I’m not sure if people really get how sad this gratuitous announcement that the US currently has weapons in orbit is. It may be a given that they’ve been there for some time and, as well, that other states have similar capacities, but this is one case where I’d have liked to hold on to my youthful naiveté awhile longer.

(Bonus points for everyone who remembers that the satellites serenely drifting by during the “Blue Danube” sequence in “2001” are weapons platforms, why the Star Child appeared when it did, and what happened upon its advent.)