Featured Essays The Moon Five Extremely Convincing Reasons We Should Build Armed Bases on the Moon I mean, what could possibly go wrong? By James Davis Nicoll | Published on October 10, 2025 Credit: NASA; art by Rick Guidice Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: NASA; art by Rick Guidice Science fiction is replete with armed, human-occupied bases on the Moon1, ever ready to protect national interests or unleash nuclear hell onto the waiting Earth2. Yet, no such bases exist. How can this be? As all technical problems can be solved with sufficient will, no doubt the explanation is simply because the people who control the funds have not been presented with sufficiently persuasive arguments. Thus, five are outlined below. The first, most personal but least important, argument is that a heavily armed base would greatly please aging SF fans like me. We were promised jetpacks, conveyor-belt-mounted cities, and atomic-powered cars travelling at hundreds of kilometres an hour, not to mention psionic powers beyond mortal ken. Is it so much to ask for one Moon base with enough thermonuclear weapons to peel the Earth like a ripe orange? The second reason would be scientific research. In many cases, scientific research could be carried out remotely, the Moon being (just) close enough that teleoperation of robots is practical. There is one category of research that can only be conducted on the Moon and only by people actually living there, which is the study of the effect on humans of living on the Moon. Strictly speaking, this is pure science, but you cannot have the nightmarish technological applications without first conducting the pure science on which the horrifying affronts to basic decency are based. Without the hard work of pure science pioneers like Bacon, Boyle, and Scheele, the world would have been denied mustard gas, and then where would we be? A heavily armed lunar base could protect the nation’s vital lunar helium-3 mines3. It’s true, these mines do not exist, may be impossible to build with foreseeable technology, would service a commercial fusion power industry that does not exist with a fuel for which Earth has readily available alternatives, a fuel that fusion plants are unlikely to be able to use, on the basis of supposed benefits that do not stand up to close attention. Nevertheless, do you want some rival nation to monopolize the Moon’s miniscule, useless resources of helium? An infraplanetary ballistic missile (IfPBM?) base on the Moon offers many advantages. For example, such a base would not, as terrestrial bases are, be subject to annihilation on short notice… well, not unless Those Other Guys build their own base on the Moon. Whereas bases on the Earth are subject to continual scrutiny from orbit, making a sneak attack impossible, a lunar base only has to worry about a launch being detected if the other side happens to point telescopes in the direction of the Moon or if, being aware of the base, put satellites in orbit around the Moon. While it’s true that space authorities like to keep track of every bolt-sized-or-bigger object out to geosynchronous orbit, why would they bother keeping telescopes aimed at the very small, very specific patch of sky from which atomic doom might at any moment descend? Such an IfPBM provides further benefits. Experience with the ISS suggests the base would be phenomenally expensive to build. Furthermore, maintaining the missiles would be far more costly than maintaining terrestrial missile bases4. Neither of those may sound like benefits to you, but they certainly would be to the lucky contractor who wins the bid to construct and maintain the base. Finally, even if someone could prove that a lunar military base would be expensive and largely pointless, the very fact that it was expensive and pointless would make the project worthwhile as proof of national prowess. Throwing money away on a lunar boondoggle would signal to other nations that the nation can afford to waste hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars without significantly impacting its defensive or offensive capabilities5. Of course, these are simply the first five arguments that came to mind for a lunar military base. No doubt there are more, each one more persuasive than the previous. Delight us all by detailing them in the comments below.[end-mark] Some bases, as in the case of Ben Bova’s Millennium, built cheek by jowl with the very enemies against whom the base is intended to defend. That was either very convenient or very embarrassing. ︎In some cases, such bases provide the last refuge from the nuclear hell they unleashed. It’s a classic example of someone taking credit for solving the problem they caused. ︎As I once pointed out to Yoji Kondo, no doubt to his intense delight, some human activities on the Moon could impede scientific research. For example, the lunar far side is a great place to put a radio telescope… unless outgassing from mining efforts elsewhere would interfere, as would low-orbiting lunar satellites. Granted, even with the worst-case scenario regarding the side effects of rocket-fuel manufacturing and mining, the Moon will still offer telescopes better radio silence and a much harder vacuum than the Earth could… at least until someone deploys a sufficiently large H-bomb to blow the atmosphere off Earth, along with its noisy inhabitants. ︎John Wyndham offered a perfectly functional work-around for maintenance costs in his novel The Outward Urge. In this book, the British did their bit for deterrence by very publicly building a base on the Moon. As the UK was not as rich as the Soviet Union or the United States, and because the UK felt an actual nuclear war would be terrible folly, the UK didn’t actually install any missiles. Non-existent missiles are terribly economical to keep in working order. ︎I sense that some of you are skeptical, but there is a very famous example of a flamboyant martial display. In the 1120s, China’s Northern Song Dynasty went to the effort and expense of ostentatiously removing the forest that was a key part of China’s defense system. There could be only two plausible explanations: either the Northern Song’s military strategists were incompetent fools, or 12th-century China was so unimaginably powerful that it could casually discard a seemingly vital defense. History makes clear the truth: there is no record of any military conflict between the Northern Song and their neighbours after 1127. ︎The post Five Extremely Convincing Reasons We Should Build Armed Bases on the Moon appeared first on Reactor.

Twenty living hostages are expected to be returned to their loved ones Monday or Tuesday after spending just over two years in captivity in Gaza. The remaining living hostages range in age from 20 to 48 and are all male.   The 20 men were among the 251 individuals taken hostage during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that left 1,200 people dead. Since the war between Israel and Hamas began, 140 hostages have been released alive and eight have been rescued by Israeli forces, according to The Associated Press. The remains of about 50 hostages have been recovered or were released.   The remains of the 28 deceased hostages still in Gaza are expected to be released soon as part of the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas reportedly agreed to Wednesday night.   Last week, President Donald Trump presented a 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza, disarm Hamas, and bring all the hostages home. Israel accepted Trump’s full plan, and Hamas accepted parts of the plan, but said “details” needed to be negotiated.    Mediators from the U.S., Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar have been in Egypt since Monday working to reach a deal both Israel and Hamas could agree to. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who worked to broker the Abraham Accords, arrived in Egypt late Tuesday night alongside Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East. On Wednesday evening, Israel and Hamas both agreed to the first phase of the deal, which includes the release of the 20 living hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.   Trump said he is going to try to go to Egypt for the official signing of the deal, but it is unclear what day the official signing will occur.   Families of hostages and former hostages celebrated the news of their loved ones forthcoming release, thanking Trump for the role he played in reaching a deal between Hamas and Israel.   All hostage images are courtesy of Bring Them Home Now. Elkana Bohbot, 36 Bar Kuperstein, 23 Maxim Herkin, 37 Segev Kalfon, 27 Ziv Berman, 28 Gali Berman, 28 Eitan Horn, 38 Ariel Cunio, 28 David Cunio, 35 Eitan Abraham Mor, 25 Matan Angrest, 22 Nimrod Cohen, 20 Avinatan Or, 32 Alon Ohel, 24 Yosef-Haim Ohana, 25  Matan Zangauker, 25 Evyatar David, 24 Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24 Omri Miran, 48 20. Rom Braslavski, 21 The post 20 Living Hostages From Gaza to Be Released  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has restored to prominence a painting of Jesus Christ at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, after it was demoted following a complaint about its Christian message. “Jesus is out of the basement! I promised you I would restore faith at @UsmmaO by returning ‘Christ on the Water’ to its place of prominence, where it belongs after being taken down under Biden and my predecessor. God is good for these Mariners – true FAITHFUL American patriots!” Duffy wrote in a post on the social media platform X.  Jesus is out of the basement!I promised you I would restore faith at @UsmmaO by returning “Christ on the Water” to its place of prominence, where it belongs after being taken down under Biden and my predecessor. God is good for these Mariners – true FAITHFUL American… pic.twitter.com/99ddlMnyDr— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) September 30, 2025 The complaint against the painting had contended that it was sending “an improper message of preferred faith in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution.” The Biden administration subsequently removed the work of art to a lower rear hallway in the Mariners’ Memorial Chapel. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images) The painting itself, which depicts Jesus appearing before a group of sailors in a lifeboat, had hung in the Elliot M. See Conference Room of Wiley Hall for 76 years prior to its removal. According to the academy, Hunter Wood, the artwork’s painter, meant for it to be “a tribute to all merchant seamen, especially to cadet-midshipmen (as they were then known) who had been torpedoed during World War II.” Wood served in both the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Maritime Service during the 1940s. He was involved in military combat during the invasion of North Africa in 1942. His artwork can also be found in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the Mariners’ Museum and Park, and the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office.  Duffy’s restoration of the artwork to its place of prominence comes at a time when the Trump administration has sought to reform the federal bureaucracy and bring back names removed during previous presidencies. In January, for example, President Donald Trump reversed the decision initially made by the Obama administration to change the federal designation of Mount McKinley in Alaska.  The president also created a Religious Liberty Commission to protect the free exercise of faith in the nation and established a task force in the Justice Department to eradicate anti-Christian bias in the government.  On the armed services front, the Trump administration has brought back the name of Fort Bragg in North Carolina and redesignated the Defense Department as the Department of War, which harkens back to Wood’s time when the Allies were triumphant in Europe and the Pacific in World War II. The Trump administration has also sought settlements with major American universities to bring them in compliance with federal law. Duffy’s recent effort touches on one such distinguished institution of higher education. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is one of five highly regarded four-year service academies in the United States. It grants attendees college degrees, as well as a commission in a reserve component of the U.S. military. Famous alumni include Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Olympic medalist Morgan Reeser; several admirals; and Robert Kiyosaki, the author of the well-known personal finance book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” The post Painting of Jesus, Removed by Biden Admin, Resurrected at US Merchant Marine Academy appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Of Course: Nobel Peace Prize Avoids Actual Peacemaker

