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'Woke' NASA Astrobiology Chair thinks exploration of Mars problematic because 'colonialism bad'

Caleb Howe
The Blaze
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 21:22 UTC
Lucianne Walkowicz
© Andrew Toth/Getty Images for National Geographic
Astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz of National Geographic's 'Mars' at The Beacon Theater on November 14, 2018 in New York City.
Adler astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz is the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, not to mention a guest star (as herself) on National Geographic's Mars TV series. Cosmologist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is with Department of Physics at the University of Washington, and fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. And together they are, counter-intuitively, not so keen on the exploration or colonization of Mars.

In fact, the very word "exploration" is inherently "problematic", they would have us believe, as detailed in a panel discussion published at Gizmodo last week. It was highlighted Sunday by Powerline, with the observation that "if these folks had been with NASA in the 1960s, we'd have never made it to the moon." That may seem like a snarky insult on the part of Powerline, but in fact it's precisely the point that the scientists made.

Comment: There's certainly something to be said for a 'non-interference directive', but this self-hating scientist has gone well past that into full-blown SJW lunacy.

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Airplane

Indonesia says Lion Air jet not airworthy on flight before crash

Cindy Silviana and Fergus Jensen
Reuters
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 21:10 UTC
Nurcahyo Utomo
© REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
Indonesian investigators said on Wednesday a Lion Air Boeing 737 jet that plunged into the sea, killing 189 people onboard, was not airworthy on a flight the day before it crashed on Oct. 29.

The Oct. 28 flight from Bali to Jakarta had experienced similar technical issues to the doomed flight the next day from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang, said Nurcahyo Utomo, head of Indonesia's national transport safety committee (KNKT).

The pilot of the Oct. 28 flight chose to press on to Jakarta after shutting down the plane's anti-stall system, Utomo said.

"This is the basis of our recommendation to Lion Air. In our view, the plane was not airworthy," he told a news conference in Jakarta.

Comment: Investigators also discovered that as the Lion Air jet began its ascent after taking off, the plane's pilots fought to maintain control as an automatic safety system repeatedly forced the aircraft's nose down. This was the same problem that pilots experienced the night before the crash which should have grounded the plane.

Previously:

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Pirates

Afghan official reports Daesh forced to go underground with fewer than 10,000 fighters while Taliban expands


Sputnik
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 21:09 UTC
Afghan troops
© AFP 2018 / Noorullah Shirzada / Pool
The militants of the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) have gone underground in Afghanistan, with the size of the organization's sleeper cells in the country currently amounting to less than 10,000, Mohammad Mohaqiq, the second deputy chief executive of Afghanistan, told Sputnik in an interview.

"Takfiris [followers of a radical Islamist ideology] and Daesh terrorists do not have official presence in the provinces of Faryab, Jowzjan and Sar-e Pol, however, despite this, they are hiding in sleeper cells, there are also a number of camps, where the foreigners are undergoing training, but they do not openly declare their presence," Mohaqiq said.

He added that the terrorists operating in the country had suffered considerable casualties in fights with the Taliban radical movement.
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Handcuffs

Borussia Dortmund bus bomber given 14yrs jail for attempted murder


RT
Tue, 27 Nov 2018 00:04 UTC
Sergei Wenergold
© Leon Kuegeler / dpa
Sergei Wenergold
German Sergei Wenergold was found guilty of 28 counts of attempted murder for an April 2017 attack on Borussia Dortmund's team bus before a UEFA Champions League fixture which injured defender Marc Bartra and a police officer.

Wenergold, 29, was also found guilty by a Dortmund state court of inflicting grievous bodily harm and of causing an explosion.

The attack occurred on April 11 last year when the Dortmund team were leaving their hotel for a Champions League clash with AS Monaco.

Three explosions caused bus windows to smash, injuring Spanish defender Bartra, who then missed one month of the season as a result of a broken wrist damaged in the blast.
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Boat

Russia will invest $4B to build Arctic port servicing Northern Sea Route


RT
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 10:56 UTC
LNG Arctic port
© Yamal LNG
Plans for building a sea port in on one of Russia's northernmost areas have been brought back to life. The $4 billion project in the Nenets region is key to the country's strategic plan to open shipping in the Arctic.

The project has reportedly been included in Moscow's list of major investment projects on transport and infrastructure development. The new port, which will be located in the small Nenets settlement of Indiga, will be operated year-round.

The annual cargo turnover is set to reach 70 million tons, 50 million tons of which will account for coal shipments, extracted from Russia's biggest coal mining area in the Kuznetsk Basin, located in southwestern Siberia.

The sea port will be financed by both private investors and state support. Private investors are expected steer 60 billion rubles ($900 million) into the project with the remaining 198 billion rubles ($3 billion) to be provided by the Russian government.

Comment: See also:

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Chart Pie

Several major demographic trends which are shaping America's future

Michael Snyder
End Of The American Dream
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:00 UTC
US demographic trends
We are witnessing a fundamental transformation of America. Some welcome the changes that are happening, while others are greatly resisting them. But one thing is very clear - the United States is a very different place than it was 40 or 50 years ago. Our population is aging, lifestyle patterns are dramatically shifting, and young adults view the world very differently than Baby Boomers do. The changes that we are watching happen are going to take our society in new directions, and already the pace of change is accelerating at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking. The following are 8 shocking demographic trends which will greatly shape America's future...

#1 Like Japan and many countries in Europe, the population of the United States is rapidly aging. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, children will soon be outnumbered by those that are 65 and older, and that will be the first time that this has ever happened in all of U.S. history...
Adults 65 and older will soon outnumber children for the first time in America's history, it has been revealed.

The US Census Bureau released new projections this year that showed the country's changing - and aging - demographics.

By 2030 all baby boomers will be older than age 65 and one in every five Americans will be retirement age.

Comment: The author may want to revise his thoughts on 'peak oil'. But most everything else appears to be correct.

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Bad Guys

'Racially aggravated assault' on Syrian refugee schoolboy sparks outrage


The Guardian
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 02:48 UTC
almondbury community school bullying syrian child
© Google
The incident is said to have taken place on playing fields at Almondbury Community School
West Yorkshire police are investigating a report of a "racially aggravated assault" against a 15-year-old boy after a violent video was shared on social media.

The victim, with his arm in a cast, is seen to be dragged to the floor by his neck before his attacker says "I'll drown you" while forcing water from a bottle into his mouth.

The incident is said to have taken place on playing fields at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield on 25 October.


Comment: The video clip posted on Twitter:



Comment: RT adds that within hours of the video being shared, a fundraising page for Jamal was launched which has so far raised tens of thousands of pounds for the Syrian refugee. More Twitter responses:



This story seems to have prompted just a tad too much hysteria:



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Arrow Down

US airstrike kills 30 civilians in Afghanistan

Mohammad Stanekzai
US News
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 18:32 UTC
Afghan boy airstrike
© Reuters
An Afghan boy receives treatment at a hospital after an airstrike in Helmand province, Afghanistan November 28, 2018.
At least 30 Afghan civilians were killed in U.S. air strikes in the Afghan province of Helmand, officials and residents of the area said on Wednesday, the latest casualties from a surge in air operations aimed at driving the Taliban into talks.

Afghanistan's NATO-led force said Afghan government forces and U.S. advisers came under fire from Taliban fighters in a compound in Garmsir district and called in an air strike, but the ground forces were not aware of any civilians in or near the compound.

Helmand provincial governor Mohammad Yasin Khan said troops had called in air strikes against Taliban fighters in Garmsir, causing both civilian and Taliban casualties.

A resident of the area called Mohammadullah said the clash began late on Tuesday.
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Treasure Chest

Oops! Russian state bank VTB almost loans poor African country six times its GDP by mistake


RT
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 17:53 UTC
VTB capital bank loan CAR

VTB did not say who was responsible for the mistake or how such a large figure could have been published without being spotted.
The Central African Republic (CAR) could have landed windfall on Tuesday after Russian state bank VTB reported it had almost lent the country $12 billion by mistake. The sum is over six times the country's gross domestic product.

The loan was mentioned in a quarterly VTB financial report published by the Central Bank of Russia and seen by Reuters. However, VTB insists it was a technical error and that no such loan was provided to the African country.

"VTB bank has no exposure of this size to CAR. Most likely, this is a case of a technical mistake in the system when the countries were being coded," the lender said in a statement sent to Reuters. It didn't detail who was responsible for the mistake or how such a large figure could have been published without being spotted.
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X

'Those who question are smeared and threatened' - feminist banned from Twitter for saying 'men aren't women'


RT
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 17:55 UTC
censorship
© Getty Images
A feminist - banned from Twitter for saying that "men are not women" - told RT that those who question ideologies of modern society are threatened, harassed and even fired, adding free speech and democracy may be in danger.

Meghan Murphy, editor of Canada's leading feminist news portal Feminist Current, was banned on Twitter because several of her tweets violated the platform's rules against "hateful conduct." One of the 'offending' tweets stated that "men aren't women," while the other asked: "How are transwomen not men?"

Contacted by RT, Murphy shared her reaction on the ban and tried to unravel what lies behind this online drive. She believes that society is now being forced "to adapt to a new language and a new ideology" which says that the instant a male declares that he is a woman, they must be accepted as literally female.
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