Ah, the great British pre-war joke…
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There’s a whole subreddit dedicated to this phenomenon:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM/
It can make for “fun” reading.
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This, this, and this again.
Franz von Papen, anyone?
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Don’t forget the centrist enablers
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Same thing in von Papen’s case, since that was his party. That’s really our point, though: people who go on about being “moderate centrists” in these political circumstances are usually just conservative (or these days Libertarian) enablers pretending they’re not that very thing because they fear socialists of any stripe as much if not more than fascists.
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“Moderate” has largely become code for “I actually approve of many of the monstrous things Trump does, I’m just embarrassed to publicly associate myself with someone who is so clownish in his personal appearance and demeanor.”
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I know of one such satellite where everyone knows where it is at all times…maybe load some space force onto the x-35, do a refurbishment and you got yourself a Hubble II going.
The IRA weren’t fascists or fascist apologists. They had been looking for a way to peace since the mid 80s.
The anti-agreement unionists often were though.
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Trumps defense is that he is legally allowed to do this, which is irrelevant. In the current climate he is clearly legally allowed to do anything he wants, anytime he wants.
But the talking point on this should be that he made America less safe. He revealed American capabilities to the world. That makes us all less safe.
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I’m not sure ‘flying aerodynamically’ is what’s happening.
There’s some very interesting work being done on… hmm, not even sure what they’re calling them but, essentially, upper-atmosphere electric ramjets.
Basically, a satellite flying in an orbit so low (ca. 100km) that it would normally decay very rapidly due to drag at that altitude has its drag counterbalanced by electric-powered thrusters. It scoops up the thin atmospheric particles and then uses them as reaction mass.
Add solar or nuclear (RTG, maybe?) power, and you have a low-altitude long-loiter but highly maneuverable observation post.
It’s not exactly aerodynamic flight - it’s a low orbit with drag balanced by thrust. No lift needed! (Although control surfaces will still be be handy for maneuvering).
[N.B.: I am personally dubious whether reducing the distance that much will make up for not having the KH-11’s 2.4m diameter primary mirror. USA-224, which likely took this pic, was at altitude of 283 km when it took this shot. The oblique angle adds a bit more distance, of course.]
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The experts fear that by studying the image, Iran and other actors might now be better able to obscure their activities — particularly any nuclear activities — from the US.
Trump, however, was unconcerned Friday.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Of course he fucking said that. That’s his code for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
It apparently says, “National Product, National Power” in Farsi according to the Vox article.
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Hot tip: anyone looking for genuinely expert commentary about this satellite should follow
Dr Marco Langbroek @Marco_Langbroek’s Twitter feed.
Science FTW!
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Fun fact:
I used to identify as a “centrist” because I had some conservative views on certain issues, and more liberal views on others, and I didn’t ever just blindly “toe the party line.”
But I permanently stopped using that term to describe myself, not too long before the Great Porta-Potty in a Dumpster Fire of 2016, because I realized that any middle ground I’d perceived was just an illusion.
There’s only a great gaping chasm of an unfathomable void, over which we are all hanging by mere threads… even as some of us are still busily sharpening our scissors and knives…
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Precious few moderates, neutrals or centrists.
They weren’t idiots or ashamed fascists like today’s moderates.
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One of those surplus sets is the basis for the upcoming WFIRST telescsope:
NASA hasn’t decided what to do with the second one yet.
(Of course, Hair Furor and his minions keep trying to cancel WFIRST, eliminating it from the annual budget requests, but so far, Congress isn’t having it — they keep putting it back in.)
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By zeroing in on “droning policy” I think you picked one thing that Trump has not made worse. We have not gotten more involved in stumbling around kicking hornet’s nests in the ME as we did under Bush and Obama.
What do you call authorizing massive new sales of american made weapons to SA?
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Not thrilled with it, but I don’t call it Americans coming home in bags.