But thanks to conservation efforts, there are now over 31,000 living in the wild.

The golden mole family was thought to be the only ones with shiny fur but that is no longer the case.

Last night, NBC's Law & Order brought up former president Joe Biden's dementia, claiming no one thought Biden's staff should keep it secret. In Thursday's episode, "White Lies," an investment fund manager named Tom Hardiman is pushed into an incoming car at night. Hardiman had recently taken over a pharmaceutical research company devoted to "small-market research into rare-diseases."  He planned to change the company's focus to larger market products like weight loss and cholesterol. Standing in his way was the business' founder, Norman Munson, whom the company's board refused to remove.  Prosecutors discover that Munson secretly suffers from dementia. Munson's close friend and researcher, Kevin Goodall, killed Hardiman to prevent him from revealing the dementia to the board. Goodall knew that if the board discovered Munson's cognitive decline, the company would cease researching a rare illness called Batten disease which Goodall's daughter suffers from. Assistant District Attorneys Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) and Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) debate the ethics of revealing Munson's dementia in court. Their conversation turns to the case of former president Joe Biden. Maroun: He [Goodall] was acting under extreme emotional disturbance. He was panicked at the idea a new CEO would abandon Batten disease research, that his daughter's life was in jeopardy. Price: Who gave Goodall the right to decide what company shareholders can and can't know? Look what happened to Biden's inner circle when the world was questioning his fitness to serve. No one thought they had the right to keep that secret. Maroun: Norman Munson is not a commander in chief. And by all accounts, in the small portion of the world he does control, he did nothing but good. You want to humiliate him on the stand to--to help some Wall Street guys get richer?  Nolan claims no one thought Biden's staff had the right to keep it secret when in reality regime media attacked anyone who questioned Biden's fitness to serve. Powerful journalists gaslighted the public for years about Biden's obvious cognitive decline. Not only did Biden's inner circle not face consequences, they went onto cushy media jobs or sinecures. Throughout most of Biden's presidency, conservatives were the only ones calling for transparency on Biden's health. Even CNN's Jake Tapper admitted in 2025 that “conservative media was right and conservative media was correct." Pretending that "no one thought they had the right to keep that secret" is historical revisionism that lets the Democratic party and establishment journalists off the hook. Price and Maroun take it for granted that the former commander-in-chief had dementia. It is now accepted fact and Hollywood can mention it in toss away lines on a major network show. Yet as recently as June of 2024, the previous White House and its lapdog media were in lockstep denial about it.  It is little comfort that Hollywood, as a cultural extension of the Democratic party, can only admit such a frightening truth about a Democratic president when that president is no longer in power. 

