SOME MORE RIDDLES FOR REPUBLICANS

      Today, while Americans were on pins and needles awaiting the outcome of the NFL Championships, news came out that US CENTCOM Headquarters in Jordan was attacked with missiles. The Pentagon---for the first time---actually admitted that there were casualties. This led to the usual bleating from the Neocon Red Orchestra for bombing Iran (although Iran likely had nothing whatsoever to do with it), or else that will be further proof that Biden is not Alpha enough for the job. No one is going to ask why CENTCOM even exists; it's been a cesspool of corruption and sheer incompetence ever since 'Mad Dog' Mattis fled Iraq in the face of ISIS. The Jordanian Royal Family---probably not coincidentally---has a representative on the World Economic Forum's Board of Trustees, which may well be a reason for locating a Pentagon satrapy in that particular country. 

     The calls for action against Iran dovetail with the Border Crisis hysteria in an unusual way. I think that it might be time to ask some questions again about some peculiar paradoxes that the Conservative-Industrial-Complex is taking on these two issues.

    Question 1: We're told that we all need to go to Texas and stand with Greg Abbott because 'immigrant invaders' are violating our sovereignty and stealing our resources.

    Query: Why is wrong for Syria, Iraq, or Yemen to defend their borders against American illegal invaders who are stealing their resources and violating their sovereignty?

   Question 2: Abbott has advocated violence in defense of the Southern Borders, and certainly many on the Right consider shooting 'immigrant invaders' justifiable.

   Query: Why are the Arabs not justified using deadly force to repel American illegal invaders?

   Question 3: The anti-Immigration hawks claim that hordes of immigrants are colonizing the US and radically changing our culture.

   Query: Why are we supporting Israel when that's precisely what the Zionists did/are doing to the Palestinians; or supporting Ukraine which is attempting to do the same to Russian provinces?

    Question 4: There was nearly a Government shutdown last month after Republicans in Congress refused to allocate funds for these foreign adventures and domestic espionage programs unless increased Border spending was included. They've since doubled-crossed the Junta (and the American public) by funding all of these criminal activities and not passing a package for the Border.

   Query: Why are the Republicans eager to 'defend' Israel, Ukraine, and Black Rock's shipping interests in the Red Sea, but don't want to take the burden off those poor blighted Texans by hiring more Border Patrol agents?

   Somehow it's doubtful that such questions will get too many answers: thinking about things like these might just lead to conclusions shattering the illusions that many hold about some material difference existing between Republicans and Democrats.

   It's also doubtful that any more than a lot of hot air will blow over Iran, just like it's blowing over the Rio Grande right now. Our brave xhes in uniform and their counterparts in the Israeli Defense Forces aren't doing too well against Arab Militias, and Iran is a lot more of a formidable opponent. The last time that the Pentagon and the IRGC clashed, it didn't go so well for the forces of the Pax Americana. 

     It's about time that started calling out these kinds of stunts---because not only are they cheap political theater---but they are actually putting human lives at risk. The Republican Party isn't going to win any support talking about shooting immigrants, apologizing for genocide, or launching ICBM's on the Middle East. The hypocrisy involved in all of this too: deliberately hyping these situations for political talking-points is beyond disgraceful. Until they do start behaving better than the Democrats they're bound to keep losing. 

    

   

DON'T DIE ON THIS HILL

      With both wings of the verminous Corporate Media and opportunistic politicians and pundits excitedly throwing as much gasoline on the situation as possible, one the Establishment mouthpieces this morning reported that apparently some character is assembling a Migrant Caravan armed convoy to repel the alleged invasion of Texas.

   "A retired US Army lieutenant colonel is organizing an armed convoy next week to the Texas border to, he says, hunt down migrants crossing into the US from Mexico. Hundreds of people already say they are coordinating travel plans for the convoy on Telegram as tensions continue to rise between the state and federal government over immigration.

   "Pete Chambers, the lieutenant colonel who says he was a Green Beret, appeared on far-right school-shooting conspiracist Alex Jones’ InfoWars show on Thursday to outline plans for the 'Take Back Our Border' convoy, which has been primarily organized on Telegram.

