May 4, 2026

HAPPY MAY THE FOURTH* FOR ALL WHO CELEBRATE: The Force adrift.

There is no greater testament to how misbegotten the entire endeavor was than the fact that not once in the sequels do the heroes from the original trilogy appear in the same movie, let alone on screen together. The whole point of the sequels, and the justification for much of the anticipation for them, was seeing the old gang back in action. Yet it seems never to have occurred to anyone at Disney — not CEO Bob Iger, not Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, no one — that this might be a problem. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and Lando share zero seconds of screen time. How could that happen? It’s the plot equivalent of leaving an exposed thermal exhaust port in the Death Star design: something which makes much more sense as the result of carelessness, incompetence, and bureaucratic inertia than as the purposeful act of sabotage it was retconned into in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).

The original trilogy is a classic saga of a hero’s journey set against the backdrop of a fight between good and evil, dressed up in futuristic, science-fiction garb. The prequels are an allegory for the unraveling of the postwar American political order, a tale of institutional decadence and collapse. Can anyone say what the sequels are about? There’s no overarching storyline because it was never planned out; the switch of writers and directors produced dramatic, often contradictory narrative shifts. Say what you will about Lucas’s vision, he had one. There is no vision to the sequels. It is questionable whether a corporate writer’s room can even have a vision, though it did give us the hopelessly dated presence of Lin-Manuel Miranda. And Space Monaco. Seriously, what the hell? That Mickey and Co. have managed to release just five movies, and none since 2019, is indicative of its struggles. A sixth, based on the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, is scheduled for May. We’ll see how that goes.

John Nolte has some thoughts on that: ‘May the Fourth Be With You’ Fans Rip Kathleen Kennedy.

The problem always was Kathleen Kennedy, who despised the mammoth Star Wars fanbase and decided to alienate and insult them with her stupid and narcissistic “The Force Is Female” campaign.

Why?

Why did Star Wars need to be feminized?

To what end?

No one does this to female-driven franchises. If they did, The Devil Wears Prada 2 would have gunfights and car chases.

Kennedy feminized Star Wars, she queered Star Wars, and when the fans complained, she and her acolytes (if you’ll pardon the expression) attacked those fans as sexist and racist — even though fans loved the female-led Rogue One, which is populated with non-white supporting characters.

If The Mandalorian and Grogu disappoints at the box office, there will be no blaming streaming or COVID or whatever other excuses the sycophants in the media come up with. So far, 2026 has proven again and again that if you make appealing movies (Prada 2, Michael, Project Hail Mary, Super Mario Galaxy Movie) people will come.

The box office problems post-COVID have been entirely due to woketard movies and nothing else. If The Mandalorian and Grogu flops, especially during a year when people again feel good about going to the movies, that will all be on Disney and Kathleen Kennedy for destroying their golden goose.

I’m holding out for next year: The original 1977 Star Wars returns to theaters for a “once-in-a-generation event” to remind everyone who shot first.

* And for those who don’t:

Posted at 6:44 pm by Ed Driscoll

THIS IS SOME CEASEFIRE: Iran Getting Spicy Again. “It appears the IRCG regards Trump’s slow economic strangulation via blockade as a bigger threat to their tenuous hold on power than American and Israel bombs falling on them. They’re probably correct in that assumption.”

Posted at 6:38 pm by Stephen Green

WELL, YEAH:

Posted at 6:23 pm by Stephen Green

SPRINGTIME FOR PLATNER: Democrats Go Into Their Dance.

“Don’t be stupid, be a smarty – come and join the Platner party!” is the collective refrain from Democrats (with rare exceptions) as they close ranks around the guy with the Nazi tattoo.

Now that Governor Janet Mills has dropped out of the primary race, the opportunity for Graham Platner to be the Democrat candidate for United States Senate in Maine is all but assured, and Democrats are willingly spinning this news as “happy and gay.”

