President Trump has a phone call with the crew of spacecraft Artemis II during their mission to circle the moon and return to earth. Cool stuff. WATCH:
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President Trump has scheduled a 2:00pm ET announcement from the White House. The president has not been seen in several days as he took a Labor Day weekend holiday.
While the topic of the announcement has not been made in advance, the greatest likelihood surrounds the removal of Space Force from Colorado (Peterson Space Force Base) and relocation to Alabama (Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal – home of Airforce Command). The move away from Colorado is also interesting as the secondary Cyber Command data center is in Colorado (CTH is interested in this data center). The Livestream Links are below:
Dimitri’s wife is grabbing her purse to go to the grocery store, when he casually says “it’s 5:45.” She just as ordinarily replies, “I’ve got cash.” Dimitri sees the slightly puzzled look on my face and flippantly notes, “they turn off the internet at six thirty now,” shrugs, and goes back to reading his paper.
Perhaps similar to London life during the blitz. Various municipal govts coordinated the shut down of lights and people wait. Others got about doing what they needed to do, sirens notwithstanding.
There is a familiar life amid modern drone warfare, and with the similar control of electricity comes the need to add internet.
When the drones are coming they turn off the internet.
As I contemplate the contrasts in social resilience, my most familiar reference point is life after a hurricane. In Florida when we are dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane, no power, no water, no internet, etc., you adapt to life without modern technological conveniences.
If you’ve ever lived amid the aftermath of natural disasters, you understand the need for a plan and quick adaptation. Do it a few times and adaption becomes ordinary. Horrible in ways, yes; awkward, certainly. But you take things in stride; overcome, figure out the optimal solution and keep moving. However, not everyone is prepared to consider a disruption an ‘inconvenience’ and many people who need consistency to retain stability end up in panic. I think long term readers well understand the reference.
As Dimitri goes back to the paper my mind shifts to stuff I’ve heard in bits and pieces but never given context before.
I think about this U.S. ‘Space Force’ thing, and now realize there are people who have gamed out modern warfare more than we discuss as a western technological society.
President Trump flew to Texas to attend the 6th launch of the massive SpaceX Starship 6th flight. The target launch time is 4:00pm CT / 5:00pm ET Livestream Links Below:
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Understandable selection. President Trump has announced the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense.
[Source]
Remember, under the Trump Doctrine, the use of the military takes a backseat to the deployment of economic weapons to achieve national security objectives. From this fundamental outlook, the Secretary of Defense needs to maintain a strong military, but only for use as a last resort when called upon.
If triggered for reasons of extreme national security, the Defense Department under Commander in Chief Donald Trump is expected to deliver much faster, harsher and a more directed forceful response. This was on display in Syria, 2017, when ISIS was destroyed in weeks; and then followed up with the first ever dropping of a ‘MOAB’, the Mother of All Bombs.
With this intent in mind, Pete Hegseth needs to harden the warriors and prepare them only in the event that all other approaches by President Trump have not led to the optimal outcome. This approach scares the crap out of militaristic nations who were stuck in the old ‘red line’ paradigm.
This is a remarkable feat of engineering and mechanics. SpaceX returned Starship’s huge first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, directly to its launch mount, catching it with the “chopstick” arms of the launch tower in a bold and unprecedented maneuver. WATCH (prompted):
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According to Elon Musk the Starship first-stage booster weighs 250 tons. The launch apparatus just caught it when it returned. Remarkable.
Congratulations, SpaceX and Elon Musk
According to a recent Reuters report, Elon Musk signed a $1.8 billion contract in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to launch a system of orbiting surveillance satellites.
According to the report, “if successful, the sources said the program would significantly advance the ability of the U.S. government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.”
Remind me again exactly when Elon Musk bought the Twitter platform.
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) – SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, five sources familiar with the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies.
The network is being built by SpaceX’s Starshield business unit under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, the sources said.
The plans show the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in U.S. intelligence and military projects and illustrate a deeper Pentagon investment into vast, low-Earth orbiting satellite systems aimed at supporting ground forces.
If successful, the sources said the program would significantly advance the ability of the U.S. government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.
The contract signals growing trust by the intelligence establishment of a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked controversy over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the Ukraine war, the sources said.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, SSCI, is the epicenter of the larger intelligence apparatus that controls government. It was/is the SSCI who helped to create the weaponized system we call the Fourth Branch of Government. The SSCI is the institutional origin where the outcomes of the FISA courts, domestic surveillance, and downstream consequences of the Patriot Act are supported and facilitated.
Because of their unique role in creating our national security state, where U.S. citizens are regarded as the potential threat to the interests of that state, the SSCI is a unique stakeholder in retaining the corrupt systems of domestic surveillance power. No institution within the elected legislative branch of government has done more to destroy the freedom and constitutional protections within the U.S. than the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
The intelligence community interacts with the SSCI with that benefactor/beneficiary alignment in mind. This is why the SSCI claims such bipartisanship, and why the corporate media herald the SSCI as an important functional tool. Without the assistance of the SSCI, the U.S. domestic surveillance state could not exist. When the IC feels threatened, they run to the SSCI for protection.
The chair (Warner) and vice-chair (Rubio) of the committee are also members of the Gang of Eight, intelligence oversight group. It is laughable to see Senator Mark Warner decry the possibility of national security leaks and compromises within the classified document issue. Warner himself was the most consequential leaker during the Trump-Russia investigation (Wolfe leak of FISA application), and the SSCI facilitated everything that happened in the Mueller investigation. [WATCH, Transcript Below]
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Let’s start on the news of the moment. I know the two of you were briefed by the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. Do you have any timeline in terms of when you will get visibility into the documents of classified material that both President Biden and President Trump had in their residences?
After the successful manned launch of the NASA SpaceX mission to the International Space Station President Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks to the audience at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Anticipated start time 5:00pm ET.
UPDATE: Video and Transcript Added
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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. Please. Please. Big day. This is a big day. And I want to thank our great Vice President for your fearless and tireless commitment to fulfilling America’s destiny in space. Thank you very much, Mike. Great job. Great job. (Applause.)
We’re also grateful to Mike’s wonderful wife, Karen, for being here and for all she does for our country. Thank you. Thank you, Karen. (Applause.)
History will unfold today as NASA and SpaceX launch astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station. This mission marks the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011 that humans will fly to the space station from U.S. soil. Targeted Launch Time 3:22 pm EDT – Livestreams Ongoing
NASA and SpaceX are providing live coverage from launch to arrival at the space station. Teams are targeting an instantaneous window of 3:22 pm EDT for the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Crew Dragon is scheduled to dock to the space station May 31st.
NASA Livestream Link – SpaceX Livestream Link – CSPAN Livestream Link