Billionaire Tax Cheat Travels to Space for a Few Minutes
It isn’t often that we see a New York Times paragraph so freighted with syrup and honeyed goo, but there it was on Sunday afternoon, like something you’d order at IHOP to beat back a hangover: “Soaring more than 50 miles into the hot, glaringly bright skies above New Mexico, Richard Branson at last fulfilled a dream that took decades to realize: He can now call himself an astronaut.”
Better lede: “Fulfilling his desire to beat a fellow billionaire into the lowest verge of space, notorious tax cheat Richard Branson burned some of the money he owes his home country in order to fling himself past the troposphere so he could experience weightlessness for as much time as it takes to make a decent bowel movement. An achievement that will go down in corporate history, Branson now holds bragging rights over the guy whose monopolies are eating the economy alive.”
Space travel used to be about “us,” a collective effort by the country to reach beyond previously unreachable limits. That was the Cold War propaganda, anyway, and it had an unavoidable allure. Now, it’s about “them,” the 0.1 percent who hide their fortunes and use those revenues to give their egos a televised tongue-bath in zero-g, followed by a gala event suffused with celebrities. Space exploration is now a plaything for those who already exist in an alien atmosphere. I’m pretty sure Chuck Yeager would not be impressed.
William Rivers Pitt
https://truthout.org/articles/billionaire-tax-cheat-travels-to-space-for-a-few-minutes
= new reply since forum marked as read
he did use all of NASA'S trail blazing technology. So I guess when you duplicate something NASA did 60 years ago...... everyone is supposed to treat you like some kind of hero, and make a big fuss over it? 
Defending his wonderful "business", that only other wealthy people will be able to afford. Oh, that's right......he did say they were going to donate two tickets so some lucky individuals could be "astronauts", just like him. 
Two people out of the 7.9 billion currently inhabiting our planet. What a mensch.
And if you don't recognize that NASA did all the original calculations and materials certification for every aspect of space travel, well......... I don't have anything else to say. Branson's 50.2 mile "exploration of space" is like having a layover at LAX and saying you've been to Los Angeles.
But you keep defending "astronaut" Richard Branson, the amazing businessman. I imagine you have your ticket already booked, right? What's $250,000 for a chance to see the curvature of the earth?
we'll have eaten them all well before then. 
