Howdy All, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this issue –<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. \u00a0Gerrymandering
2.\u00a0 Spirit
3.\u00a0 Starship IFT 12
4.\u00a0 Griffin
5.\u00a0 Tattoo
6.\u00a0 Warfare
7.\u00a0 Apology
8.\u00a0 DC Police
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1. \u00a0\u00a0Gerrymandering.\u00a0 The current round of redistricting wars started in in Gavin Newsom\u2019s Cali, with a new, out of cycle map intended to shift up to five seats currently held by Republicans into democrat hands, moving what would have been a current 42 – 7 \u2013 1 democrat majority to 47 \u2013 48 democrats.\u00a0 The change to state constitution was approved in the 2025 state election.\u00a0 Texas responded with a new map that swung 5 congressional seats more Republican.\u00a0 Florida was not far behind with a new map signed a week ago that makes 4 seats more red.\u00a0 Virginia\u2019s unconstitutional attempt was tossed a week ago<\/a>, as was national race-based Gerrymandering by the SCOTUS Louisiana v Callais opinion.\u00a0 Much of the south is expected to redistrict their racially Gerrymandered maps with new maps eliminating the majority \u2013 minority districts.\u00a0 The questions are: Who is winning this war, why, and what is next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Spirit. Spirit Airlines went out of business last week, closing its doors, stranding thousands to tens of thousands of passengers on their last day of operation. Finger pointing began nearly immediately, with most of it pointed at Senator Liz Warrenn (D, MA) and the Biden regime that killed the requested merger. Trump behaved poorly, suggesting that the feds take over its operations, for at least a little while. There was some speculation that Elon Musk might consider purchasing the stranded assets and set up a Musk-operated retail business. This might be a step too far, as this sort of retail isn\u2019t in Elon\u2019s wheelhouse, though everything tech most certainly is. What happened? Spirit Airlines carved out its niche in the ultra-low-cost carrier, ending with a failed 2022 \u2013 2024 merger attempt with JetBlue. This was blocked by Biden era federal regulators at the behest of Liz Warren. The excuse was ensuring the merger wouldn\u2019t set up yet another airline monopoly, which was a garbage argument, as the combined airline would have started at #5 on the list of most dominant airlines and would have ended up in the same place after the merger. No matter, the regulators, the Biden WH and Warren gleefully celebrated the death of the merger. During the festivities, JetBlue launched a hostile takeover bid of Spirit early 2022. Spirit agreed. Its shareholders agreed. A federal judge blocked the merger at the behest of the Biden regime Jan 2024. The merger agreement was terminated Mar 2026 and Spirit shut its doors last week at the cost of some 14,000 jobs<\/a>. Note the game here. Democrats sense a political advantage at the class level. Kill a merger between two struggling airlines, one of which (Spirit) became famous (or infamous) for amateur MMA events in its boarding areas and onboard. Over 14,000 jobs are lost along with all the employee pension investments. And this is supposed to be some sort of Big Win for democrats? <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Starship IFT 12. Starship Block 3 Booster did its third, and likely final live fire engine test Thursday, May 7. This was a full duration live fire test, the third before its scheduled launch which has slipped from Tuesday, May 12 to Friday, May 15. Launch time is still around 1730 CDT. Over the weekend, they stacked the Ship and Booster, making this the first time the entire Block 3 stack was seen together before flight. We are getting closer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n