Howdy All, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue –
1. SpaceX
2. MOU
3. Pipeline
4. Algae
5. UFC
6. Starmer
7. Biolabs
1. SpaceX. The SpaceX IPO went well last week, raising nearly $86 billion, raising the value of SpaceX over $2 trillion. In doing so, it also potentially made Elon Musk the first trillionaire, removing a billionaire from the democrat hit list. It also made at least 4,000 SpaceX employees millionaires, and reported 400 of them (which may or may not be additive) in the hundred-million-dollar range. The actual IPO filing can be found here. A graphical version called the Roadshow Presentation, June 2026 can be found here.
- The IPO triggered an orgy of democrat / media class warfare, mostly aimed at Musk for “having too much $$$.” Their economic illiteracy was on full display, alongside the notion that it is utterly impossible to grow the economic pie in this country. Of course, when your worldview is centered around how much you can steal from someone else, it does tend to limit your perspective a bit. Note that Musk does not see a penny of his newfound worth unless he meets a number of goals. These include increasing the valuation to $7.5 trillion, establishing a Mars colony, and building a fleet of space-based datacenters that draw at least 100 TW of power.
- There was a graphic of SpaceX development costs floating around last week that I brilliantly neglected to save. Was probably on X, which is why I can’t find it anymore. The sunk cost into Starlink so far is around $20 billion. They report $12 billion/year revenue from Starlink with operational satellite lifetime in the 3–5-year range. Their Falcon 9 / Falcon Heavy fleet cost $2 billion spread over a number of years. Dragon in both manned and unmanned versions cost around $4 billion starting 2004. Crew Dragon spending started 2010. Depending on whose numbers you believe, they have spent $4 – 15 billion on Starship. Both numbers may be correct, as the lower would be vehicle only and the larger the extended infrastructure on two launch sites (Boca Chica and Cape Canaveral) and up to 6 towers.
- The IPO paperwork and SpaceX CEO Gwen Shotwell plan to increase launch cadence for Starship for the remainder of the year to about one per month, with operational flights happening toward year end. They are still shooting for Starlink V3 launches and an orbital refueling test as part of those flights. The first launch out of Cape Canaveral may be possible around that time also. Datacenter satellites should start flying early 2027.
- With the IPO, SpaceX has access to another $75 billion or so of capital to invest in their AI datacenter constellation, construct their permanent lunar base, and be well started on the road to a permanent settlement on Mars.
- Much was made of the total valuation of SpaceX following the IPO, in excess of $2 trillion. That Musk’s share of the company puts his paper net worth over $1 trillion loosed the dogs of envy in an orgy of soak the rich posturing. The class warfare propaganda was so widespread and persuasive that polling over the weekend finds that democrats are now considered better on taxes than Republicans. Class warfare works, which is why democrats keep on using it. It is up to us to ensure that it backfires spectacularly, which should entertaining.
2. MOU. The other big story last week was signature of the MOU between Iran and the US. This sets up a structure for negotiations over the end of the war conducted over the next 60 days. In response, traffic started flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, though some IRGC bitter enders announced the strait was officially closed. Oil futures responded positively, with oil prices falling below $75/bbl. That price was around $68/bbl on day one of the war. Quds Force proxies running Hezbollah decided to do their level best to provoke Israel into an over-the-top response. While Israel did reply militarily, there was a ceasefire announced toward weeks end, which may last anywhere from seconds to days. While many on the political right and all the Usual Suspects on the left blasted the agreement as a sellout, it does a few interesting things. First and most importantly, it is an economics document, tying release of sequestered Iranian funds and ending the blockade to Iranian good behavior. The funds do not come from the US. Rather, they are in the hands of their Arab neighbors, who will look to leverage their release into Iran paying for what they broke during the war. Trump looks at the world economically. The thinking is that if the Iranian economy gets off the floor, even a little bit, the citizens will be far more likely and able to replace the current Mullah – IRGC cabal currently running it. We will see. As an aside, it is also what they have in store for Cuba. And it is what we are in the midst of doing in Venezuela. The interesting part is that while all this goes on, CENTCOM and the Israelis are busily compiling new target lists, topped by the IRGC and Mullah leadership. The strike following downing of the Apache a week ago removed another layer of leadership. The next one will do the same, removing them as fast as they can be manufactured. The final thing is the claim that Trump is selling out, dealing with people who lie to him. What do you think he learned from decades in the NYC real estate market? The Iranians lie, just like all committed Muslims. It is so important to what they are, it is close to being an actual Commandment. In response, we are reprising LeMay who observed that in war, “You’ve got to kill people, and when you kill enough of them, they stop fighting.”
