A senior lawmaker proposed a controversial piece of legislation on Wednesday that directs NASA to pick a second company to build the agency’s next Moon landers — in addition to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which was awarded a $2.9 billion NASA contract to build a lander earlier this year. The bill hasn’t passed the full Senate yet, but it marks a new front in an ongoing effort to overturn or rejig NASA’s decision. It also sets up the first political challenge for NASA’s new administrator, former Sen. Bill Nelson. //

Jeff Bezos’ space firm Blue Origin and Dynetics. Those companies lodged formal protests against NASA’s decision, triggering a procedural pause on SpaceX’s new contract. Among other things, the protests maintain that NASA should have picked two firms instead of one.

Amid a lobbying effort from Blue Origin, those calls have found their way into a NASA authorization bill, proposed as an amendment to the Endless Frontier Act by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee overseeing NASA. Cantwell represents Blue Origin’s home state of Washington. Under Cantwell’s language, NASA would be required to reopen the competition within 30 days and allow it to use $10 billion of its budget to pick a second lunar lander provider.

Before choosing SpaceX, NASA had been expected to pick two companies, a strategy that guaranteed a backup in case one lander fell behind. But the agency went only with SpaceX — its bid was half of Blue Origin’s — after funding shortfalls from Congress. “It was in NASA’s best interest, along with the budget that was there, for us to award to one,” NASA’s human spaceflight chief, Kathy Lueders, who led the decision to pick SpaceX, said last month.

Here are some CDC graphics that won’t be shown or discussed on CNN or MSNBC any time soon. The first is a graph showing new virus cases in the US over the 7-day period ending 7 May: //

Virus deaths nationwide have been trending downward since January, too:

While the graphical representation is illuminating, the CDC’s commentary is even better:

The current 7-day moving average of daily new cases (45,817) decreased 13.2% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (52,772). Compared with the highest peak on January 8, 2021 (249,672), the current 7-day average decreased 81.6%.

It was never about black lives.

That simple fact is something that’s haunted the Black Lives Matter movement throughout its existence. When it first came about in 2016, it did so just as the 2016 elections were coming into full swing. The timing seemed awfully convenient giving us the first clue that this new civil rights movement wasn’t so much about the well-being of the black community and more about politics.

Unsurprisingly, all the issues surrounding the black community were highlighted within the BLM movement but very rarely was a solution ever settled upon for these issues. In fact, their real interest seemed to be reacting to problems rather than solving them. Solving them, and working with others, would eliminate the need for the BLM movement. //

“We don’t sit on panels with law enforcement, and we don’t have BBQs or cookouts with law enforcement,” she said. “We feel the best method at this point in history is by holding police accountable by organizing and advocating for police accountability.”

They want to react to problems not solve them.

After the election, Black Lives Matter largely disappeared and it wasn’t brought up a lot by the Democrat politicians that backed the group at every photo-op and media interview. //

Fast forward to the 2020 elections and suddenly the BLM movement was back after the death of George Floyd, but as many knew from the very beginning, Floyd was just the excuse, not the cause of the reemergence of Black Lives Matter. The real cause lay in the fact that Donald Trump needed to be defeated, and the left needed a way to paint Republicans, Trump, and the entirety of America as racist.

What followed was a summer of destruction, death, and unending, fawning media coverage. Every burning store and assaulted person, every death and crime from minor to major were excused, defended, and sometimes even applauded by people on your television screens.

Black Lives Matter became the most popular political party in our nation. //

It was a full-on mainstream frenzy…

…and then Joe Biden was elected.

The quest to get Trump out of office was successful. What’s more, the “trained-Marxist” leaders like Cullors had made their money. //

BLM could be tucked away for another day. The frenzy can now settle. The last thing Democrats need is the BLM movement going nuts on their watch.

Politicians can now go back to ignoring it, BLM leaders can rest in their expensive homes till the next time it’s needed, and they can even paint over the words on the road in DC.

The black people of America were once again used by Democrats. None of the problems it faced were solved and were likely only made worse as burned businesses and dead family members are the real legacy it left behind. In a number of years, it will likely resurface when a Republican is threatening the Democrat party’s power and the process will begin again with more ruin and dead in its wake, accompanied by the applause of the left as they rake in power and money.