  “'What gets us to the enemy quickly is find, fix, and finish,' Chambers told Jones. 'That’s what we did in Syria when we took out ISIS really quick."

  (Emphasis mine: no, he really did say that).

      If he really does fight with the level of skill that our Pentagon displayed in Syria, then the migrants (or anybody else) really have nothing to fear in armed battle. The problem is, most of these migrants are unarmed civilians---and our brave xhes in uniform were proficient in killing them. This is especially concerning because the nutcase governing Texas has given a wink and nod to political violence and hinted that it wouldn't be unwelcome at the Southern Border. 

     In fact, Abbott does seem to desire a violent clash of some kind---and so does the Deep State. Abbott's anti-immigrant publicity stunts have not only been defeated multiple times in Court, they've cost the taxpayers more than it would have cost to accommodate the migrants. All of that money---and Texas is the second-largest recipient of federal funds for immigration---is going into the pockets of Abbott's Corporate cronies who manage transportation and private prison and security contractors. To pretend that Abbott has been acting with any kind of noble purpose in all of this is laughable.

   Furthermore, Abbott is a wholly-owned asset of the Bush Machine, and the Bush Machine doesn't want Trump or any other populist back in the White House. This whole 'crisis' is so transparently being orchestrated and so obviously a trap that it's amazing that nobody sees through it. Even President-in-Exile Trump who unfortunately has a habit of falling into these traps himself is recklessly tying himself and the MAGA Movement to what likely be its final destruction.

   With Abbott pushing the envelope and Biden playing possum, both sides are waiting hopefully that some Whacko like Chambers throws the match on the powder-keg, and we'll see history repeat itself. No: it won't be the shot heard round the world like 1775 at Lexington. It won't touch off Civil War 2.0. It will be like the OKC Bombing, 9/11, or the Scamdemic. All of these 'Conservatives' will roundly deplore the violence; suddenly they'll work together with the Junta to reach an agreement. Of course, we'll have tough new laws expanding surveillance and curbing Civil Liberties. Trump and his supporters will be the scapegoats, just like Jan6, and WEF Young Global Leader Nikki Haley can assume his place in the upcoming election. 

   Don't fall for this scam. Believe it or not, the Corporate Oligarchs and the Deep State really are more of an imminent threat than the guy selling wares from a food cart on your street. This is all a part of the Strategy of Tension and should be treated by us all accordingly. 

   

TWO QUESTIONS FOR THE POSTMODERN CONSERVATIVE

     Judging by the current news cycle, the so-called Crisis on our Southern Border is generating considerable hysteria and vitriol. I haven't seen this much of a moral panic since last winter when somebody spotted a derelict Chinese weather balloon over a Montana cornfield and no one could rest easy until the Air Force shot it down. This being an election year, and the only issues that the Controlled Opposition have are Immigration and China, naturally these two things are going to dominate the Media narratives. 

    Today we're going to ask a couple of questions to those who still believe that the Republican Party is capable of running our lives when they can't even manage a competent political campaign. 

    Question 1: A poll released today showed that 1/4 Americans aged 18-25 identify as nonbinary. The generation following them will probably see even higher numbers since---thanks largely to both parental and political neglect---those children and teens have grown up under such indoctrination. Add to this the fact that the US now ranks at bottom of Developed Nations in infant mortality; that marriage is declining and that half of pregnancies end in an abortion mill; that nearly 1/5 of young Americans are clinically infertile; that scores of thousands are dropping dead for no apparent reason while just about as many are dying from suicides and overdoses. Add also to this that over half of Americans can't read above a 6th-grade level, about a third use narcotics, and about a third are morbidly obese. 

  Query: How is getting rid of immigration going to fix that?

