January 12, 2021

Florida background checks for guns skyrocket in first days of 2021

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/01/12/florida-background-checks-for-guns-skyrocket-in-first-days-of-2021/

ORLANDO, Fla. – With more than 30 years of selling guns under his gun belt, John Lassiter, of Addison’s Gun Shop in Kissimmee, has seen his industry revolve between gun-lows and gun-highs. The highs he has a name for.

“I call this a ‘gun run.’ We have been through gun runs before,” Lassiter said. “After Sandy Hook, everyone started buying up guns because they thought that might be their last chance to own an AR-15.”

But never in his 30 years -- even after the Sandy Hook massacre, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas mass shooting and the 2016 election -- Lassiter said he’s never seen gun sales like he has recently.

“I had a quad-triple year last year in classes. We usually do one class a week. I was doing five classes a week, all summer,” Lassiter said.

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January 11, 2021

New Policy Sets in Motion Nuclear Space Travel and Colonization

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/policy-sets-motion-nuclear-space-133000204.html

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 11, 2021 / On December 16, 2020, the White House issued Space Policy Directive-6 (SPD-6), which outlines a national strategy for using space nuclear power and propulsion (SNPP) systems in a safe and effective manner. The new policy directive confirms the United States' commitment to using SNPP systems and establishing nuclear power stations on the moon and beyond, which is good news for US Nuclear (OTCQB:UCLE) and partner MIFTI, who have designed and are testing thermonuclear fusion power generators.

Scott Pace of the National Space Council, commented "Space nuclear power and propulsion is a fundamentally enabling technology for American deep-space missions to Mars and beyond. The United States intends to remain the leader among spacefaring nations, applying nuclear power technology safely, securely, and sustainably in space." The key factor for enabling space travel are the new nuclear powered propulsion systems, as traditional chemical powered rocket fuels are hopelessly weak. DARPA, NASA, and the US Space Force have recently gotten serious and deployed the nuclear option. Why? Nuclear fuels and nuclear power systems, such as the highly-regarded MIFTI Z-pinch fusion reactor, can deliver 10,000,000 times the work (or energy) per payload pound than the chemical rocket fuels now used by Musk's Space-X, Bezos's Blue Origin, Branson's Virgin Atlantic, as do Lockheed and Boeing.

Fusion propulsion should far outperform fission-based propulsion, because fusion reactions release up to four times as much energy, says NASA chief engineer Jeff Sheehy. Fusion uses a very lightweight, low-cost, and safe fuel, whereas fission uses a fuel that is scarce, expensive, and hazardous. Fusion propulsion devices could also be one-thousandth as large as a fission device. Saturn's moon Titan, has long been a focus of scientists as it is the only known body in space besides Earth where there is clear evidence of surface liquid, which could potentially harbor life. A fusion powered propulsion system could reach Mars in as little as 3 months, the asteroid belt in 7 months, and Titan in just two years.

Princeton Plasma Physics Lab is in the process of developing a fusion powered spacecraft called the Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) which can produce thrust directly from fusion, while US Nuclear and MIFTI are just a few years away from producing the world's first working fusion power generator.

(Excerpt)

January 7, 2021

What gun control laws do you think it likely will be passed in the nest two years?

To begin with , there gun control and there's Gun Control. The NRA will oppose all of these out of principal but will breath a sigh of relief if only the first one or two pass.

Red flag laws: Virtually certain.
Universal background checks: Also almost certain.

The next ones are (IMHO) increasingly unlikely, due to the razor-thin majority in the Senate and the quite thin majority in the House:

A ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines which allows previously owned items to continue to be transferred and sold: Possible.
Requiring a national gun license to own firearms: Unlikely
A ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines which forbids ever selling or transferring them, and confiscating them upon the owner's death: Very unlikely.
A ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines which forbids ever selling or transferring them, requiring all such guns and magazines to either be registered under the National Firearms Act at $200 per weapon and $200 per magazine, and confiscating those which the owner does not wish to pay such a cost to register (Biden's plan): Very, very unlikely.

Speaking personally, if the first two pass I'll shrug. I'd find a licensing requirement annoying, but I'd live with it. The stricter the weapons and magazine ban, the more I'd hate it. The strictest version would have me pay something in the ballpark of $20,000 to be allowed to keep my property, largely because I have a ton of magazines. If I only kept three magazines for each of my "assault weapons", it would still cost me around $10,000.

January 6, 2021

VIDEO: Mitt Romney called 'traitor' on flight from Salt Lake to DC

https://kutv.com/news/local/video-mitt-romney-called-traitor-on-flight-from-salt-lake-to-dc

(video at link, not sure how to embed it)

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — "Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!" passengers on a flight from Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C. yelled at Utah Sen. Mitt Romney on Tuesday.

Video shared on Twitter shows several rows of passengers yelling at the senator and questioning him ahead of Congress counting electoral votes on Wednesday.

"Your constituents want to know why you're going to certify the Electoral College!" a passenger yells at the senator.

Romney has said he will vote to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's 2020 election victory on Wednesday.

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January 6, 2021

How violent will the MAGA protests be in DC?

I'm anticipating isolated incidents, but nothing massive. Oh, lots of pushing, shoving, and screaming, sure, and there may well be ia few gunshots, but I'll be surprised if there's anything on a large scale.

Just speculation, granted.