Author Archive: Stephen Green

NIFTY: Lockheed Martin delivers record 191 F-35 fighter jets in 2025.

The current annual production rate for the F-35 now stands at five times higher than that of any other allied fighter platform still being manufactured, according to company figures.
Earlier this year, the F-35 programme surpassed one million flight hours.

In 2025, the project team also rolled out its latest software release, TR-3, and maintained a global fleet approaching 1,300 operational aircraft.

Over the same period, the aircraft saw operational use in several military contexts.

These included its involvement in suppressing Iranian air defences during Operation Midnight Hammer, accumulating nearly 5,000 mishap-free flight hours in a US Marine Corps F-35B deployment, and the shooting down of Russian drones over Poland by NATO F-35s.

Not bad for a “failed” platform.

YOU’D BE AMAZED AT HOW SMOOTHLY THINGS GO IN STATES THAT AREN’T BASICALLY IN OPEN REBELLION AGAINST LEGAL FEDERAL AUTHORITY:

REALLY, LET BILL SHIPLEY TELL YOU:

Read the whole thing, and don’t miss this cliffhanger at the end: “I have an article I’m working on re Hankison’s case that mostly focuses on the outrageous conduct by the Judge — a Trump appointee, but more important than that, a McConnell acolyte.”

GOOD LORD, I HAD NO IDEA:

Maybe the NYT could do a followup report, since Greenland is back in the news lately?

Nah.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Fueling research in nuclear thermal propulsion. “Nuclear propulsion, which is only used in space, not to get to space, further falls into one of two categories: nuclear electric propulsion uses nuclear energy to generate electricity and accelerate the propellant. Nuclear thermal propulsion, which is what Hampson is researching, heats a propellant using nuclear power. A significant advantage of NTP is that it can deliver double the efficiency (or more) of the chemical equivalent for the same thrust. A disadvantage: cost and regulatory hurdles.”

Costs can be driven down. As for the other thing, as the wise man once said, “Get the hell out of my way!”

BIDEN’S DEI SCOTUS HIRE IS AT IT AGAIN:

“Idaho AG Hurst didn’t even seem to understand what she asked,” and neither do I, even after reading her question three times.

CHANGE? Calgarians gather to sign Alberta independence petition as data suggests sovereignty support is growing.

It says an online survey found 31 per cent of Albertans support the province becoming independent. This is up nine points from data collected by the agency in June 2023.

Support for Alberta independence rose across the province — an increase of five per cent in the Calgary Metropolitan Area to 31 per cent and 34 per cent support it in Edmonton Metropolitan Area, up five per cent.

Thirty-four per cent of Albertans living outside of the metro areas support the cause, up 11 per cent, Research Co. says.

Independence is most likely to be supported by those who voted for the United Conservative Party in the last election.

On the opposing side, Research Co. says 62 per cent are opposed to separation.

The Stay Free Alberta campaign needs nearly 178,000 signatures by May 2 to be successful.

An opposing citizen initiative petition called Alberta Forever Canada received more than 400,000 verified signatures according to Elections Alberta – and it has been submitted to the Legislative Assembly.

Albertans could vote on a referendum question potentially later this year.

Independence still looks like a longshot, but it wasn’t long ago that an independence movement anywhere other than Quebec would have been nearly unthinkable.

AND SHE MARRIED HER BROTHER:

IS COMMON SENSE BREAKING OUT IN CALIFORNIA? California voters hate the ‘terribly drafted, illegal’ billionaires’ tax, new poll shows.

The survey conducted by David Binder Research found that the proposed wealth-tax ballot measure initially had a slim majority of support, with 55% of voters saying they liked the idea of the one-time 5% tax on California residents worth more than $1 billion.

But support has since collapsed to just 41% of voters, while those opposed surged to 53% — after respondents heard arguments from both sides, the pollsters said.

“It’s terribly drafted, unworkable, illegal and would have hugely negative consequences to the state’s economy,” said Dan Newman, a political consultant with knowledge of the poll, told The Post on Monday.

Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur who co-hosts the ALl In podcast, blasted out a tweet Saturday claiming California has lost $1 trillion in wealth in the past month alone as billionaires have fled the state to shield their assets.

“We had $2T of billionaire wealth just a few weeks ago,” Palihapitiya wrote on X.

Tell me again what 5% of nothing is.

THE BIG DEAL ISN’T THE APP, BUT THAT IT WENT VIRAL: Are You Dead?: The viral Chinese app for young people living alone.

A new bleak-sounding app has taken China by storm.

Named Are You Dead? the concept is simple. You need to check in with it every two days – clicking a large button – to confirm that you are alive. If not, it will get in touch with your appointed emergency contact and inform them that you may be in trouble.

It was launched in May last year to not much fanfare but attention around it has exploded in recent weeks with many young people, who live alone in Chinese cities, downloading it in droves.

This has propelled it to become the most downloaded paid app in the country.

According to research institutions, there may be up to 200 million one-person households in China by 2030, Chinese state media outlet Global Times reports.

Sad.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Minnesota Is Not Well — Ilhan Omar Edition. “I think we can agree that there is an inherent sleaze factor associated with all Congressional Democrats. Ethical concerns regarding some of Omar’s past (Wedding bells!) have arisen, too. One doesn’t need to overdose on imagination to believe that a massive scandal in Minnesota involving recently-arrived Somalis might, just might, get back to Omar at some point.”

SHARKS GOTTA SWIM, BATS GOTTA FLY: California Restricts Free Speech.

California’s far-left Supreme Court has ordered restrictions on the speech and expressive conduct of California’s lawyers “at all times,” including during their unrelated business activities, political endeavors and personal lives.

Just before Christmas, the even more radical California State Bar imperiously advised the state’s 200,000 lawyers “Read it, declare it, mean it.” That ominous warning introduced the California Supreme Court’s Orwellian Rule 9.7 which requires every lawyer to attest that: “As an officer of the court, I will strive to conduct myself at all times with dignity, courtesy and integrity.” The license of any lawyer who fails or refuses to acquiesce will be invalidated, and any lawyer who violates the oath is subject to “appropriate fees and penalties” to be set by the Bar.

For a nanosecond, that’s an appealing concept. But, under the First Amendment, no instrumentality of government may condition an individual’s livelihood on complying with its view of “dignity” or “courtesy,” in their political or personal endeavors. Invalidating the licenses of non-compliant lawyers also violates procedural due process under the Fifth and 14th Amendments. Tying the oath to meaningless pap about a lawyer being an “officer of the court” exposes the premeditated overreach.

As a threshold problem, even in traditional usage, “strive,” “dignity” and “courtesy” are so vague that no lawyer could know what is required, violating substantive due process.

What a mess.

HMM: