PBS NewsHour asks 'What is Día de los Muertos?'

Halloween is over, but spooky season continues for one more day with Day of the Dead. Since Monstrum on PBS Storied hasn't created a third video on Mexican monsters since last year, I'm returning to news coverage of the holiday, which I last did in 2022. Watch PBS NewsHour asking What is Día de los Muertos? An expert explains the holiday celebrating loved ones who have died.

Día de los Muertos is a celebration honoring the deceased that takes place in Mexico and other parts of Latin America on Nov. 1 and 2. The holiday is celebrated through ritual observations like constructing altars, ofrendas, filled with offerings to the dead and decorating family gravesites to commune with the dead. It is also commemorated through fiestas in which communities gather to celebrate by dancing, playing music, feasting, drinking and masquerading as death.

"The beautiful thing about Día de los Muertos is that it allows the pain and difficulty [of death] to be transformed through joyous celebration so that it's not about just sitting in the difficulty of death," Arizona State University researcher Mathew Sandoval told the PBS NewsHour's Casey Kuhn.

That's an explanation of the holiday like I last posted in 2021's Inside Edition and NBC News report on Day of the Dead. Of course, PBS covered it in a more intellectual way than Inside Edition, which is not the hardest news source.

PBS's story included clips of a Day of the Dead parade. Global News covered one of those in Day of the Dead: Skeletons parade through Mexico City in annual Catrinas march.

Hundreds of people dressed as “La Catrina,” the iconic skeletal figure associated with Day of the Dead, paraded through the streets of Mexico City on Sunday evening.

The parade is one of numerous celebrations held throughout Mexico City for Day of the Dead, or “Dia de Muertos” in Spanish. It is a day when families in Mexico honour their loved ones.

Day of the Dead is celebrated this year on Nov. 2.

It's also celebrated on November 1st, which is when National Day Calendar lists it, so I'm sticking with November 1st.

Watching these two videos reminds me of my experience celebrating Day of the Dead in Oaxaca.

I spent the week of Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico during October and November, 2011. It was an eye-opening experience. I'll just concentrate on the public celebrations I observed.

First, I toured a cemetery during the night of Halloween. In the U.S., only the thrillseekers and vandals would be there. In Oaxaca, entire families were having picnics on the family plots. The atmosphere was festive with the local orchestra playing, fireworks, and vendors just outside the gates of the cemetery. Kids were trick-or-treating inside the cemetery, just as mentioned in the article. While they were wearing costumes, like American kids, they weren't going door to door asking for candy. Instead, they were begging strangers for coins. That's certainly an adaptation of an American tradition that makes it distinct.

The next night, I joined a grownup version of trick-or-treating. My hostess and her friend invited me to a parade of sorts. A bunch of revelers, most in costume, lined up in an alley behind a brass band. We then strolled down the street, stopped at a house, and asked for treats. We got tortas, Mexican sandwiches, which were passed out on a platter the size of a small door. I managed to get one of them. It was delicious. Also, plastic shot glasses of mezcal were being passed around. That made for a very entertaining evening, and is the reason I often describe the holiday as a combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras.

While waiting for that parade to form up, I watched another pass by. It was led by three young men in costume, a devil, a grim reaper, and a Mesoamerican death god. That image perfectly summed up the Mexican heritage of being a fusion of European and native elements. I wish Americans could be as comfortable with our hybrid origins.

Since I have gained many new readers during the past eleven years, I decided it was worth sharing my story again.

I close with WGN News presenting Tequila Cocktails for Day of the Dead.

Day of the Dead is a cherished Mexican tradition honoring the lives of loved ones.

Brand Ambassador Ricardo Rodriguez joined us to share how Mijenta Tequila is celebrating this long-standing tradition.

Drink responsibly. This includes the anchors of the local morning shows, which engage in more day drinking while on the clock than I knew about before I started writing this blog.

That's a wrap for today's post and spooky season, unless tonight's Saturday Night Live has Halloween content, in which case I'll share it as part of tomorrow's Sunday entertainment feature. Stay tuned.

