Ted Cruz vs. The Space Pirates

[marc]

Perhaps Cruz read Piers Anthony's 'Bio of a Space Tyrant: Refugee' and thought it was a depiction of the real near future. LOL.

The story:
Follows Hope and his family's flight from their home on Callisto to Jupiter. Hope's family sets out in a "space bubble" with many other refugees. The group is attacked repeatedly by space pirates, and most of the adults are raped, killed, or kidnapped by the end of the story.

And when he gets there he is nearly deported. He was only let in when someone noticed he could read and write English, which probably sounded good to Cruz

 

[Keith&Co.]

To that end, I submit that we separate the what from the why. What it is that he suggests, ought to be evaluated, independent of the reasoning he gives;

Thing is, though, the 'reasoning he gives' is ludicrous. We are getting benefits from our soace operations but not in many forms that could be pirated by orbital boarders, justifying a repelling force in place.

So the 'why' is pretty clearly Cruz being a Trumpian butt-snorkel. If he does, in fact, have a better why, then he should have led with that.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

It's possible?

 

[fast]

To that end, I submit that we separate the what from the why. What it is that he suggests, ought to be evaluated, independent of the reasoning he gives;

Thing is, though, the 'reasoning he gives' is ludicrous. We are getting benefits from our soace operations but not in many forms that could be pirated by orbital boarders, justifying a repelling force in place.

So the 'why' is pretty clearly Cruz being a Trumpian butt-snorkel. If he does, in fact, have a better why, then he should have led with that.

People do say some pretty dumb things, and often (very often), it’s a function of ignorance, but what he said is so outlandishly ridiculous, I find it hard to believe the “why” aspect was even intended to be taken seriously; could the mind set have been: this is important and since gaining attention towards important issues when spoken about seriously wont do, maybe a comedic approach might garner better results. I don’t know, but do you think he actually believes what he said?

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

You already have military operations in space. Why not call that the Space Force?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

To that end, I submit that we separate the what from the why. What it is that he suggests, ought to be evaluated, independent of the reasoning he gives;

Thing is, though, the 'reasoning he gives' is ludicrous. We are getting benefits from our soace operations but not in many forms that could be pirated by orbital boarders, justifying a repelling force in place.

So the 'why' is pretty clearly Cruz being a Trumpian butt-snorkel. If he does, in fact, have a better why, then he should have led with that.

People do say some pretty dumb things, and often (very often), it’s a function of ignorance, but what he said is so outlandishly ridiculous, I find it hard to believe the “why” aspect was even intended to be taken seriously; could the mind set have been: this is important and since gaining attention towards important issues when spoken about seriously wont do, maybe a comedic approach might garner better results. I don’t know, but do you think he actually believes what he said?

Wow... you must stretch a lot to bend that far backwards. In fact, you bent so far backwards, you are looking straight ahead again! *applause*

So, Ted Cruz was using levity to make people become concerned about China shooting down our satellites... instead of saying, we should have defense posturing to be able to protect the US infrastructure orbiting the Earth... he said we must defend from "space pirates". No matter how good at bending you have become, what exactly in "Space Force" provides us a mechanism to protect our satellites at all? We can't adjust orbit elevations with our existing tech... which is what doomed the Columbia crew. What Cruz spoke of is science fiction at the moment... and the money required to develop such tech is not going to be pumped in, to protect against a relatively non-existent threat.

 

[lpetrich]

You already have military operations in space. Why not call that the Space Force?

Good idea. The US Air Force has a Space Command. It could be spun off under the name "Space Force", like how the USAF itself was spun off from the US Army.

 

[fast]

There are well respected educators that believe a long term outlook on space exploration will yield challenges and obstacles that will be met and overcome by an enthusiastic populous that will yield unexpected and sometimes fantastic benefits that will outweigh the costs, but the short sighted and simple minded will not be compelled; they only consider short-term benefits that might well not outweigh costs alone.

What I was saying is don’t dismiss what he proposes. Dismiss his reasoning, yes, but don’t allow his (HIS) reasoning influence your stance on what (on WHAT) he proposes.

