Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Among the interplay of Saturn’s shadow and rings, Mimas, which appears in the lower-right corner of the image, orbits Saturn as a set of the ever-intriguing spokes appear in the B ring (just to the right of center).

Scientists expect that spokes will soon cease to form as Saturn approaches northern equinox. The exact mechanism of spoke formation is still the subject of debate, but ring scientists do know that spokes no longer appear when the Sun is higher in Saturn’s sky. It is believed that this has to do with the ability of micron-sized ring grains to maintain an electrical charge and levitate above the rings, forming spokes. Thus, these may be some of the last spokes ever imaged by Cassini.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 38 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 22, 2013.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.6 million miles (2.6 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 146 degrees. Image scale is 93 miles (150 kilometers) per pixel.

Getty Image

Getty Images has always been one of the best spots to find quality photographs of all kinds of stuff, but they’ve also been very protective of their copyrights. I respect that, and have always refrained from using their images without licensing them — but apparently, there were quite a few other humans out there on the Internets who didn’t. As a result, Getty Images announced this week that they’re giving up trying to enforce their copyrights the old-fashioned way (with nasty lawyer letters) and making millions of their photos free to use on blogs and other sites, simply by embedding the code for an iframe.

So here’s my first embedded Getty photo, from today’s festival of right wing lunacy, CPAC 2014, showing the heinous comb-over of Donald Trump in all its forward-sweeping glory.

Trump’s speech? Oh, it was the usual rambling disconnected mess, starting with a teleprompter joke (the CPAC audience never gets tired of that one), seguing into a call for America to grab Iraq’s oil (I know, right?), and concluding with a strange story about how much the Chinese love him, his buildings, and his ties.

For which he received a standing ovation, of course.

This image and others like it are making the rounds within conservative and other Tea Party-affiliated social media.

Rightwing meme on race

In favor of accuracy, below is a fact-check on each of these points:

Who started the KKK?

Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former Confederate Lieutenant General and war criminal (Fort Pillow massacre). He held no political office during his lifetime, so there is no indication as to what party he belonged to.

Who supported the KKK?

Southern conservatives formerly with the Confederacy.

To make this point perfectly clear, the KKK-affiliated “White Citizens Councils” are now known as the “Council of Conservative Citizens,” and have not changed their racist views at all. Claiming they are associated at all with modern Democrats is pure fantasy.

Who created Jim Crow laws?

Southern conservatives known as “Dixiecrats”. (See “KKK” entry for further details.)

Who enforced them?

Southern governments and law enforcement under the guise of “States’ Rights” - which is still a favorite among the Tea Party Republicans.

Who arrested MLK?

Assuming this is directed toward his most famous arrest in Birmingham, Alabama in April 1963. The Commissioner of Public Safety who directed the arrest, the denial of King’s Constitutional rights during and after the arrest, as well as directing acts of violence toward African-American protestors was Eugene “Bull” Connor, a pro-segregationist “Dixiecrat” who ran for Governor several times in the 1940s-1950s. He also was responsible for the arrest of (former) progressive Democratic Vice President Henry Wallace on the charge of violating segregation laws.

Who opposed Civil Rights Legislation?
Who fought against the right of black Americans to vote?

Southern segregationist conservatives. Here’s the actual voting record, broken down by party and geographic region:

Congressional vote on Civil Rights Act - by party and region - Source: Wikipedia (click to enlarge)

As a result of this vote and the one for the Voting Rights Acts - both of which membership of the Republican Party TODAY are fighting tooth and nail to repeal - Harry Dent, Sr, Pat Buchanan and Lee Atwater orchestrated the Southern Strategy to get Southern conservatives into the fold of the Republican Party. With the election of Ronald Reagan, this takeover of the party succeeded.

Video

The program for today’s festivities: