AND NOT JUST IN THE STATE CAPITOL BUILDING: Colorado bill would fully legalize prostitution. “Senate Bill 26-097 would require the entire state to decriminalize ‘commercial sexual activity among consenting adults,’ both for people who buy sex and who would sell it. This would be unique in the U.S., as the only other states with any form of legal prostitution, Maine and Nevada, still have certain rules around it.”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
February 17, 2026
LAUGHING WOLF ON THE END OF NON-PROLIFERATION AND POLISH NUKES: The Only Surprise Is…
I suspect Iran is not the only country working hard to become a member of the nuclear club. You don’t have to go through the Manhattan Project to get to be a member, and you don’t have to be as unsubtle as Iran in creating a viable nuclear weapons program.
The fact that Poland has stepped out in the open like this is interesting, and a bit amusing. If you go back and read this post and the linked posts, I got called some names for suggesting that Poland be made a nuclear power and be the northern anchor for a new, non-military, ‘nato’ (lower case deliberate) that can stand as a bulwark against anything from the East as well as against a Muslim/Islamist West. While I think there is still a chance to prevent an effective European Caliphate (England is starting to wake up, but…), I also still very much think we need a Christian bulwark in the East if Western Civilization is to survive.
I also think some open and honest conversations on what is likely to happen when nuclear non-proliferation efforts are fully dead.
Beijing seems uninterested in either arms control or reasserting non-proliferation, making both largely moot points.
STUPIDITY IS SUPPOSED TO HURT: Thanks, Jacob Frey: His Sanctuary City Policy Slams Minneapolis with $200 Million Cost.
HMM: New anti-government chants reported across Iran after major rallies abroad.
While the street protests have petered out in the face of the brutal crackdown, last week, residents of Tehran and other cities began shouting slogans against the leadership from the relative safety of their own homes inside vast apartment blocks.
In a new night of chants, residents of the eastern Tehran district of Ekbatan on Sunday shouted “death to Khamenei,” “death to the Islamic Republic” and “long live the shah,” according to the Shahrak Ekbatan social media account, which monitors the area.
They need guns.
STOP CODDLING MENTALLY UNSTABLE PEOPLE: Hockey Game Shooter Threatened Actor Kevin Sorbo He Might Go ‘Berserk.’
ENDORSED: Nancy Mace proposes bill to make aliens deportable, inadmissible for animal cruelty.
The measure is called the “Illegal Alien Animal Abuser Removal Act of 2026.”
“If you come here illegally, you’re already a criminal. Add animal cruelty to the list and you’re on the next flight back to where you came from,” Mace said, according to a press release.
“We have a duty to protect the voiceless from torture and abuse. Animal cruelty is a proven red flag for violence against people. These criminals escalate. Our bill makes it crystal clear: commit these sick acts and you’re deported. Immediately. No second chances,” she added.
Previously: “John Wick is the moderate position on this issue.“
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: GOP Will Hit the Lottery if AOC Is Dems’ 2028 Nominee. “Gavin Newsom has essentially been running for president for a year already, but Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been uncharacteristically coy thus far. Or maybe we’ve just been distracted because Jasmine Crockett didn’t shut up once during the first 10 1/2 months of 2025. AOC finally stepping out and dipping her pedicured toes in the test waters, and it’s not going well.”
HE’LL DO TO THE COUNTRY WHAT HE DID TO CALIFORNIA: Gavin Newsom goes global: why US voters should beware.
While the governor’s 2026 budget proposal attempts to frame the challenge as a “manageable” $2.9 billion shortfall, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has painted a far bleaker picture, projecting an $18 billion deficit.
This massive shortfall threatens essential services to those who need them most.
This is not just bad luck with the markets; it is the result of a governor who expanded permanent social programs using temporary, volatile tax windfalls.
Under Newsom, California is a place where only the ultra-wealthy or the heavily subsidized can afford to live.
The state has a cost-of-living crisis that drives the middle class away, thanks to factors including:
•Energy costs: Californians pay the highest electricity rates in the continental United States — nearly double the national average.
•Gas prices: Aggressive environmental taxes and regulatory premiums keep California’s gas prices much higher than in the rest of the country.
•The poverty paradox: Despite its vast wealth, California has the highest poverty rate in the nation when accounting for the cost of living. More than 7 million residents lack the resources to meet basic needs.
When Newsom boasts of “California values,” he speaks of a system that punishes middle class residents through high taxes and regulatory burdens, forcing them to flee to other states.
California’s neo-feudalism gone national leaves little room for escape.
MORE NUKES IS GOOD NUKES: US Airlifts New Nuclear Reactor Breakthrough.
The U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense on Sunday for the first time transported a small nuclear reactor on a cargo plane from California to Utah to demonstrate the potential to quickly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use.
The agencies partnered with California-based Valar Atomics to fly one of the company’s Ward microreactors on a C-17 aircraft — without nuclear fuel — to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey were on the C-17 flight with the reactor and its components, and hailed the event as a breakthrough for U.S. nuclear energy and military logistics.
“This gets us closer to deploy nuclear power when and where it is needed to give our nation’s warfighters the tools to win in battle,” Duffey said.
Why not deploy nuclear power almost everywhere?
FRAUD ALL THE WAY DOWN: Nick Shirley Just Took a Look at California Voter Rolls and OMG. “In his new 23-minute video in San Diego and Orange Counties — remember, the most ‘conservative’ areas in California — Shirley casts a bright light on how ‘Californians’ are registered to vote at illegal addresses such as office spaces, storage units, and PO Boxes throughout the state. These are all illegal residences.”