 

[Politesse]

China currently possesses the technology to knock our satellite network out of the sky if they wanted to go all in. It wouldn't take a manned crew, just a caltrop aimed in the right direction. Our next major war will be fought partly in space; the fact that so much of modern warfare depends on data generated from the upper atmosphere ensures it. The only reason it didn't happen more often in the Cold War is that the necessary technology to wage war effectively in that arena didn't exist yet, and not for lack of trying on both sides.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

There are well respected educators that believe a long term outlook on space exploration will yield challenges and obstacles that will be met and overcome by an enthusiastic populous that will yield unexpected and sometimes fantastic benefits that will outweigh the costs, but the short sighted and simple minded will not be compelled; they only consider short-term benefits that might well not outweigh costs alone.

And these investments in NASA for orbit and even outside our orbit telescopes and other exploratory devices are being made. Space Pirates, however, not an issue.

What I was saying is don’t dismiss what he proposes.

A space defense system that protects our infrastructure in space... without any actual existing threats?

Dismiss his reasoning, yes...

I feel a 'but' coming along.

...,but don’t allow his (HIS) reasoning influence your stance on what (on WHAT) he proposes.

He isn't proposing anything but pork barrel spending for Texas related to the space program.

 

[fast]

And these investments in NASA for orbit and even outside our orbit telescopes and other exploratory devices are being made. Space Pirates, however, not an issue.

A space defense system that protects our infrastructure in space... without any actual existing threats?

Dismiss his reasoning, yes...

I feel a 'but' coming along.

...,but don’t allow his (HIS) reasoning influence your stance on what (on WHAT) he proposes.

He isn't proposing anything but pork barrel spending for Texas related to the space program.

Oops, ya got me there.

 

[Keith&Co.]

To that end, I submit that we separate the what from the why. What it is that he suggests, ought to be evaluated, independent of the reasoning he gives;

Thing is, though, the 'reasoning he gives' is ludicrous. We are getting benefits from our soace operations but not in many forms that could be pirated by orbital boarders, justifying a repelling force in place.

So the 'why' is pretty clearly Cruz being a Trumpian butt-snorkel. If he does, in fact, have a better why, then he should have led with that.

People do say some pretty dumb things, and often (very often), it’s a function of ignorance, but what he said is so outlandishly ridiculous, I find it hard to believe the “why” aspect was even intended to be taken seriously; could the mind set have been: this is important and since gaining attention towards important issues when spoken about seriously wont do, maybe a comedic approach might garner better results. I don’t know, but do you think he actually believes what he said?

I never really think Cruz 'believes' what he says, butbusually think he hopes his voters might.
But a high school class clown could write funnier material if he was trying to garner attention thru absurdity. If you're going to do that, you need to distance yourself from the absudity so people don't think that YOU might actually believe in a Kenya birth certificate, or that an overpopulated Guam might capsize, or that a Wall will solve all problems.

 

[fast]

an overpopulated Guam might capsize.

He said that? Too funny! It just doesn’t occur to me that a person saying such a thing believes such a thing.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

an overpopulated Guam might capsize.

He said that? Too funny! It just doesn’t occur to me that a person saying such a thing believes such a thing.

Snopes.

It was a Democrat in a House Committee that said it. While, he could have been speaking in a metaphor, it seems a longer stretch.

 

[lpetrich]

 List of space travelers by name - as of June 17, 2018, 561 people have gone into outer space, though the large majority of them have gone only as far as low Earth orbit. Only 24 people have gone outside of LEO, and they have only gone as far as the Moon. Of these, only 12 have landed on another celestial body: the Moon itself ( List of Apollo astronauts).

 List of human spaceflights has some timeline charts. Most space travelers have not been in action for long, and the average population in outer space has not been high -- about 5 in recent years.

 Anti-satellite weapon discusses what is publicly available about such ASAT weapons. The US, the Soviet Union / Russia, China, and India have all developed ASAT weapons.