Ted Cruz says Space Force is necessary to prevent space pirates

[left-of-center2012]

Source: The Hill

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said at a subcommittee hearing that it was important to fund President Trump's proposed Space Force to prevent potential space pirates.

“Since the ancient Greeks first put to sea, nations have recognized the necessity of naval forces and maintaining a superior capability to protect waterborne travel and commerce from bad actors,” Cruz said Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Space and Aviation for which he chairs.

“Pirates threaten the open seas, and the same is possible in space. In this same way, I believe we too must now recognize the necessity of a Space Force to defend the nation and to protect space commerce and civil space exploration,” Cruz said

The Trump administration's current plan to create Space Force would cost more than $2 billion to get off the ground, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office. The report found that a Space Force military branch would need 5,400 to 7,800 in new personnel for overhead and management, adding more than $1 billion to the Pentagon's annual costs.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/443923-ted-cruz-says-space-force-is-necessary-to-prevent-space-pirates

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[Wellstone ruled]

1. WTF!!!!

[Freethinker65]

2. Make sure to load it with Christian non-scientists. God can provide all the answers it needs.

[elleng]

11. Right

[TommyCelt]

3. Space Force...

...because pirates.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

12. You never know where the threat from space will come from:

Fortunately, thanks to Texan Ted Cruz we'll always have Rocky Jones and the Space Rangers to protect us.

[lastlib]

52. ARRRRrrrgh!

Would somebody please put a belayin' pin over Teddy's jolly roger? Knock some sense into that nincompoop!

[underpants]

56. If I can borrow/paraphrase from Al Franken's "The Truth...with Jokes"

Ted Cruz’s plan to fend off Space pirates is currently at the same point as the Malawi space program. It consists of a man, a bucket, and his dreams.

[More_Cowbell]

4. I'm starting to think that Musk, Bezos, etc. are abandoning Earth

And that all of their ideas about space are just to get ready. And Trump's Space Force will protect them.

[ode2joi1]

42. Abandoning Earth

I am glad I am not the only person who thinks that.They realize the planet is doomed. The population, the natural resources are just about depleted. I believe the Bezo's, the Gates, the billionaire class realize climate change has gone too far to turned it around. I sincerely hope we are both mistaken.

[Dave Starsky]

53. Well, as Elton John used to say...

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids.

Anyone who thinks that a better life awaits them somewhere else in the Solar System is nuts. Like it or not, we live in the very best place possible for life as we know it, which is why we shouldn't have trashed it.

[C_U_L8R]

5. No one

Will ever call republicans the “smart party” without smirking.

[Zoonart]

6. All of these Republican twits suffer from extreme

arrested development. Space Pirates...WTAF? It's like they are all in the tree house "He Man's Woman Haters Club" reading their comic books.

[saidsimplesimon]

7. Is Ted in charge of reporting the first sighting

of the spaceship invasion? Are those cells inside Congressional building padded and playing Muzak
lullabies nonstop? Rhetorical question

[jmbar2]

8. Send up some Space Cowboys!

[Mendocino]

17. Bet you weren't ready for that!

[Ellen Forradalom]

24. I've got just the man

/revision/latest?cb=20150201194945

[droidamus2]

25. How about the orignal Space Cowboy

[MontanaMama]

9. I'd like to be a Space Pirate!!

Sounds like it could be fun. 😏

[George II]

10. Here's one of them:

?

and his brother:

[csziggy]

13. Doesn't Cruz mean Ice Pirates?

Ted Cruz warns of space pirates, says Space Force is the answer

Even Elon Musk had a reaction to the senator's justification for a US Space Force.

By
Amanda Kooser

May 15, 2019 11:24 AM PDT

I saw the 1984 sci-fi movie Ice Pirates. I'm wondering if US senator Ted Cruz watched it, too. It wasn't a documentary.

Cruz, a Republican from Texas, alluded to space pirates in opening remarks on Tuesday for a hearing on "The Emerging Space Environment: Operational, Technical, and Policy Challenges" before the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation and Space.

Cruz referenced how the ancient Greeks and subsequent nations have called on naval forces to "protect water-borne travel and commerce from bad actors."