Meanwhile, black people will suffer the most from it.

It was never about black lives.

The Palestinians had not fired a rocket at Jerusalem since 2014 until this week. What changed, exactly? Well, Biden’s handlers decided to reinstate “aid” payments to the Palestinians. They are emboldened, knowing that Donald Trump isn’t there to push back anymore while Biden is happy to play into his own weakness, coddling the terrorists who are currently killing Jews in the streets.

And speaking of Trump, could you imagine the gnashing of teeth that would occur if he just disappeared the day Israel basically went to war and hackers shut down gasoline distribution to the Southeast and East Coast? He’d be accused of being derelict in his duty. Yet, no one in the media seems to even be concerned that Biden is MIA during one of the most consequential, complicated weeks the country has seen in quite some time. In fact, they seem to be far more obsessed with fluffing Liz Cheney than the fact that the jobs market is stagnating while inflation remains out of control.

There are consequences to electing a senile old man to a job that requires at least some level of coherence. The country is receiving those consequences good and hard right now. Voters should take note because this isn’t going to get better. The only way to turn this around is to stop voting with your emotions and start paying attention to the things that really matter.

Carter inherited the inflation from Gerald Ford. He made it worse because he had no idea what he was doing, but he didn’t create it.

Biden was stuck with the pandemic, but the underlying economy prior to the pandemic was a terrific economy, the border was in check, Israel was largely peaceful, gasoline was plentiful and cheap. He’s managed to screw up everything that Trump had left in relatively good order in the span of four months. That takes real talent for incompetence.

The Microsoft co-founder’s wild lifestyle was well known among his inner circle — but newspapers like the New York Times hid the unflattering reports to continue getting “spoon-fed stories,” James Wallace wrote in the 1997 biography, “Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace.”

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Why is the world still being hit by wave after wave of Covid when we know how to stop it?
Helen Clark and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Leaders failed to act fast enough when Covid-19 appeared. They must not keep making the same mistakes

Covid pandemic was preventable, says WHO-commissioned report

Curtis Houck
@CurtisHouck
Absolutely ghoulish. Never let a crisis go to waste!

White House reporter eagerly asks Energy Secretary Granholm how these gas shortages due to the Colonial pipeline will help the administration push people toward accepting renewable energy. //

The reporter asks how does this fit their overall effort toward renewable energy, how does this “speed up” that effort? In other words, how can you use this crisis to your advantage? That’s why Granholm is smiling because she thinks this helps their case, hang who it hurts or the threat to the infrastructure. She also taunts Americans who drive gas-powered cars, with a little smile, “If you drive an electric car, this would not be affecting you.”

In response to Whitmer’s imperialistic order, Enbridge told her to pound sand, saying the oil will keep flowing regardless of her demands because the two sides are still in the middle of court-ordered mediation.

But Whitmer doesn’t care. Her quest to please her climate-change-gods takes precedence over the needs of her residents and the residents of other states which will inevitably suffer as a result of her decision. Though Line 5 has previously had issues with small leaks, those leaks have amounted to just 1.1 million gallons leaked over 29 leak incidents, over the last 53 years. While 1.1 million gallons may seem like a lot, it amounts to 56 gallons a day, less than 5% of the total oil that is pumped through the line in just one day, or just 0.0002% of the 446 Billion gallons of oil that has pumped through the line since 1968. If I were running a business and my safety and prevention efforts resulted in a 99.9998% success rate, I’d be asking for a raise.

That doesn’t stop the fearmongering left. Their stupidity in practice means we shut down those oil pipelines, leading to shortages, stagnation of the economy (or outright economic collapse), further victimization of America’s poverty-stricken population, and of course, a significant rise in carbon pollution as the transportation of those oil resources is moved to truck and diesel pushing trains. Of course, Whitmer and her team of “experts,” don’t factor for any of these issues in the fancy reports. To them, the reduction of the consumption of carbon-producing fuels is worth it. Your immediate physical and mental health matters not to them. Neither does your financial situation or your ability to provide for your family. It all can be sacrificed at the altar of “good intentions” as the left continues the worship of their climate change gods. To them, your health, freedom, and happiness are expendable as long as they feel like they are doing the will of their progressive agenda.

