Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

I watched and am intrigued with the whole thing. The Orion capsule is the size of two cargo vans, not somewhere I'd want to be for too long with four people and a non functioning toilet. Glad they got it fixed. There should be a plan in place for a module they could dock with that would have more living space. The capsule is too small for any long duration mission I'd volunteer for. 

The next trick is rendezvous and docking with a SpaceX Starship and/or a Blue Origin HLS in Earth orbit on Artemis III. Considering the delays so far in the program I'm betting this is still a few years into the future. Blue Origin may beat SpaceX to the punch and be the first one done because their design is simpler and smaller. Starship, while bigger with more cargo capacity still hasn't been in orbit after ten test flights and a Starship HLS will need a bunch of Starship tanker refueling launches just to have enough propellent to get to and land on the Moon. 

I do have to say SpaceX is better on launch coverage with much better video and commentators, although I could do without all the frenzied clapping and cheering from their rabid "studio audience". In comparison, though, the NASA feed isn't as good IMO. 

Long post, I know, but I'm a space nut that was born the year Sputnik was launched and I followed every Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions with my Dad who also got me interested in astronomy. I built many plastic models of the different spacecraft as a kid and wish I still had them. I currently have a Gemini capsule half completed, talk about small and cramped, and an Apollo CSM and LM I haven't started yet.

I saw a launch when I was 9 from Titusville with my folks. My Dad scheduled a Florida vacation to see the launch of Apollo I and obviously we didn't see that but did see one go up, I think a Delta rocket, which had animals on board but was lost after a short time after take off. I've seen two SpaceX Falcon 9 launches, a nighttime launch from Cocoa Beach last April and one out of Vandenberg in December. I had a good place to see what was supposed to be the last nighttime Shuttle launch from Titusville in '09, but it was scrubbed at 4:30 am for the next night. I was headed to the WSP and didn't stay the extra day.

Originally Posted by David Cotterell

I did "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" and "It's a Big 'Ol Goofy World"..

While I was on stage The Cheeto-skinned moron gave them another two weeks.  So we will have to table this discussion until then.

Unless you want to talk about John Prine.

Dave

Originally Posted by James Brown

JP’s duet of Angel from Montgomery with Bonnie Raitt is one of my favorite recordings of all time.   

Regarding Trump, this is his style - outrageous threats followed by a reprieve for negotiations.   Is it effective?   I have no idea, but it is predictable.

Originally Posted by Brian McFarland

True that, but to me, being predictable makes it ineffective.

Originally Posted by Brian McFarland

True that, but to me, being predictable makes it ineffective.

Originally Posted by James Lacey

If the EO changes the federal agencies that regulate banks, the banks have to comply.

Still, there are multiple reasons Trump has been creating so many EOs. One reason is to bypass Congress. Another is so he can claim he's keeping campaign promises and throw political red meat to his base. And of course, challenge existing legal precedents by forcing judicial review that can result in the reinterpretation of executive authority. As I've said before, Republicans in Texas are masters at passing questionable legislation to achieve all these ends, and even if the law is eventually struck down, usually years later, it has a chilling effect that may never be reversed, or at least take many, many years to reverse.

Originally Posted by James Brown

This is a reasonable post, James, and I don’t disagree.  But please remember that Trump did not invent this. Presidents have been abusing EO‘s for too long. I think a very legit debate could be had whether Trump or Biden was/is worse in this regard.   Unfortunately, I think the abuse of dubious EO‘s has accelerated in the last couple of decades.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Hmm, quantity has a quality all of its own:     

"Single-term President Joe Biden signed 160 executive orders from 2021 to 2025, which is fewer than other recent presidents."

"President Trump has signed 252 executive orders so far in his second term: 225 in 2025, and 27 as of March 26, 2026."

I recall Rich Davis ranting about Biden being a tyrannical authoritarian expletive deleted so and so just about every time he signed an executive order along with the rightwing echo chambers. 

The one in question here seems particularly intrusive and a glaring example of governmental overreach, which it is and one of my points in posting it is that the GOP generally tries to project its image as the party that keeps big government out of your face...

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-leak-reveals-trump-booted-from-briefing-after-hours-long-freakout/

"Donald Trump, 79, reportedly threw such a tantrum during a fraught rescue operation in Iran that his aides banished him from the room as they were briefed.

Senior administration officials told Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal that the commander-in-chief went into a frenzied state upon learning two airmen were missing when their fighter jet was downed in Iran.

His hours-long tirade became such a hindrance that aides barred him from the room handling the crisis, opting instead to brief him at intervals, officials revealed to the Journal.

Before the airmen went missing, the president was already fixated on avoiding a repeat of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis—and the failed rescue mission under former President Jimmy Carter that helped sink his reelection bid.

“If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter…with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump said in March, according to the Journal. “What a mess.”

A frantic Trump feared the two missing airmen from the downed F-15E Strike Eagle—both eventually rescued after a high-risk recovery mission—could define his presidency, too.


The panicked president demanded the U.S. military rescue the crewmen immediately, while aides warned that the military needed time to assess terrain they hadn’t had boots on the ground in since the 1970s.

The pilot of the fallen aircraft was recovered later that day. But a two-day race against the Iranians for the second crew member ensued, with U.S. troops eventually emerging victorious.

While he waited, Trump reportedly wailed throughout a nearly empty West Wing over gas prices—which had surged to an average of $4.09—and the U.S.’s European allies, whom he has repeatedly raged at for not joining the surprise war he and Israel launched on Iran on Feb. 28."


He's a stable genius, but the military leaders didn't want the crazy old man to interfere with the operation.