February 16, 2026
SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED: Tenants in NYC public housing won’t be allowed to complain about city landlord at Mamdani’s ‘rental ripoff’ hearings.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “rental ripoff” hearings will not allow those in publicly operated housing to provide testimony. This is despite the fact that the government agency running the units has consistently been called the “worst” landlord in the Big Apple.
The first “rental ripoff” hearing, a pillar of Mamdani’s campaign when he ran for mayor, will take place on February 26. However, only those who are in privately owned buildings are allowed to offer testimony about bad housing conditions. There are around 500,000 tenants that live in housing controlled by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), but they won’t get to participate in the hearings, per the New York Post.
Private landlords were enraged about the city itself dodging questions about publicly-owned units while those renting out private units are encouraged to badmouth their landlords about such issues as “rental junk fees” for amenities and other concerns.
“The city’s own tenants — those living in public housing — are demanding a real plan to improve their living conditions,” said Humberto Lopes, CEO of Gotham Housing Alliance. “It appears the Mamdani administration woke up to their own hypocrisy.”
So much “gooder and harder” that I can hardly pop enough corn.
IT WOULD TAKE A HEART OF STONE NOT TO LAUGH: There’s No Meltdown Like a Hillary Meltdown. This Is Her ‘Best Of’ Album.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA has a new problem to fix before the next Artemis II countdown test.
On Thursday, NASA’s launch team tested the seals by partially filling the core stage with liquid hydrogen. This “confidence test” ended earlier than planned when the launch team encountered a new problem that reduced the flow of fuel into the rocket. In a statement released Friday night, NASA said workers will replace a filter suspected to be the cause of the reduced flow before proceeding into the next WDR.
The confidence test ended as the launch team transitioned to “fast fill” mode for liquid hydrogen, when pressures and flow rates put the finicky seals through the most stress. However, NASA said engineers achieved several key objectives of the confidence test.
Isaacman wrote Saturday that the test “provided a great deal of data, and we observed materially lower leak rates compared to prior observations during WDR-1.”
Here’s the core problem, and it isn’t the hydrogen: NASA finally acknowledges the elephant in the room with the SLS rocket.
During the news conference, I asked about this low flight rate and the challenge of managing a complex rocket that will never be more than anything but an experimental system. The answer from NASA’s top civil servant, Amit Kshatriya, was eye-opening.
“You know, you’re right, the flight rate—three years is a long time between the first and second,” NASA’s associate administrator said. “It is going to be experimental, because of going to the Moon in this configuration, with the energies we’re dealing with. And every time we do it these are very bespoke components, they’re in many cases made by incredible craftsmen. … It’s the first time this particular machine has borne witness to cryogens, and how it breathes, and how it vents, and how it wants to leak is something we have to characterize. And so every time we do it, we’re going to have to do that separately.”
So there you have it. Every SLS rocket is a work of art, every launch campaign an adventure, every mission subject to excessive delays. It’s definitely not ideal.
It’s a hot mess that costs $4 billion per launch, not including substantial development costs.
MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN: Trump Admin: $2,400 Savings From Ending Start-Stop Car Feature
18 MONTHS SEEMS A LITTLE OPTIMISTIC… ER, PESSIMISTIC? Microsoft AI Head: Most White Collar Jobs Automated In 18 Months. “There are places where where AI might replace experts, namely those that use wide but highly structured datasets for narrow decision points, like some areas of regulatory law. But are decision makers really going to remove the ability to blame underlings for mistakes?’“Sure we lost $100 million, but the AI told me it was OK!’ is probably not going to wash as an adequate ass-covering maneuver. And, as I noted before, who is going to put an AI in charge of Accounts Payable when a single glitch could drain your entire bank account?”
MY TOLERANCE LEVEL FOR CELEBRITY ANTI-AMERICAN B.S. DROPPED BELOW ZERO YEARS AGO: The Eileen Gu Question: Should American-Born Olympians Who Represent China Keep Their U.S. Citizenship?
YOU HATE HAVING TO RELY ON THE COURTS, BUT…: The Silver Lining in New Mexico’s and Virginia’s Current Move to Ban ‘Assault Weapons.’ “It’s in jurisdiction of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unlike the circuit courts covering, say, California or New York or Massachusetts, the Tenth Circuit might strike down an AWB. That could generate a circuit split, since other circuit courts to look at the issue have upheld AWBs. And a circuit split makes it likelier for the Supreme Court to accept an AWB case.”
IT AIN’T OVER YET: Warner Bros. may reopen sale talks with Paramount following new deal terms.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s board is considering reopening sales talks with Paramount Skydance after recently receiving an amended offer with sweetened deal terms, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.
Warner Bros. in December agreed to sell both its film studio and HBO Max streaming service to Netflix for $27.75 per share. Paramount, which owns CBS and MTV, in December launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros., promising its shareholders $30 per share in an all-cash deal.
Last week, Paramount upped the ante, saying it would add a ticking fee of 25 cents a share to its offer for any delay in regulatory approval of the deal.
The ticking fee would be approximately $650 million in cash value per quarter for every quarter the deal has not closed by Dec. 31, 2026, CNBC.com previously reported.
Paramount also said it will cover a $2.8 billion termination fee paid to Netflix if the Warner Bros. deal is terminated. Paramount also said it will eliminate $1.5 billion in possible debt refinancing costs.
That’s a pretty sweet offer.
WE HAVE THREE WAYS OUT AND ONLY ONE OF THEM DOESN’T SUCK: Welp, Here Comes the ‘Death Spiral.’