Girl Who Killed DC Area Uber Eats Driver Pleads Guilty, Literally Gets Away With Murder
By Scott Hounsell | May 11, 2021 2:45 PM ET

Credit: @Mrtdogg/Twitter
In March the country was shocked as it watched two teenage girls attempt to carjack an Uber Eats driver in the DC area, which ended in the death of 66-year-old Mohammad Anwar, an immigrant from Pakistan. The video, which we originally reported on here, is graphic in the detail and shows the girls speeding off in Anwar’s car, Anwar still stuck in the door attempting to wrestle control of the vehicle away from the two girls. The vehicle then crashes at the end of the block, rolling onto its side. The girls are seen climbing out of the passenger side of the vehicle. One of the girls was more concerned about finding her phone, which was lost in the accident, than the welfare of Anwar, whose mangled body is seen lying lifeless near the front of a building.

According to WTOP, the 15-year-old girl pled guilty to felony murder on May 5th and now awaits sentencing on June 4th. The other girl in the car at the time, who is just 13, is scheduled for a hearing next week. As alluded to in our previous reports, the harshest sentence she faces is less than 3 years in a juvenile detention facility.

During a time when the left has been talking about the way that the criminal justice system “victimizes” minorities, little is being said about this case, which is among the most clear-cut cases of murder in a long while. When cases like the Ohio officer who shot Ma’Khia Bryant are being debated and people are questioning whether or not use-of-force was necessary despite clear video evidence of Bryant attempting to stab another girl, it is shocking the left is so silent about this case. Could it be that it doesn’t match their narrative?

Of course, if the suspect in the killing of a Pakistani immigrant were a white 15-year-old boy, the media would be having a field day and the left would be demanding the suspect not only be charged, but spend the rest of his life behind bars. Most certainly, they would be demanding that the boy be charged with a hate crime. Yet, here we are, simply changing the ethnicity and gender of the person, and the left is nothing but the sound of pins dropping.

Not only that, they seem to be defending these girls. The Mayor of DC, instead of demanding justice for Anwar and his family, decided that it was a better time to hold a PSA regarding how to avoid being carjacked. Of course, this doesn’t include arresting carjackers and holding them accountable. The acting police chief of DC stated that he didn’t think that the two girls, who were certainly adult enough to commit a felony, were not adult enough to be charged as such. Fox’s resident leftist apologist, Juan Williams likened the girls’ actions as a “joy ride” that “went wrong.” Yahoo’s then-White House Correspondent, Hunter Walker, had the garbage-iest of takes when he said that the right was simply trying to use Anwar’s death as a means of sparking criticism of blacks.

No matter how anyone looks at this, it is a tragedy. To somehow attempt to excuse these girls in a way that would be different from a white male of the same age, is downright sickening. As Dr. King dreamt that people would not be judged “by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” the left seems to think that everything must be judged according to what they define to be fair, which almost inevitably comes down to race, gender, or sexual preferences.

I am sure Mohammad Anwar’s family doesn’t care who committed his murder. What they want is justice, and it was totally denied in this case. //

Avery Mann
8 hours ago
If these girls truly repent, they MAY be able to avoid justice. I don't mean in a courtroom. What goes around comes around. //

clconnett -> Avery Mann
7 hours ago
What has been borne upon a cross of wood will not be charged again to any who bows at the feet of the one who bore it. But, for the one who does not bow, these words remain: Vengeance is mine, I shall repay, says the Lord. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So let us all flee to the hands that were pierced, lest we fall into them unaware.

