Category Archives: History

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

The Beginning Of The End

11 Comments

It was always inevitable, given the intrinsic corruption, idiocy, incompetence and increasing dementia, but four years ago what would be seen to be the hammer blow against the Biden presidency occurred that begin its downward spiral, with the disastrous Afghanistan retreat, one of the greatest debacles if not indeed the greatest one, in the history of American foreign policy.

Administrative, History, Philosophy, Space

Terry Savage

6 Comments

I don’t know how many of my regular readers knew him, but he was a founder of the Los Angeles L-5 Society (aka OASIS) back in the late 70s, and he passed yesterday. I’ll have more anon, but if anyone did know him, feel free to comment. I’m in good health, but one contemplates mortality more and more as one’s cohorts pass on.

[August 14, 2025, update]

I’ve started a memorial page for him.

[Bumped]

History, Space, Space History

Jim Lovell

17 Comments

I think there are only five left, four of whom walked on the Moon. Lovell was the only one who circled it twice, but never set foot on it. It’s getting increasingly possible that they’ll all be gone before another person does, thanks to Congress and feckless administrations over the decades.

[Update a while later]

Bob Zimmerman has an obituary.

[Saturday-afternoon update]

Here’s the obit from the New York Times. I don’t think this is right, though: “In a nation battered by domestic turmoil and devastated by Vietnam War casualties, the safe return of the astronauts lifted American spirits and renewed attention to the space program, which had drifted in the aftermath of the first two manned landings on the moon.”

Not really. In fact, it was a wake-up call that if they continued to do lunar missions, it was not unlikely that they would lose a crew, and Apollo 13 was part of the impetus to not fly 18 and 19.

Business, History, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society, War Commentary

Trump’s Second-Term Space Policy

19 Comments

Yes, it’s an ongoing mess.

[Wednesday-morning update]

Yes, putting a nuclear reactor (in fact, several of them) on the Moon is a great idea, but it’s out of context with the policy mess. If we want to put reactors on the Moon, we have to come up with a scalable, affordable transportation infrastructure to get not only them, but lots of things there. We don’t currently have one, and no one in the administration seems to be concerned about it.

History, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Classified Appendix To The Durham Report

14 Comments

Margot Cleveland has gone through it, so you don’t have to:

[Update a couple minutes later]

[Update a while later]