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Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

bbc.co.uk

161–170 of 181 posts

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#161
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a farce. The United States is done fighting Great Power wars. No one talks about it publicly at all because doing so would shatter America's self-image as the Lone Superpower. The military the United States has now is quite capable of wrecking any nation that is not another Great Power. I say wrecking and not defeating, because as should be obvious from the last three decades, the United States has zero inter…

As we used to say when I was in Iraq (with the US Army), "Don't mess with America, or we'll bring freedom to you too!" Look how well it worked out in Libya, Iran, Iraq, etc.

I guess "freedom" can't just be the dismantling of a government. Since "freedom" as our societies value it only emerges in the context of some ordered society and government that protects those things.

The problem in those places seems to not have been, how hard is it to get rid of the established order, but rather, how hard is it to create a new order which preserves people's freedoms.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't that be nice. Like in StarGate SG-1, where a lot of things in the military budget fronted for the US pax-americaning our galactic neighbourhood and bringing useful tech back. Alas, I worry that the secret space program is merely the rare not-totally-worthless exception to the overall rule.

I don't understand, what do you mean by overall rule, and what is the exception?

The overall rule: most US military spending is utterly wasted to line the pockets of politicians and the military-industrial complex. It's not useful even for defending the country.

The exception: there will most likely be something useful coming out of a space program. May or may not be useful enough to offset the costs, but it's not going to be a complete waste.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comes from the military budget; they can light Cuban cigars with hundred dollar bills as a rounding error. The US Navy has 11 large fleet aircraft carriers, 9 assault carriers, when the rest of the World considers two carriers to be a lot. Schools hold bake sales to buy supplies, the Pentagon/The Congress spends a Trillion USD on a new manned fighter we don't need just to shovel pork into as many Congressional d…

It’s hard to quantify because military supremacy and having the best weapons in the world is a huge part of why the dollar is THE global currency. And we can print dollars, hell we just printed 5 trillion in a couple weeks. This gives us insane leverage when it comes to foreign debts because most debts are in dollars. The dollars for military budget and the dollars raised by a school fundraiser are not even the same…

> huge part of why the dollar is THE global currency.

That is highly questionable.

The doller was half way to be the dominant currency before WW2.

> The dollars for military budget and the dollars raised by a school fundraiser are not even the same currency.

They are actually.

> And we can print dollars, hell we just printed 5 trillion in a couple weeks.

That's true in a narrow sense. When monetary demand changes you increase supply, with that money however you can not simply finance arbitrary expenditure. If monetary demand decreases, the central bank will pull that money back out.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#164

This is the least secretive X-37 mission yet. We know a fair amount about the payloads onboard.

Or, this information can be thrown in intentionally to divert attention from the real mission. Make it plain and boring so that people quickly lose interest and switch to next topic in the newsfeed.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always assumed there's a chosen public facing secret plane with some PR management to represent the secret program in general and there's numerous other behind the scenes secret crafts without the PR. I also assumed many of the silly rumors of antigravity or whatever planes are intentionally manufactured as part of the PR so if some information of an actual plane leaks it'll be buried with the noise. This way, the…

This is how disinformation could work. Also, disinformation existing does not prove that UFOs/antigravity craft are just silly rumours.

Well search Google for "military secret plane" and you'll see this strategy exactly as described.

You'll get X-37 for half a page and then a bunch of click baity speculation

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand, what do you mean by overall rule, and what is the exception?

The overall rule: most US military spending is utterly wasted to line the pockets of politicians and the military-industrial complex. It's not useful even for defending the country. The exception: there will most likely be something useful coming out of a space program. May or may not be useful enough to offset the costs, but it's not going to be a complete waste.

Ah, cool. Makes sense. ツ Thank you, I'm grateful for your answer.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#167
post #143
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To your first point: it’s not true in US healthcare. To your second point: US has very low interest rates, money are cheap, nobody wants to work, thus services are expensive. To your third point: system is not corrupt, but over-regulated garbage. To your general sentiment: my point is not related to the actual cost of services.

