Civil Rights Act: Arbitrarily voided by the Washington Nationals

Don’t comply: Bernard “Benny” Gallo, a major league baseball scout for the Washington Nationals has sued the baseball team for firing him when he refused for religious reasons to get COVID shots.

Gallo is being represented by the Thomas More Society, which has taken on a number of these cases and won. From the press release:

Serving his employers faithfully through the first 18 months of the pandemic, Gallo was terminated in late August 2021 after being denied a religious exemption by the baseball club. Gallo is seeking to have his firing reversed, his employment reinstated, backpay awarded, and restitution for the malicious deprivation of his rights. When dismissed by the Nationals, Gallo not only lost his livelihood and his life’s passion of working as a baseball scout, but also his elected position as Vice President of the Southern California Scouts Association, a distinction awarded him by his industry peers.

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Charles LiMandri, partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, explained that the Nationals instituted a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy on August 12, 2021. The mandate required them to have undergone vaccination by August 26. LiMandri pointed out that the Nationals’ team baseball players were not subject to this policy. MLB union members were encouraged to obtain COVID-19 vaccination, but not subject to the mandate.

“The dismissal of Mr. Gallo and the denial of his request for a religious exemption is discriminatory and unlawful,” detailed LiMandri. “The Nationals continued to employ others – including another scout – who requested and received similar accommodations for medical reasons.”

» Read more

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Two space companies fight in the Ukraine war

10:31 am

Two stories yesterday illustrate how Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine has forced two different space companies, one American and the other Ukrainian, to adapt and change in order to help the Ukraine.

First, SpaceX once again demonstrated its ability to adapt, revise, and even redesign its products with lightning speed, based on unexpected facts on the ground.

After SpaceX sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February in an apparent effort to help Ukraine maintain its internet connection amid war with Russia, SpaceX founder Elon Musk claimed that Russia had jammed Starlink terminals in the country for hours at a time. After a software update, Starlink was operating normally, said Musk, who added on March 25 that the constellation had “resisted all hacking & jamming attempts” in Ukraine.

The speed in which SpaceX overcame Russia’s jamming was so fast that the American military was gob-smacked.

“From an EW technologist perspective, that is fantastic. That paradigm and how they did that is kind of eyewatering to me,” said Dave Tremper, director of electronic warfare for the Pentagon’s acquisition office. “The way that Starlink was able to upgrade when a threat showed up, we need to be able to have that ability. We have to be able to change our electromagnetic posture, to be able to change very dynamically what we’re trying to do without losing capability along the way.”

In other words, the Pentagon is incapable at present of doing the same thing, and now realizes it should be. The real lesson this government entity should take from this however is to stop trying to build anything at all. Hire the private sector. Let it do the work. Competing privately owned companies can always beat the government at this game. Always.

The second story involves the Ukrainian company Lunar Research Service, which until the war had used its 3D-printing technology to build components for a number of space missions, including lunar rovers. That changed immediately with the invasion.

The start-up was just about to ship its first batch of nanosatellites to their Kickstarter backers, but priorities changed within days, the company’s chief technology officer Dmytro Khmara told Space.com in an email. Instead of going to the customers, the nanosatellites were taken apart and the components handed over to the military.

Since then the company has reprogrammed its 3D printers to build parts for the Ukrainian military, including gun parts.

Though company officials say they hope to return to building components for space, circumstances might not allow it. As long as the war grinds on, the company’s profits will be found in helping the Ukriane’s military.

6 comments

Today’s blacklisted American: Assistant principal harassed and forced to resign for rejecting school’s insistence that all whites are racists

12:28 pm

A view slide from the school's bigoted training
A view slide from the school’s bigoted training, annotated to
illustrate the program’s goals.

“Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” When Emily Mais, assistant principal at Agnor-Hurt Elementary School in Virginia strongly objected to training materials being used by the Albemarle County school district that preached that only whites could be racists, and in fact all were, she found herself endlessly harassed, forced to make numerous public apologies, and eventually was forced to resign in the face of numerous insults and threats against her.

She has now enlisted the Alliance Defending Freedom to sue the Albemarle County School Board. From the first link above:
» Read more

14 comments

Pushback: College that demanded professor use fake pronouns loses lawsuit, must pay him $400K

1:14 pm

A victory for free speech
A victory for free speech

Don’t comply: When in 2018 the public college Shawnee State University in Ohio tried to force philosophy professor Nicholas Meriwether to use a student’s preferred female pronouns, even though the student was a biological male, Meriwether refused.