Bolide over southeast U.S. and Asteroid 2024 YR4 update for Asteroid Day and Meteor Watch Day

Happy International Asteroid Day, the younger but paradoxically more established version of Apophis Day! It's also National Meteor Watch Day, so I'm beginning today's post with a spectacular meteor, which CNN reported as Fireball flies across the sky and causes sonic boom on Friday.

A ‘daytime fireball’ was caught on video in the sky over South Carolina – causing a sonic boom, according to the American Meteor Society. CNN has reached out to emergency management officials in North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as NASA for comment.

That's quite the meteor! Good thing it mostly created a natural fireworks show, maybe some property damage, and no injuries.

Now for two updates on Asteroid 2024 YR4, beginning with Global News reporting Asteroid now poses real threat of hitting Moon, NASA warns.

An asteroid once considered a threat to Earth is now on a potential collision course to the Moon.

NASA says the object has just over a four per cent chance of impacting the Moon, seven years from now.

Though the odds may seem small, scientists warn that the damage could be significant.

Vincent McAviney reports on why the space agency says this risk is no longer trivial.

That sounds alarming, if still unlikely. The European Space Agency was a lot calmer in From threat to no sweat: Asteroid 2024 YR4.

How did asteroid 2024 YR4 go from being the riskiest asteroid ever detected to posing no real threat? First spotted in December 2024, its impact risk initially soared to 2.8%, surpassing previous record-holder Apophis. But thanks to refined observations from our Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre and other institutions, its risk quickly dropped to just 0.001% within days. This dramatic shift follows a well-known pattern—asteroid impact probabilities often rise before plummeting as more data becomes available. Now, nearly all possible impact scenarios have been ruled out, and 2024 YR4 has been safely removed from our risk list.

Nothing about a possible impact with the Moon, but NASA's planetary defense blog lists that probability as 4.3%, as Global News reported.

That's a wrap for June's blogging. Stay tuned for Canada Day to begin July.

A small chance asteroid impacts Earth in 2032

After blogging about tariffs, Musk taking over government computers, mass deportations, Trump's wild idea about Gaza, I'm ready for a different kind of disaster.* The universe provided one in the form of a potential asteroid impact. Watch Global News report Over 1% chance asteroid may hit Earth in 2032, space agency says.

A newly discovered, far-flung asteroid has sparked curiosity and a healthy side of concern among scientists who say the huge rock has the potential to make impact with Earth.

Based on projections, the asteroid, dubbed 2024 YR4, has a little more than one per cent chance of impact with Earth on Dec. 22, 2032.

The asteroid measures between 40 and 90 metres wide (130 and 300 feet) based on estimates from its reflected light.

“An asteroid this size impacts Earth on average every few thousand years and could cause severe damage to a local region,” the European Space Agency (ESA) said in a space safety briefing.

CBS Texas repeated the last sentence in the description of A "city-killer" asteroid has a slim chance to crash into Earth.

"An asteroid this size impacts Earth on average every few thousand years and could cause severe damage to a local region," the European Space Agency said.

The last impact the size of the one that could happen if Asteroid 2024 YR4 enters Earth's atmosphere in seven years was the Tunguska impact on June 30, 1908, which is the event Asteroid Day commemorates. That would be 128 years before a potential impact, not a "few thousand years," but "on average" is doing a lot of work; there is room for a lot of variation.

I close with ABC News (Australia) analyzing the situation in Asteroid with small chance of hitting Earth triggers global defence plan.

Astronomers have spied an asteroid that may be heading for Earth in 2032. While scientists say there is currently no cause for alarm and it will likely pass Earth safely, members of a space mission planning group are meeting this week to work out the next steps. Professor Jonti Horner from the University of Southern Queensland tells The World several factors would come into play, including what the asteroid is made of.

Professor Horner managed to be both scary and reassuring at the same time. Odds are that we'll be O.K. Even if the asteroid impacts the atmosphere, most cases will affect relatively few people. The bad news is that if the asteroid explodes on or above a city, it could kill millions. YIKES!

