Tribal politics

11/16/24:

An update upon the political situation when the blogging here was at a minimum. A few things have changed. A change in party in DC, and the return of Trump.

The original post was questioning why Biden's approval rate was high, when the track of country type polling had been consistently negative for so long.

It would seem that the old patterns should cease, and new patterns should be adopted. One new pattern is to stop with the never-Trumper Democrat oppositional and confrontational approach. Let's see some cooperation. After, Trump has certifiably won twice now. He should get his nominees through without a big obstructionist effort from the losing side that won't accept the fact that the public supports the man, and he should have a chance to enact his program. This includes getting his nominees through the Senate.

Will it be the same-old same-old in DC, or will it finally change?

7/1/22:

 

 

 

Looking at the performance of this president, it is hard to understand what keeps him afloat politically. There has to be only one explanation for that, and that is the tribal component of politics.

What has this president done so well that it rates a positive approval? The Rasmussen Poll have him consistently in the high 30's to low 40's. But if it is for approval, then what exactly do they like about the guy? What exactly has he done that meets with any approval at all?

There are some other polls that indicate that it isn't a partisan phenomenon. Dissatisfation has been high for some time now. The right-track wrong-track poll has been underwater for so long that it is the new normal. Is the fact that so many people are dissatified with the way things are going, is THAT the reason for their approval of this president?

If you cannot get political accountability, then how are you ever going to get some useful things done?

There has been plenty of talk about the "gridlock" in Washington. The gridlock, as such, is not the issue. The issue is why do people insist on giving these politicians a blank check all the time?

It has to be fear of the "other". They managed to convince many in their group that to allow the other side to win is tantamount to "losing our democracy". But it is the ability to "throw the bums out" that makes a democracy. If the guy you voted for doesn't produce, then what is the use of continuing the support? How are you ever going to get rid of a guy who is bad for the country, and even bad for YOU?

The politicians have made an art of avoiding accountability. Nice job if you can get it. No matter how badly you screw up, nobody will fire you for it. That is the state of the Democrat party. I'd like to see what this guy has done that makes him worthy of any support at all. There isn't any. The only reason to support him is that he is not one of the "other guys"; who have been demonized into being fascists, or something akin to it.

It is the biggest scam going, and that is saying something.

Starship Flight 6 delayed until 11/19/24

Aw, shucks! Anyway, that's one bit of news. The other is of particular interest to yours truly. There's a new kid on the block, called Impulse, which will do space tug chores. It has a methylox set up, like the Starship. That means it could be refueled in space. Interesting. It's capabilities seem a bit limited, but that's okay.

I can envision sending a lunar landing module on one of these things, and park it at the Gateway. Then you wouln't need a big Starship to land on the moon. Although it might be useful to have it deliver a lot of payload.

Orange Revolution in DC?

Nope.

There's something I saw yesterday on the web, which I can no longer find on a search. It may have been memory holed, or maybe it just wasn't all that significant. Or perhaps there are those amongst the powers-that-be who think that the "Resistance" has played itself out. In such a case, another Resistance as Orange Revolution would be a bad look, and the word went out to put the kibosh on such doings.

Whatever the case may be, such memory holing could actually be the case. If memory serves, the left got into ridiculous mode right after 9-11. Then the poll numbers came out, and the left realized that their best idea was to play along with the Bushies. So they did, and the Bushies obliged with an ill-advised run-up to the invasion of Iraq. The left saw its opportunity there, and made the most of it.

Such history may repeat itself. The left is far more quiet and reasonable than what one  would've thought they'd be. Indeed, it reminds me of an old line in a Western flick when the Injuns got real quiet. Somebody would say that they were "too quiet". The modern left is just too danged quiet for me to believe in any of it.

One has to distinguish between THE revolution and just A revolution. Now is not the time for "A" revolution. It is always time for THE revolution. Therefore, the Orange Revolution against Trump will have to wait for another day. The left has gone quiet.   They will bide their time for the best time for THE REVOLUTION.  Now ain't it.

Andrea Mitchell interviews Senator Bill Haggerty of Tennessee

I agree that he comes across very well. Good job.

It’s rare that I post a 7 minute video, but this entire interview is fantastic.

Sen. Bill Hagerty drops truth bombs on MSNBC about the weaponization of the DOJ and obliterates every single BS narrative Andrea Mitchell throws at him, even causing her to freeze and stumble over… pic.twitter.com/pCw5riZONU

— Patri0tsareinContr0l (@Patri0tContr0l) November 14, 2024

Rats Flee Sinking DOJ ship

Julie Kelly

Rats Flee Sinking DOJ Ship by Julie Kelly

The scales of justice have a chance to recalibrate following Donald Trump's resounding victory and the departure of key figures at the Biden/Harris Department of Justice.

Read on Substack

Starship Flight 6 approaches

NASASpaceflight YouTube Channel

Bucket brigades in space

Screenshot of delta v map from EML-2 to Low Phobos Orbit (Mars) : map via delta-v map on github

Just toying around with the idea of making a supply line that runs from Earth to Mars. At each node, cargo could be exchanged in order to make kind of a bucket brigade. You could pass along pre-fabbed materials from Earth, while grabbing up fuel at each step. There could be a staging area where these could accumulate while you wait for launch windows to open up.

Musk is planning to build hundreds of these starships. So he could just launch each one with some prefabbed materials to build whatever is needed. If you need to store materials at each node of the way, the first launches will go toward building that node so that it could support the next node, and so forth.

The goal should be to make the entire node structure as self-sufficient as is feasible. If you have a re-filling station, then perhaps the fuel could be made there with raw materials sourced from say Phobos, the Moon, the Earth, and Mars.

Updated with a few back of the envelope calcs and notes (please forgive the informality):

Using the gizmo mentioned above:

Some destinations and their delta-v's please:

These can get from Low Earth Orbit to Geosynchonous Orbit, and out:

Leo to Geo 3.91 km/s

Geo to EML-2 2.6 km/s

Moon to EML-2 2.3 km/s



Loxleo is a topic covered previously on this blog, click on the bolded link below to see:

LOXLEO to LEO ? km/s ; would have to supply it with power

@ EML-2 could intercept and capture near earth objects (asteroids) and return them for processing

can return asteroidal material to the lunar surface along with fuel obtained from phobos and / or mars

lunar surface could process the asteroidal material and make things with it either fuel or solar panels to be used for loxleo

Here's the delta-v's for the trips from the moon to Mars:

low phobos to EML-2 2.78 km/s

low phobos to lmo 1.243 km/s

lmo to Mars 3.6 km/s

phobos to Mars 4.848 km/s



A fully fueled Starship can make the trips, and possibly with exceptionally large cargoes. How 'bout them apples?

Screenshot of pdf file , which lists pages and pages of these asteroids that may be accessed for use in situ resourcing in support of deep space missions