Editorials - commentary worth sharing

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Artemis II astronauts arrive at Florida launch site for first moon trip in 53 years
NASA is aiming for liftoff as soon as Wednesday.

The Cold War space race, & NASA's Apollo program against the Soviet Union
and multiple successful Apollo moon landings may have helped stare down Soviet aggression. By demonstrating our superlative skill at engineering, and notably, rocketry (ICBMs are rockets)
we may have dissuaded a Soviet gamble to risk a preemptive nuclear first strike / surprise attack.

The Cold War "space race" was expensive, but a bargain compared to the cost of human genocide, the nuclear extinction of humanity.

Fine.
Can't unring the bell. Both the second millennium Cold War, & space race are over. BUT !

It's a new millennium.
Russia / Putin don't need ICBM's for global domination. They're munching off as much as they can swallow, one feast at a time.

Editorial Opinion:
The Cold War is over.
We won.
Returning to the moon is soooo 1960's.

The United States of America is $deeply in $debt: $38,994,707,974,689.oo
That's $trillion with a T, over a third of the way to a quadrillion in $debt.

Thus, it's not merely that we're squandering unwisely when our infrastructure is collapsing around us.
The $money we're squandering belongs to our grandchildren.

If they want to fund space adventures, they'll be free to do so after the U.S. federal debt is paid in full.
For the Trump administration to inflict this upon them is irresponsible.

So what's to be done?
a) Eliminate the U.S. federal debt ceiling.
Deficit hawks may vehemently advocate against deficit spending. And the debt ceiling may have been intended to ameliorate deficits.
It doesn't work.
What the U.S. federal debt ceiling accomplishes is periodic government shutdowns, playing economic chicken with outcome a foregone conclusion. They're fooling no one.
These periodic federal shutdowns punish mostly low level government employees such as TSA agents and Air Traffic Controllers.

b) Limit federal budgeting to not exceed the previous year's revenues, excluding sources like Social Security, which should never have been slushed into the general treasury in the first place.
Maintain this standard until the U.S. federal debt is $zero.

edito·ri·al (ĕd′ĭ-tôrē-əl)
n.
1. An article in a publication expressing the opinion of its editors or publishers.
2. A commentary on television or radio expressing the opinion of the station or network.
adj.
1. Of or relating to an editor or editing: an editorial position with a publishing company; an editorial policy prohibiting the use of unnamed sources.
2. Of or resembling an editorial, especially in expressing an opinion: an editorial comment.
ed′i·tori·al·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
The United States of America is $deeply in $debt:$38,994,707,974,689.oo
That's not including another $150 Trillion or so (also with a "T") for the combine funding shortfall for Social Security and Medicare combined.

And then there are however many other government pension funds (federal, state, and municipal) that are also underfunded. We've seen municipalities declare bankruptcy to get out from under the liabilities imposed by their pension plans.
 
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Opinion|US-Israel war on Iran / By Philippe Bolopion / Executive Director, Human Rights Watch. / Published On 3 Apr 2026

War crimes are no longer shameful. That should terrify you​

In the latest escalation in the Middle East, warring sides have demonstrated complete disregard for civilian life.
For decades, leaders who were responsible for war crimes tended to plead ignorance or insist it was a mistake and their hands were clean. What has changed in the Middle East is the swaggering contempt we have seen from the United States, Israel and Iran as they instead dismiss, mock or flout the international laws protecting civilians. If the international community does not urgently reassert support for those norms, it may be acquiescing to their destruction. .... more at
 
World

Record 274 climbers scale Mount Everest in a single day from Nepali side

By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU, May 21 (Reuters) -
A record number of 274 climbers scaled Mount Everest on Wednesday, a hiking official said, the highest number ever to reach the world's tallest peak on

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Reuters

A record 274 climbers scale Mount Everest in a single day

Hundreds of climbers scaled Mount Everest in a single day, setting a new record with 274 successful ascents, officials said Thursday. The climbers took advantage of the clear weather on Wednesday, said Rishi Ram Bhandari of the Expedition Operators Association Nepal. It was the highest number of climbers to reach the summit on a single day from the popular route on the southern face of the peak, which is located in Nepal.

Why?
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary
It's not world peace.
It's not a cure for cancer.
It's a notable first in mountaineering.

It's not merely that another guy has done it since then.
It's not merely that a hundred other guys have done it since then.
Hundreds scaled Mount Everest in a single day.

One day.

Why bother?
 
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