Donald Trump tried to muscle in on the Mob's casino turf in Atlantic City, and they ate his lunch. The Russian Oligarchs stepped in and bailed him out, and now he owes them big time--in more ways than one. In return, he launders money for them, using a complicated real-estate shell game administered by a gang of lawyers running shadow companies that don't do, make or sell anything. They just shuffle paper. And they don't pay taxes.

I don't know if that's what actually happened, or if that is exactly what is going on, but I suspect the truth, (if it ever comes out), will sound something like that, in fact, a lot like that. There is no treason, and there is no collusion, its just business. Basically, its a bunch of sleazebag Vegas houseboys selling each other pizza, doing each other's laundry and raking their 10% off the top. Russia has been a gangster state for some time now, and we are rapidly becoming one too.

So what's that got to do with us, here on the Habitable Zone? I don't think the society we're evolving on this planet is going to be very interested in space exploration.