March 31, 2025

THE NEW SPACE RACE: 1st-ever orbital rocket launch from European soil falls to Earth and explodes seconds into flight.

Germany-based Isar Aerospace attempted to launch the first orbital rocket from European soil on Sunday morning (March 30). The company’s Spectrum rocket lifted off from Europe’s Andøya Spaceport in Norway, but suffered an anomaly 18 seconds into the flight.

Dramatic video from the launch shows the rocket tumbling just seconds into flight before plummeting to the icy ground below and exploding in a brilliant fireball.

It’s unclear what caused the anomaly, but it appears that Isar’s Spectrum rocket began tumbling just seconds into its debut flight. Video from the incident shows the rocket plummeting to the ground with its engines off, so it’s likely that flight controllers terminated the flight once the vehicle began tumbling.

There were no payloads aboard Spectrum’s first test flight today. Isar Aerospace was simply attempting to collect data about the vehicle during the maiden launch.

Here’s the video:

Better luck next time.

Posted at 9:36 am by Stephen Green 99

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Dems’ Media Water-Carriers Are Starting to Get Sore Backs. “In the past, the Democrats would have identified at least one legitimate problem that could have helped them change course, then gotten back to the hunt for bogeymen. What’s the difference now? Why, Trump Derangement Syndrome, of course.”

Posted at 9:05 am by Stephen Green 42

THE SOVIETS USED TO HOLD FAKE ELECTIONS IN WHICH THE PEOPLE COULD ELECT ANY CANDIDATE THEY WANTED, SO LONG AS IT WAS ONE OF THE TWO PRE-APPROVED COMMUNISTS:

I’m afraid Glenn had it right about the lampposts.

Posted at 8:55 am by Stephen Green 54

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Colorado Senate Bill 3: Gun licensing scheme much broader than claimed.

The Colorado legislature is close to final passage of Senate Bill 25-003, to impose one of the most restrictive licensing systems in the nation on many, but not all firearms. Legislators and the public should understand that the bill would apply to all semiautomatic centerfire handguns. The kinds of handguns that Coloradans typically choose—from companies such as Glock, Ruger, or Smith & Wesson—would become much more onerous to purchase.

Senate Bill 3 seems cunningly written. It purports to apply only to the “gas-operated semiautomatic handgun.” (p. 4). The bill then provides five types of gas operation. Cumulatively, the definitions cover almost every centerfire semiautomatic handgun.

The bill does not apply to semiautomatics that fire the puny .22 rimfire cartridge.

There is only one centerfire semiautomatic handgun model that does not fall within the bill’s definitions. That unique item is the Benelli B-80, a collector’s item last manufactured in 1990. The identical gun was produced in six different calibers, model numbers 76 through 82.

As for every other model of semiautomatic pistol, Coloradans will be forced to navigate their way through one of the most onerous systems in the nation, far exceeding even California’s.

The new system includes three additional fees on top of the ones already charged to firearms purchasers in Colorado, and none of those fees are capped. Unlike Colorado’s system for issuing handgun carry licenses, no government official has any obligation to make a decision on an application within a time frame.

That’s a whole lot of infringement.

Posted at 8:34 am by Stephen Green 58

IMPRISONING POLITICAL OPPONENTS IS ALL THE RAGE IN EUROPE. THIS WON’T STOP WITHOUT SOME POLITICIANS HANGING FROM LAMPPOSTS. Marine Le Pen Barred From Public Office in France. “The prosecutor called for a €300,000 fine and prison term, as well as ineligibility for running for public office for five years. This would impact Le Pen’s ability to seek the French presidency in 2027. The court ruled that Le Pen will be barred from running for public office with immediate effect for five years.”

UPDATE:

Posted at 8:21 am by Glenn Reynolds 176

IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG TO ESCALATE FROM KEYING TO ATTACKING: Flagstaff women say they were targeted, assaulted for driving Tesla car.

Recently, a woman who wants to remain anonymous under the alias “Susan,” told Arizona’s Family that she was along Route 66 in Flagstaff when another vehicle started chasing her.

“I’m just appalled,” said Susan. “I didn’t buy my car for a political statement. I bought my car because its really fun to drive. My politics have nothing to do with that. I’m ashamed of our society and what they are doing.

Susan has video of the Tesla attack in Flagstaff last week. It shows a green car pulling up next to her Tesla and then swerving in front of it to box it in.

The driver then walks over to the 61-year-old woman in the Tesla and, reportedly, starts hitting her while she’s behind the wheel.

“I started to say, you cut me off what’s your problem, but I didn’t know how much he heard me,” said Susan. “He got out and started to punch me with a closed fist.”

At one point, the victim said she bit the man’s hand. Moments later, the passenger of the green car appears to walk over and pull the attacker away. Finally, they get back in their car and drive off.

Flagstaff police later cited the suspect, who is now due in court on Monday.

Here’s the video:

I’m not sure anyone that antisocial and with so little self-control should be allowed bail. But kudos to Susan for signing up for a gun safety class.

Posted at 7:32 am by Stephen Green 117

HARVARD LAW FACULTY SAYS TRUMP IS A THREAT TO THE RULE OF LAW; Harvard Law Professor Adrian Vermeule takes them to the woodshed.

Where were the letter’s signatories when federal prosecutors took the unprecedented step of bringing dozens of criminal charges against a former president, who also happened to be the leading electoral opponent of the then-incumbent president? Where were the signatories when Jeff Clark, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and other lawyers were disbarred or threatened with disbarment, and indeed prosecuted, for their representation of President Trump? Was this not a threat to the rule of law? Where were the signatories when radical activists menaced Supreme Court Justices in their homes, or when a mob hammered on the doors of the Supreme Court itself? Where were the signatories when the Senate Minority Leader shouted to an angry crowd outside the Court that “I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions”? Were these not also literal threats to the rule of law?

Plus: “As I recall, Professor Tribe, one of the signatories, urged President Biden to renew the eviction moratorium even after the Supreme Court clearly stated it was unlawful. Was this a breach of the rule of law?”

Related:

Posted at 7:13 am by Glenn Reynolds 63

NOTHING’S SHOCKING: You Won’t Believe What Insanity HHS Was Funding. “A whopping 61 grants from HHS subsidiary NIH for California DEI and ‘gender’ studies were also slashed, per Fox. The scale of federal fraud and waste is so vast it is difficult to comprehend.”

Posted at 7:01 am by Stephen Green 24

March 30, 2025

WHILE DEMS GO ALL IN FOR GANGSTERS IN GITMO:

Posted at 10:51 pm by Glenn Reynolds 152

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds 1534

“UPSETS:” Statham’s A Working Man upsets Snow White to take No. 1 at the box office. Complete with an “unexpectedly” moment in the lede from AP!

In an unexpected upset, the Jason Statham thriller “A Working Man” took No. 1 at the box office, besting the rapidly declining “Snow White,” according to studio estimates Sunday.

Even after a lackluster debut, the Walt Disney Co.’s live-action remake was predicted to remain the top film in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend. Instead, “Snow White,” plagued by bad buzz and backlash, nosedived in its second weekend and dropped 66%.

As John Nolte writes: Weekend Two Delivers Even More Box Office Humiliation for Snow White. “It is now quite possible that Snow Woke could fail to hit $200 million globally. This means that after the theaters take their cut, Disney will see only $100 million in box office returns, which will add up to an incredible $270 million LOSS. Disney could conceivably lose more than a quarter of a billion — with a “B” — on this, making it the biggest box office bomb in history.”

 

 

 

Posted at 8:16 pm by Ed Driscoll 311