Tom Finnell

Everyone is arguing over the new reports that Starship needs 22 refueling launches for Artemis III, while NASA hedges its bets with Blue Origin in Earth orbit. They are missing how Flight 15 connects the dots. Catching both Booster 22 and Ship 42 at Pad 2 is not a circus trick. When you are fighting cryogenic boil-off in orbit, a double catch is the only way to turn Block 3 hardware fast enough to beat the clock. How fast can Pad 2 realistically reset?

My day is inverted now, so let's spend some time with Famous figuring out what Elon Musk is actually up to.

We're beat. Night all.

After 8 hours at the hospital, and Donna going through an angiogram, a CT and echo, we were sent home and told to come back Tuesday to meet with the cardiac team to schedule a bypass.

Two days after the election, James Carville was already picking the first fight for the new majority, and it isn't groceries. He's been in this mood since March, when he said he wanted his Trump Derangement Syndrome to get worse. I think that's a gift to Republicans. Democrats won on affordability. Every hour the new majority spends on payback is an hour not spent on rent and gas, and voters notice that. Meanwhile the DSA-aligned activists want something bigger, changing how the system itself works, not just who runs it. Which side do you think wins that fight in January?

"The Republicans never figured out what we were doing." - Van Jones on CNN. Last week I called the midterms turnout, not fraud. On CNN, Van Jones gave his version of where that turnout came from. Jones said the "American Accountability Network" used "tens of thousands of online humans, not bots, coordinated to make the affordability message a winning message online." I'm treating the size of it as his claim, not a fact. But the message part rings true to me. Democrats talked about groceries, rent and gas every single day. Republicans never offered an affordability answer of their own and kept arguing culture war and fraud. Did anyone see a Democrat solution to this "crisis?"

A kid from a small town steps onto a flight headed to an unfamiliar part of the world, taking on a level of responsibility most people their age haven't even thought about yet. Those years are defined by long night watches, missed birthdays, cold meals, and the quiet bonds built with the people standing next to them through the hard days. When the uniform finally gets packed away, that mindset stays with them. Veterans bring all of that experience back home into our neighborhoods, businesses, and local communities. They just keep showing up, solving problems, and looking out for the people around them. Thank you to everyone who stepped forward, took the oath, and served. If you served, or have family who wore the uniform, share their branch or where they were stationed in the replies so we can honor them today.

Donna and I have to be at the hospital for her heart procedure at 6am. She's worried Gabby won't get enough food.

SpaceX plans to catch both halves of Starship for the first time, on Friday the 13th. Booster 22 and Ship 42 are set to lift off from Pad 2 at Starbase in a 5:45 to 7:00 PM ET window, pending FAA approval. The booster catch comes about 6.5 minutes after liftoff. The ship deploys 26 Starlink V3 satellites, then comes home about 22 hours later for the first ship catch ever. That return crosses land, which is why the FAA still has to sign off. I worked at the Cape in the 1970s, and my first launch was Apollo-Soyuz. Every rocket and capsule then flew once. Catching both ends is how you get to fast turnaround, and turnaround is the real bottleneck. The first good unit never proved the process. The tenth one in a row did. If SpaceX pulls off both catches this weekend, what is a realistic turnaround time before those two components fly again?

I think the filibuster Thune refused to nuke for the SAVE America Act is now the only thing protecting Republicans. He said the votes weren't there. Democrats could hold up to 56 seats in January, Indivisible wants the filibuster gone on day one, and Elizabeth Warren has backed scrapping it. Chuck Schumer dodged the question. Republicans spent the year telling their own voters this Senate was failing. I think that was one reason GOP turnout sagged, alongside affordability. The NBC exit poll had Republicans at 33% of voters, down from 36% in 2022. Will Schumer protect the filibuster from his own base?

She's interviewing Democrat voters.

I vote in Chuck Fleischmann's district, and I'm backing @timburchett for Marsha Blackburn's Senate seat. Both are reportedly on her four-name shortlist, and Burchett says he would absolutely take the job. Tim says a prominent member of the media told him, off the record, that John Thune does not want him because he would not do what leadership says. Thune says he has not talked with Blackburn about the seat. That is a secondhand claim against a denial, so I am not treating it as fact. My reason doesn't depend on it. Tennessee needs a senator who tells us what goes on in the back rooms and votes for this state, not for leadership. Burchett has done that in the House. It's Blackburn's call, and I hope she makes it. Who would you want Blackburn to send to the Senate, and why?

A December rate hike is officially unavoidable after today’s hot CPI report. Groceries and rent are still climbing too fast. But Fed Governor Waller's suggestion of a half-point (50 bps) hike is overkill. Wall Street is pricing in a quarter-point move for Dec 8–9, and the Fed should listen. Jumping a full half-point punishes everyday households twice: once at the checkout counter, and again on their mortgages and credit cards. Should the Fed raise rates a quarter point in December, or go with the half-point move Waller said should now be considered?

Mark Levin wants to impeach every living former president over wars fought without a declaration. Congress last declared war in June 1942. I agree with the diagnosis, not the cure. Impeaching people who already left office doesn't stop the next undeclared war. Congress voting on war powers before the shooting starts would. Massie's articles against Hegseth at least aim at someone still in office. If Congress won't use the power it already has, why would retroactive impeachments change anything?

Things are looking up!

In January I asked who benefits from paid influencers. A search of public FEC records from 2020 through 2026 found no direct payments from the RNC, NRCC, NRSC, or the campaigns to the loudest midterm-fraud voices. That is not proof nobody was paid. Money sent through an LLC or an ad agency would not show up under their names. Agreement with Trump is not a paycheck either. The paychecks that are documented came from betting apps, not the party. In June, Kalshi-tagged posts claimed California was cheating in the Los Angeles mayor's race. Kalshi had those posts taken down, saying they violated affiliate marketing policies. A Politico investigation separately reported that Polymarket's marketing chief sent at least $350,000 to creators through a personal PayPal account. Nothing public I can find ties this week's midterm-fraud posts to a payer. The capture still runs through whoever writes the check: party-adjacent money, a special interest, or a betting app. Not a secret party stipend. If someone is paying for this week's noise, who writes the check?