       Question 2: Over the last three decades, we've permitted Corporate Robber Barons to outsource and offshore our industrial and agricultural bases. We've destroyed organized labor, can't produce even the simplest basic necessities on our own soil, and let both our physical and educational infrastructure get to the point of near collapse. Extended power outages, the effects of natural phenomenon, wildfires, floods, droughts, failures of dams and bridges: all of these increasingly are becoming commonplace and the after-effects long-standing. We're no longer the leaders in space or undersea exploration, and our technological superiority is declining.

   Query: How is containing China supposed to help any of that?

    Both of these issues pivot on a simple principle that we once learned about 3rd Grade or so: Nature abhors a vacuum. It really isn't that difficult to comprehend. If the dominant culture in a given society fails to reproduce or invest in its youth, it will end up being replaced by a minority culture. If a leading economic power decides to stop producing, other economic powers will eventually surpass it. If White Anglo-Saxons are being displaced and our status as a world power is diminishing--- all that one can ask honestly is: What did you expect was going to happen? 

    These problems didn't just start under Biden despite what PragerU and the Claremont Institute say. These problems have been building up for a long time, were routinely ignored, and now we're seeing them reaching their logical conclusions. Our problems caused by the same things that caused them in the first place: a refusal to face reality. We on the Right---like those on the Left before us---want to cling to illusions and want to believe that virtue-signalling like putting razor wire on the border and dropping atomic warheads on Iran will bring us all into the Promised Land of the Pax Americana where all of the young girls are virgins again and workers sing for joy in factory and field. We want to believe that if only we had the right people in charge, they'd save us all from ourselves without any cost or personal sacrifice along the way.  

   If we actually are going to turn things around, we need to start by putting down the drugs, turning off the pornography, and stop listening to clueless demagogues. Then we need to start facing reality and working from there. But it's unlikely that will happen: instead it seems that we'll all go on believing that it's all somebody else's fault. 

   

THIS WON'T END WELL

       Texas Governor Greg Abbott is at it again: this time one of his anti-immigration publicity stunts is about to spiral out of control. Abbott first made headlines by ethnically cleansing deporting migrants who'd been cleared for entry by INS through forced bussing 'voluntary' transports to Democrat cities. These deportations notoriously recruited these 'volunteers' outside churches, gave them no provisions for a long bus trip and typically dumped them in bad weather conditions in cities ill-prepared to deal with them. While it's true that Texas gets more money from the Federal Trough for immigration than any other State except California, it's noteworthy that Abbott---despite all of his rhetoric about 'Federal failure' at the Border hasn't turned down any Federal money and volunteered to let Texas pay for border security itself.

    Abbott since has been pushing the envelope, including installing razor wire on an international border (which is unconstitutional); mobilizing his secret police to enforce immigration laws (which is also unconstitutional); mobilizing his private army to usurp Federal authority (ditto); erected barriers in international waters (ditto and in violation of International Law). Yesterday, he defied a Supreme Court Order and declared a 'State of Emergency' over a 'foreign invasion.' 

    This has met with considerable applause from the so-called Political Right---the ones who believe in the sanctity of the Constitution and the Rule of Law (but only when it suits them). One Alpha blowhard in the Texas Legislature quoted Andrew Jackson about a Supreme Court Decision "they have made their decision now let them enforce it." Besides taking this quote out of context, the also forget that when South Carolina took a similar position over the Tariff of 1832, the same President Jackson vowed to lead the US Army personally into South Carolina and "hang anybody taken in treason." 

    

      

       The Junta so far has restricted its response to these outrages to legal challenges, and Abbott's flying monkeys have been egging on even more extreme rhetoric. Before they go too far here, they should consider a few points (aside from the illegality and immorality of Abbott's actions):

      1. Abbott is a pawn of the Bush Machine.

      2. The GOP-controlled Congress has been blocking funding for increased Border Security.

      3. It's a rather dubious claim that any 'invasion' is actually occurring. 

      To try and pretend that there's some great principle involved here, consider how bravely the American Right stood up to Obamacare, homo 'marriage,' the Scamdemic, the Floyd Riots, the Election Steal, the anti-Trump witch hunts, and have slavishly rubber-stamped all of the Junta's nominees and policies. It's out of character for them to stand for anything. Then there is the WEF's dictates about restoring trust and fighting online extremism. Then there is the fact that the Junta seems to be waiting for some situation where they clearly have to act. Finally, consider that this is an Election Year and the Establishment would like nothing more than another False Flag like 2020.

