#OTD In 1987, #RonaldReagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear Down this Wall!" at the Brandenburg Gate. Now’s a great time to read (or re-read) my 2020 op-ed, wherein I explain exactly how #DavidBowie’s music led to #Reagan’s infamous demand. @DavidBowieReal @Reagan_Library

It’s extremely suspicious that this and prior admins didn’t attempt to pierce FSIA to bring charges against #China and #Russia for their destructive, illegal ASAT tests. The bill for us having to now track and clean up their space debris could easily exceed $1 trillion dollars. @SpaceLawSociet1 @GtownSpaceLaw @StateDept_SP @USAmbCD @NASASpaceOps @CelesTrak @DOD_Policy @SpaceForceDoD @US_SpaceCom @1stSpaceBrigade @SLDelta30 @US_STRATCOM @NDIA_MissileDef @MissileDefAdv @ArmySMDC @100thMDB_GMD

Yom Kippur War at 50: Castro deployed Cuban troops to invade and destroy Israel in October 1973. cubanexilequarter.blogspot.c… #YomKippurWar #YomKippur #ArabIsraeliWar #OctoberWarVictory50 1/

A partial history of violence in Castro’s Cuba Remarks prepared for "The Cuban Regime: An International Threat" Panel discussion co-hosted by @CubaDecide, and the @HRF on September 21, 2023 in New York City at the @TheKnickerbock2 cubanexilequarter.blogspot.c… 1/

.@MaritoVoz, @YoaxisM & @ReynierCedeno of @CubWashingtonDC at #BrothersToTheRescue Corner, facing the “Cuba mission to the @UN" “diplomatic headquarters” protesting the presence of @DiazCanelB & his clique. @BrunoRguezP just entered. #SOSCuba #FreeCuba cidh.oas.org/annualrep/99eng…

Day 2,705 of Shahab Dalili's unlawful detention in #Iran. Pls #StandUp4Shahab. Call on @POTUS & @SecBlinken to bring Shahab Dalili Home. Every voice counts. Help reunite Shahab with his family after 7 yrs. @JakeSullivan46 @JasonMBrodsky @brett_mcgurk @KyleOlbert @AlirezaNader

DO NOT try this at home. You could go blind. I modified one of my telescopes to be safe for observing the sun, and this is what it captured. This is a section of the sun's chromosphere I captured from my backyard a few days ago. This is part of an much bigger project.

@brett_mcgurk @JakeSullivan46, it is not too late yet! You still have time to demand that #ShahabDalili be included in this deal. 𝗗𝗼 𝗜𝘁 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗹! Implement the Levinson Act, treat ALL US nationals equally & fairly & #BringThemAllHome! @KyleOlbert

Happy #SunDay! This week’s space weather report includes: · 3 C-class solar flares · 2 M-class flares · 16 coronal mass ejections · 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows activity on the Sun over the past week.

We are very lucky to exist.

I meet the most interesting people. A man just came up to me and asked if I speak English (I get asked that a lot). I said “yeah, what’s up?” I saw him glance at my crucifix and he walked closer and said, “don’t worry, I mean ya no harm. I’m gonna be honest with you, I have HIV. The medication I need is $9.87. Same stuff @MagicJohnson takes. Can you help me out?” I never carry cash, but fortunately I was standing by an ATM. Gave him a $20. He said he was gonna get food with the rest. One of my favorite books in high school was “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe. This idea of inosculation — that sometimes our roots fail, but strong trees with deep roots hold up those trees whose roots have failed — makes me think that in the toughest of times, things might also fall together. I’ve been thinking a lot about this in the context of complex systems and geopolitics. One paradigm for understanding the current state of the world is best described as “recalcitrant interdependence.” The unipolar world that Krauthammer wrote of had given way to bifurcated world that’s torn between freedom and authoritarianism. While America remains the largest grantor of humanitarian assistance worldwide, in a “worst case” scenario where many nation states fail almost simultaneously, would America’s economy be strong enough to sustain our moral obligations to help the most poor and vulnerable, wherever they are? What keeps America moving and alive? I would argue that it’s our strategic energy base, followed by our productive farm capacity and food supply chains, our defense industrial base, and then our industrial base more broadly. If many nation states were to collapse simultaneously, the inexorable urge for authoritarians would be to make themselves insular in order to attend to their own needs first, in order to prevent the same fate — a collapse of governance and a loss of social control — from befalling them. This would accompany a kind of vascular constriction on the free flow of information, and thar would in turn cause a suppression of market price discovery mechanisms for basic goods… and this would, ironically, lead to the kinds of shortages which might hemorrhage into the streets in the form of revolution. Fortunately, America’s market resilience is built into the First Amendment, and by God’s Grace, the First Amendment is built into @X. Even in the worst of times, we are able to speak up — if nowhere else, then here, on this platform which has become the world’s town square — and say “you need that? We have this.” Anyhow, it’s sometimes best not to plan merely for the worst case scenario, but to target the best endstate for what comes *after* that worst case scenario. Every challenge is an opportunity. If tomorrow the world were to find out that a massive flood is going to submerge the entire planet, would truly wise people build an ark just big enough for themselves? Or would wise people build an ark big enough for everyone who is willing to verifiably disarm themselves and join together in the great undertaking of planning and preparing for the flood to come, provided, of course, that they repay us for our contribution of early warning and early action — or pay it forward in our name — if they’re able? I don’t have a definite answer for every “what if,” but the way my brain works is that I assess 0.001%-type problems and risks and try over and over again to converge on solutions or mitigations with 99.999% accuracy. Every captain knows that the most consequential decision they make is who they allow onto their vessels. Because I’m cursed with foresight, many of the problems/risks that I forecast and have sought to solve or mitigate in the past are no longer 0.001%-type problems/risks today, so maybe we should give more thought to the kinds of scenarios that we previously considered unthinkable, and then prepare for those… before the levees break.

A study from earlier this year shows #COVID accelerates all forms of dementia: eurekalert.org/news-releases… I don’t think people really grasp the risk that recurrent #COVID19 infections might cause a civilization-crushing wave of vascular dementia in coming years. COVID CSVD is why:

.@StateDept @USEnvoyIran @StateSPEHA need to stop treating #ShahabDalili like Schrödinger’s hostage. He‘s #Iran’s hostage. The basis for his unlawful arrest was his US residency. Include him and others in the bad #IranDeal, or cancel it. We are Americans. We leave nobody behind.

Every COVID re-infection seems to cause cumulative damage at least at the cellular level and at the immune and neurological system levels. If COVID19 Pirola becomes as endemic as the common cold, our bodies will suffer massive recurring harm… even if it just seems like sniffles.

I’ve been more worried about the currently circulating H5N1 HPAI evolving for human transmission, but if COVID begins circulating in chickens — at the same time that avian influenza’s circulating, no less — that could almost be just as bad. And if both happen? My advice: pray.

According to scientists in China, “if new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the future break through the species barrier and […] infect chickens, they will evolve in large flocks, causing a new pandemic that would be a global public health-threatening.” Yep. Ask any chicken farmer.

Don’t click this hashtag! 🤩 #BrandedFeatures

I don’t think people are adequately assessing the risk that #LongCOVID, #PostCOVID immunodeficiency, and synergistic viral co-infection (#COVID19 #influenza) pose to Black communities.

“Scientists at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s National Centre for Medical Intelligence … firmly concluded that it was, most likely, a laboratory construct.” skynews.com.au/world-news/wo…