The school then performed “a formal investigation” which declared that Meriwether was creating “a hostile environment” for the student, simply because Meriwether refused to let that student force him to say things he disagreed with.

Shawnee State officials then placed a written warning in the professor’s file, demanding he change the way he addresses transgender students to avoid being fired or suspended without pay.

Rather than bow, Meriwether contacted the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a free speech law firm focused on protecting the first amendment rights of Americans. They sued, and have now won a big victory for freedom of speech.
» Read more

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Biden administration vows to cease anti-satellite tests

9:35 am

The Biden administration yesterday announced that it is prohibiting the military from conducting any further anti-satellite tests that would result in the destruction of an orbiting target satellite.

The ban is focused entirely on preventing further space junk produced by such tests.

It … is extremely limited in scope to testing of direct ascent destructive ASAT missiles — a formulation that leaves open the possibility of using such ASATs in conflict, not to mention testing and use of a host of other types of both destructive (think directed energy) weapons and those such as jammers that create temporary disruptions to functionality.

The goal appears to be to encourage other nations, such as China and Russia, to agree to their own bans. Considering the present state of world tensions, I think that is a pie-in-the-sky expectation. Both Russia and China have made it clear they are pursuing this space military capability aggressively. Neither has indicated the slightest interest in backing off.

The result? The U.S. under our bankrupt establishment leadership has once again unilaterally weakened its capabilities to protect itself, even as other hostile powers work to become stronger. And I say “once again” because this has been the pattern from Washington and Europe now for five decades. Except for outsider Trump, all western leaders have repeatedly acted as if they lived in a fantasy world of unicorns and rainbows. Consider for example Europe’s decision in the past decade to rely on Russia energy. They now find themselves at Russia’s aggressive mercy.

This decision is another example of this pie-in-the-sky approach. Since every previous American anti-satellite test had aimed at satellites already about to burn up in the atmosphere, those tests produced no space junk. Thus, banning the military’s ability to conduct such tests has done nothing to reduce future junk. All it has done is tied the U.S.’s hands, under a fantasy that acting nice will somehow get the Russians and Chinese to do the same.

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Pushback: Threatened with blacklisting, a conservative student fought back so hard she is now in charge

12:20 pm

Olivia Gallegos
Gallegos is also participating in Wichita State’s
first Collegiate Leadership Competition

Don’t comply! In February I wrote a pushback story about Olivia Gallegos, an Hispanic conservative at Wichita State University who, when denied nomination as a candidate for the student government for daring to nominate a conservative for recognition, not only refused to take a racial sensitivity class, put together a write-in campaign and won election to the student government anyway.

Her victory also included getting the Wichita student supreme court to overturn the decision of the student government to deny her conservative student club from getting official status at the college.

It appears Gallegos did not take even these victories lying down. She followed them up by running for president of that student government, and then winning that election on April 6th. The election also saw the defeat of one of the main accusers against Gallegos who had led the charge to block the conservative student club.

As a result, Gallegos is now the leader of the student government that only six months earlier had been dedicated to censoring and blacklisting conservatives.

Gallegos did not campaign and win as a conservative, however, but as someone dedicated to “a four-point platform of transparency, financial literacy, mental health and safety.” As she said during a public town hall meeting during the campaign:
» Read more

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The Ukraine War: Little change in the past week

5:30 pm

The Ukraine War as of April 7, 2022
The Ukraine War as of April 7, 2022. Click for full map.

Since my last weekly report on the Ukraine War, so little has changed that I am not bothering posting a new map. The one to the right is from April 7th, and other than some minor changes, including the completion of Russia’s full withdrawal from the entire northern regions, the front line in the east remains essentially the same. The most recent map from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) can be found here for comparison. In one place Russia appears to have pushed forward, while in another it has pulled back. Meanwhile, ISW reports increased Ukrainian resistance efforts in one large area.

Overall, the Russians appear bogged down, while the Ukrainians show renewed military strength.

The Institute today also published its weekly summary of the entire war situation. The most important takeaway is that it appears all negotiations between the two nations have collapsed.

Ukraine and Russia are both unlikely to advance ceasefire negotiations until the ongoing Russian campaign in eastern Ukraine develops further. The Kremlin likely seeks to capture at minimum the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, while Kyiv seeks to further degrade the Russian military and potentially conduct major counteroffensives.

This fact suggests strongly to me that the Ukraine has concluded its military situation is excellent, and that negotiations serve it no purpose. While Russia has been focusing its invasion effort entirely in the east in the hope it might make more gains that way, it has also made very little progress. While it continues to slowly take control of Mariupol street-by-street, the city has remained unconquered now many weeks longer than expected. This failure of Russia to quickly take the city not only ties up a large part of their military, it sows morale issues in its own army while the Ukraine resistance is enlivened by it.

The next few weeks will reveal whether Russia will be able to harness the necessary forces to make further gains in the east, or whether the Ukraine will begin to retake territory back from Russia. Right now it is difficult to predict which way the war will go.

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TASS: China has suspended science partnerships with Russia

9:59 am

According to Alexander Sergeev, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chinese scientists have also suspended all cooperation with Russia’s Academy of Sciences, as have all western nations due to its invasion of the Ukraine.

“If we talk about the southern or eastern directions, unfortunately, I can say directly that our Chinese scientific colleagues have also pressed the pause [button], and over the past month we have not been able to enter into serious discussions, despite the fact that we had excellent cooperation along with regular communication,” Sergeev said.

It is impossible to say at this point whether the actions of these Chinese scientists to refuse cooperation with Russia is based on a decision of the Chinese government, or simply reflects the decision of the scientists themselves. I would suspect the former, but if so it is quite surprising, as China’s communist government has made no such announcement. It could also be that China has decided it does not want to appear a party to Russia’s invasion in any way, but also does not want to make that decision public. Thus, it might have told its scientists to pause all work, but do this quietly.

Let me add that this statement by Sergeev could also be simply disinformation, demanded on him by Putin’s government. While Russian scientists tend to deal straight with other scientists, the situation is unique. For example, Dmitry Rogozin today claimed in TASS that the private space company Axiom owes Russia about $25 million for the nearly year-long flight of Mark Vande Hei to ISS. The problem is that this is utterly wrong. Axiom had nothing to do with Vande Hei’s flight. He was a NASA astronaut. Rogozin’s statement however is aimed at the Russian public — which has limited resources to question his statements — and is designed to slander both NASA and the private companies that now compete with Roscosmos.

If Rogozin can so nonchalantly issue false statements like this for propaganda reasons, so can Sergeev.

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Today’s blacklisted American: Twitter blocks Libs of Tik Tok for the crime of reposting actual leftist statements

11:44 am

Twitter: Home for censorship
Twitter: Home for censorship.

The new dark age of silencing: Twitter yesterday suspended for twelve hours the account of “Libs of Tik Tok,” preventing the anonymous woman who runs it from continuing to post actual Tik Tok rants by leftists as well as the public school teachers who insist on promoting sexual perversion to children (but then I repeat myself).

The account was suspended for “hateful conduct,” which is a broad and vague category used by Twitter to suspend accounts that violate a policy that is equally broad and vague.

The policy says that “You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”

So what specifically was Libs of Tik Tok’s “hateful conduct?” We do not know, since Twitter as usual did not provide any specific information. However, Libs of Tik Tok has been in the forefront of making the public especially aware of the large number of very sick and dangerous people who now teach in the public schools. And she does this with very little commentary. Instead, she simply digs about in Tik Tok and finds their own rants, and simply republishes them on Twitter. As they tend to be ugly hateful screes that actually promote the idea of perverting young children without the knowledge of their parents, no commentary is needed. They condemn themselves. More important, their own words have done much to energize parents nationwide to retake school boards and force such evil people from the schools.

If you don’t believe me just take a look at the site. Right now there are several such rants from leftist teachers, insisting that parents should have no say in what the schools teach their young children.

Of course, the leftists who run Twitter cannot have this, since they are allied with these corrupt teachers. Too much free speech reveals their agenda, and that is a threat. So yesterday Libs of Tik Tok was shut down temporarily, though you can bet this is only a shot across the bow. As Libs of Tik Tok has previous written:
» Read more

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SpaceX goes full speed ahead on construction of Starship launchpad in Florida

9:17 am

Capitalism in space: Faced with regulatory delays caused by the Biden administration that are preventing further Starship launches from Boca Chica, SpaceX has accelerated construction of a new Starship launchpad at its facility in Florida.

Compared to SpaceX’s Starbase tower assembly [in Boca Chica], Florida Starship work appears to be proceeding at a similar pace. SpaceX began assembling the fourth Florida tower section about 30 days after starting the first, while Starbase took about 25 days to reach the same point. However, SpaceX does appear to be taking a slightly different approach for Pad 39A. On top of tower section assembly, SpaceX is constructing an extra four sets of the small concrete foundations and steel frames each tower section is assembled on, implying that Starship’s Florida launch tower could be almost entirely prefabricated before SpaceX begins to combine those sections.

Meanwhile, Boca Chica remains blocked. While the FAA says it will issue approval of its environment reassessment by the end of this month, SpaceX would be foolish to believe this. It has become very clear that the Biden administration has so far allowed the federal bureaucracy free rein to obstruct SpaceX. For the company to think things will suddenly change now is to be living a fantasy. It must move forward to satisfy its investors.

Worsening the situation in Texas was the decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to suspend the permit process on a request by SpaceX to expand its Boca Chica facility. It appears SpaceX failed to provide the Corps some required information, possibility because the company sees no reason now to complete this expansion if the Biden administration is going to ban Starship launches from Texas.

Faced with this political situation, Texas governor Greg Abbott yesterday claimed he is fighting the stonewalling by the Biden administration, but provide no specifics:

“What I am going to do if Biden interferes with the ability of SpaceX to launch from Boca Chica; I am going to be working every step of the way to make sure that they are going to be able to launch from Boca Chica. We heard the vision from Mr. Patel himself about what they are working on and our job is to make sure they are able to achieve their vision. And I have worked with Elon Musk very closely with regard to Tesla and the Giga factory in Austin, Texas. And we will be working with him very closely, every step of the way in Boca Chica for the future of SpaceX. We want that future and that vision to come from Boca Chica, from Brownsville, Texas.”

Allow me to translate this political blather into plain English: “I can’t or won’t do anything, but I am now going to make a superficial claim of action so my Texas constituents won’t get angry at me.”

It appears more and more that the first orbital test flight of Starship will take place in Florida, not Texas. And if so, it will be delayed for at least another six months because of this government interference.

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Europe removes its science instruments from future Russian lunar missions

8:43 am

The Europe Space Agency (ESA) yesterday announced that because of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine it will no longer fly any science instruments on three upcoming Russian unmanned lunar probes.

ESA will discontinue cooperative activities with Russia on Luna-25, -26 and -27. As with ExoMars, the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the resulting sanctions put in place represent a fundamental change of circumstances and make it impossible for ESA to implement the planned lunar cooperation. However, ESA’s science and technology for these missions remains of vital importance. A second flight opportunity has already been secured on board a NASA-led Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission for the PROSPECT lunar drill and volatile analysis package (originally planned for Luna-27). An alternative flight opportunity to test the ESA navigation camera known as PILOT-D (originally planned for Luna-25) is already being procured from a commercial service provider.

In other words, Europe is switching to the many private American companies that are developing lunar landers for NASA science instruments. It has also signed onto a Japanese lunar mission. All have payload space, and all are willing to take the cash of a new customer.

Meanwhile, this is how Dmitry Rogozin responded to this decision:

“Good riddance! One less European dame off our backs, so Russia should go far with a lighter load,”

To sum this all up, when it comes to space, the Ukraine invasion has been Russia’s loss, and everyone else’s gain. Even if the invasion were to end today, it will take at least a decade to re-establish Russia’s business ties with the west.

Unfortunately, the invasion will cost the Ukraine as well. In making the above announcement ESA officials also said that it is looking for alternatives to the Ukrainian rocket engines used in its Vega-C upper stage.

At the news conference, ESA also discussed the future of its small Vega rocket, which relies on Ukraine-built engines in its upper stage. The engines are manufactured by the Ukrainian company Yuzhmash, which is based in the tech city of Dnipro. Although Dnipro has been under heavy bombardment, there have been no official reports so far about damage to Yuzhmash. It is, however, clear that ESA doesn’t expect to continue its partnership with the company in the future. “We now have sufficient engines for 2022 and 2023,” Aschbacher said. “We are working on options for 2024 and onwards based on different technologies.”

Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s director of space transportation, added: “We are working on engine opportunities within Europe and outside of Europe, which are either tested or, even better, already existing and fully qualified.”

Whether ESA completely breaks off its partnership with the Ukraine however is not certain. Should the war continue to favor the Ukraine, then it could be that partnership will continue. Only time will tell. Right now, it is simply prudent for ESA to look for more stable alternatives.

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Today’s blacklisted American: Seattle’s public schools to hold “listening tours” that exclude whites

3:22 pm

Jim Crow celebrated in Seattle!
Seattle, home of the new Jim Crow!

“Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” The public school system of the city of Seattle (SPS) has now scheduled a number of “listening sessions” for parents that, while designed to discuss ways to make the schools more welcoming, specifically exclude whites from the sessions, and divide the sessions by race and ethnicity.

SPS and the Seattle Council of Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) is hosting seven listening sessions with superintendent Dr. Brent Jones. The remote tour starts on April 19. One of the sessions is for Black families and a second for Native American families. They also recently added meetings specifically for East African and Black Immigrant Families, plus Multigenerational African American Black Families. The district and PTSA believe these race-exclusionary meetings promote equity. But they may represent illegal discrimination.

While there are sessions open to the general public, most of the sessions are segregated and discriminatory. And God forbid Seattle run a listening session just for whites! Why, that would be racism!

In a sense, this story out of Seattle is not news. I have repeatedly reported stories of Seattle government and corporate officials discriminating illegally against whites while unfairly providing their favorite minorities special privileges. Some examples:
» Read more

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Pushback: Black waitress sues NYC mayor over COVID shot mandate

12:10 pm

Virginia Alleyne, blacklisted by the Democratic Party
Virginia Alleyne, blacklisted by
the Democratic Party

Don’t comply! A waitress who formerly worked at Yankee Stadium but lost her job because of the COVID shot mandate imposed by New York City mayor Eric Adams is now suing him and the city. Her suit is also fueled because of Adams’ arbitrary decision to cancel the mandate for wealthy athletes.

Virginia Alleyne’s Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit claims Hizzoner’s exemption for athletes and performers is “arbitrary and capricious” and an “abuse of discretion.”

“For him to allow millionaires to work and to punish the workers who are the lifeblood of this city is just horrendous,” Alleyne told The Post. “So many workers have lost their jobs, yet he’s rewarding the millionaires because he doesn’t want them coming after him,” she continued. “We are being punished by a blatant and egregious double standard.”

The 57-year-old Upper East Side single mom said she was placed on unpaid leave from her job as a waitress at the stadium’s high-end restaurant Legends Suite Club in September because she is unvaccinated.

This quote from her lawyer illustrates quite starkly how incredibly arbitrary and capricious Adams’ edict is:
» Read more

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Russia backs off its threats to leave ISS partnership

10:19 am

In several short news posts on Russia’s state-run press today, the Putin government indicated that it has backed off from its threats to end the partnership at ISS quickly.

First, Roscosmos’s head, Dmitry Rogozin, announced that it will proceed with its barter deal with NASA and allow astronauts from NASA and others to fly on Soyuz while Russian astronauts fly on Dragon and eventually Starliner.

“Why give up something that is useful? Anna Kikina [Russian woman cosmonaut] flew to Houston (USA) to familiarize herself with the design of the modules of the ISS American segment and the Crew Dragon spacecraft whose crew she may join. On our part, we are not ruining anything and keep to preliminary accords, although we continue waiting for the government’s decision on the program of cross flights,” Rogozin explained.

Second, Rogozin made statements that suggested Russia will maintain its full partnership on ISS through ’24, and maybe beyond.

Now Russia has to set up its mind about the year until which it cooperates on the ISS project, Rogozin said. “Yes, the Americans want it [cooperation] to last until 2030. The previous talks said that it would be until 2028. But let me repeat again that we have to decide on the main thing: to continue cooperation on the ISS or switch to the ROSS [Russian Orbital Service Station]. Subsequently, we will decide on what to do with our two new modules on the ISS that we docked last year,” Rogozin said.

In other words, Russia ain’t going no where. It might decide eventually to launch a new core module for their own station, and then transfer the newer modules on ISS to it, but none of this will happen until a final date for ISS’s deorbit is established.