     Abbott's actions and rhetoric are bound to lead to violence of some kind; indeed, that seems to be what he desires. Let us not forget that the Junta and the Oligarchy also desire it. Nothing would give them a greater excuse for a crackdown on 'extremists' than violence stemming from the clearly illegal actions and borderline-psychopathic speeches coming from the contemporary Right. 

     In other words, this isn't going to end well and it is very likely being orchestrated for that exact purpose. Recall the Strategy of Tension which, we'll remind everyone was devised by a former general---now a Fox News 'security analyst' and a Satanic Cult leader. If one is inclined to doubt that that can be done, just remember the George Floyd Riots. The Oligarchy has no shortage of rent-a-mobs, patsies, trolls, and other stooges---not to mention a servile Media at its disposal. 

    Unfortunately, the American Right seems to be living in this Cloud-Cuckooland fantasy world where everyone is suddenly going to roll up their sleeves, turn into Rambo, and take their country back. It isn't going to happen. Realistically, the American Right is a lot closer to having a jackboot come down on their throats than they are of merrily waltzing into the Beltway singing God Bless America after fighting the Regime in a Homeric battle. We're being set up again for a hard fall. The Junta hasn't made any secret of their intentions and it's an even bigger illusion to believe that the political Right won't cave in and support them as they always have.

THE NEW HAMPSHIRE CELEBRITY SPECTACULAR

   Every four years in the United States, Americans are treated to a media extravaganza which is marketed to an effete public as a national election. Despite all evidence to the contrary, the carefully-packaged and managed electoral coaches and their ethnically diverse and gender-neutral cheerleading squads promote the idea that everyone will benefit personally depending on the outcome of the performance. 

   The reality, of course, is quite different. Stripped of all of the showmanship and sales-pitches, the message is a choice between two factions: one of which promises to maintain the Status Quo, the other promising to keep the Status Quo but manage it better. Nobody outside of a few insiders actually gains anything by any of this nonsense, but Americans love national dramas and media circuses because they can pretend that they're really part of some bigger program and hold fast to the illusion that they really matter to the big decision-makers. 

   In New Hampshire yesterday---a state with a whopping 4 Electoral votes and responsible for one-half of one percent of our national economy---held its presidential primaries. The President-in-Exile eked out a 7-point win against a WEF Global Leader, while our nominal Head-of-State handily won a write-in vote. The Expert Class and their celebrity parrots in the Corporate Media interpret all of this as reflective of the national mood of the entire United States; because, obviously northern New England is a trend-setter encompassing all of the perspectives and interests of 350 million people.

   The Controlled Opposition naturally is spinning the primary as some kind of national mandate. We all saw how accurately their predictions and strategies worked in 2021, 2022, and 2023: but, never fear: it will work this time. Things have never been worse than under Biden---never mind that the Junta has done little more than govern according to precedents handed to them on a silver platter by GOP Congresses and Administrations. Vote for Trump---never mind that the RNC worked hand-in-glove with the Democrats to sabotage his whole agenda last time. Put the Republicans back in charge to rebuild our economy, military, and schools---never mind that nobody has the slightest plan for accomplishing any of these miraculous events. 

  The Democratic Party is fanatically obsessed with Abortion, alleged systemic racism, homo 'equality' along with a stiff input of weather-related hysteria. The Republicans have nothing to counter any of this except to say that such things are up to the States---sux to be you if you live in a Blue State. In fact, since the 1990s, the Neocons have written off social issues entirely. They say instead that we should focus on economic and national security issues, as if we don't already have enough top-down input. They're solutions to both building the economy, military, and educational systems has been to shift the management of these sectors from unelected government bureaucrats to unelected Corporate bureaucrats. Actually, the Neocons have made things even worse because by so-called privatization, they've stripped any legislative oversight from both how these systems are managed or how much they cost.

   This is hardly a winning strategy, as the last elections have shown. Most Americans figure they either can avoid, somewhat tolerate, or at least pretend to go along with the ludicrous excesses from the Whacko Left but what the Right is offering is solving problems with a sledgehammer. The Whacko Left might live in a world populated with unicorns and magic mushrooms, but most Americans can hold their noses and put with that when their alternative is a world filled with SWAT-teams, barbed wire, and having their livelihoods dependent on the cost-effective means of expanding the profit-margins of Wall Street's stakeholders. 

    If one really follows the Republican Party's current narratives: their lack of any solutions and general incoherence is underlain with a pervasive, unspoken agreement that their ultimate appeal is based on brute force. Their idea of Foreign Policy is to terrorize other nations into serving our interests. They think that Ukraine's treatment of Russians and Israel's treatment of Arabs are great models for dealing with immigration here. Their economic policy boils down to letting the strong survive and the weak perish. Their solutions to our systemic cultural rot is to suppress DEI programs and impose their own versions of them. Their idea of national security is to expand domestic espionage, the Prison-Industrial Complex, and inflation of the death penalty. 

   This is not how Conservatism traditionally worked. Conservatives only appealed to force as a last resort. Foreign Policy was actually closer to the one that China currently practices: win-win cooperation. Immigration was welcomed but based on what the country actually needed instead of delusions about representing diversity or the paranoia of xenophobes. They believed in an efficient social safety net and encouraged churches and private charities to participate. They fought radicalism with reasoned argument and appeals to the public to step up and take responsibility for how these institutions were run. They supported economic independence of the average worker. They used to be about guaranteeing Constitutional Rights as their top priority.

  But that was then, this is now. The Republican leadership is totally clueless on this point. The Conservative Movement doesn't exist. Their whole operating procedure is redefining what a Conservative is, and then building and selling a narrative around that illusion. Don't buy into the narrative. Force and fear are the only thing that they're really selling, and the last thing that America needs is more of that. 

  

   

ON THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE WITH AI

    In 2024, the US Political-Media Complex is turning to Artificial Intelligence to sell us Official Narratives---as if Big Tech doesn't already influence them enough. I suppose that it could be argued that in the Media's case, this is largely making a virtue of necessity, as many of them are lacking intelligence of the natural variety. In any case, readers should be a bit wary of the celebratory headlines coming from the so-called 'Conservative' Media trumpeting all of the lay-offs going on in the Corporate Media. It isn't so much 'Go woke, go broke' as it is that the Media Cartels have figured out that they don't have to pay robots. 

   Actually, learning that Google and Microsoft are the two heaviest investors in AI technology, and AI's use is being promoted aggressively by the World Economic Forum automatically ought to make us all think twice about its alleged benefits. By and large, though, most Americans already never question who's selling a narrative and why; so it's doubtful that they'll worry about who programs the robots too much either. 

    

      

    The World Economic Forum, which has a lot more to do with actually deciding policy than anybody in our silly Election Year races ever will, had a lot to say about AI during both this year's and last year's annual meeting. This year's top agenda item at the WEF was the urgent necessity of restoring public trust in the institutions which it controls. AI, combating 'disinformation,' and wider surveillance technologies were also discussed: it probably takes little imagination to discern where this was going. 

    During one of these discussions, Emma Tucker, Chief Editor at the Newscorp-owned Wall Street Journal lamented: “If you go back not that long ago, We owned the news. We were the gatekeepers, and we very much owned the facts as well. If it said it in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, then that was a fact. Nowadays, people can go to all sorts of different sources for the news, and they’re much more questioning about what we’re saying.”  As Arch-Neocon Karl Rove infamously put it: “That’s not the way the world really works anymore. We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality— judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

    Ahhh...the good old days of the Bush Administration when we had Alphas in charge, everybody believed and did as they were told, and the rest of the planet kowtowed in our presence. The 2024 Elections which, like the 8th or 9th national election preceding it, is the most important election of our lifetime, and it's imperiative that we have another Red Tsunami to save the American people from themselves. 

    The Oligarchs at the WEF probably aren't quaking in their boots as much as the Controlled Opposition pundits would have us believe. They have a top RNC operative on their Board of Trustees, who gave his version of leadership at the WEF as: "Nothing was ever done that's meaningful in life without somebody providing some resistance to it. You've got to plow through that resistance if you're actually going to accomplish anything."

    We all saw in 2020 a specimen of such plowing through resistance. WEF Young Global Leader, Canadian strongman Tienanmen Trudeau---who plows down resistance on a regular basis---hosts the country that manufactures and programs American voting machines. As we mentioned in a 2022 article:

    "Vested interests like Diebold Technologies which operates and counts votes (and incidentally whose top shareholder at 14% is WEF/Great Reset architect Blackrock); or Dominion Voting Systems, which is a subsidiary of Staple Street Capital and is deeply connected with the neo-Fascist Regime of Justin Trudeau. The two owners of Staple Street are former employees of the Bush Family-run (and WEF partner) The Carlyle Group, and of Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus' co-CEOs Steve Feinberg and Frank Bruno are major donors to the GOP Establishment and their board members include former Vice-President Dan Quayle and Bush Jr's former Treasury Secretary John Snow. Despite Republican claims that Dominion is heavily tied to voter fraud, it's doubtful that they will say too much about reining in Dominion."

    The Carlyle Group mentioned in that quote is also represented on the WEF Board of Trustees by that same David M. Rubenstein, linked above, who spoke of plowing through resistance. With WEF Top 100 Strategic Partners Alphabet (parent company of Google) and Microsoft (ancillary to WEF Strategic Partner the Gates Foundation) replacing Media with AI, the Oligarchy has a fairly solid stranglehold on US Elections, Conservative wishful thinking to the contrary. 

    In the nonexistent campaign strategies of the GOP, so-called solid Blue States are written off from the beginning. If one is a Trump supporter living there, one simply doesn't count, as the GOP doesn't back candidates in those states or invest anything into campaigning.(The Democrats do however aggressively try to flip 'Red States). If one looks at an Electoral College Map, the states they've written off: California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, Illinois,---these states combined constitute 167 Electoral Votes---nearly two-thirds of the 270 votes needed for nomination are conceded before the Election even starts. 

   The Conservative pundits like to fantasize that Biden's unpopularity in so-called 'swing states' will tilt the balance in their favor---this delusion is based on the very tenuous assumption that disaffected Democrats aren't going to hold their noses and vote for Biden and will instead enthusiastically admit they were wrong and vote for Trump. 

   It is past time that the political Right stop looking for top-down solutions. It isn't going to happen: the 2024 Red Wave is going to be a washout just like 2022, 2020, and 2018---regardless of what AI chatbots say. 

CULTS IN SPACE

    China apparently has launched a new initiative to combat the influence of the dangerous religious cult, Falun Gong. The cult's followers in the United States are claiming that the Chinese Government has been PSA's through social media and other outlets to warn citizens to beware of their activities. The Falun Gong originated in China, but their self-proclaimed 'messiah' now lives in a compound in New York. The Chinese recognize the danger of cults: here the Falun Gong, the Moonies, the Dalai Lama, etc. are patronized and used in the media as China Experts. Falun Gong and the Moonies even have their own media outlets: The Epoch Times and the Washington Times respectively. Newsweek is also heavily Moonie-influenced. 

    There was a time in America when Conservative leaders also recognized the danger of cults---and certainly didn't promote them as today's Conservatives do. The Reagan Administration actually turned the FBI loose on those rats and the Reverend Moon, several Scientologists, Satanists, and Megachurch leaders wound up in jail. But then, we got the kinder, gentler Neocon Administration of Bush Sr. who let most of them out and even recognized a few as legitimate religions. It was a good investment for the Neocons, because cults have been a substantial revenue and propaganda force for them ever since.