Oh, and even this story couldn't avoid Elon Musk. Sigh. I was hoping to get away from events on Earth today.

*Disaster literally means "bad star." That's quite on the nose for this story.

PBS Terra wonders 'Historic Megaflood Reveals Major Risk... in the United States' Driest Region?'

I examined floods and drought happening together last August, but Comedy Central UK blocked the video in the U.S. Phooey! So I'm re-examining the topic with a video I'm more confident will remain available, PBS Terra asking Historic Megaflood Reveals Major Risk... in the United States' Driest Region?.*

Massive floods have been sweeping the globe lately. British Columbia flood of 2021, Pakistan flood of 2022, Hurricane Ian, New Zealand, Las Vegas, Kentucky, Yellowstone National Park flood, and floods in California are all recent examples of such tragic flooding. And many are blaming climate change. But at the same time, we’re also seeing record lows in rivers and reservoirs all around the world. So what’s really going on here? Is the answer Hadley Cells changing? Is it the moisture capacity of the atmosphere?

In this episode, we try to get to the bottom of this paradox and unravel the role that climate change is truly playing in our increasingly erratic weather and precipitation patterns. We also look at large climatological elements like atmospheric rivers and Hadley cells to see the roles they are playing in these changes. And we look back on the worst flood to ever hit the United States to see what we can learn about our future – the Great Flood of 1862 that submerged much of California, at one point creating a 500 mile lake between Bakersfield and Redding. The California Mega Flood and of course the Las Vegas Flood in 2022.

Not only does this tie into PBS Terra's 'Weathered' examines how the wandering jet stream is making extreme weather worse, which I posted a year ago, but also How do we cope with more floods? Here's what happens when the dam breaks, which the video above recommended.

Each year, flooding kills around 100 Americans and displaces some 75,000 from their homes. And as sea levels rise, storms dump more and more rain, and dams and levees continue aging and increasingly failing, the cost of flooding is increasing in communities all across the country. A recent study shows that, between 1988 and 2017, the average annual cost of flooding in the United States rose by $2.5 billion due to the intensification of precipitation alone. So what do we do?

Well, it’s not an easy question to answer. But there are many innovative solutions that communities are taking, from creating multi-use public green spaces such as parks and football fields that can absorb excess water, to restoring and preserving wetlands. In this episode of Weathered, we also explore cost-effective solutions that you can take to harden your home if you live in a flood prone area.

I wrote "This is another story about weather meeting neglected infrastructure, although I could make a case of it being climate" in Michigan flooded while Trump tweeted then refused to wear a mask on camera. I never got around to it, but PBS Terra did it for me. Thank you!

Atmospheric rivers and the floods they can cause aren't just a future threat; they're happening now, as Global News reported in California storms: Forecasters predict atmospheric river will bring “parade” of cyclones.

California is in the grip of a series of dangerous storms, after a week of deadly weather. Some parts of the state saw heavy rain, leading to widespread flooding and landslides, while others were buried in snow.

First responders have had to save several people from quickly rising flood waters, as hundreds of roads transformed into rivers and high winds have torn down structures. Millions have been affected, and it isn't over yet.

Forecasters are warning another atmospheric river of moisture will hit California Monday, bringing what they call a "relentless parade of cyclones" over the next few days.

Global’s Jennifer Johnson has the latest.

Yikes! Stay safe and dry out there!

*I'm working on the second half of 'Abbott Elementary' leads Golden Globes TV nominees with five nominations, so stay tuned.

Journalists, climate modelers, and others recognized for Nobel Prize Day 2021

Happy Nobel Prize Day! As I have the past three years, I begin by recognizing the recipients of the Peace Prize. Watch Why the Nobel Peace Prize was won by 2 journalists, and what that means for press freedom from PBS NewsHour.

The Nobel Committee often likes to make a statement when it awards the Nobel Peace Prize every year, and 2021 is no different. Two journalists, one from the Philippines, the other from Russia, were recipients — at a time when the free press is under global attack, and the truth is hard to find. Nick Schifrin reports.

The Peace Prize recipients generally piss people off and I'm O.K. with that as long they piss off the right people. I think this year's prize qualifies.

Moving on to the sciences, two researchers who work on climate change were among those honored today. Watch DW News report Climate modelers awarded with the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded jointly to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi for "groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems."

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists whose cumulative work can be summed up in two words: Climate change. Half of the prize went to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann "for the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming." And the other half went to Giorgio Parisi "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales." The Nobel Committee got Parisi on the line from his home in Rome to Stockholm, and when asked whether he had a message for politicians meeting at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference, he said simply: "We have to act now."

I tell my students that modeling was the original scientific method, at least for the oldest science, astronomy, but that it generally doesn't get the respect that controlled experiments do. Now I can tell them that modeling has earned two of its practitioners a Nobel Prize.

Follow over the jump for the rest of this year's Nobel Prize recipients.

November 19 is World Toilet Day

I saw a flyer in the restroom at work yesterday that today was World Toilet Day. I thought "is this a real day? If so, I should be observing it on my blog." It turns out that it is. Watch Global News ask and answer What is World Toilet Day?

Every year over 500,000 children under the age of five die due to inadequate sanitation. A significant amount of those deaths would be prevented if toilets, safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene were accessible. Every year on November 19, the United Nations celebrates World Toilet Day to raise awareness for the sanitation crisis across the world.

This is one of the points I make when I lecture about urban poverty in the developing world; there aren't enough toilets for everyone, making slums even more unlivable. Increasing access to toilets would improve everyone's lives there. To paraphrase one of Commoner's Laws, not only must everything go somewhere, everyone must go somewhere, too. It should be someplace safe and clean.

IPCC report warns 'code red for humanity'

When I wrote "Tuesday I'm planning on covering fire and drought" on Sunday, I hadn't counted on the latest IPCC report being issued the next day. ABC News summarized its findings in UN climate report warns of ‘code red for humanity’.

ABC News’ Maggie Rulli reports on the new U.N. climate report on the dire threat warming temperatures pose to the planet, as fires and extreme weather events spread globally.

ABC News did a very good job of incorporating location coverage of fires in California and Greece, floods in Germany, and heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest to make climate change concrete for its viewers, but this segment skipped over drought and had very little in the way of expert analysis. CBS News covered both in U.N. climate change report warns of disaster if nations don't cut greenhouse gas emissions, although it just mentioned drought a few times.

The world's leading climate scientists have issued a stark new warning about the growing impact of climate change and what needs to be done to stop it. CBS News foreign correspondent Roxana Saberi reports on the key findings, and Bloomberg Sustainability Editor Eric Roston joins CBSN to discuss.

What struck me about Eric Roston's analysis was that, if anything, climate change is not only happening now, but coming faster and have more severe effects than the experts expected, as this past June's heatwave in the Pacific Northwest caught them by surprise.

Those are the facts and consequences. For the urgency of finding solutions, watch the Global News interview, Greta Thunberg says dire UN climate change report can serve as "a wake up call".

Calling for “massive” pressure to fight climate change after a dire report by the UN science panel on Monday, activist Greta Thunberg said she plans to go to this year’s global climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

The deadly heat waves, gargantuan hurricanes and other weather extremes that are already happening will only become more severe, the United Nations panel on climate change told the world on Monday, reporting that global warming was dangerously close to being out of control – and that humans were “unequivocally” to blame.

Referring to a recent spate of extreme weather events, Thunberg said: "These are all just symptoms of the climate crisis. We're not talking about the root cause itself, the things that are actually fuelling these events. And we are not holding people in power accountable."

“I hope that this can be a wake up call,” Thunberg said of the report, in an interview.

I hope this report will serve as a wake up call as well. It's not like the IPCC hasn't warned us before.

I will close out today's entry by being a good environmentalist and recycling what I wrote three years ago this month with an updated link.

First, welcome to the 400 ppm world. Second, are you scared enough by climate change? My readers should be.

Doomsday Clock remains at 100 seconds to midnight for 2021

When I wrote "Since I'm in an 'I can't be all DOOM all the time mood,' 'tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight!' suits me just fine" in Emmy-winning comedy series feature diversity in front of and especially behind the camera for Black History Month, I was thinking ahead to my telling my readers to "stay tuned for The Doomsday Clock." NBC News has that story in Scientists Keep Doomsday Clock At 100 Seconds To Midnight, Same As 2020.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the Doomsday Clock will remain at 100 seconds to midnight, the same time it was set to in 2020. The group cited the coronavirus pandemic and the rejection of science coupled with climate change and threats of nuclear warfare.

The good news is that The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists didn't move the clock any closer to midnight. The bad news is that its editors didn't move it any farther away.

For reporter commentary, a more complete video description and an additional portion of President and CEO of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Rachel Bronson's address that NBC News didn't include, watch Global News Doomsday clock remains at 100 seconds to midnight, scientists warn.

The symbolic Doomsday Clock remained at 100 seconds to midnight on Wednesday, as University of Chicago-based scientists from Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists warned the world is dangerously close to devastation.

The time was unchanged from 2020, when scientists from the organization cited concerns over nuclear proliferation and climate change as factors in setting the clock to its most dire time since the Cold War.

President and CEO of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Rachel Bronson, said last year's statement anticipated the denial of COVID-19 and refusal of political leaders to work together, which has led to 2.16 million coronavirus deaths worldwide.

Here's to people listening to scientists and other experts instead of to those who spread conspiracy theories and other dangerous nonsense. Until then, as the catchphrase in "Watchmen" goes, "tick, tock."

World Food Program wins Peace Prize and the winners for economics, science, and literature on Nobel Prize Day 2020

Happy Nobel Prize Day! Today, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1896, is the day the Nobel Prizes for peace, economics, medicine, physics, chemistry, and literature are presented to their recipients. Normally, that ceremony would take place in Stockholm, Sweden, for all the prizes except the peace prize, which would happen in Oslo, Norway, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the presentation happened remotely.

I begin today's coverage of the prize winners with World Food Program Wins 2020 Nobel Peace Prize from Now This.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize went to the World Food Program, a UN org that combats hunger worldwide by helping feed nearly 100M people across 88 countries.

Bloomberg Quick Take had a worse video, but a better description that expanded on the reasons for the World Food Program earning the award.

The organization is being honored “for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday.

The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is “more conspicuous than ever,” the committee said. The World Food Program is the world’s biggest humanitarian group to specifically address hunger and to work toward food security, it said.

Last year, the World Food Programme helped close to 100 million people in 88 countries in the face of acute food insecurity and hunger. The WFP is also the main body through which the United Nations works toward eradicating hunger as one of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The committee chose to highlight hunger in this year’s peace prize after a deterioration in circumstances over recent years. In 2019, 135 million people suffered from acute hunger, the highest number in many years, it said. Most of the increase was caused by war and armed conflict.

This isn't the first time someone trying to feed the world earned a Nobel Peace Prize. The other that I have mentioned on this blog is Norman Borlaug, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his contributions to the Green Revolution. I teach about both Borlaug and the Green Revolution in my classes. When I return to the classroom, I plan on adding the World Food Program to that lecture.

I'm continuing with the youngest award, "The Sveriges Riksbank [Swedish Royal Bank] Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel," instituted in 1969. Stanford economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson react to winning the Nobel Prize in economics tells their story.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited the pair for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.

This video shows that auction theory isn't just an academic interest; it applies directly to government functions as exemplified by the auction of radio frequencies. The airwaves are public property, which is why the government regulates broadcasters through the Federal Communications Commission and auctions off radio frequencies. Auction theory is one way of insuring accountability and transparency in the process.

Follow over the jump for this year's science and literature prize winners.

'Totally Under Control' about the Trump Administration's response to the pandemic wins Best Editing at the 2020 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards

I foreshadowed my choice of film to write about today in a footnote to 'John Lewis: Good Trouble' wins Best Historical/Biographical Documentary at the 2020 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.

I wrote the following in my comment on Kek has apparently spoken at John Michael Greer's Dreamwidth.

