Author Archive: Stephen Green

May 14, 2026

HMM: Gallrein takes the lead over Massie in latest Kentucky primary polling.

Quantus Insights polled 908 likely GOP voters and found that Gallrein holds 48.3% of the voters’ support, while 43.1% support Massie. Just 7.6% of polled voters remained undecided, with the majority of those undecided voters leaning toward Gallrein. The pollster reported that while “the race remains competitive,” their survey “points to a clear advantage for Gallrein.”

“Massie continues to hold a durable base of support, especially among Republicans drawn to his independent brand and willingness to break with party leadership,” the poll analysis reads. “But in a primary shaped heavily by Trump’s endorsement, national attention, and outside spending, Gallrein’s lead on both the initial ballot and leaner allocation shows the Trump-backed challenger in the stronger position entering the final stretch.”

The survey, taken between May 11 and 12, is the first poll to show Gallrein in the lead, as other surveys had shown Massie up by single digits. The trend does not bode well for Massie, who has won every primary challenge since entering Congress with over 70% of the vote.

We’ll find out soon enough.

Posted at 1:47 pm by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

AND A FAIR AMOUNT OF GRIFT, I’D WAGER: California University Worked With Globalist NGO To Make Mexico’s Judicial System Gay. “More than 220 Mexican judges, secretaries and officers in Mexico’s judicial branch participated in a virtual University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law course from October to November 2022 on upholding gay and transgender rights, according to materials received in a public records request and translated by the DCNF. The law school’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy provided the course in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Mexico’s Federal Judiciary Council, an agency that oversaw the country’s court system before legislative reforms delegated its authority elsewhere.”

Posted at 12:45 pm by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX unveils sweeping Starship V3 upgrades ahead of May 19 launch.

Here is an explicit, broken-down list of the key changes, first starting with the changes to Super Heavy V3:

  • Grid Fin Redesign: Reduced from four fins to three. Each fin is now 50% larger and stronger, repositioned for better catching and lifting performance. Fins are lowered on the booster to reduce heat exposure during hot staging, with hardware moved inside the fuel tank for protection.
  • Integrated Hot Staging: Eliminates the old disposable interstage shield. The booster dome is now directly exposed to upper-stage engine ignition, protected by tank pressure and steel shielding. Interstage actuators retract after separation.
  • New Fuel Transfer System: Massive redesign of the fuel transfer tube—roughly the size of a Falcon 9 first stage—enables simultaneous startup of all 33 Raptors for faster, more reliable flip maneuvers.
  • Engine Bay / Thermal Protection: Engine shrouds removed entirely; new shielding added between engines. Propulsion and avionics are more tightly integrated. CO₂ fire suppression system deleted for a simpler, lighter aft section.
  • Propellant Loading Improvements: Switched from one quick disconnect to two separate systems for added redundancy and reduced pad complexity.

Next, we have the changes to Starship V3:

  • Completely Redesigned Propulsion System: Clean-sheet redesign supports new Raptor startup, larger propellant volume, and an improved reaction control system while reducing trapped or leaked propellant risk.
  • Aft Section Simplification: Fluid and electrical systems rerouted; engine shrouds and large aft cavity deleted.
  • Flap Actuation Upgrade: Changed from two actuators per flap to one actuator with three motors for better redundancy, mass efficiency, and lower cost.
  • Faster Starlink Deployment: Upgraded PEZ dispenser enables quicker satellite release.
  • Long-Duration Spaceflight Capability: New systems for long orbital coasts, orbital refueling, cryogenic fluid management, vacuum-insulated header tanks, and high-voltage cryogenic recirculation.
  • Ship-to-Ship Docking + Refueling: Four docking drogues and dedicated propellant transfer connections added to support in-space refueling architecture.
  • Avionics Upgrades: 60 custom avionics units with integrated batteries, inverters, and high-voltage systems (9 MW peak power). New multi-sensor navigation for precision autonomous flight. RF sensors measure propellant in microgravity. ~50 onboard camera views and 480 Mbps Starlink connectivity for low-latency communications.

Believe it or not, there’s more.

Two years ago, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever flown was Starship V1. Last year, it was Starship V2. V3 is about to become the biggest and most powerful rocket ever flown — but don’t worry, the company already has plans for V4.

Posted at 11:43 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

HOW MUCH LONGER WILL SACRAMENTO ALLOW THE HARSH LANGUAGE? The Only Bear Defense Still Legal in California Nat’l Parks: Horns, Bells and Harsh Language.

California is, well, California. Besides being America’s utopian ideal for the civilian disarmament industry, the left coast’s great minds work damned hard to ensure that even defensive measures are difficult to acquire or downright illegal. This is a place, for instance that tried (though thankfully failed) to ban civilians from owning body armor. Self-defense ammo is banned in San Francisco. We could go on, but the list is virtually endless.

