OR MAYBE THEY JUST DON’T WANT THEIR LAND AND LIVELIHOODS CONFISCATED: South Africa’s President Says Whites Who Go to America are ‘Cowards.’
Author Archive: Stephen Green
May 14, 2025
HE’S RUNNING:
🚨 LA Times: Governor Newsom calls for walking back free healthcare for illegal aliens in California as costs for coverage have exceeded billions more than what was initially projected & the state faces likely challenging economic times ahead.https://t.co/iQKzI8KWah
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 14, 2025
Yesterday: Gavin Newsom calls on California cities to ban homeless encampments.
WE START SAVING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, THAT MUCH IS CERTAIN: If Congress actually cancels the SLS rocket, what happens next?
The most likely answer is that NASA turns to an old but successful playbook: COTS. This stands for Commercial Orbital Transportation System and was created by NASA two decades ago to develop cargo transport systems (eventually this became SpaceX’s Dragon and Northrop’s Cygnus spacecraft) for the International Space Station. Since then, NASA has adopted this same model for crew services as well as other commercial programs.
Under the COTS model, NASA provides funding and guidance to private companies to develop their own spacecraft, rockets, and services, and then buys those at a “market” rate.
The idea of a Lunar COTS program is not new. NASA employees explored the concept in a research paper a decade ago, finding that “a future (Lunar) COTS program has the great potential of enabling development of cost-effective, commercial capabilities and establishing a thriving cislunar economy which will lead the way to an economical and sustainable approach for future human missions to Mars.”
Sources indicate NASA would go to industry and seek an “end-to-end” solution for lunar missions. That is, an integrated plan to launch astronauts from Earth, land them on the Moon, and return them to Earth. One of the bidders would certainly be SpaceX, with its Starship vehicle already having been validated during the Artemis III mission. Crews could launch from Earth either in Dragon or Starship. Blue Origin is the other obvious bidder. The company might partner with Lockheed Martin to commercialize the Orion spacecraft or use the crew vehicle it is developing internally.
Other companies could also participate. The point is that NASA would seek to buy astronaut transportation to the Moon, just as it already is doing with cargo and science experiments through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
This is the way.
I also hope that Congress uses the savings from SLS to restore some of NASA’s science funding, particularly the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
IT WAS A CRISIS BY DESIGN: Expert Highlights Illegal Alien Gang’s Threat to Rural Americans.
SURPRISING TO WHOM?
According to our analysis, America is splitting into two different economies and markets: one conservative, the other liberal. Not only that, the MAGA economy is doing surprisingly well https://t.co/lz1sxymSCt
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 14, 2025
You’d think that a magazine called The Economist would understand something about economics — but only if you hadn’t read The Economist in the last 15 years or so.
THE TRADE WAR: Trump tariffs have little impact on prices so far, defying grim forecasts.
Prices climbed at an unexpectedly slow pace last month, offering a boost to President Donald Trump, whose aggressive trade policies have sparked fears of a resurgence in inflation.
The Labor Department on Tuesday reported that prices rose at an annual rate of 2.3 percent, the smallest increase since early 2021. While price growth in so-called core sectors of the economy — which exclude volatile food and energy costs — remained elevated at 2.8 percent, April’s Consumer Price Index contained only scant evidence that Trump’s tariffs have meaningfully driven up the cost of living.
Kudos to Politico for framing the story this way.
Now then — what will they do with all those experts who provided the grim forecasts?
THE NEW DARK AGE: Colorado’s forced march to energy uncertainty.
“Energy isn’t a luxury,” Colorado Springs Utilities CEO Travas Deal recently told my Power Gab co-host Jake Fogleman and me. His concern? The direction of Colorado’s energy policy—away from affordable, reliable baseload power and toward costly, intermittent wind and solar.
He’s right. Reliable power is not optional. It’s a matter of life and death. We saw that in Texas during 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, where 246 people died amid rolling blackouts that nearly triggered a catastrophic grid collapse.
We’re seeing blackouts in Colorado, too. At the same time, the cost of power in Colorado is skyrocketing. Residential rates have increased over 85% since 2003, higher than inflation.
Yet Democrat Governor Jared Polis is doubling down on this dangerous trajectory to enshrine his unrealistic campaign promise of a grid powered by 100% “renewables” into state law. A draft bill circulated at the Capitol earlier this year mandates a 95% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the electricity sector by 2035 and 100% by 2040. This far exceeds the ambitious targets codified in 2019: 80% carbon emissions reduction by 2030.
The only way to meet this emission goal is to shut down the remaining coal and natural gas baseload, blanket the state with industrial wind turbines, utility-scale solar installations, and industrial batteries, force Coloradans into electric vehicles, require heat pumps, and drain Coloradans’ bank accounts.
That last part is key.
Previously: ‘F’ Is for Democrat: Colorado’s Collapse Under One-Party Rule.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: If Dems Want to Act Like Children They Should Be Put in Jailed Timeouts. “Honestly, these people are all lucky that Trump isn’t the vindictive destroyer of political enemies that they keep making him out to be. His administration is responding within the bounds of the law. If he wanted to become extra-judicial like his enemies are, he’s in a position to really make things difficult for them.”
IT REALLY IS THIS SIMPLE:
"Our sources lied to us." Okay, but most voters didn't have "sources." They had eyes. And they were told brazen lies by people who also had eyes.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 13, 2025
Related:
Cranky old news editor from the '50s to cub reporter: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out."
Seasoned DC pro, circa 2025: "They lied to me but I didn't check it out until the election was over and I could cash in on a book deal." https://t.co/jiu4xKg4H6
— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) May 13, 2025
For now, anyway.
THIS ONE FLEW UNDER EVERYBODY’S RADAR YESTERDAY: Trump Giving the New Syrian Boss Rope to Hang Himself With…or Not.
This is a gobsmacking move.
An ‘Only Trump could do this’ move.
As always, ever so interesting how it all came together, with Al-Sharaa seeking out the US, not vice versa. And the Syrian representative spun a dream of a Trump Tower in Damascus one day.
…Speaking at an investment forum on Tuesday, Trump said that he planned to lift sanctions on Syria after holding talks with Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “to give them a chance at greatness”.
…Sharaa, who is keen to normalise relations with the US, has reportedly offered Trump a number of sweeteners including the Trump tower in Damascus, a demilitarised zone by the Golan Heights that would strengthen Israel’s claim to the territory it has occupied since 1967, diplomatic recognition of Israel, and a profit-sharing deal on resources similar to the Ukraine minerals deal.
The idea to offer Trump a piece of real estate with his name on it in the heart of Damascus was thought up by a US Republican senator, who passed on the idea to Sharaa’s team.
I can’t imagine who the senator was, but I’ll bet his last name might have something to do with a cracker often used for sweet pie crusts…just sayin’. What a hoot.
Trump will talk to anyone who sincerely wants to talk to him. It’s like his magic power.
If it works – and it’s all on the Syrians – it’s going to plug several gaping holes using available assets.
Read the whole thing.
ICYMI: David Plouffe Is the Michelangelo of Play-Doh. “The thing is, Concha is entirely correct that Plouffe’s decisions on Al Smith, Rogan, Walz, and Cheney all led to disaster. What Concha misses is that, as bad as those choices were, the alternatives were worse.”
RACISM, STRAIGHT UP:
“Helping whites people is against what we stand for.”
One of the great things about the Trump Afrikaner refugee policy is that it’s getting people, including church leaders, to say what they really think about white people. No more inferences now. It’s out in the open. Good. https://t.co/asF2erMOKZ
— RAW EGG NATIONALIST (@Babygravy9) May 14, 2025
MAKE ARMS EXPORTS GREAT AGAIN: Trump signs deals with Saudis, including biggest-ever $142 billion arms agreement.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, warmly greeted Trump as he stepped off Air Force One at King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital. The two leaders then retreated to a grand hall at the Riyadh airport, where Trump and his aides were served traditional Arabic coffee by waiting attendants wearing ceremonial gun belts.
“I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump said later during a brief appearance with the crown prince at the start of a bilateral meeting.
They later signed more than a dozen agreements to increase cooperation between their governments’ militaries, justice departments, and cultural institutions.
Additional economic agreements were expected to be inked later Tuesday at a US-Saudi investment conference convened for the occasion.
Prince Mohammed has already committed to some $600 billion in new Saudi investment in the US, but Trump teased that $1 trillion would be even better. The agreement includes a mammoth arms deal described by the White House as the largest “in history” between the allies, worth nearly $142 billion.