Three years ago, the Documentary Branch nominated "Icarus," a very anti-Russian sports documentary, in the wake of Trump's victory, and it won. The academy membership didn't have an anti-Trump nominee to vote for, so they jumped on the anti-Putin one. That's why I think that "Totally Under Control" about the administration's response to the pandemic, might actually have a chance at being nominated this year. The Documentary Branch normally does not renominate films by previous winners, which Alex Gibney is, having won for "Taxi to the Dark Side," regardless of merit, as they want to spread the recognition around, but they might just do that this year to signal their anti-Trump sentiment. If they don't nominate "Totally Under Control," they would very likely nominate "John Lewis: Good Trouble" about a critic of Trump instead.

"Totally Under Control" won a Critics' Choice Documentary Award as well, so I will write about it, too.

Watch Totally Under Control - Official Trailer from Madman Films to see why I wrote that comment and have now recycled it twice.

An in-depth look at how the United States government handled the response to the #COVID19 outbreak during the early months of the pandemic.

On January 20th, 2020 the US and South Korea both discovered their first cases of COVID-19. However, 9 months later, the novel #Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 200,000 Americans and caused staggering economic damage, while in South Korea, there were no significant lockdowns and, in an urbanized population of 51 million, only 344 lives have been lost. Where did we go wrong? As the presidential election nears, Americans are increasingly enraged by a lack of clear leadership, endemic political corruption and left to wonder how did the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world manage to fail so thoroughly in its response to a global pandemic?

Academy Award-winning filmmaker #AlexGibney, directing with Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger, interrogates this question and its devastating implications in Totally Under Control. With damning testimony from public health officials and hard investigative reporting, Gibney exposes a system-wide collapse caused by a profound dereliction of Presidential leadership.

It will be a generation before we know the full extent of the damage wrought by this pandemic, but Totally Under Control will stand as the definitive account of the Trump administration’s incompetence, corruption and denial in the face of this global pandemic.

Wow! Even though I've seen the news footage in real time, putting it all together along with the interviews gave it a extra impact that it didn't have when I first watched it. I can see why it earned two awards and three other nominations at the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.

Speaking of which, watch BEST EDITING - Lindy Jankura, Alexis Johnson and Alex Keipper, Totally Under Control for the editors' acceptance speeches.

Winner of the 5th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Editing: Lindy Jankura, Alexis Johnson and Alex Keipper, TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL.

Now I'm wondering who was behind the coronavirus Minnie Mouse. That written, congratulations on winning this award and Dr. Rick Bright being named one of this year's Most Compelling Living Subjects of a Documentary and earning nominations for Best Score, Best Narration, and Best Political Documentary. I think "Totally Under Control" has more nominations and awards coming, even if the Documentary Branch of the Motion Picture Academy has issues that might prevent it from nominating the film for an Oscar. Both the Cinema Eye Honors and Independent Lens are likely to nominate it as a movie. Also, since it was available on Apple TV and is now streaming on Hulu, it should be a lock for one or more Emmy nominations, either at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards or the News and Documentary Emmy Awards. I'm looking forward to them.

I'm not done with this movie. Follow over the jump for two interviews of Gibney and the other directors.

Space Force gets a flag for Armed Forces Day

Happy Armed Forces Day!

Armed Forces Day on the third Saturday in May pays tribute to the military personnel serving in the United States Armed Forces. The celebration takes place each year during Armed Forces Week.

The United States Military is composed of six branches, including the Army, Air [Force], Space Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. As of 2019, more than 1.3 million active-duty service members are stationed in the United States and around the world. An additional 800,000 reservists stand ready in the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. The holiday unites the country behind the men and women who currently serve in the United States military.

The listing of Space Force is apropos for today, as Reuters reported Trump unveils U.S. Space Force official flag yesterday while President Trump signed a declaration for Armed Forces Day.

The official flag of the United States Space Force was presented to President Trump at an Oval Office ceremony.

I still think it looks like a United Federation of Planets flag from Star Trek.

Space Force didn't wait for its flag to begin operations and recruiting. Follow over the jump for videos about both.