3. Pipeline. The Alaska natural gas pipeline is still in the legislature, though it has been a busy week. The democrat / RINO leadership in the state senate managed to run out the clock Friday, passing an unacceptable piece of legislation with at least four new taxes on oil and natural gas development in the state. It went to the House and was summarily rejected. Governor Dunleavy called a second specials session, another 30 days, and the legislation went into conference Saturday. Running out the clock is a useful tactic up here, especially for resource development. Most construction is done during the summer, when the weather is decent. Run the clock a couple months, summer ends, and it will start getting cold and difficult to set up work camps and schedule deliveries. Better yet for opponents, you are just that much closer to either democrat control of congress or Trump leaving office in 2029.
4. Algae. This is why we can’t have nice things. The current version of anti-Trump “protest” is vandalism perpetrated on park and monuments cleaned up by Trump in Washington DC. Most recent target was the cleaning of the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln and Washington Monuments. Trump hired pool guys who drained the pool, installed a new liner, painted it blue, and (mostly) solved the swampiness algae problem endemic for years. Our Friends (\sarc) on the political left didn’t take that cleanup lying down and are busily dumping new algae into the cleaned-up pool, along with at least one bag of high phosphorus fertilizer to make sure it grows well. An alternate viewpoint on fertilizer dumping is that the grass around the Reflecting Pool in the Mall is maintained to be green. This normally requires no small amount of high phosphorus fertilizer. It rains in DC, which is one of the reasons it used to be a swamp. Runoff from the grass into the pool is not outside the realm of possibility. It may be that we are doing this to ourselves, though my money is on residual algae left in the system as the biggest cause. One of the problems with swimming pool cleanup is that populations of algae remain in the pumping / filtration system, so it takes a while to eradicate that population, which is usually done mechanically and chemically. The other thing going on has been wanton destruction of the new lining, with leftists cutting it and pulling chunks off the bottom. One of these last weekend, 67-year-old David Hearne, an Olympic canoeist who competed in three Olympics, was arrested with a chunk of lining in his possession, saying he just found it. Yeah, right. The phrase “86 47” was found burned into grass on the National Mall near the World War II memorial. Whatever the libs used on the grass has taken a while to grow out and is still visible from the air.
5. UFC. Not to be outdone by their lunatic friends among vandals of public parks in DC, the FBI uncovered a plot by youngsters to attack the UFC event on the WH lawn 10 days ago. It was quite the aggressive plan, starting with drone attacks on the stage. The drones were to be laden with explosives intended to get the crowd moving. The panicked crowd was supposed to enter a kill box with snipers shooting them. Final event was an attempt to breach the fence around the WH and do as much damage to the WH as possible. Conspirators communicated online. One of the perp’s mothers called the feds. At least five were arrested in OH, MO, NE, and CA. The accused ringleader was an illegal, one of O’Bama’s Dreamers, who entered the country on a tourist visa that expired in 2001, when he was 5 or 6.
6. Starmer. Outgoing British Prime Minister Kier Strarmer announced a social media ban for under-16s last week. Proposed legislation is not available but should be offered this fall. The plan is to ban social media apps including but not limited to Meta, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram from use by the kiddos. While no list of banned social media sites is yet available, I would guarantee it to include X / Twitter, which has been a real thorn in the political hide of Labor. BBC reporting on the ban opines that the apps will become inaccessible, which means enforced, coerced cooperation by the social media companies or another government-accessible app. Further, identifying under-16 users requires every single user to identify themselves to the British government, the same government that is arresting more people for unapproved statements online than any other nation on the planet. Safety of The Children is once again being used as an excuse, a vehicle for abject tyranny. Starmer’s efforts against X / Twitter are part of a larger international effort (including democrats here in the US) to install a regulatory ban on X. The process involves pumping up left-leaning BlueSky, expanding network partners, and an eventual ban on platforms they don’t like, led by X / Twitter. The goal appears to be to design a policy to funnel kiddos into an ideologically curated safe space while cutting them off from open discourse, just like public and higher education is doing here in the US. Yet another reason not to ever vote for democrats again, as they will install this sort of censorship regime on day one upon taking national office again, right after Cali-style election “reform.”
7. Biolabs. Outgoing ODNI Tulsi Gabbard released declassified documents showing the US funded more than 120 biolabs across 30 countries, including Ukraine. These biolabs were all engaging in research into biological warfare weaponized pathogens (virus, bacteria and prions). Previous administrations actively obstructed release of this information to the general public. Russian accusations of US-funded biolabs in Ukraine were (and still are) roundly brushed off as disinformation intended to justify their attack into Ukraine Feb 2022. Indeed, the known locations of US-funded biolabs were among the first targets attacked by Russia. Sadly, it turns out that not only were the Russians telling the truth, but everyone on Our Side was busily lying about what they had known about for years. Once again, the conspiracy theory crowd turns out to be correct, something I am getting tired of saying, and the government / media complex ends up being the liars. Gabbard ends up being one of the better political appointees in the intel community. Godspeed to her and her husband on his journey through cancer.
More later –
- AG