Steve

@WassonWatch @Counter_Intt July 4 is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by the 13 sovereign colonies. The birth of the United States was fourteen years later with the ratification of the Constitution in 1790. Hope your watches are more accurate than your history.

The 250th Anniversary of the USA is on July 4th, and we are releasing this limited-edition commemorative watch for just $517.76. Assembled in the USA, it features a Swiss automatic movement, sapphire crystal, and 100M W/R. Wasson: For the man who knows what time it is.

@Godsx2023 @Astropartigirl All we need are two functioning landers.

Whoa. NASA just quietly dropped the early mission blueprint for Artemis III and it’s honestly way bigger than most people realize 🔥🚀 This isn’t even a Moon landing mission anymore. It’s basically a “space systems stress test” in Earth orbit. The crew will practice docking with BOTH SpaceX’s Starship HLS and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2. That means multiple spacecraft, multiple companies, one mission. Mind blown already.

NASA just dropped preliminary mission plans for Artemis III, and there's SO much to talk about. As a reminder: Artemis III is no longer a lunar landing. It's an Earth-orbit mission where the crew will test rendezvous and docking with both SpaceX's Starship HLS and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 2 landers. Artemis IV in 2028 is the one that puts humans back on the surface. SLS will fly without an interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Instead, NASA is building a "spacer" with the same dimensions and interface connections, but no propulsion. Smart, because this mission doesn't need translunar injection. Then the crew will run rendezvous and docking tests, maybe even board at least one of the test landers. This is a big deal, because what Artemis III is really testing here is whether multiple commercial providers, NASA hardware, ground teams, and crews can all safely operate together as ONE integrated system. That's something you can't fully validate on the ground, and certainly not something you want to test for the first time as far away as the Moon! The crew will also spend more time on Orion than Artemis II did, advancing life support, docking, and habitation evaluations. And the additional time spent operating these systems in deep space helps validate capabilities we'll eventually depend on for sustained lunar missions. NASA is also asking industry to help close gaps in ground-to-spacecraft comms before Deep Space Network availability, AND there's an open call for international and commercial partners to fly CubeSats to Earth orbit on this mission. That opens the doors to smaller players to get in on the Artemis mission! The big picture: Artemis III is the bridge between proving we can fly humans beyond Earth orbit (Artemis II) and putting them back on the surface safely (Artemis IV). Because this is no longer a flags-and-footprints mission. It's the one where we start building the infrastructure to stay. Concept image: NASA

@benmoores2 The Titan Missile Museum outside of Tucson is rather esoteric, but well worth a visit.

8/ (Continued); it just proves that the UK can do a great museum on difficult topics. You don't need to brush defeat under the carpet, in many ways its a more interesting topic than more blah on waterloo and agincourt.

A thread on the seven worst military museums and seven best military museums around the world. Buckle in for a dark to entertaining ride. Starting with the worst....

@admshovell @benmoores2 Fully agree. A powerful presentation on the Battle of the Bulge. I tried to follow up the next day with a visit to Bastogne but was told all tours were cancelled because it was too cold and too much snow. I said to the tour direct that I thought that was the point.

@benmoores2 National Museum of Military History Diekirch in Luxembourg is excellent.

@AdamKinzinger Start out with the fact that the master designer has the Lincoln Memorial backwards.

This looks ridiculous honestly.

@CuriosityonX Don’t know. Can’t read Chinese.

What are the words?

@RepJackKimble He also needs a huge high def tv viewing room so he can watch MMA matches.

Too many people have told me that Jesus would have no need of a ballroom. Jesus may be the Prince of Peace but he is also the Lord of the Dance. You have to understand, I believe God made me for a purpose—to serve the American people. But he also made me a dancer and when I am out on the floor I feel his pleasure. Not to support this ballroom would be to hold him in contempt.

@Shteyngart Trump originally said that the 400 million ballroom would be paid for by private donations he had received. Now he says no, it will be paid for thru a billion of tax payer money. What happened to the 400 million in private funds he claims he received?

Then we have to spend another 400 million to tear the ballroom down and rebuild what we had before.

@Jeff_Davis1808 @rickeyp2121 @JamesSurowiecki Levying war against the United States is treason and Lee’s resignation from the US military and waiting to take up arms does not exculpate him. Lee was a traitor. He may have been a traitor with a cause. But still a traitor and a vile cause.

@rickeyp2121 @JamesSurowiecki Lee had no oath. This is why he resigned before being given an order. He wrote his brother on 4/20/1861 that he intended to wait until VA officially seceded by a vote of the people, but the war was beginning, so he had to act. x.com/Jeff_Davis1808…

People of perfect character, duty, and honor don't betray the oath they took to their country in order to wage war against it in defense of slavery.

@rickeyp2121 @JamesSurowiecki You’ve got it upside down. If the order is illegal, the General or admiral is obligated to refuse the order.

@JamesSurowiecki So hypothetically: let’s say a general or admiral today refused orders from Trump on principle. You of course would not support that general or admirals decision, because their oath requires their compliance.

@Reuters But we wanted the strait OPENED. Did Trump just accidentally surrender?

Trump says operation to reopen Strait of Hormuz will be 'paused' reut.rs/49gzfAN reut.rs/49gzfAN

@lukeradel @Acyn So Trump has now agreed to continue blockades of the Strait of Hormuz. I thought the U.S. was trying to open the Strait. Did Trump just surrender?

Fitting to have yet another TACO Tuesday on Cinco de Mayo…

@MacFarlaneNews DoJ made a categorical and extremely prejudicial false statement regarding matters clearly within its own knowledge. Like to see the court schedule a hearing on how this “mistake” occurred and insist on a clear written statement from DOJ declaring the statement was false.

So... the Justice Dept just walked back a public statement from Todd Blanche about the Southern Poverty Law Center The SPLC alleged Blanche made "false statement" about lack of evidence the SPLC shared info w/ law enforcment Here's the clean-up statement.. just filed in court

@Acyn Are his speech writers sixth graders?

Hegseth: As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the strait

@Osint613 Since when has Trump been holding direct face to face negotiations with Iranian officials? Or is this entirely a figment of his imagination.

Trump on Iran: I call it a skirmish because Iran has no chance. They never did. They know it. They express it to me when I talk to them.

@Acyn Even Trump has admitted that Iran’s nuclear program is continuing. Graham’s lying has become cartoonish. He’s an embarrassment to the Senate.

Lindsey Graham says Donald Trump has already has already obliterated Iran’s nuclear capability but adds there’s more to do… such as regaining control of the Strait of Hormuz. “To our allies throughout the world who depend on the Strait of Hormuz more than we do, get off your ass and help us!!”

@Acyn Graham doesn’t say who’s mated.

Lindsey Graham: If we can take back control of the Strait of Hormuz, it is check mate

@FrankBr05713205 This is, for all practical purposes, the computer which in the hands of really smart people (not me) took us to the moon.

This was my calculator in college. On the plus side, it didn't need any batteries. Anybody else ever use one?

@RepJackKimble @SecDuffy Trump says Pear Harbor sounds nice and asks about building a hotel there. He says he’s heard good things about Maine.

@RepJackKimble @SecDuffy Next up: Duffy explains why Biden is responsible for the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

🚨 THANK A DEMOCRAT 🚨 JOE BIDEN AND PETE BUTTIGIEG bragged about blocking the JetBlue–Spirit merger… The very deal that could have SAVED Spirit Airlines THE RESULT: ❌ LESS COMPETITION ❌ CUSTOMERS SCRAMBLING ❌ EMPLOYEES LOSING JOBS YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP