About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on
Twitter
That Cheney says she will vote for Harris, rather than simply write in a name, speaks to her convictions.
Who’d of thunk it, the Felon’s social stock cratered. Not only have legions of his fans underwritten his
campaigndefense fund, they’ve lost their shirts on his fraud.Musk will pay Trump significant money (a billion? 400 million?) for his controlling shares in a private deal while the market price crashes. Then roll it into X. It’s not a big deal as Musk is going to grow SpaceX’s dominance in launch services over the course of this month with Boeing’s Starliner capsule returning uncrewed from the International Space Station (too much risk according to NASA), and SpaceX’s Crew-9 flight goes up with a couple of empty seats and spare flight suit(s) to bring those astronauts back next year.
@Michael Cain:
I had not thought of that, but it seems feasible.
If/when that happens it will probably be the final nudge I need to finally quit Xtter.
@Michael Cain:
That seems plausible, but where is Musk going to get the money? I get that he’s the “richest man that has ever existed in all of forever”, but the reality, as I understand it, is that all of his wealth is paper bullshit held together by the fears and tears of bankers. I think one wrong move by Musk is going to blow his (and probably at least one investment bank’s) balance sheet to hell. I wouldn’t be surprised if he took Tesla and Xitter down with him.
@Michael Cain:
I think for all of Boeing’s many shortcomings, chances are good Starliner will re-enter and land normally without any issues. It seems like the kind of thing that would be an acceptable risk on a proven vehicle.
@Beth:
For a while, Xlon looked more interested in using his money than accumulating it. Lately not so much. While the payoff he demanded from Texla was ludicrous, it kind of shows he has more of a paper fortune than a real one.
As to El weirdo, if he sells any of his shares, the stock should, in a rational world*, go as low to $0.00 as a stock is allowed to be valued.
*I know that’s not our world.
@Sleeping Dog:
CNN quotes excerpts of what she said, I have seen video clips that are also excerpts.
I think it worthwhile reading the in depth piece on this at the Bulwark.
“Bulwark“
@Kathy:
Oh, I agree that the most likely outcome for Starliner is a successful reentry and landing. It’s still going to leave NASA and Boeing with some difficult decisions.
It wasn’t a test flight, it was a certification flight intended to demonstrate that everything worked properly. Five of 28 thrusters failed on the trip up; NASA decided it was too risky to put their employees on board for the return leg. NASA’s got to think long and hard on whether to certify anyway, or whether to require another certification flight (that one would be on Boeing’s dime). If NASA doesn’t certify, Boeing’s looking at an additional billion-dollar loss on the project. Might be cheaper for them to just stop at this point.
@Michael Cain:
NASA has still to be afraid of a Columbia repeat. As I recall, there were no in-orbit checks for damage, no warning to the crew, and no attempts at doing anything about the damage to the wing, or to find some other way to bring the crew home.
Starliner has not been damaged in its heat shield, as far as I know, but a bad reentry angle could still cause problems. Still unlikely, but not impossible. Not so much breaking up from heat, but not shedding enough speed, or landing far from the planned area.
If anyone other than Xlon were in charge of SpaceX, I’d advise Boeing to cut their losses, and maybe even sell or give the program to Lockheed, Grumman, Blue Origin, or Sierra Space.
@Michael Cain: I don’t know what NASAs standards are, but I expect they wanted to see well north of 95% probability of safe flight in a very careful analysis before putting crew back on Starliner. So yes, it’s almost certain it will return safely. Then everybody will second guess NASA, Boeing may sue, but NASA will have made the right call because almost isn’t good enough.