Nation
NYT editorial board member ‘disturbed’ by American flags on pickup trucks
Mara Gay, New York Times editorial board member and MSNBC analyst appeared on Morning Joe to talk about Max Boot’s recent opinion editorial and also the “disturbing” number of American flags she’s seen on pickup trucks lately. She was trying to demonstrate Trump’s ongoing influence, even in “blue” Long Island.
“I was on Long Island this weekend … and I was really disturbed. I saw, you know, dozens & dozens of pickup trucks w/ expletives against Joe Biden … Trump flags, and in some cases, just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing,” Gay said.
“Essentially the message was clear: ‘This is my country. This is not your country. I own this,'” she went on. To her, the American flag flying from a pickup truck is a relic of “Americanness” still not being “separated from whiteness.”
Twitter users started responding almost immediately. Former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright suggested that people should display flags in honor of her because “she gets absolutely triggered by them.”
New York Concordia University professor Gad Saad also poked fun, sarcastically suggesting to “ban the American flag for peace.”
Gay seemed undisturbed to see her clip make the rounds on Twitter. “Trolling a Black journalist with the American flag is not the own some people think it is,” she tweeted.
You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism.

Nation
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Returns After 7-Year Journey with Asteroid Samples

After a remarkable seven-year voyage spanning nearly 4 billion miles in space, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is set to make its triumphant return to Earth on Sunday. OSIRIS-REx, an acronym for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer, was launched in 2016 on a groundbreaking mission to collect material from an asteroid in space.
The capsule, holding a precious cargo of nearly 9 ounces of rocks, dust, and dirt gathered from the asteroid Bennu, will detach from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft before making an anticipated landing inside the Defense Department’s Utah Test and Training Range. According to reports from Fox News, teams from NASA and Lockheed Martin, the vehicle’s builder, will eagerly await its arrival.
Describing the precision required for this endeavor, OSIRIS-REx Deputy Project Manager Michael Moreau likened it to a challenging game of accuracy, stating, “It’s like putting a dart board at one end of a basketball court and throwing the dart from the other end and getting a bull’s-eye.”
This years-long mission holds significant scientific importance. It will aid researchers in investigating the formation of planets, shed light on the origins of life, and enhance NASA’s understanding of asteroids that could pose potential threats to Earth.
Furthermore, the collected sample is expected to offer “generations of scientists a window into the time when the Sun and planets were forming about 4.5 billion years ago,” according to NASA.
Moreover, the mission could contribute crucial information to Earth’s defense against a potential collision with Bennu, an asteroid roughly the size of the Empire State Building. NASA estimates a 1-in-2,700 chance of Bennu impacting Earth in the latter half of the 2100s.
The journey leading up to this momentous return has been a long and meticulous one. OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu in 2018 and spent two years closely orbiting the asteroid, gathering vital data.
In 2020, the spacecraft made history with a successful landing on Bennu’s surface, collecting a “touch and go” sample in under a minute. Despite an initial setback due to a jammed door that led to the loss of some space dust, the sample collected still surpasses the mission’s requirement of two ounces.
Once the capsule safely touches down in the Utah desert, a dedicated NASA team will transport the precious material to a meticulously clean environment. Subsequently, the Bennu samples will find their way to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Approximately 70% of the asteroid material will be preserved for future research endeavors, allowing scientists worldwide to delve into its mysteries. Additionally, a portion of the sample will be shared with the Japanese Space Exploration Agency as part of an exchange for samples collected by Japan’s Hayabusa spacecraft.
Looking ahead, OSIRIS-REx is set to continue its mission by studying another asteroid named Apophis, named after a demon serpent in ancient Egyptian mythology, symbolizing evil and chaos. This ambitious mission marks another chapter in humanity’s ongoing exploration of our solar system and beyond.
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