We are in trouble. This man is not up to the job, and that has never been more clear after the events of the last week. Biden has taken a recovery that was on cruise control and run it into a tree. Inflation is killing the middle class, job growth is stagnating, and we’ve lost the gains we made against Iran, the Palestinians, China, and Russia. None of this is going to work out well

The government report on inflation has been released, and it’s not good. Inflation hit 4.2% in April, a crushing blow to the poor and middle class especially. This followed on the heels of stagnating hiring shown by last week’s jobs report (see New Jobs Report Is the Worst Miss in History as Biden Administration Failures Mount). //

Remember, the consumer price index doesn’t even include things like lumber so this number is likely lower than reality despite still showing an out-of-control rise. That rise is directly timed with Biden passing his COVID “relief” act that printed trillions of largely unnecessary dollars. //

This is the result of Democrat economic policies. We tried to warn the cocktail-sipping establishment class that thought Trump was too icky. Policies have consequences, and they matter a lot more than mean tweets and disagreements about rhetoric. Real people are now getting smoked while Joe Biden is nowhere to be found (see We Don’t Have a President).

Of course, you can expect the media to spin this.

Paul Krugman
@paulkrugman
So, the inflation report wasn't a nothingburger, but it was sort of a White Castle slider — not a very big deal. //

These people live in a bubble, and they aren’t going to leave it. They truly believe you don’t matter. Vote accordingly.

Daily Caller
@DailyCaller
NEW: President Trump releases a statement on the conflict between Israel and Gaza:

"Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden's weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies."

Jordan Schachtel
@JordanSchachtel
They kicked Donald Trump off of Twitter. Meanwhile, the leader of Hamas is on this platform celebrating "the bombing of Tel Aviv."

Daily Caller
@DailyCaller
Does the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas celebrating rocket attacks against Israel violate your terms of service @TwitterSupport? https://twitter.com/IsmailHaniyyeh/status/1392214479363051520
6:57 PM · May 11, 2021

Curtis Houck
@CurtisHouck
Don't worry, folks. Joe Biden has got this situation in Israel under control. 🙄

Psaki say's he's "directed his team to engage intensively with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials" and are in "support of de-escalation" while also "candidly" telling off Israel on settlements. //

It’s absolutely disgusting to draw an equivalence between what the Palestinians are doing and what Israel is doing, yet that’s what Psaki does here on behalf of the Biden administration. Israel spent decades litigating those settlements. They didn’t just walk in and throw people out. They gave the people squatting a chance to pay restitution and stay. They refused to do so and were removed. That is in no way comparable to Palestinian terrorists indiscriminately launching hundreds of rockets at Israelis, already killing several. Further, Israel retaliating with airstrikes to an act of deadly aggression is also not comparable.

Vince Coglianese
@VinceCoglianese
The CDC has been DRAMATICALLY overstating the risk of outdoor transmission.

They claimed it's been "less than 10 percent." It's a lot closer to .1 percent.

https://nytimes.com/2021/05/11/bri....

Jason Willick
@jawillick
NYT report violates YouTube’s Covid-19 misinformation policy, which prohibits “content that contradicts WHO or local health authorities’ guidance” including on “transmission” and “social distancing and self-isolation guidelines.”
Ross Garber
@rossgarber
NYT says CDC Report is "misleading" and "deceiving" https://nytimes.com/2021/05/11/bri....

Information about these deaths hasn’t been confirmed and it’s possible they’re being exaggerated for political reasons. It’s also quite possible that this is true, but that has nothing to do with Israel being evil and everything to do with Hamas using citizens as human shields. The death of Palestinian civilians is worth as much as the deaths of Israelis to Hamas because then Hamas can use these civilian deaths on their own side as PR fodder.

Using children as human shields, in particular, is an old tactic of Hamas’s. A 2015 UN report stated that Hamas hid mortars and rockets in at least three UN schools and fired on Israel from at least two of them. They know that if Israel fires back, they’ll be firing on the school itself and the ignorant and gullible left in the western world will gnash teeth and rend clothing in rage over it.

Case in point, Andrew Yang can’t even condemn a terrorist attack by terrorists who use children as human shields without inducing screams and tantrums from the left on Twitter.

Perhaps the left should start condemning Hamas for the children’s deaths instead of Israel who can’t just let terrorists attack innocent civilians, including children, in perpetuity. It doesn’t make the deaths of children any less tragic, but if the left really wants to help these children, they’ll stop standing by and defending terrorist groups who harm children.