Your point is being made as though it's relevant to a healthcare system that exists today anywhere on the planet. It isn't. It especially isn't related to the US healthcare system, which again, costs the US government - not the US consumer who pays astronomically more then any other developed nation - about twice as much per capita as other developed nations, while providing less services to the public. Whether or no…

Self-deception. "We live in THE greatest country, ergo what you say can't be true. Also I have ideological stances I'm not willing to consider. QED." - A summery of most conversations I have with about 40% of the US population on healthcare.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how disinformation could work. Also, disinformation existing does not prove that UFOs/antigravity craft are just silly rumours.

Well search Google for "military secret plane" and you'll see this strategy exactly as described. You'll get X-37 for half a page and then a bunch of click baity speculation

Wrong. Actually I got this:

https://imgur.com/a/BLWsNYd

I guess you're partly right tho. Less on the X37-B, but there are a few "Area 51" and "Tonopah" articles. Certainly active disinfo and infiltration of the UFO/Truther/free energy movement was a thing. Used exactly as you describe, to drive people off the scent of actual tech, and discredit them.

For your viewing pleasure I've included a few links to UFO videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=0CYFEZFNl6E...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnUpJw5sahg&milpo=town9

https://youtu.be/JAEi9rltoqU?t=11

https://www.youtube.com/user/myparanormalufostory/videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKC_Iaw9EN4&feature=youtu.be...

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrAntonioUrzi/videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9UbGpJQ054 [particularly interesting Cali find. looks like a jet but makes NO sound and no woosh/boom and no shock diamonds]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFN7KofHpcY&t=1s [the Beaver Utah video]

But I guess you could be right. Considering if this is a military disinfo op. How hard would it be to fake these videos? Probably very easy.

It gets difficult tho when you have real people (like Antonio Urzi, and Slattery, and Sam Chortek and Jimmy Chappie) coming forward with video and saying we saw this and filmed it. The reason is, because if those guys are part of a counterintelligence campaign, they've just publicly revealed themselves, so it should be easy for a group to put some surveillance on them and work out are they really disinfo agents, who are they meeting and communicating with, etc.

I agree that anon videos could be faked, but I'm not sure how I'd run a disinfo campaign that includes public figures, some of whom keep producing videos, and do so in front of large groups of people. Any ideas?

BTW, I love MacArthur Park. Beautiful area of LA.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#169
post #62

Sat here in lockdown, I have just rewatched Matt Damon's The Martian and yes, we want to go up and out. I am so glad someone is still trying. I am also blown away by the American Federal budget - this is a classified military space program . How much does one of those cost ?!

Enlighten a simpleton here please, why do "we" need to leave the planet. I am far from a space nerd but I do know that neither mars or any solar object other than other is known to contain climate that is better or would even come close to earth's climate even with no polar ice caps and extreme global warming. Wouldn't it be cheaper (more humane as well) to "colonize" earth? For the next 100 years,even with full on w…

Think of the reverse. Will Mars be enough? Just one planet limits technology due to risk, for instance atmospheric nuclear testing. Is a year of space travel enough room for safety? Both planets orbit the same star.

Satellites made out of chemicals, or better yet, just one molecule have unknown risks. A really thin ring orbits Earth. Shoot a beam at it, transfer data. Instead of a ring, the easiest path could be:

- sheets of lightening in orbit

- going through the Earth

- orbiting the Sun and we get a faint image of the Earth one molecule lagging that we now have to push against

The most off the wall idea I have is to put a matter wave up in orbit that looks like star. I travel there and walk on planets and start life and then travel back. I get there faster by projecting that matter wave larger towards me, changing my internal properties and leaving that matter wave and the Earth alone. Because of what I did, the sun now has a bit of gravitational singularity to it and we all live in a different universe.

Maybe that's a better model of the universe. Matter waves emitted from a planet, and space travel as precise interface to nearby material instead of being lost in some great ocean.

Another planet will be immune. So I think of planets as thresholds of orbit application opportunity, like a tuning into a radio station, instead of a distant shore.

Bell's theorem is fun. Interact with solar probe inside the sun and a interstellar probe just the right way. Something in between, like an asteroid, yells out "PHOTON!" and blows up because the Sun think's it's now there.

Re: Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This and similar mission are not NASA missions but USSF's missions (United States Space Force), and USFF is part of the United States Armed Forces, different budget: Sources: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37#Operational_histor... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Force

I'll never get used to that "Starfleet" logo. I don't suppose Viacom/CBS would be able to sue the Dept. of Defense for copyright violation?

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