The questions we should ask

Do we need space cowboys? SWAT? Drug war laws?

Politico reported, “Despite President Joe Biden’s decision this summer to reverse a Trump-era move and keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado, House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers is already vowing to use the next defense policy bill to move to Alabama.

“And if that doesn’t work, the Alabama Republican is banking on a second Donald Trump term to do it.

“The command, which oversees the military’s space assets and the defense of satellites, was reestablished in Colorado Springs in 2019 and the Air Force set about finding it a permanent home. In the waning days of Trump’s term, the Pentagon announced Space Command would relocate to Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal — and he later took credit for single-handedly moving it there. Biden reversed the decision and said it should stay in Colorado.

“Rogers, in a brief interview, predicted the Alabama delegation’s fight to bring the command to Redstone will get a boost from an investigation by the Pentagon’s top watchdog into the Biden administration’s decision. He said he expects the review will ‘say exactly what we think: that he politically manipulated’ the process.”

In summary, Rogers accused — accurately — Biden of playing the same politics with the space command headquarters that Rogers played when Trump was president.

This debate over who gets the space command headquarters and the jobs that go with it keeps us from discussing the real question we should ask: Why have a space command?

I mean, besides creating jobs out of thin air in Alabama and Colorado.

The space command’s case is “The U.S. Space Force was established Dec. 20, 2019 when the National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law (with bi-partisan support), creating the first new branch of the armed services in 73 years. The establishment of the USSF resulted from widespread recognition that Space was a national security imperative. When combined with the growing threat posed by near-peer competitors in space, it became clear there was a need for a military service focused solely on pursuing superiority in the space domain.

“For the last 60 years space capabilities have become essential to the way a modern military conducts operations. Investments in space capabilities have increased the effectiveness of operations in every other domain. The U.S. military is faster, better connected, more informed, precise, and lethal because of space.

“The same premise—that space is critical—holds true for the average American; space capabilities are woven into the fabric of daily life. Satellites connect people in every corner of the globe, monitor weather patterns, carry television broadcasts, and the timing and navigation services of the GPS constellation power global financial networks, enable international commerce, synchronize cell phone networks, and optimize critical infrastructure.”

That’s a pretty weak case that can be summed up in one word: because.

The implied threat is someone will attack our satellites but that can be done from Earth. I do not see the need to create another bureaucracy complete with a DEI office to make sure the new command does not restrict hiring to competent people.

How different it was 51 years ago when we landed the last man on the moon. The argument then became that we should spend money fixing the problems at home. We proceeded to throw tens of trillions of dollars on education, HUD and various welfare programs such as food stamps. The problems are still here, albeit much of it now imported along the Mexican border.

The space command will not reduce the money we waste on social justice warfare. It will only increase the national debt faster.

Then there is the problem of SWAT, an acronym for police using military tactics against civilians. Marilyn Monroe’s first husband was the LA cop who invented SWAT.

Lately the FBI has sent SWAT teams to the homes of politicians. They call this swatting.

National Review reported, “Authorities in New York, Georgia, and Washington, D.C. are trying to find the culprits who targeted two Republican members of Congress with prank emergency calls to their homes on Christmas day, a type of criminal harassment known as swatting.

“Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R., Ga.) and Representative Brandon Williams (R., N.Y.), both said they were the victims of swatting on Monday. Police in Rome, Ga., identified the call to Greene’s home as fake and did not send officers, but law enforcement did arrive at Williams’s home.”

Democrats also have been swatted.

The Independent reported, “Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has confirmed her home was swatted on Christmas Day, one of at least three political figures to be targeted by a hoax emergency call out in a single day.”

The story also said, “When armed officers and EMT crews arrived at the address, they quickly realized it was the mayor’s home and that the callout was a fake.”

Police showed deference and avoided the criminal harassment of congressmen and a mayor on Christmas. That’s good. I applaud them. The restraint of the officers reflects professionalism and SWAT training. But what about the rest of us? It is not a prank to have gun-toting police officers arrive at your home on a holiday or in the wee hours of the morning.

SWAT received good publicity in a 1975 show and a more recent version of that show which is now in its 7th season. The FBI, LA PD (Dragnet), and Honolulu PD (Hawaii 5-0) are among the other recipients of good PR, not to mention the various NCIS franchises.

On the other end, the news media’s misreporting of several deaths of criminals (Michael D. Brown and George Floyd come to mind) distorts the picture the other way. As with the military, a police force is only as good as its civilian leadership.

Right now, civilian leadership in many cities is co-opted by George Soros through his mayors and prosecutors. Shoplifting is a crime unpunished from New York to LA. The sudden rise in gangs looting stores is so rampant that even the New York Times complained.

It ran a column on shoplifting by Pamela Paul. Given that an editor was fired for running a column by Senator Tom Cotton, all columns in NYT now reflect the newspaper’s opinion or the staff rebels.

NYT said, “there is also an undeniable quality-of-life impact from the real or perceived increase in shoplifting. It is felt by shoppers, store employees, security personnel, store owners and our communities — and in ways more serious than awkward encounters over tampon purchases.

“The most obvious effect is a sense of increased danger. Stores simply feel less safe. For a variety of reasons, police now seem less inclined to arrest shoplifters. In Chicago, for example, overall arrests for reported thefts dropped from a rate of about 10% in 2019 to less than 4% in 2022, according to Wirepoints, a right-leaning watchdog group. Of the nearly 9,000 reported retail thefts in Chicago in 2022, only about 17% resulted in arrests, Wirepoints said. This apparent shift in policing priorities can put increased pressure on store security personnel and frontline workers to police their own stores, even when they are inadequately prepared to do so.”

Maybe police should SWAT the stores when the gangs arrive.

Stores are closing, which I guess helps Amazon, but the quality of life in the cities is spiraling downward. Soros is pretty good at destruction.

Speaking of destroying cities, drug zombies have taken over the streets of large sections of major cities as America gives up on enforcing drug laws. We surrendered the war on drugs but we have not repealed asset forfeiture and other laws that enabled the government to steamroll our rights in the name of stopping drug abuse.

Likewise, abandoning Afghanistan and bequeathing $8 billion in war materiel to the Taliban showed we’ve given up on the war on terrorism. Let’s repeal 702 and in fact the entire FISA operation. Repeal RICO too. The FBI should not spy on U.S. citizens. Period.

The role of the American government is to protect our rights. Instead, we have Republicans in Alabama and Colorado arguing over which state gets the latest military boondoggle.