Verge Science points out that one rocket launch can't unify America

Even after blogging about Disney's America and "Hamilton," I'm still not done with the holiday. I'm taking a cue from the phrase "the rockets' red glare" in The Star-Spangled Banner and sharing Verge Science's One rocket launch can't unify America, which I'm treating as a follow-up to SpaceX launches first crewed mission from U.S. soil since 2011.

In May, SpaceX and NASA launched their historic DM-2 mission while protests over the death of George Floyd roiled the country. Can the space industry hope to unite Americans behind a common cause, when it largely ignores the division and injustice here on the ground?

When I wrote in a footnote to Samantha Bee on Trump and the police attacking the press that "I haven't examined the first part, the 'today is 1968' comparison much, but I have something planned...that should work," this was what I had in mind. It explictly makes the comparison between now and 1968-1969, when the Apollo 8 through Apollo 11 missions were happening but so were protests and demonstrations like the ones this month and last. The video also points out that the unifying effect of the Apollo missions, even the successful failure of Apollo 13, is remembered as larger now than it was at the time. For Verge Science, which is very much pro-space-exploration, that's quite an admission.

Speaking of admissions, The Vintage Space uploaded Space Exploration is All Politics last week, which I think goes well with Verge Science's video.


Amy Shira Teitel of The Vintage Space is also very pro-space, but recognizes the reality of why countries pursue space exploration. So should my readers, which is why I included her video.

That's it for space until National Moon Day. Stay tuned for marching music for the New Jersey and Delaware primaries.

'Hamilton' — an American musical for the July 4th weekend

I am not done with the 4th of July. I am continuing with the patriotic entertainment theme in this week's Sunday entertainment feature with Grace Randolph of Beyond The Trailer's Hamilton Disney Plus REVIEW.

Hamilton Movie Review today! Beyond The Trailer host Grace Randolph's reaction & review of the 2020 movie adaptation of the hot Broadway musical! Lin Manuel Miranda, Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr and Jonathan Groff! How are the songs on the soundtrack? Should you see the full movie?! Enjoy Hamilton in 2020 on Disney Plus and be sure to make Beyond The Trailer your first stop for movie and entertainment news here on YouTube today!

One of Grace's gripes was that Hamilton was a long two-and-one-half hours. She should count her blessings, as FiveThirtyEight figured out that ‘Hamilton’ Would Last 4 To 6 Hours If It Were Sung At The Pace Of Other Broadway Shows. Yikes! Another was that it was hard to hear the lyrics, especially during the first act. She blamed that on the mixing, but I'm sure the fast pace didn't help. I've listened to the cast album twice over on a long drive from Park City, Utah, to Mesquite, Nevada, last year and had no trouble hearing them, but it did help to play the recording a second time for me to understand them.* Grace is also not impressed by Lin-Manuel Miranda as a performer, something she has mentioned in other reviews of movies in which he's acted. That written, she still considered "Hamilton" to be a must-see because of the strength of the other performers and particularly the writing of the second act. I guess tragedy, which is what I consider the second act to be, is more interesting than triumph, which the first act portrays.

My wife and I planned on watching "Hamilton" already. After watching Grace's review, I am even more committed to that. I might write about my reaction. Stay tuned.

Drink to the never-built Disney's America on the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July! For today's celebration, I'm returning to the concept behind Drink to America Sings for July 4th, by examining a patriotic attraction that Disney planned for but never opened, Abandoned - Disney's America by Bright Sun Films.*

A story of Disney's attempt to build a more "local" theme park in Virginia. A park catering to the United State of America's long history. This is Disney's America.

Not only did this proposed park get in trouble because its neighbors had a severe case of Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY), but because Disney's sanitized view of history had fallen out of fashion and rubbed historians the wrong way, leading to activism on the part of both groups. Imagine how poorly that perspective would fare today with Confederate monuments being removed and Juneteenth becoming popular and people examining the Tulsa Massacre. Then again, maybe not, as Disney is retheming Splash Mountain and Disney's U.S. parks are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney might have escaped the worst criticism.

Of course, it wouldn't be a 4th of July post of mine without a Tipsy Bartender recipe, so here's the one I selected for this year's celebration, the Red, White & Blue Bomb.



A bomb shot for Independence Day!
As I wrote last year, "Everyone have a fun and safe holiday and remember to drink responsibly!" This goes double because of the pandemic!

*Defunctland has a video on this topic that was my original choice for this post, but I watched this and decided to save Kevin Perjurer's documentary for next year. I'm an environmentalist, so I don't just recycle, I conserve my resources.

Samantha Bee on Trump and the police attacking the press

I've had a lot of serious and silly takes on the middle part of 1968 has arrived again with nation-wide protests and police attacks on press, the protests, but I haven't had a comedic take focusing on the last part, attacks on the press, although John Oliver on the police came close. It's time to remedy that oversight with a two-parter from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Watch Trump Attacks Our Nation's Free Press Part 1.*

If only the president were as passionate about (and we’re just spitballing here) coronavirus, police brutality, or Black lives, as he is about attacking the free press. I guess we’ll have to keep dreaming...until November 3rd.

Basic cable John Oliver — *snork* — that's a good self-deprecating quip and another reason why I should watch Bee more often. Speaking of which, Bee continued with Trump’s Ongoing Attacks On Our Nation’s Free Press Part 2.

When it comes to the president’s ongoing battle against the media, we’re all huge losers.

This is not new or news. It dates back to Trump's campaign as I wrote in The torches and pitchforks came out for Trump last night.

What is new is that Trump has actively antagonized the press...That's called picking a fight with people who buy ink (or pixels) by the barrel...an action that Mark Twain advised should be avoided at all costs...Now, the targets of violence have expanded from protesters to the press. That's guaranteed to make coverage more hostile.

That was four years ago. It's only gotten worse since.

*I haven't examined the first part, the "today is 1968" comparison much, but I have something planned for tomorrow that should work. Stay tuned.

NBC News explains the effects of voting by mail

Like I do on other issues, I alternate between serious and silly posts on voting by mail. Since the last post of mine to focus on the topic was 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' explains voting by mail, it's time for a serious take. NBC News gets the honor by asking Mail-In Voting: How Secure Is It?

Adoption of mail-in ballots has been growing across the country as the COVID-19 threat hangs on. However, some officials, including President Trump, think this is a slippery slope that can lead to voter fraud. NBC News’ Pete Williams reports with an inside look at the process.

Pete Williams covered the same points I summarized in CNN and WUSA9 ask why Trump is against voting by mail, the last serious entry I wrote on the issue.

As Cilizza says, voter fraud by impersonation is so rare that it's almost non-existent, which means it is not at all effective. The safety of the electorate during the COVID-19 pandemic far outweighs that miniscule risk.

In addition, voting by mail does not generally favor one party over another, although I wouldn't be surprised if it might help Democrats a bit in this particular election. I agree with another point Williams made, as I fully expect that results may not be known for a week after November 3, 2020 because of all the absentee and other mail votes being counted. That's already happened with primary elections. For example, I didn't find out all of the winners in last week's New York and Kentucky primaries until earlier this week, when MSNBC reported Amy McGrath Wins Kentucky Senate Democratic Primary, NBC News Projects.

Amy McGrath wins Kentucky’s U.S. Senate Democratic primary against state Rep. Charles Booker in a narrow race to face Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November, NBC’s Steve Kornacki reports.

As Steve Kornacki told Andrea Mitchell and her viewers, this is what elections will look like this year. Welcome to politics in a time of plague.

John Oliver warns of evictions during the pandemic

In John Oliver examines coronavirus spreading in prisons and jails while cases spike in Arizona, Florida, and Texas, which featured the previous clip from "Last Week Tonight" about COVID-19, I wrote "Americans may be getting tired of the pandemic, but the pandemic isn't getting tired of us."* Fortunately, neither are Oliver and his writers, who uploaded Coronavirus IX: Evictions to the show's YouTube channel.

With evictions on the rise due to coronavirus, John Oliver discusses the long struggle with housing in the US, why it’s gotten worse in recent months, and how to prevent an impending crisis.

Yikes! This makes me doubly glad to be a home owner and my income hasn't been interrupted because I've been able to work remotely. I may not be religious, but I'm counting my blessings just the same.

On another note, it's time to put pressure on the U.S. Senate to pass the HEROES Act, which I mentioned in John Oliver describes the plight of the United States Postal Service. That bill will help more people than just the Post Office!

By the way, since today is Canada Day, I'm going to quote the unpleasant Canadian landlord from the clip and wish for all of us to "get on with our miserable lives." Heh, anyone who thinks Canadians are nice, polite people have never seen them at a hockey game!

*I tweeted that in response to a graph of infections in the U.S. showing new reported cases and it became my most popular tweet of June with 24,858 impressions and 191 engagements, including 82 likes, 69 detail expands, 31 profile clicks, 6 retweets, and 3 replies. It beat the tweet I quoted in I haven't seen this many statues fall since the end of the Cold War. However, I think the tweet I quoted in Vox explains the 'nuclear button' and KFC trolls McDonalds in response to Trump is still my most popular.

A happy drum corps Canada Day 2020!

A happy drum corps Canada Day to my readers! To celebrate this first of three patriotic holidays I observe during July, I'm continuing my tradition of featuring Canadian drum corps by decade from before the advent of Drum Corps International (DCI) up to the current century.

Since I've shared videos of the Toronto Optimists, Preston Scout House, and De La Salle Oaklands, I'm giving the Cadets of LaSalle their turn in the spotlight as the featured pre-DCI corps. Watch 1970 LaSalle Cadets.


The video I first found of this performance said this was from "North American Toronto." I'll trust that's correct.

Follow over the jump for the Canadian corps from the DCI era.

Seeker explains NASA's plans for asteroids on Asteroid Day 2020

Happy International Asteroid Day! To celebrate the today, which I see as the younger but paradoxically more established version of Apophis Day, I'm sharing four videos Seeker posted during the past year about asteroids. The most recent, which was uploaded just yesterday, had Seeker ask If An Asteroid Was Heading For Earth, How Could We Stop it?

NASA and ESA have a unique plan to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid—here’s why.
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Agencies around the world are working to bring samples of asteroids back to Earth, like NASA’s Osiris-Rex and JAXA’s Hayabusa-2, because bringing a piece back is like looking into a time capsule from the universe. BUT asteroids pose a serious threat to Earth. And ESA and NASA have a unique plan to combat that particular problem: they’re going to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid.

But asteroids also post a serious threat to Earth and so ESA and NASA formed a scientific collaboration known as the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment, or AIDA, to combat this potential problem. The collab consists of two missions: NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, and ESA’s Hera Probe.

DART will smash into an asteroid in 2022 helping the AIDA mission study how effective a kinetic impactor would be in asteroid deflection and then four years later the Hera probe will arrive to do some assessments.

As I wrote in a comment at the video, "Perfect video for International Asteroid Day!"

Seeker examined the mission eight months ago in NASA Plans to Slam a Spacecraft Into an Asteroid, which I'm including for completeness.

What if a deadly asteroid was on a collision course to Earth? NASA and the ESA have come up with a solution.
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Asteroids impacting Earth can be devastating—killing all the dinosaurs in existence level devastating. But even the asteroids that aren’t mass-extinction huge can be a serious threat.

Every few thousand years Earth (a.k.a. you and I) get hit with a massive asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza, so what is the plan when we get hit with the next asteroid?

We get hit with an asteroid about the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza every few thousand years, and when the next one hits it could cause massive damage to an entire region. So when we spot the next one coming, what’s the plan?

Enter: NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination office.