"Pirates threaten the open seas, and the same is possible in space," Cruz said. "In this same way, I believe we, too, must now recognize the necessity of a Space Force to defend the nation and to protect space commerce and civil space exploration."

More: https://www.cnet.com/news/ted-cruz-warns-of-space-pirates-says-space-force-is-the-answer/

[SnowCritter]

57. That's the first thing that leapt into my mind!

[durablend]

14. Only Trump can save us!!!!!!!!

[link:

|

[Crowman2009]

15. That's one of my favorite Alice Cooper songs!

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE PI-RATES!!!!!!!!!!

[htuttle]

16. But what if we get Space Herpes?

[The Genealogist]

18. Aaaaargh!!! Shiver me space timbers!

[BHDem53]

19. Speaking of bad actors,

Depp in "Pirates of the Cosmos."

[Ellen Forradalom]

20. We don't need a space force, we need bounty hunters

[sakabatou]

45. +10

[MurrayDelph]

62. I'm looking forward to the live-action version of this show

(A friend of mine worked on it)

[keithbvadu2]

21. 2 space aliens looking down on earth.

2 space aliens looking down on earth.
I see the dominant life form has developed space weapons.
Does this mean they are an emerging intelligence?
I don't think so. They have them aimed at themselves.
.

[Dave Starsky]

54. Reminds me of this classic...

[AllaN01Bear]

22. hem

where from the planet doom?

[angrychair]

23. Damn it

In all seriousness, how the hell am I supposed to tell the difference between satirical and real news with comments like this becoming all to frequent.

[marble falls]

26. I wanna join the Space Pirates ...

[Historic NY]

27. Ted Cruz is a pirate.

[grumpyduck]

28. Spoken by a true space cadet

[Anon-C]

29. You say a Space Pirate!

[joe_stampingbull]

30. also don't forget

space zombies!

[mwooldri]

31. I kinda like space pirates...

[happybird]

32. ...

[img][/img]

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

33. Let's issue lettres of marque to Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, make them privateers.

They can go pillage and plunder any other space objects, keep a cut.

Our president seems keen on privatization of government functions. This is one.

[haele]

34. Spousal reaction...."Reality has officially jumped the shark..."

Of course, I've suspected that since 2001. The GOP sold their souls along with their long-term thinking brain cells for glitter of detatched celebrity lifestyles since the Reagan era.

Haele

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

35. Nothing worse than Klingons showing up uninvited to your barbecue

Right Ted?

[YOHABLO]

36. Let go let god Ted ... puleeeeeze.

[The Liberal Lion]

37. There is stupid

And then there is Ted Cruz stupid!

[yellowcanine]

38. Space pirates, eh?

[riversedge]

39. wonder if they eat Green Ham???

[jmowreader]

40. Ted really needs to lay off the space crack

[area51]

41. "Space pirates"?

[B Stieg]

43. Somebody should tell Cruz that The Ice Pirates (1984) wasn't a documentary.

Sheesh.

[sakabatou]

44. Captain Harlock is real?!

[Bayard]

46. Dread Pirate Roberts IN SPACE!

[tclambert]

47. That's CAPTAIN Jack Spaceman!

Yo-ho, Yo-ho, the space pirate's life for me.

[Sapient Donkey]

48. He has a valid concern.... I've dealt with space pirates before

[truthisfreedom]

49. All your space are belong to us.

Ted Cruz is amazingly ill-equipped for his job.

[duforsure]

50. He proves every time

He opens his mouth.

[muriel_volestrangler]

51. Ahoy! Actual Space Pirate on the starboard bow, cap'n!

With ultra-modern slide-rule gripped between his teeth, for interplanetary navigation, because we don't hold with these new-fangled elecktronicks, arrrggghhh!

[underpants]

55. Worst. Ted Talk. Ever. .....What about SPACE ISIS?

[cstanleytech]

58. So Ted says we should fear this

[Tommy_Carcetti]

59. You don't think Space Pirates are a real problem? Ask Admiral Kirk. He'll tell you.

[Luciferous]

60. What a moron.

[cannabis_flower]

61. Ted Cruz is starting to sound...

crazier than Louis Gohmert and that's something!