fractions, 10/14
colombo and his legacy, musk and his villainy, and china gets what they Taiwan.
÷ Columbus’ Discovery of Indigenous Peoples Day
As I’m writing this, I’d like to acknowledge that the sidewalk from where I’m sitting used to be occupied by wealthy white landowners — before that, the Confederate States of America, before that, European settlers, before that, the Chickasaw Indians, before that, some less cohesive indigenous tribes, and before that, the mighty buffalo and the saber-toothed tiger.
The fact that Indigenous People’s Day is now celebrated in concert with Columbus Day is an affront to both the ‘discovery’ of the New World and its original inhabitants.
One can celebrate the achievements made by ol’ Colombo without celebrating smallpox and the Trail of Tears, right?
The Columbian Exchange marks the moment when the world expanded, and the dream of escaping tyranny, squalor, and oppression was implanted in the European mind.
Can’t we pick another day to express our gratitude to the original inhabitants of this land, who certainly were neither peaceful nor civilized as a people, and our considerable regret for declaring war on their dwindling population, forced assimilation, and despoiling their sacred lands?
Is it possible to do both? Must we all be so insufferable?
÷ SpaceX is disinformation
I think Elon Musk is probably a terrible dad and an awful partner, but you don’t see me talking about it.
On Sunday, Musk’s company Space X exhibited a feat of engineering so preposterous that it was thought impossible. Yesterday, a Space X launch tower, using what they describe as ‘chopsticks’, managed to catch a booster rocket from its controlled descent.
In previous iterations of the rocket technology, the booster would have been lost or destroyed after it had outlived its lifespan of a one-time use. Now, thanks to the ingenuity of Musk and his team, the massive piece of equipment can be reused. Predictably, climate activists everywhere are overjoyed.
Despite Musk’s unparalleled contributions to human exploration in the 21st century, he remains a villain to the global Left. California refuses to allow any additional rocket launches from the company that is at the helm of the national space program citing ‘environmental concerns’ and Musk’s criticism of Newsom, himself.
At least Columbus got a few centuries of being a hero, Musk had a couple of good years over at Tesla before he took the controversial right-wing position of ‘free speech is good.’
÷ Taiwan, we hardly knew you
You might as well get used to saying Taipei now. Over the weekend Chinese forces conducted a military exercise near the island of Taiwan.
When I say near, what I really mean is around. A Chinese naval drill completely surrounded the pseudo-independent territory. The United States said that the drill was ‘unwarranted’ and risked ‘escalation.’
To which China replied, “Nuh-uh.”
It might be time to realize that the prospects of the Western countries dissuading China, a nuclear power with a billion people, from asserting its control over an island within 100 miles of its coast are essentially nil.
Taiwan officials are reported as saying, “Stop hitting us!”
“I’m not touching you!” China replied. But we all know they could.