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Trump signs an executive order allowing mining the moon and asteroids:
In 2015, the Obama administration signed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (CSLCA, or H.R. 2262) into law. This bill was intended to "facilitate a pro-growth environment for the developing commercial space industry" by making it legal for American companies and citizens to own and sell resources that they extract from asteroids and off-world locations (like the moon, Mars or beyond).
On April 6th, the Trump administration took things a step further by signing an executive order that formally recognizes the rights of private interests to claim resources in space. This order, titled "Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources," effectively ends the decades-long debate that began with the signing of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967.
This order builds on both the CSLCA and Space Directive-1 (SD-1), which the Trump administration signed into law on December 11th, 2017. It establishes that "Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law," and that the United States does not view space as a "global commons."
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:34AM (1 child)
The US system has failed, but it's not the GOP's fault. It's not the Democrats' fault either. Thinking that it is, and that voting in one or the other will fix it, falls into the trap that has defeated American voters for generations.
Monied, connected interests, have defeated the US system. They place their people in positions of authority and influence in the federal bureaucracy, who enable the rent-seeking of the rich and powerful no matter which party is "in power." Around and around it goes. Every attempt at regulation or reform is gutted to mere window dressing so everyone can pretend things have "gotten better." It would be alright on a certain level if those rich and powerful people were the best and brightest, but they're not. They are stupid, venal people. They are a pox on humanity.
So smashing it up is the best we can do at this point. Smash it up, re-convene, and figure out what worked in the previous system and how to mitigate or avoid the flaws.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @07:09PM
Depends on what you mean by "smashing it up." My preferred method was to vote for Sanders and as many real liberals as possible. Burning it down by letting a criminal like Trump burn everything down for another 4 years is a terrible idea.