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Science & Technology
Argentina signs Artemis Accords
2023-07-29
[SpaceNews] Argentina signed the U.S.-led Artemis Accords outlining best practices for space exploration, part of a recent surge of countries joining the agreement.

Daniel Filmus, Argentina’s minister for science, technology and innovation, signed the Artemis Accords in a ceremony July 27 at Casa Rosada, Argentina’s presidential office in Buenos Aires. Argentine President Alberto Fernández attended the ceremony along with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

"Along with our fellow Artemis Accords signatories, the United States and Argentina are setting a standard for 21st century exploration and use of space," Nelson said in a statement about the signing.

The Accords, rolled out in 2020,
...another President Trump initiative that lives on after him?
outline best practices and norms of behavior for space activities, building upon the Outer Space Treaty and other agreements. They extend to additional topics, such as exchange of scientific data and utilization of space resources.

"We are convinced that the Artemis Accords constitute a contribution to the development of space activities with peaceful purposes at a global level and that they will increase international cooperation with Argentina," said Filmus in the NASA statement.
Related:
Artemis Accords: 2020-07-06 Moon Mining Could Begin As Early As 2025
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Government Corruption
Elections Have Consequences - NASA picks Bezos's Blue Origin to develop Artemis V moon lander
2023-05-20
[The Hill] NASA has chosen Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to develop the lander for one of its missions that will send astronauts back to the moon.

The agency said in a Friday release the company will be responsible for designing, developing, testing and verifying its lander to meet NASA’s human landing system requirements for multiple expeditions to be used for its Artemis V mission.

The company will also have an uncrewed demonstration mission to the moon’s surface before a crewed demonstration on the Artemis V mission scheduled for 2029.

"We are in a golden age of human spaceflight, which is made possible by NASA’s commercial and international partnerships," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the release. "Together, we are making an investment in the infrastructure that will pave the way to land the first astronauts on Mars."

The announcement also noted NASA previously set up a contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to demonstrate an initial human landing system for Artemis III — which is set to bring the first humans in half a century back to the moon’s surface in 2025 — and demonstrate a lander for Artemis IV.

NASA’s rocket will launch four astronauts into lunar orbit on the Orion spacecraft for Artemis V. The spacecraft will dock, and two of the astronauts will then go to Blue Origin’s human landing system for about a weeklong trip on the moon’s south pole area to "conduct science and exploration activities."

The release states adding another partner for the Artemis program will increase competition, reduce costs for taxpayers, support regular lunar landings, further invest in the "lunar economy" and help NASA achieve its goals on the moon to plan for future missions to Mars.

"Artemis V is at the intersection of demonstrating NASA’s initial lunar exploration capabilities and establishing the foundational systems to support recurring complex missions in lunar orbit and on the surface as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach," the release states.
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Science & Technology
Historic moon mission ends with splashdown of Orion capsule
2022-12-12
[CNN] The Artemis I mission — a 25½-day uncrewed test flight around the moon meant to pave the way for future astronaut missions — came to a momentous end as NASA’s Orion spacecraft made a successful ocean splashdown Sunday.

The spacecraft finished the final stretch of its journey, closing in on the thick inner layer of Earth’s atmosphere after traversing 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) between the moon and Earth. It splashed down at 12:40 p.m. ET Sunday in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.

This final step was among the most important and dangerous legs of the mission.

NASA's historic Artemis I mission is coming to a close
But after splashing down, Rob Navias, the NASA commentator who led Sunday’s broadcast, called the reentry process "textbook."

"I’m overwhelmed," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Sunday. "This is an extraordinary day."

The capsule is now bobbing in the Pacific Ocean, where it will remain until Sunday evening as NASA collects additional data and runs through some tests. That process, much like the rest of the mission, aims to ensure the Orion spacecraft is ready to fly astronauts.

The capsule is expected to spend less time in the water during crewed mission, perhaps less than two hours, according to Melissa Jones, the recovery director for this mission.

A fleet of recovery vehicles — including boats, a helicopter and a US Naval ship called the USS Portland — are waiting nearby.

