THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Frauds All the Way Down.

THAT WOULD BE A START, I SUPPOSE: Senators Would Be Barred From Using Prediction Markets Under New Bill.

Senator Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, introduced a bill that would prohibit sitting senators from participating in prediction markets.

Prediction markets are platforms that allow users to wager on the outcomes of real‑world events, including elections, economic data releases and geopolitical developments.

The proposal, introduced Friday, would amend Senate rules to bar members from entering into any financial agreement in which a payout depends on whether a specific future event occurs.

I concluded long ago that the assets of elected officials (and for any appointed position requiring Senate approval) should all go into the same blind trust. Any returns over the 7% that private investors hope to earn would go to deficit reduction.

It’s patriotic!

HEH:

I know Elon isn’t a Nazi because he wasn’t funded by the SPLC. https://t.co/auPhHvP6zk

— Rothmus 🏴 (@Rothmus) April 25, 2026

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Well, this is embarrassing: The Lunar Gateway’s primary modules are corroded.

How could both a module being provided by Northrop Grumman, a major US defense contractor, and I-HAB from Europe be corroded? It seems like a fantastic claim. However, half a dozen sources who worked on or near the Lunar Gateway program confirmed to Ars that the corrosion Isaacman mentioned was real and serious.

In a statement, Northrop confirmed the issue as well. “Using NASA-approved processes, Northrop Grumman is completing repairs to HALO after a manufacturing irregularity,” a company spokesperson told Ars. “We expect to complete repairs by the end of the third quarter. HALO can still be repurposed for any mission, and it’s the most mature technology to support a deep space or lunar habitat.”

By referring to a “manufacturing irregularity,” Northrop answered the central mystery here: how corrosion could appear in both modules. This is because a French-Italian space and defense company, Thales Alenia Space, built the primary structure of HALO for Northrop Grumman. The module was delivered from Italy to the United States about a year ago.

Not a good look, Thales.

Grass Fed Colostrum Powder. #CommissionEarned

YAY!

Success! https://t.co/INWWVZhsXx

— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) April 25, 2026

And if you do move to the States, whatever you do, do not move to Tennessee. Guns everywhere, drunken rednecks in pickup trucks, rattlesnakes, murder hornets — be smart and stay far away.

MOVE THAT DECIMAL ONE DIGIT TO THE RIGHT: Minneapolis man sentenced to 8.5 years in prison over support for ISIS.

YOU OWE THE LEFT NOTHING:

"I will not thank Rufo for anything as long as his rhetoric salts the earth for rebuilding trust with the left."

IMO this is backwards. It is the left that needs to rebuild trust with us. The onus is on it, at least as far as academia is concerned. Rufo is not the problem there. https://t.co/WEmQLV7gdx

— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) April 25, 2026

FIGHTING RACISM, ONE RED STATE AT A TIME: Pro-life states more likely to attract minorities as medical residents, research shows.

GET YOUR VITAMINS: Ensure Max Protein Cafe Mocha Nutrition Shake. #CommissionEarned

IF STANDARDS ARE RACIST, THEN MAYBE WE COULD USE A LITTLE MORE “RACISM” AT HARVARD: Harvard students call grading reform ‘racist’ in petition.

HMM:

It's really tempting to applaud that.

I'd rather have 84,000 US troops already forward deployed in Europistan, for when we need them there.

Because sooner or later, we will.

I'd say make nice with Europe. Don't even charge them, keep going. Just harden up the bases.

Make sure… https://t.co/wFp9Bb95ae

— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) April 25, 2026

THADDEUS MCCOTTER: I Didn’t Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Embracing the ‘News Avoidance’ Pandemic.

EVERY INSTITUTION HAS BEEN CORRUPTED: How SPLC’s $520,000-per-year CEO helped turn civil rights group into a ‘partisan smear machine.’

LEFTIES’ DISRESPECT FOR THE TROOPS:

This "clown" entered the Navy enlisted and earned a commission as a Special Operations Officer from Annapolis.

As EOD Officer, he led threat missions for Special Warfare & Special Forces in Iraq, Afghanistan & Somalia. He retired from active duty as Captain in 2021.

He then was… https://t.co/g3adxxW3gH

— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) April 24, 2026

WHO’S AFRAID OF TEMU OBAMA?  It Sure Sounds Like Hakeem Jeffries Just Tried to Threaten the VA Supreme Court.

#RIGGED: New York Times Puts Elise Stefanik Third on Best Sellers List Despite Sales Data Showing She Had Top-Selling Title: The Times has not reviewed or covered Stefanik’s book, ‘Poisoned Ivies,’ as New York Republican accuses outlet of refusing to ‘acknowledge the crisis of antisemitism.’

THE HERO WASHINGTON DESERVES, NOT THE ONE IT NEEDS:

You can literally smoke crack, get caught in an FBI sting, go to prison, commit tax fraud, be a stalker, make racist remarks, and turn your city into a crime-infested hellhole, and Democrats *will still* build a statue of you. https://t.co/Ufv039c5Fh

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 24, 2026

(Classical reference in headline.)

LIGHTNING DEAL: WOLFBOX 3000A Jump Starter with Air Compressor. #CommissionEarned

CHRIS MURPHY IS A CLOWN, BUT A NASTY AND DANGEROUS ONE:

He's accusing others of anti-free speech…while threatening to destroy companies with government power for saying things he doesn't like.

Perfect. Just perfect. https://t.co/QDp5wqQsmp

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 24, 2026

But he’s doing a good job of making plain to the tech oligarchs why a Democratic regime is an existential threat to them and should not be allowed to take power.

JONATHAN TURLEY: The SPLC Indictment: Can Public Interest Groups Run Alleged Black-Bag Jobs and Confidential Informants?

Related:

If the SPLC's payments of millions of dollars to individuals involved with racist hate groups wasn't controversial, why did the SPLC take active steps to conceal what it was doing?

If donors would have been fine with what they were doing, why the need for bank accounts in the…

— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) April 24, 2026

THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS TO ANYONE: Victor Davis Hanson: Trump Isn’t Negotiating—He’s Crushing Iran’s Regime.

IT’S NOT JUST PEOPLE BLUE COUNTIES ARE LOSING: When the people move out of blue counties and cities, they also take with them taxable income and spending inputs to the local economy. And not coincidentally, Open the Books also found that many of the counties former blue residents are moving to have fewer government employees.

SHUT IT DOWN:

The NGO funding machine is getting harder to ignore.

USAID funneled $27 million through the Tides Center, with some of it going directly into the Southern Poverty Law Center.

For years, the liberal left inside the federal government hijacked nonprofits as pass-through vehicles;… https://t.co/MZjDph6sGk pic.twitter.com/4Lc0U3U7Ob

— Rick de la Torre (@vrk_rick) April 24, 2026

FROM JEFF DUNTEMANN:  Whale Meat.

#CommissionEarned

Two 700-year-old witches in modern-day Chicago must confront a demand from the community of whales living in Earth’s oceans, that the witches’ unborn son join with them in their effort to heal the broken soul of humankind–with death the outcome should the child fail. Homeless, hungry, and mostly without hope, Yonnie and Mara find help in some unlikely places, including a young mathematics student struggling with calculus, and an alcoholic bum who is much more than he seems.