The current space race and supervillains

If you like space and space-tech, there's a fascinating article at Daily Kos that goes into the history of the decades-old, previous monopoly players in the American space launch vehicle market, and the upstart SpaceX, which is crushing them by lowering launch costs. It does a great job explaining the current space launch situation. The article also lays out the details of SpaceX's global satellite internet project, Starlink, which has been used by the Ukrainian military in operations against Russian invaders.

There were a total of 186 space launches last year; 87 of those were in the United States. Of those, 61 of them were SpaceX. By the end of this year, it will almost certainly have launched more rockets than everyone in the U.S. did last year—SpaceX included. Musk’s company plans on a minimum of 100 launches next year, and is very likely to get it.

It just so happens that Carol and I were in Florida this week, and were able to witness a SpaceX launch from about 80 miles away. Here's a screenshot from a video I took. It was very cool to see.

Oh, and the story also involves a little light treason.

An American citizen and US government contractor acknowledges that he personally sabotaged a military operation of a US ally.

— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 8, 2023

What were the consequences of stopping a Ukrainian attack on the Russian Black Sea fleet?

 The Russian Black Sea fleet has fired hypersonic missiles into civilian structures across Ukraine, resulting in some of the most horrific war crimes of Russia’s unprovoked, illegal invasion. Those attacks continue today due to the decision of one man.

This is the world we live in. Where a super-rich - let's just say it, supervillain - can condemn innocent civilians to death by the push of a button. Reminder, Musk is a bigoted, racist, transphobic, anti-semitic jackass.

Tax the rich out of existence.