    

    China also has other, more practical interests in the heavens and interests in a different kind of moon. Their Aerospace program is planning a manned mission to the moon by next year, and they have been developing biodomes for potential space colonization. Years ago, they joined Russia as the only developed country with a manned space station and making progress in many other areas.

    This being an Election Year in the US, the Republicans in Congress have desperately been seeking any issue they can possibly find to distract attention from their hopeless incompetence. Some apparently have just recently noticed that the US hasn't done much of anything relating to space exploration in decades and other countries are now filling the void. Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas---one of the most paranoid of anti-China 'hawks'---screeched from the Floor on Wednesday that “It’s no secret that China has a goal to surpass the United States by 2045 as global leaders in space! We can’t allow this to happen!” 

    NASA, much like the Pentagon, has during the last few decades become more committed to Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion programs than anything relating to its original purpose. Also, much like the Pentagon, most of its budget has been outsourced to shady Government contractors to the point where we don't even manufacture rocket engines in the US for the most part and have to import the critical minerals necessary for components anyway. Like most of the Hot Air coming out of Congress, Lucas is doing nothing more than engaging in wishful thinking: imagining that somehow the Aerospace infrastructure that we abandoned years ago will re-appear magically complete with skilled workers, engineers, domestic supply-chains and materials---and it won't cost the taxpayers anything to do it.

    The Trump Administration did try to address the problem by funding long-term, sensible goals like we did in the 1950s. But Orange Man Bad: Americans chose instead the excitement of panicking over a flu epidemic and some mean tweets. NASA recently tried to cobble together a lunar program after the so-called China Threat started making headlines and the program is stalled after their probe blew up on the launch pad. 

   For their part, the Chinese deny that they are pursuing any sort of Cold War-style 'Space Race,' and this is probably true. I think that it is really more a case of how nature abhors a vacuum. China has the means and the skill to build a first-rate Aerospace program and they are doing it. 

   The American program in contrast suffered from the same problems that most of our infrastructure has since the 1990s. Our political and academic classes smugly proclaimed "the end of history" and the "New American Century" and assumed that nobody else could touch our superiority in Space. We stopped investing in the program and turned it over to chowderheads like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos who couldn't wait to turn Outer Space into a money-making venture for Wall Street. Such engineers as we had in our universities were funded by Big Tech to develop things like space-shuttle limos for future versions of Las Vegas and Disneyland on Mars. China, meanwhile was investing in Space Technology to learn and develop new technologies that might have some practical value on Earth. 

    The politicians in Congress are flapping their arms over America losing its dominance in Space. This is also hyperbole. Our Space program was successful because we did then---what China is doing now---partnering with allied Space programs. Ours then mostly came from Europe and Japan. Those networks of cooperation are gone now too; thanks again mostly to Beltway bullying and hubris. Without any help from NASA, Japan landed it's first lunar probe yesterday, and India succeeded in doing so last year. Our Media has been guffawing over various mechanical problems these other countries have experienced and snort that we're still the only country which has made successful moon landings. Sure, in 1972 that might have been a cause for celebration, but today's NASA certainly has nothing to brag about. 

   Once again, we are confronted in America with a problem entirely of our own making. Blaming China is not going to help us improve, and the hegemonic attitude of our Political Class is only going to make things worse. The Universe isn't part of some kind of turf war that rival gangs fight over, though that's the position our politicians take toward every problem. As one Chinese analyst aptly said: "the US has become so narrow-minded that it not only undermines confidence in its ability to achieve greater success in space exploration but also raises concerns that it may hinder the progress of other aspiring space explorers. NASA employees are scientists...If even they become infected with Washington's pathological and vulgar atmosphere, it would be extremely disappointing."

   The problem is that American scientists, like most of the rest of our society, became infected with the Beltway/Wall Street pathological and vulgar atmosphere a long time ago. If that doesn't change, the next generation will see China reaping the benefits of space technology, while the best that Americans can hope for is watching Celebrity Big Brother on pay-per-view filmed live from a Space Station.