It’s still too soon to bring the Saudis on board as the capstone to the Abraham Accords, but I wonder if this arms deal was a sweetener.
May 13, 2025
UM…:
Face it, you cant tell if this is real or not can you? https://t.co/ezVzD85aYe
— varifrank (@varifrank) May 13, 2025
(But it is real.)
Related (From Ed): If you missed it yesterday: David Hogg’s Critique of Democrats: Men Want to Get Laid.
UPDATE (From Ed): Hogg rides the left’s intersectional Mobius Loop!
THAT’S REAL MONEY: Paxton Wrests $1.375 Billion From Google. “More good news out of the Texas Attorney General’s office: He just compelled Google to cough up $1.375 billion to settle a lawsuit over illegally using biometric data.”
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT [VIP]: We’re Digging a Hole to Mars… Well, Sort Of. “Humanity just took another step toward colonizing Mars but this week’s advance didn’t involve Elon Musk’s massive Starship rocket, SpaceX, some gee-whiz new rocket propellent, or even anything that humans can fly, land, or breathe. But yes, Musk was involved because, of course, he was.”
VIP members keep us in business and there’s rarely a better time than now to become one with our 60% off FIGHT promotion.
UGH: How ATF Jailed a Man for Having Two Legal Flare Launchers They Called ‘Unregistered Destructive Devices.’ “The list of false claims and fake charges used to convict former sailor Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak is nearly as lengthy as the 20-year prison sentence he received.”
I DUNNO, I CAN IMAGINE QUITE A BIT: Out-of-Control Green Grifting Under Biden Was Worse Than We Imagined.
A LEARNING CULTURE MATTERS MUCH MORE THAN MONEY: It’s Mormons: Low-spending Utah is #4 for education. “Utah is the best state in the union, according to U.S. News, thanks to a strong economy, a sense of community and — despite spending less per pupil than any other state but Idaho — its education system.”
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: David Plouffe is the Michelangelo of Play-Doh. “The thing is, Concha is entirely correct that Plouffe’s decisions on Al Smith, Rogan, Walz, and Cheney all led to disaster. What Concha misses is that, as bad as those choices were, the alternatives were worse.”
MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: DNI Tulsi Gabbard says Biden-era domestic terrorism policy ‘must end,’ calls it an abuse of power. “Gabbard told Just the News in a statement Monday that she has ended the domestic terrorism approach of the Biden administration that was used to justify the targeting of conservative Catholics, gun enthusiasts and parents who protested school board policies.”
SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS STUCK LIKE THAT: At This Blistering Pace, Burned Down Parts of L.A. Should Be Rebuilt in…Decades and Decades. “Now, however, we learn the amazing news that the City of Angels has issued a stunning total of five permits in the city limits.”
More:
When I hear that some key allies will not decouple from the PRC, but may actually strengthen those economic relations, I’ve got to ask: What do you want your future to be? Are you ready to decouple from the US and throw your lot with the Chinese Communist Party as your future?
Do you see yourself as a link in the land-baset supply chain network run from Beijing called Belt and Road? Do you believe that your future no longer lies in then Atlantic? If so, please say so loud and clear because right now we are debating what our force posture should be.
For over 20 yrs I’ve argued that US corporate elites’ greed was making China what it is today-an existential threat to our survival as a democracy and a people. Finally, Americans have awakened to the threat, but will Brussels or Berlin now walk this path to self-destruction?
As I visit Europe this time I’ve to say to say this to our friends here: It’s time to choose sides. It’s a zero-sum game: When it comes to your economic policy, you are either with the United States or with communist China. I say this as a lifelong transatlanticist – it’s real.
I understand that the tone coming from Washington is not what you’ve been accustomed to. And sometimes over the top and hurtful. But this is real: you must tell us if your elites can see beyond the rhetoric and still believe in the national security relationship with the US.
The Trump administration has shocked our allies with its rhetoric, and I would be the last to choose the harshness of the tone. But the message above the imperative of European rearmament in NATO is spot on— US administrations, Democrat and Republican called for it in the past.
Just months ago I never thought I would write such a post. But this trip made me realize how disconnected some among Europe’s elites have become from the foundational principles of the shared Western cultural DNA. So I ask: Do you still remain committed to this alliance?
When “a lifelong transatlanticist” has that kind of warning for Europe, there’s something deeply wrong with Europe.