New studies from NewsBusters demonstrate once again that "public" broadcasting inevitably tilts toward the leftist party, and the latest violent protest in Chicago and Portland prove once again that the press is pro-antifa, pushing their bizarre line that it's not an organized movement, it's just "an idea." CNS News managing editor Craig Bannister and NewsBusters analyst and PBS specialist Clay Waters joined the show. Clay just finished two studies on the guests interviewed on the just-defunded "public" networks. PBS News Hour co-anchor Amna Nawaz boasted in April that on her program, “we regularly invite and host conservative and Republican voices.” An MRC study of two months of the “News Hour” after they were defunded by the Republicans found they hosted 98 liberal-leaning guests and 21 conservative-leaning guests, a disparity of 4.6 to 1. NPR CEO Katherine Maher laughably claimed to The Washington Post on August 6 that NPR had no “affinity for one party or one perspective over the other.” Wrong. In that same two-month period, liberal/Democrat-leaning guests outnumbered conservative-Republican-leaning guests by an astounding disparity of 53 to 3. Then we discussed Craig's CNS News work. MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace and “Prosecuting Donald Trump” podcast co-host Mary McCord tried to blame President Donald Trump on Monday's Deadline: White House for a fire at the house of a South Carolina judge who once ruled against the president – but oops, authorities ruled there’s no reason to suspect arson. Also on Monday,  Virginia’s Fraternal Order of Police issued an open letter calling on Democrat nominee Jay Jones to withdraw from the race to be the state’s next attorney general, in light of newly-surfaced 2022 text messages revealing Jones’s desire to kill Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert -- and suggesting a few cops should die to curb their supposed violent excesses. In Portland, Oregon, disorderly conduct charges have been dropped against  conservative journalist Nick Sortor, who was somehow arrested for defending himself from an attack by members of an Antifa mob protesting at an ICE facility. Leftist lobbies who presume to speak for the free speech of reporters did not get involved.  Watch the latest podcast below. The audio product is here. Like, share and subscribe!     

POLL: What was the worst media take of the week? (Vote below)     NOMINEES:    1. Sunny Hostin Lectures “Pro-Life” Christians On Their “Hypocrisy” “I find there is a hypocrisy with certain Christians who are pro-life, but they will pull that electric chair switch. They are ‘pro-life,’ but they have their AR-15s in their cabinet. They are pro-life, but they – they don’t mind immigrant families being torn from each other. They are pro-life, but they don’t care about little children’s subsidies being taken away from them. That is not pro-life!”— Co-host Sunny Hostin on ABC’s The View, October 2.    2. Jimmy Kimmel: When I Travel Abroad, I Don’t Want to Be Blamed for Trump   “We travel abroad. Many of us don’t want to be held accountable for what our president does and says. As an American – you know – going someplace, I’m fortunate enough to be well known, and people know where I’m coming from. But I think it would be a different situation if people didn’t know who I was, and I think I’d probably be – the first thing I’d say as I got into every cab is, ‘I didn’t vote for him, just FYI.’”— ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel at the Bloomberg Screentime conference, October 8.    3. Joy Behar: Trump Using National Guard as “Pretext to Stop the Next Election!” “This [Trump sending in National Guard to protect ICE in cities] is a pretext to stop the next election! That’s what I think it is.”— Co-host Joy Behar on ABC’s The View, October 7.     Funded by James P. Jimirro

As fear spreads that those with “dark skin” will be targeted at the 2026 Super Bowl after halftime show headliner Bad Bunny was announced, “The View” co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg had some suggestions for illegal immigrants thinking of attending.“One thing I thought of, though — you know, Kristi Noem, the one who killed the dog. She killed Cricket, yeah. Who does that? Who shoots a puppy? Only her. Anyway, she’s threatening to go to the Super Bowl when Bad Bunny is there and round up all these people that are illegal immigrants,” Behar said.“Do you think that she would go if it was Garth Brooks or Eminem or Taylor Swift or any other white person?” she asked.“How’s she going to know who’s who?” Whoopi Goldberg asked.“Because the Supreme Court has given permission to question anyone who has a Spanish accent, who has a dark skin,” Behar answered.That’s when Whoopi handed out some unsolicited advice to those illegal immigrants who may plan on attending the Super Bowl.“Everybody, get a little cocoa butter. Sit in the sun. That’s the first thing. And then — and this is the only time you can probably ever do this — give yourself a Latin accent,” Goldberg explained.“During the Nazi occupation, there was one country — I believe it was Denmark or Norway, one of those — where everybody put the Jewish star on, and they didn’t know who was Jewish and who was not,” Behar added.“I mean, this is why they’re on our unfunniest wanted list,” BlazeTV co-host Jeff Fisher says on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”“It’s unthinkable that they’re on the air still,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray agrees.“It started out sucking,” he continues, “and it’s gone downhill since.”“It’s gotten worse,” executive producer Keith Malinak laughs.Want more from Pat Gray?To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.