As I have written many times about Apophis Day, it's when I observe the perils of space, particularly asteroids. Follow over the jump for the promise of asteroids.

Vox explains what 'defund the police' really means and the history of police militarization

I've posted comedic takes on defunding the police and police militarization, so it's time I share more serious explanations of both topics. Fortunately for my readers and me, Vox uploaded videos on both subjects last week. I begin with the more recent, What "defund the police" really means.

It's not as radical as it sounds.
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Among those protesting police brutality in the US, there is a slogan that’s taken hold: “defund the police.” The key idea is a push to move the billions of dollars we spend on police in the US, to social services and other public spending. The disparities between policing budgets and those of other city agencies are massive. And while defunding the police might sound radical, it’s a policy activists have been talking about for decades. For some, it can mean reforms that simply lessen the police role in society, while for others — the slogan is a call to abolish the system and create something new entirely.
These ideas have all converged into the popular “defund the police” slogan, and the renewed energy around the movement is working.

Presented that way, it makes sense. As Ben Franklin wrote nearly 300 years ago about another public safety issue, fire fighting, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." If the desired outcome is less crime and more public order, then the reallocation of resources into social services that reduce crime and make people into better citizens is likely a more efficient and effective way of achieving those goals.

If the goal is intimidation and repression, then militarizing the police will work to achieve that instead. On that subject, Vox also produced a video, Why America's police look like soldiers.

Why are the police bringing military assault rifles to protests? And where did they get them?
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Across the country, Americans protesting racial injustice and police brutality – the overwhelming majority of them peacefully – have been met by police forces that look more like an army. Officers have shown up to protests with riot gear, armored trucks, and military rifles. This is what America’s police now look like, and it’s the result of a decades-long buildup of military equipment among the country’s police departments. It began as a Reagan-era program to give police departments more resources to fight the War on Drugs, and has escalated ever since. Today, the idea of a militarized police force is baked into how American police see themselves.

I've been concerned about this issue for more than five years, when I wrote A conversation with Kunstler and his readers on militarized police, although I wrote more about explaining why the residents of Boston and its northern suburbs supported the militarized police response and grousing about Kunstler's negative opinions about African-Americans than I did decrying police militarization. This video gives a historical perspective about the topic than John Oliver's did. Of course, that was meant to entertain and so pointed out the ridiculousness of it, while Vox wants to inform and possibly shock its viewers into action. Both have their purposes.

This is it for the police this month. Stay tuned for this year's celebration of International Asteroid Day to end June followed by a celebration of Canada Day to begin July.

Disney rethemes Splash Mountain and delays reopening Disneyland, responses to protests and pandemics

It's the last Sunday of June 2020 and I realized that I haven't had a proper Sunday entertainment feature since Coffee Party USA invites you to stream the political TV series on the Golden Coffee Cups shortlist while staying safe at home on May 31, 2020, although I passed off John Oliver on police militarization, a blast from the past as one and 'Good Morning America' and Vox on 'COPS' and 'Live PD' being cancelled actually was about entertainment, but was on Monday, a day late. Blame my broadband being out and holidays for my not keeping up the tradition. To make up for it, I present an entertainment story that ties into both protests against police brutality in particular and racism in general as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney's responding to both.

I begin with a story that mentions both, Splash Mountain Gets New 'Princess And The Frog' Theme from CBS Los Angeles.

The ride had been criticized recently because the film it originally was themed after has long been considered racist. Amy Johnson reports.

I have a generally positive reaction from a fan account I follow on YouTube and Twitter, Offhand Disney's SPLASH MOUNTAIN RE-THEMING CONFIRMED.

Like that all-caps title? Disney announced today that Splash Mountain at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World will receive a Princess and the Frog-themed update. What are your thoughts on this?

Honestly, this is not a new idea for Disney; it's been in the works for a year or so. That it was announced this week strikes me as fortuitous timing for The Mouse.

Follow over the jump for Disney's responses to the pandemic.