"This was a challenging mission," NASA’s Artemis I mission manager, Mike Sarafin, told news hounds Sunday evening. "And this is what mission success looks like."

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-Short Attention Span Theater-
EM's civilian space venture nets over $60m for St. Jude - Crickets from the White House
2021-09-21
[Hot Air] Joe Biden was taking a well-deserved rest at his beach house (kidding) so perhaps he didn’t notice that the first all-civilian space crew successfully returned to earth over the weekend. On Saturday Elon Musk’s SpaceX completed a historic private spaceflight yet the president hasn’t bothered to congratulate Musk for the accomplishment. Musk hasn’t received a phone call or so much as a tweet to congratulate them.

If Biden isn’t a big fan of Musk, who cares? He should at least acknowledge the accomplishment of four gutsy Americans who ventured into space without histories of formal astronaut training. The spaceflight served as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The three-day landmark Inspiration4 mission has raised over $60 million from the public so far. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire who bankrolled the spaceflight also pledged $100 million and Musk added $50 million. That will pay for the treatment of a lot of children.

The world’s second-richest man would like a little attention from the leader of the free world. Kudos came in from all around, including from NASA administrator Bill Nelson, a Biden appointee. He offered his congratulations to the crew multiple times. Nelson is a former astronaut.
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
NASA Administrator: We have no plan for aliens
2021-09-05
[Hot Air] There are some big things happening this weekend related to the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force and congressional action associated with their work (more on that in a moment.) With this topic remaining in the news, I wanted to touch on the involvement of federal agencies in terms of identifying the various UFOs being seen by military pilots and others, along with how the United States (and the world) plans to respond in the event that at least some of these objects turn out to be of nonterrestrial origin. One agency that’s been increasingly involved in this research of late is NASA, which sort of makes sense since much of their business activities take place outside of our atmosphere. The person in charge there, former Senator and astronaut Bill Nelson is probably a good candidate to ask what’s going on and what sort of plans we have in place.

During a fairly recent podcast hosted by PBS anchor Margaret Hoover this summer, Nelson actually had the question put to him directly. He first opined that he is quite confident there is other life in the universe. He also spoke of being briefed by military pilots who described things that we still can’t explain. But then Hoover took a very direct line, asking the NASA boss the one question that few have seemed to want to address. If some of these unidentified craft actually did turn out to be controlled by some extraterrestrial intelligence, do we have a plan in place as to what we would do next? Nelson was rather blunt about it. The answer is no. Fast forward to the 21-minute mark for this portion of the interview.
Link


Home Front: Politix
Al Franken Says He ‘Absolutely’ Regrets Resignation From Senate
2019-07-23
[YAHOO] Al Franken said he "absolutely" regrets resigning from the U.S. Senate in 2017 amid the firestorm over accusations of inappropriate behavior by the comedian turned politician.
"I was requested to request a transfer."
~ CPT Fisby - 1956, Tea House of the August Moon
In a new profile by Jane Mayer published Monday in The New Yorker, seven current and former senators said they also regret calling for his resignation in December 2017: Vermont’s Patrick Leahy
...Democrat Senator-for-Life from Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, source of more leaks than a plumber could keep up with...
, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, Illinois’ Tammy Duckworth, Maine’s Angus King, Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, Florida’s Bill Nelson, and New Mexico’s Tom Udall.

Franken told Mayer that he now wishes that he had followed through on his request to appear before a Senate Ethics Committee hearing so that he would have had time to gather evidence to counter what he felt was a false narrative in the media based in part on anonymous accusers.

The New Yorker piece also sheds new light on the accusations by conservative talk radio host Leeann Tweeden that Franken forced an unwanted kiss on her during a 2006 U.S.O. tour that was the center of her accusations. Franken was pressured to resign in December 2017 after seven more women accused him of inappropriate touches or kisses.

Two actresses told the New Yorker they had performed the USO skit featuring a handsy doctor played by Franken in 2003 ‐ well before Tweeden joined the USO tour ‐ and therefore it was not written for her, as Tweeden had said in her statement. Others who were on the 2006 tour questioned her account as well.

Franken also told the New Yorker that New York’s Chuck Schumer
Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower. Senate minority leader as of 2017.
, the top Democrat in the Senate, threatened to have the entire Democratic caucus demand his resignation and said Franken could be censured and stripped of his committee assignments if he decided to stay on.

"I couldn’t believe it," Franken told the magazine. "I asked him for due process and he said no."

A Schumer spokesperson had no comment. Reps for Franken and Tweeden did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Link


Home Front: Politix
Kamala Harris Stacks Presidential Campaign With Hillary Clinton Alums
2019-01-23
[Freebeacon] The newly launched Kamala Harris presidential campaign is stacked with top officials from Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 campaign, including her lawyer Marc Elias.

The abundance of Clinton staffers joining Harris is unsurprising, as many went straight from the 2016 trail to work in her new senate office in 2017. Those moves were considered a signal to insiders that a presidential campaign may be in the works.

The Harris campaign announced on Monday that Elias, Clinton's top lawyer, will be its general counsel; Lily Adams, Clinton's Iowa communications director and daughter of former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, will be its national communications director; Angelique Cannon, Clinton's deputy national finance director and national finance director for Senate Majority PAC, will be its national finance director; and David Huynh, Clinton's director of delegate operations and ballot access, will be its senior adviser.

Elias was most recently in the spotlight a few months ago as the top lawyer for former Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson during the Florida recount, which ended with Republican Sen. Rick Scott holding on to his victory.

Neither Elias nor the Harris campaign responded to inquiries on whether Elias has agreed to exclusively provide legal services to her campaign, or whether he would be able to work with her potential opponents in the primary.
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Government
Florida Judge Sides With Brenda Snipes Over Suspension
2019-01-14
[Townhall] U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker ruled on Wednesday that former Florida Gov. Rick Scott had no right to suspend Broward County elections supervisor Brenda Snipes in November. Snipes had already announced her plans to retire on Jan. 4, before Gov. Scott effectively fired her.

Snipes was the face of the Broward County election controversy in November after her county became one of only two in the state that failed provide a ballot count in the Senate race between Scott and incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) by the initial deadlines. They then missed a couple more deadlines after that. At one point Snipes was confronted by the press but she was unable to provide the number of outstanding ballots her office was still counting. This wasn't the first scandal for Snipes either. As Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) noted, Circuit Judge Raag Singhal ruled that Snipes had illegally destroyed ballots during Debbie Wasserman Schultz's primary race against challenger Tim Canova in 2016.
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Home Front: Politix
Democratic judges overseeing Florida, Georgia recount efforts
2018-11-18
[Washington Examiner] The federal and state judges charged with making crucial decisions in the vote recount efforts in Florida and Georgia all have ties to the Democratic party.

There are currently a handful of recounts going on in Florida and Georgia, including gubernatorial, Senate, and statewide races. Arguably, the most crucial decisions in these recounts are being overseen by judges that were either appointed by a former Democratic president, or, at the very least, have loose ties to the Democratic party.

In Florida, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker and Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers are the judges in question. Both judges made consequential rulings this week that extended the weekslong recount efforts that have drawn ire from Florida Republicans and President Trump.

Walker is overseeing the recount of the state's Senate election, featuring Florida Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Walker was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2012. His wife previously made small campaign contributions to Nelson.

The judge is best known for a previous battle with Scott, where he stopped the governor's campaign against instating felons' voting rights. The case has caused some to question whether he is the best-suited judge to oversee this particular case.
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Home Front: Politix
'Incompetence': Broward election chief likely to be forced from office by Scott, DeSantis
2018-11-18
[POLITICO] Counting unlawful votes. Destroying ballots. Sunshine Law violations. Busted deadlines.

So many controversies have bedeviled Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes ‐ culminating in her office’s troubles in the aftermath of Florida’s chaotic 2018 elections ‐ that her days in office are now numbered, insiders and politicians say.

She’s losing support from fellow Democrats and faces the increasing likelihood of an embarrassing suspension from office at the hands of either Gov. Rick Scott or his likely successor, Ron DeSantis.

Suspending Snipes from office would put a final exclamation point on one of the most contested midterms in recent Florida history, which has resulted in three statewide recounts ‐ for U.S. Senate, governor and agriculture commissioner ‐ as well as recounts in three local legislative races. Removal proceedings in the GOP-led Florida Senate could also cause a possible rift among Florida state Senate Democrats if the black caucus rallies around Snipes in the same way it did around her predecessor, who was also African-American, more than a decade ago.

Florida official Brenda Snipes: racism 'probably' a factor in attacks against me

[THEGUARDIAN] A top elections official in Florida who endured national humiliation after missing a midterms recount deadline by two minutes has told the Guardian that racism is "probably" a factor in the backlash against her.

Brenda Snipes, elections supervisor of Broward county, was condemned by Republicans and Democrats after failing to submit tallies in the US Senate race between Rick Scott and Bill Nelson on schedule.

On Friday, with a hand count of votes under way, about two dozen protesters continued their vigil in a car park outside Snipes’s headquarters. Some claimed without evidence that she had missed the deadline deliberately because the results she oversaw boosted Scott’s overall lead.

In a short interview, Snipes, 75, said: "You know, the protesters have been claiming stuff all week so whatever they’re doing, that’s what they’re doing. That’s what they feel like they need to do."

Asked if she felt it was racially motivated, the supervisor replied: "Probably. Probably." She declined to elaborate.

Snipes had promised "100%" in a CNN interview earlier this week that Broward county, a Democratic stronghold, would complete its machine recount on time. It appeared to do so with just under 15 minutes to spare before Thursday’s 3pm deadline. The recount showed Scott, currently the Republican governor of Florida, down 606 votes from the first count and Nelson down 1,385 ‐ a net gain for Scott of 779 votes.
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Home Front: Politix
'Nelson has no path': Democrats admit Scott beats Florida icon
2018-11-18
[POLITICO] Sen. Bill Nelson has run out of time, run out of favorable court rulings and is about to officially run out of votes.

After losing to Gov. Rick Scott on Election Day, losing after an automatic recount and appearing to not make up the gap following a manual recount Friday, Nelson’s campaign was dealt a mortal blow later that evening by U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who crushed the Democrat’s last major hope by upholding a Florida law that forbids county election offices from counting vote-by-mail ballots received after 7 p.m. Election Day.

"It’s done. But it was done before today. This was a total Hail Mary," said a top Democrat involved in Nelson’s campaign who didn’t want to speak publicly before the Democratic Party icon conceded defeat to one of the party's most-hated rivals.

The night before, Walker had rejected yet another Nelson lawsuit concerning standards for divining voter intent in manual recounts, and he refused to extend the deadlines of the recount.

Link


Home Front: Politix
BREAKING: Broward County Election Recount Finished, Then Invalidated
2018-11-16
h/t Red State

...in the flurry to get the state-mandated machine recounts finished by today’s hard deadline the Broward County Office of Elections had staff working overnight and throughout the day to make it to today’s 3:00 deadline. Reports came in that Broward County had completed the recount well before the cutoff. It was a rare dose of skillfulness from Supervisor Of Elections, Brenda Snipes.

...Two main, and surprising, discoveries were made when today’s recount totals came in. First, in the three races being recalculated, as mandated by state law ‐ US Senate, Florida Gubernatorial, and Florida Agriculture Commissioner ‐ the totals came in nearly 2,000 votes fewer than the previous tally. Secondly, there was a significant gulf between the candidates. The drop in figures for each race is here:

U.S. Senatorial
Rick Scott: -606 votes
Bill Nelson: -1,385 votes

Florida Gubernatorial
Ron DeSantis: -621 votes
Andrew Gillum: -1,373 votes

Florida AG Commissioner
Matt Caldwell: -616 votes
Nikki Fried: -1,381 votes

...But then something happened. Given that the three races were seeing net gains for the GOP candidates an announcement was made that suddenly the recount totals were not being recognized by Tallahassee. The reports were that the submission was not made in time and, as required by state election law, the prior totals would stand as official.

...So just as the State ‐ and to a greater extent, the nation ‐ breathed a sigh of surprised relief that a protracted nightmare may have been averted, Brenda Snipes and her Broward County cohorts managed to snatch failure from the jaws of competency.

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