A new documentary on the vice presidency gives a fresh perspective on the complications of American governance. //

No constitutional structure can know or predict every possible scenario that leads down the road of autocracy and anarchy. For this reason, Ben Franklin reportedly told a passerby at the end of the Constitutional Convention that the delegates had created “a republic, if you can keep it.” It falls on all of us — each successive generation of Americans — to rise to Franklin’s challenge. //

“The American Vice President” is available on PBS stations (check your local listings) and can be streamed online and via the PBS app.

This isn’t just about the election, though, but also about the changing nature between users — again, the product — and the online services we allow ourselves to be pimped out for. The disparities between the results for Trump and Harris simply highlight how stark the problem is.

Whether it’s Google or Facebook or Instagram, the initial premise of expanding easy access to information and apprising us of stories we might have otherwise missed has been largely destroyed. Google and Meta show us what they want us to see, not what we signed up to see, and it’s starting to turn people off. Maybe that’s a good thing, because most people need to spend more time in the real world. But when we’re trying to find a restaurant or information about voting or see pictures of a friend’s new landscaping or figure out how to get Elmer’s glue off the hardwood floors, burying those things under a mountain of nonsense makes us more likely to tune out.

Which is probably not just a good thing but a great thing — but initially the internet and social media were supposed to be about connecting us, about decreasing barriers to information. It would be nice if our tech overlords could remember what their initial goals were — in Google’s case, it was “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” — and return to those ideals instead of pushing us toward full “Idiocracy.”

I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen, though, particularly as Google itself deems such queries unworthy of answering.

Howard Mortman @HowardMortman
·
“Can you simply picture Donald Trump working at a McDonald’s, trying to make a McFlurry or something? He couldn’t run that damn McFlurry machine if it cost him anything.”

-- Tim Walz AFSCME 8-13-2024

2:27 PM · Aug 14, 2024 //

justpaul
15 hours ago edited
If you want mass rioting without criminal charges against those who perpetrate it, vote for Harris and Walz.

If you want mass rioting with criminal charges against those who perpetrate it, vote for Trump and Vance.

You're going to get the mass rioting either way; the election is about what happens next. //

big_tex_1
15 hours ago
The left is truly in a bad place if they think Trump working side by side with McDonalds employees is being disrespectful to them. The smell of desperation is overpowering. //

ConservativeInMinnesota
16 hours ago
Just for the record Walz hasn’t done a damn thing to help the minority neighborhoods he sacrificed to BLM. Some private companies stepped up on their own to rebuild what they lost, but that was it.

If you didn’t have insurance you were screwed. Did I mention that civil unrest is excluded from most insurance policies? Oh yeah, most of what burned down belonged to minority families, many of which were immigrants.

Will Scharf @willscharf
·
Remember: November 18, 2022 was THE key day when all four criminal cases kicked off.

• Nathan Wade was at the White House for 8 hours.

• Jack Smith was appointed Special Counsel.

• Matthew Colangelo quits DOJ, and shows up a few weeks later at Bragg’s office in New York.

KanekoaTheGreat @KanekoaTheGreat

BREAKING: Prosecutor Nathan Wade admitted to multiple meetings with the Biden-Harris White House during Fani Willis's prosecution of Donald Trump in Georgia but repeatedly claimed, "I don't recall" or "I don't remember" the details of those meetings.
10:01 PM · Oct 21, 2024

The observant reader might also note that Trump announced his candidacy on...November 15, 2022.

Harris, the daughter of two college professors, who grew up attending private schools in Canada, was not, in the least, economically or socially disadvantaged. But there she is, claiming she was. //

There is no information on what Kamala Harris scored on her LSAT. We do know that she didn't pass the Bar on the first try when 80 percent of her classmates did pass. So how did a run-of-the-mill student, and daughter of a “privileged” upbringing get into Hastings School of Law?

Easy – she fudged her application. Harris was admitted under a program called LEOP. //

To get into law school, Harris was a beneficiary of a program that wasn’t intended for someone of her economic or social status. She almost certainly lied on her application or at a minimum knew that her politics would fit with the LEOP selection committee. Harris was “waved in” because of a lie or because of politics. Harris has consistently used the "system" she decries, and she gained positions that she did not deserve and did not earn. She gamed the system.

Not very “equitable” of her, it seems. //

PJ The Ref
a minute ago
So what is the black equivalent of a Fauxchahantas? Asking for a Liz Warren.

There’s going to be a presidential election in a couple weeks, but few think that we’ll know for sure the next president on November 5—what used to be known, quaintly, as “Election Day.”

Most likely, it’s going to be weeks, maybe even months, before we see a victor. And here’s a prediction: The Sturm und Drang will come in five phases: litigation, negotiation, discreditation, devolution, and then, monetization. I can explain.

According to President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, it is now a federal crime to prevent illegal ballots in presidential elections.

Barely 30 days before the 2024 election, the Justice Department sued the state of Virginia to prohibit its removal of the names of noncitizens from voting rolls. //

The Virginia lawsuit is simply the latest in Democrats’ long war against honest voting, which began with the Clinton administration’s Motor Voter Act. That 1993 law mandated voter registration in every welfare and food-stamp office in the nation. Brent Thompson, executive director of the Fair Government Foundation, observed in 1996, “The Motor Voter law did away with a panoply of anti-fraud mechanisms long relied on by the states to police and deter fraudulent voting.”

In 2015, the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton condemned voter identification requirements as part of a “sweeping effort to disempower and disenfranchise people of color, poor people and young people.” //

But the panic induced by Covid-19 enabled politicians to radically loosen the rules for the next presidential election. Many states made it easier—if not automatic—to vote by mail, even though a 2012 New York Times analysis concluded that “fraud in voting by mail is… vastly more prevalent than the in-person voting fraud that has attracted far more attention.” Some states abandoned any effort to verify mail ballots, dropping requirements for matching signatures, return addresses, or having a witness verify the person and the vote. Civil Rights Commissioner J. Christian Adams noted that “Democrats succeeded in tossing out state laws related to absentee ballot verification, deadlines and a whole range of laws all in the name of Covid.” //

A week after Election Day, the New York Times ran a banner headline across the top of the front page: “Election Officials Nationwide Find No Fraud.” How did the Times know? Their reporters basically called election officials in each state and asked, “Did y’all have any fraud?” A total lack of fraud in an election with more than 100 million voters would have required divine intervention to achieve. Biden’s 2020 victory became the election equivalent of the Immaculate Conception. //

Preventing bogus ballots should not be treated like a moral or theological issue. When did verifying votes become a crime against democracy? Why is the Justice Department crusading to turn voting into an entitlement program for non-citizens? Do Democrats seek to make the actual voting as fraud-ridden as politicians’ campaign promises? Elections need rigorous safeguards against fraud because, as Thomas Paine warned long ago, “the trade of governing has always been monopolized by… the most rascally individuals of mankind.” Four presidential elections since 2000 have been heavily tainted by allegations of foul play. American democracy has zero legitimacy to spare at this point.

Democrats and the Left are silent in light of actual voter suppression that happened in the 2022 election, when many Pennsylvanians in Luzerne County showed up to vote in the morning, only to be told there were no more paper ballots available to cast their votes.

At least 40 polling places did not have the minimum number of ballots required by state law. When paper ballots ran out shortly after voting began, election officials and poll workers directed voters to come back later. //

The very simple matter of providing enough paper for ballots apparently fell by the wayside, resulting in disenfranchised voters in a swing state and a potential swing county.

Where was Biden to cry voter suppression? Where was the Democrats’ unlimited dark money-funded election law consigliere, Marc Elias, to file a case? The fact is the Left and Democrats did not care, as most of the affected voters in Luzerne County were Republicans. //

The lawsuit was necessary because the problems of Luzerne County are not a one-off for Election Day ballot shortages. Similar “voting irregularities” occurred during the gubernatorial races in New Jersey in 2021 and Mississippi in 2023. In both cases, it was Republican voters who were impacted. //

Because of CEC’s legal victory in Luzerne County, counties and elections authorities are on notice that they will literally pay the price if they suppress votes. But don’t expect Democrats to care when it is not their voters who are being suppressed.

So, what are Democrats doing now in light of election officials’ errors like those in Luzerne? Literally the same night the Luzerne County Council approved the settlement and admitted they suppressed votes, a liberal group parroted the Democrats and Left, calling for a new local ordinance to protect election officials from criticism.

As a county in the most targeted state in the 2024 election, Luzerne serves as a microcosm for the country.

The Left cries “voter suppression” as a political talking point but ignores real voter suppression when it doesn’t suit their interests. They don’t try to make the process more transparent, but instead try to make it impossible to critique election officials and improve the process. //

It wasnt me
2 hours ago
When Legislators make laws that I might break, like Window Tint, it comes with fines that if I don't pay I can go to prison or be shot during my arrest.

When Legislators make laws government employees may break intentionally, there is no penalty to the perpetrator.

How about if there are no Ballots, I get to fire a Taser at the Precinct Captain? Do you think 🤔 they would forget to have the required Ballots? //

Forget what Kamala Harris is saying. Look at who she's hiring — in this case, someone who is an unrepentant climate scold, a fanatical anti-child, anti-energy, anti-modern lifestyle (except for herself, we feel sure) lunatic. //

Key campaign workers like this frequently go on to take related positions in the staff of election winners when they assume office. There can be little doubt that a Harris administration would include Camila Thorndike, almost certainly in some position having to do with energy and climate policy. She would be pushing policies that would make energy more expensive, and in so doing make everything more expensive; she would be pushing policies that would damage, if not destroy, our modern technological lifestyle.

Harris has "theater kid syndrome." Because she's such a laughably inauthentic politician molded and led by a group of handlers, she has the tendency to go overboard. When she gets in front of a camera, she's playing a role, and because she's a terrible actor, it's immediately obvious to anyone watching. Further, Harris has no ability to remain in character, which leads to the odd trend of her randomly laughing at things that aren't funny.

That means that when the vice president does try to stay serious, she comes across as a lame schoolmarm. //

RBe @RBPundit
·
The look on Liz Cheney's face when it starts to dawn on her that there's not going to be a Harris administration for her to get a job in.
3:33 PM · Oct 21, 2024 //

It's too late for Cheney, though. She chose this path, and there's a decent chance she'll suffer one, final humiliation in a few weeks. It couldn't happen to a better person.

There is a compelling reason that the Supreme Court has regularly ruled that falsehoods are protected speech. The Court openly recognizes that falsehoods can be harmful and may sometimes be quite harmful, but the Court also recognizes that efforts to determine which information is true and which is false are far more harmful to our democracy. The line between whether content can be labeled true or false, or whether it is simply viewpoint disagreement can be blurry and very much in the eye of the beholder. This is especially true of political content and policy debates. This is also the fundamental premise of the First Amendment, which protects free speech and free press. //

Those who wish for regulatory power to ensure “politically correct” content moderation need to answer these fundamental questions: Should the political party who temporarily runs the government be allowed to act as arbiter of what’s true or false, ... //

How will such regulatory power work if the governing political party in the White House switches every four or eight years and the rules dramatically change when a new political party wins? Today, private companies acting as news organizations have their own free speech rights to publish and label their own opinions as true and opposing opinions as false. This works as long as there are multiple competing news companies... //

Rather than attempting to legislate definitions of online safety and viewpoint neutrality, which seems exceedingly difficult in the current deeply divided partisan environment of Washington, D.C., there is another simpler solution.

The simple solution is to mandate full and detailed transparency of:

1. All enforcement actions taken by the online platforms...
   ... //

Such transparency would allow the online platforms to be compared on a peer-to-peer basis for online safety and viewpoint neutrality. Such transparency would also shine the harsh light of publicity on all government efforts to influence online platforms, ...

Israel has temporarily shifted the focus of its air campaign in Lebanon and Syria from plinking jihadists cowering in bunkers to wiping out Hezbollah's infrastructure. Israeli strike fighters hit eleven locations associated with Hezbollah's financial operation after giving people in the target areas 20 minutes' notice to evacuate. //

This has created a cash shortage for an organization that needs a large cash flow to pay fighters, benefits to the families of slain fighters, and to carry out the social work that propelled Hezbollah into prominence in Lebanese politics. Because Hezbollah doesn't have access to international banking channels, it requires large quantities of cash to operate. Recall that when the Israelis bounced a JDAM off Hasan Nasrallah's turban, over $500 million in cash and gold was also lost. //

“I’m hearing from Lebanese bankers, including Hezbollah financiers, that Lebanon’s wealthiest bankers who can afford to fly have fled to Europe and the Gulf, fearing they could be targeted next by Israel for helping Hezbollah,” Asher noted.

“I’ve heard from my Israeli counterparts that the Iranians are scared to send money to Lebanon right now because Israel is threatening to target flights into Beirut. The Israelis are warning they will target flights full of money, not just weapons,” he added.