But we can’t blame the ban on carrying bear spray in California’s national parks on Golden Staters. The parks are under the aegis of the National Park Service. The feds.

That’s right, if you’re going to be hiking, camping, or carrying a pick-a-nick basket into Yosemite or one of the other four national parks in Cali, don’t bring bear spray with you. It’s against the law. As ActiveNorCal notes, that usually comes as a surprise to visitors from normal states where carrying a (somewhat) effective defense against being mauled by a bear is just common sense.

What’s the rationale for outlawing bear spray?

“The reason it is banned comes down to the bears themselves. California’s national parks are home exclusively to black bears, which are far less aggressive than grizzlies. The National Park Service says bear spray is unnecessary for black bear encounters and that no one has been killed or seriously injured by a black bear in Yosemite’s recorded history.”

Oh. They claim you really don’t have to worry about California’s black bears. They’re just more docile there.

Heh.

Posted at 10:41 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

TRUMP-XI SUMMIT:

Posted at 10:25 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

CDR SALAMANDER: Carriers: Not Dead Yet, and Unquestionably not Unloved.

Ethan Gossrow over at Naval News did a detailed look at the carrier portion of the 30-year shipbuilding plan that gives some texture for those who, like myself, are concerned about the slow approach to bringing new carriers online.

Even though today is no different from any other day over the last half decade, there are those who will continue to try to explain why the USN’s CVNs are “obsolete” and not worth the investment. However, reality continues to get in their way, as he quotes from the Plan:

“Underpinning Expanded Maritime Maneuver (EMM) the CVN serves as a persistent, survivable, mobile sea base that enables the Navy to dominate contested environments and deliver decisive effects at ranges that outpace adversary anti- access/area-denial (A2/AD) envelopes without the need for Access, Basing, and Overflight.”

There is no other way to project national will anywhere on the planet like a CVN. There just isn’t.

Even though we are an 11-carrier navy in a 15-carrier world…we’re not growing.

Read the whole thing. I’d just add that if I had a dime for every time the carrier had been pronounced obsolete, I could almost buy one.

Posted at 9:39 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

THIS IS MY STATE ON DEMOCRATS:

Exit quote: “HB26-1430 is basically lawmakers looking voters dead in the eyes and saying: ‘Aw that’s cute. You thought ballot initiatives still controlled government.'”

Not one more word about “democracy,” Democrats. Not one more word.

Posted at 9:23 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: I’m California Dreaming About Karen Bass Losing Her Job. “The wild card in the Los Angeles mayoral race is the unmitigated awfulness of Karen Bass. It’s nigh on impossible to put lipstick on the pig that is her legacy as mayor. Pratt has the money to keep attacking Bass for the duration. He may very well be able to inspire a flood of independent voters to propel him to victory. He’s so good at staying on message that some Democrats could shed their blinders. His potential path to a win is loaded with ifs, but the fact that he’s in the conversation at all is miraculous.”

Posted at 9:08 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

WELL, GOOD: Overdose deaths fall for 3rd straight year amid a changing drug supply and funding cuts.

About 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year — about 14% fewer than the previous year, according to preliminary government data.

It was the third straight annual drop, making it the longest decline in decades, according to federal data released Wednesday. The 2025 total is about the same as the tally in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Declines were seen across a number of drug types, including fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Overdose deaths fell in the vast majority of states, although seven saw at least slight increases, including jumps of 10% or more in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, the preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that this represents really a fundamental change in the arc of the overdose crisis,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University researcher who studies overdose trends.

It might be, like the crack epidemic of the ’80s and early ’90s, fentanyl is beginning to run out of victims.

Posted at 8:37 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

THAT’S A TELL:

Posted at 8:21 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026

YES: House Judiciary Chairman urges DOJ to permanently dismiss all Trump cases after bombshell report.

“It’s probably time that this all just ended,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Wednesday night after Just the News reported new documents it obtained revealed the FBI at the end of the Biden presidency secretly took the rare step of preserving evidence from a dismissed January 6 prosecution until 2030, raising alarm the bureau could revive its prosecution after Trump leaves office.

The agents in the controversial Arctic Frost case also wrote a new memo insisting they believed Trump violated laws, creating a fresh roadmap for prosecution after Trump’s presidential immunity from prosecution ends in 2029.

Jordan, who played a crucial role in debunking Russia collusion allegations against Trump and chronicling FBI abuses in the targeting of conservative figures since 2016, reacted to the report by saying Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche should declare “this thing is done, over with. A-B see you later.”

He said DOJ asking the courts to discard all prior prosecutions with prejudice — meaning they couldn’t be re-filed — was “the right approach.”

More at the link.

Posted at 7:35 am by Stephen Green on May 14th, 2026
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