Based on Rogozin’s earlier bombastic threats, I had expected Russia to take a harder position. It appears cooler heads in Roscosmos convinced Rogozin and Putin that in terms of cost and safety, a quick exit made no sense.

This decision to back off was also probably influenced by Russia’s losses in the Ukraine. It is no longer in a strong negotiating position in anything, has lost almost all its economic partnerships with the west, and thus does not wish to lose the one partnership that remains, on ISS.

16 comments

ISRO hires company to build future PSLV rockets

9:13 am

Capitalism in space: For the first time, India’s space agency ISRO is about to hire a private company to build five PSLV rockets, rather than supervise the construction in-house.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and L&T consortium has emerged as the lowest bidder to make 5 Polar Space Launch Vehicles (PSLVs) for ISRO. “The company is the lead partner with L&T sharing the work. Other vendors too will be involved with the consortium in the manufacturing of the launch vehicles (LVs). However, the contract is yet to be formalised/ awarded,” HAL said in a statement.

If all goes as planned, the first rockets will be delivered late in ’24.

This contract changes less than it seems, though it is a step in the right direction. ISRO has for years hired private subcontractors to build its rockets and components. What is different now is that it appears that HAL is now the lead contractor, not ISRO. HAL however does not appear to own the rockets it builds, and thus will not be able to build more to sell launches to others. Until this happens, India’s space industry will remain wholly government run.

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Today’s blacklisted American: News staffers at CBS demand network blacklist Republican

1:12 pm

CBS NEWS: Home of blacklisting

The new dark age of silencing: When the news division at CBS recently decided to hire Mick Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman and a former chief of staff for President Trump, there was a outraged revolt among the network’s news staff, demanding that the hiring be cancelled and that CBS blacklist all such partisan Republicans.

[Jeremy Barr, liberal Washington Post media reporter,] “obtained” a recording of a staff meeting led by CBS News co-president Neeraj Khemlani. Surely, the staffer recording this meeting was outraged that Khemlani said “getting access to both sides of the aisle is a priority because we know the Republicans are going to take over, most likely, in the midterms.”

Anonymous CBS News Democrats were alarmed “the network was jeopardizing its long history of journalistic excellence.” And you thought Dan Rather already did that.

“I know everyone I talked to today was embarrassed about the hiring,” said a CBS News employee who “spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.” This is the most ridiculous use of anonymous sourcing – to protect liberals while they publicly campaign against their bosses.

» Read more

47 comments

Pushback: NJ gym-owners who refused to obey COVID edicts regain business license

11:30 am

Bill of Rights, canceled in New Jersey these past two years
The Bill of Rights, canceled in New Jersey
these past two years.

A profile in courage: The owners of a New Jersey gym, Atilis Gym, who refused to comply with any of the absurd Wuhan flu restrictions imposed by Democratic Party Governor Phil Murphy and his health department have had their business license restored after two years, during which they managed to keep the gym functioning by asking for donations by those who used it.

[Ian] Smith claimed that as a result of not complying with lockdown orders, he and [Frank] Trumbetti received more than 90 citations, along with ten gym members who received citations; 9 criminal charges; that both he and Trumbetti were arrested, as well as one member; that local police changed the locks on the building, backed up their plumbing, and eventually boarded up the gym; that they were fined $15,497.76 every day they remained open, for 5 months; that $173,000 in fundraising for their legal defense was seized by the state; and that they owe more than $300,000 in legal bills. “And they took our business license,” Smith wrote. “Our ability to pursue the American dream. All for what? We were right all along. To date, 391,683 visits to our facility and people got healthier, happier, and better.”

“Well, it paid off,” Smith continued. “The township folded. They reinstated our business license. It took them 2 years to realize that nothing would make us kneel. … We made it. 2 years without charging a single member – just donations and [T-Shirt] sales. All the legal bills, fines, normal overhead, and safety equipment. We were able to do it because of you all. Thank you all again.”

Expect these owners to follow up with lawsuits to recover damages for the state’s illegal acts to try to destroy them.

Their resistance to tyranny was very painful for these brave men, but their courage cannot be applauded enough. They did what more Americans should have done, and did not. They stood up to the idiotic health orders of the state, that were based on no science at all and were completely useless:
» Read more

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