1Zach1 Ars Tribunus Militum
7y
2,954
Subscriptor
Thanks for your experience Stephen.

I see a lot of exciting milestones still to come, full orbit and daylight soft landing of Ship, double Starship launch for fuel transfer testing, Ship catching, lunar Ship details/test landing. Plus I don’t expect catching Booster to get less exciting for a while. //

Super3DPC Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
6y
175
Glad to see that I'm not the only one replaying flight 5 launch and catch over and over again. My wife rolled her eyes every time she sees me replaying videos of it although she was also gobsmacked the first time seeing it.

Everyday astronaut has some amazing footage. In that video you can see the exact moment the chines exploded. https://youtu.be/dpxB1S-ohEU?si=PzIO1vQhQe0XBbKn //

msadesign Ars Praetorian
12y
435
Subscriptor
Slightly off topic:

Can anyone explain why so much fuel transfer on orbit is needed for the planned lunar missions? The Starship is already on orbit, after all. But I read that 10+ fuel launches are required to reach the moon. Why is that?

Dtiffster Ars Praefectus
8y
3,321
Subscriptor

msadesign said:
Slightly off topic:

Can anyone explain why so much fuel transfer on orbit is needed for the planned lunar missions? The Starship is already on orbit, after all. But I read that 10+ fuel launches are required to reach the moon. Why is that?

With the HLS' profile they likely need north of 12 tonnes of prop for every tonne of ship plus up mass from the lunar surface. We don't know how much HLS will mass, but I can't see it being much less than 70 tonnes all in, and it could be over 100. So at 840-1200+ that's a lot of prop that needs to be transferred. The HLS itself should have a good amount of residual prop (maybe upwards of 200 tonnes) eapecially if it does have full sized tanks, but you are still looking at a depot and 3-5 tankers even if you can get 200+ tonnes out of a tanker.

SpaceX wanting their proposal to be read as conservative though, assumed much less prop per launch and that they would simply brute force it. Comments that have come out of NASA since then have basically said they are carrying that forward until SpaceX proves they can do more. They'll have more performant starships and propellant transfer demonstrations launching next year, should give better certainty on the lower bound. They'll also be iterating on this. I could see an uncrewed demo mission happening in '26 possibly and '27 more probably, so that'll give them a lot of time to dial up the performance and perfect the transfer.

BOCA CHICA BEACH, Texas—I've taken some time to process what happened on the mudflats of South Texas a little more than a week ago and relived the scene in my mind countless times.

With each replay, it's still as astonishing as it was when I saw it on October 13, standing on an elevated platform less than 4 miles away. It was surreal watching SpaceX's enormous 20-story-tall Super Heavy rocket booster plummeting through the sky before being caught back at its launch pad by giant mechanical arms. //

What's not so easy to address is how SpaceX can top this. A landing on the Moon or Mars? Sure, but realistically, those milestones are years off. There's something that'll happen before then.

Sometime soon, SpaceX will try to catch a Starship back at the launch pad at the end of an orbital flight. This will be an extraordinarily difficult feat, far exceeding the challenge of catching the Super Heavy booster.

The Montana-class battleships were the pinnacle of U.S. battleship design during World War II, intended to surpass the Iowa-class with unmatched firepower and armor. Featuring twelve 16-inch guns and enhanced protection, these ships were designed to counter Japan's Yamato-class battleships and bolster U.S. naval strength in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters.

Unfortunately, the policies Harris championed are already taking root in other parts of the country, with the same results. What's happening is devastating on so many levels, but perhaps the most devastating impact is the loss of humanity. Addicts and mentally ill people are left to their own devices, to suffer and be victimized and assaulted - and likely die - on the streets, and everyday citizens are looked at by politicians as acceptable collateral damage on the path to radical societal change. Hopefully, these stories can reach enough middle-of-the-road voters to make a difference.

Author and Newsweek Opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon put out a video for The Free Press explaining the real reason why many men would rather crawl naked over broken glass than pull the lever for Kamala Harris.

Batya Ungar-Sargon @bungarsargon
·
The real reason men of all races are fleeing Harris’ campaign is because it's not for them—it's for women. Liberal women want their men to dress like ranchers but vote like podcasters, to LARP as masculine men until it comes to their political selves; then women want submission.

8:47 PM · Oct 19, 2024. //

“I don’t think that this is messaging designed to convince men, but to reassure women. Like so much about the Harris campaign, it’s acting, and bad acting at that,” Ungar-Sargon said.

This assessment is spot on. In fact, even when Harris was anointed as President Joe Biden’s running mate, I pointed out that she wasn’t there to appeal to Black people, but to White women. She provided a way for female voters to support a woman and a racial minority.

Geoffrey Miller @primalpoly
·
Senior editor of @TheAtlantic doesn't know the difference between deep frying in hot oil and grilling on a barbecue.

Elites are out of touch: Exhibit #9,745

David Frum @davidfrum
Candidates for the presidency frying food. It's not a new move.
8:41 PM · Oct 20, 2024. //

surfcat50
a few seconds ago
If Trump’s short stint in the drive-thru window means nothing, why are all the leftists losing their minds over it?

Captain James Heise
@OvertempMarine
Jesse James was on apprentice he made a Facebook post supporting Trump, under the post, people were telling interesting story’s, an escalator installation guy, Trump bought pizza for everyone and sat and ate with everyone. But the story that stuck most with me was.

From a Limo driver, Trump used to bring vouchers for food to all the drivers waiting in the Casino parking garage, and stay and talk to the drivers, he could have any employee do that if it was just about rewarding drivers so they would bring their customers to his casino,

This driver was talking about how it was a personal touch to get to know the drivers ask about their lives and families, he’s been a huge celebrity since the early 80’s, it meant allot to this driver, enough to recount the story.

Erich Hartmann
@erichhartmann
True story: I've made a LOT of commercials, and one thing the industry gossips about is which celebrities are jerks & which aren't. Eg., Everyone loves Tom Cruise. Directors/gaffers who've worked with him says he's super gung-ho and supportive.

Also…Trump! 👇

In the mid 2000's a good buddy of mine shot a spot with The Donald, and he raved about how nice and accommodating he was. It was surprising to me at the time, because in NYC he was known as a total bastard with business deals. And based on his Playboy personality, you might expect him to be a total douche IRL. Not so, said my friend.

Then, in 2009 I was on a long business trip w/ a different friend of mine, who had worked with Trump on a different ad campaign, and he said the exact same thing: that Trump was surprisingly cool. Again, I was a bit surprised. So I asked him to give me the deets.

And this is the story he told me:

His team was booked to film Trump for one spot in a larger national campaign, and they had arranged to go to Trump Tower for a very tight window of time to film. Trump had gotten the script beforehand, too but non-actor celebrities are notoriously bad at doing their homework. Although it wasn't a complicated production, the team was nervous.

So they all went to Trump tower, pre-set up all the cameras, lights and equipment. But Trump was a few minutes late! They were very worried that they wouldn't have enough time to properly film him. Eventually, about 20 minutes past start time there was a huge flurry of activity as Trump emerged from the elevator. But instead of being harried and curt, he was upset at himself, and extremely apologetic about being late. Of course the team said "Oh, it's okay" etc, but Trump was insistent. He explained he was at a big deal that had gone long (because of some other asshole), and that he understood how valuable everyone's time was for this. And he promised to make it up to them.

Everyone was pleasantly surprised by his demeanor, and he announced to his team that he would be taking "as much time as needed" to make things right, and he xnsrudted them to push everything else in his afternoon schedule. He then proceeded to NAIL the script (because, surprisingly, he had actually practiced it), and when the director and team told him "Thanks Mr. Trump, we think we got it!" he said "Nah, we can do better!" and proceeded to do several more takes over the next hour, with ad libs and wild lines. My buddy said he was absolutely hilarious, game for anything fun, and everyone had a blast.

Then, after they had gotten all the takes they could thank of, he starts walking around the room glad handing and talking with every single one of them, person-to-person, for minutes at a time. This was way before he was even considering running for president, so this wasn't political. It was just… him.

The last point my buddy made about this was that after Trump had met all the bigwig clients, important agency people, the director and the crew, he made a point to go over and talk to the craft service guy: the lowest dude on the production totem pole, sitting there with his basket of kind bars and various gums and mints. And Trump had a super long conversation with the guy about his life, his family, and his hopes and dreams. Trump gave the kid some life advice, and then thanked everyone, apologized for being late (again), and exited the room.

To a round of applause. //

@amuse @amuse
Trump nailed it…
10:10 PM · Oct 20, 2024
·
21.5K
Views
https://x.com/amuse/status/1848185011012243744