Nolan Out Loud: To the stars, and beyond

Amid all of our turmoil and division, we were reminded again Thursday of the greatness of  American ingenuity. For the ninth time, the U.S. landed a craft on Mars.

Perseverance, or Percy for short, is an unmanned craft that will gather material to answer the question of whether life ever flourished on the Red Planet. 

Spacecraft from China and the United Arab Emirates are orbiting Mars as well, taking advantage of the planet's closeness to Earth. 

But so far, the United States is the only country to ever land on Mars. You have to believe a manned mission is not far off.

Thursday's achievement is something for which we should all be proud. As someone who grew up awestruck by America's early space missions, I certainly am. 

Also:

• Take the time to read Paul W. Smith's tribute to his friend Rush Limbaugh. Smith, host of the morning show on WJR, was a frequent guest host for the legend he describes as kind and loving.
• Proving again that elitism is bi-partisan, Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz flew off to Mexico while his constituents were suffering through a deadly blizzard.
• You rarely see politicians criticizing members of their own party. But Democrats in New York are going after Gov. Andrew Cuomo for hiding nursing home death statistics. Remember, his policy on co-mingling nursing home and COVID-19 patients was almost identical to that of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
• If Republicans ever let go of their Trump obsession, Nikki Haley is ready to lead them. She told the GOP the party "can't go back to the pre-Trump" days.
• Ingrid Jacques offers a different perspective on Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey.
• The social media mob is after the Kardashian crew for cultural appropriation for starting their own brand of Tequila. Apparently, only Hispanics can make tequila. If that's the standard, as a Kentuckian, I'm filing a complaint against distillers in Tennessee, Washington, Michigan and elsewhere for appropriating bourbon. 

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Twitter: @NolanFinleyDN

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