Yes, yes, Graham Platner covered up his Totenkopf tattoo with a really shitty wolf-ish thing, but let’s all remember two things. First, he knew what that tattoo was (his own former campaign manager attests to that, as do other people who heard him talk about it), and second, he was totally fine with keeping that tattoo UNTIL he was running for office. So no, the Nazi apologetics coming from Democrats are pathetically disingenuous. Example A of this apologia comes from “Pod Save America” Obama bro Jon Favreau, who tried giving Hasan Piker an out (and Piker made a fool of him by affirming his fanboy love for Hamas), who is desperately singing a tune that he would rightfully rip Republicans for, if there was a Republican who had a Nazi tattoo running for office. As he himself says, he’s doubling down because of loyalty to the Party. Ahem. 

In 2014, Daniel Hannan wrote, “The greatest cultural victory of the Left has been to disregard the Nazi-Soviet Pact:”

To the modern reader, George Orwell’s depiction of how enmity alternates between Eurasia and Eastasia seems far-fetched; but when he published his great novel in 1948, such things were a recent memory. It suited Western Leftists, during and after the War, to argue that Hitler had been uniquely evil, certainly wickeder than Stalin. It was thus necessary to forget the enthusiasm with which the two tyrants had collaborated.

Flashforward to 2026, and Oceania has never wanted to punch Nazis: 

Tweet concludes, “It’s a story about how years and years of moral indignation from the Very Serious People™ class proved to be a paper-thin veneer over your team jerseys.”

UPDATE: Heh, indeed:

Posted at 6:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE GEORGE C. SCOTT HAS GONE BEFORE: Flipper Around, Find Out: Iran Weaponizing Dolphins for a New Porpoise.

The United States Navy’s dolphin doctrine began in 1960, when a study was conducted on a Pacific White-Sided dolphin to see if its shape or features allowed for less drag in the water. And if so, could that be applied to torpedoes to make them faster and longer-range?

Two years later in Point Magu, California, dolphin radar was studied to see if they could be used to detect mines. A year later, the Marine Mammal Program was underway, training descendants of Flipper to help out our Navy in their own unique way. The program was classified, but was still in limited use even as late as 2003 in the Gulf War.

Animal rights activists naturally hated the program from the outset. You thought environmentalists were bad, just imagine the vapors the PETA people got at the concept of dolphins being sent into harm’s way as an expendable asset.

According to open source information, most of the alleged porpoise purposes were defensive in nature – mine detection. Three weeks into the President’s naval blockade of traffic in and out of Iranian ports, the regime is resorting to using Flipper to carry and deploy mines, not to identify and defuse them.

In accordance with the prophecy:

Related: Iran Fires on Ships and US Navy Responds by Sinking Six of their “Fast Assault Boats.”

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

HOW’S THAT SAVE AMERICA ACT COMING ALONG, SENATOR THUNE?

Posted at 5:36 pm by Stephen Green

WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH BOY GEORGE IS A VOICE OF SANITY: Boy George Is a Mensch.

Ireland has a serious problem with antisemitism. Since Oct. 7, 2023, the Irish political class has cultivated an environment of extreme hostility toward Israel and Jews. Irish social media is a sewer.

Ireland is one of a handful of countries refusing to participate in the upcoming Eurovision song contest because Israeli artists will perform. Boy George has himself faced pressure to boycott the contest, at which he is slated to sing. “Are people asking me as a principled human being to turn my back on my Jewish friends?” he asked recently. “It’s not going to happen, it’s never going to happen.”

On Friday, Boy George demonstrated his courage by addressing the antisemitism in the room: “If you don’t know any Jewish people, maybe that’s the problem.” He turned to the Irish audience and challenged them. “Do you know any Jewish people?” Silence answered his question. “Look at the quiet. So weird.”

Boy George is a good man. He has integrity and guts. Let’s hope others in his industry see the value in challenging the antisemitism that is sadly taking root in Ireland and elsewhere. Courage tends to be contagious.

Read the whole thing.

Exit quote:

 

 

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

WHEN THEY TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE…:

Related (From Ed): Judge Apologizes to Would-Be Trump Assassin, Sparks Outrage.

Posted at 5:05 pm by Stephen Green

MAYBE IT’S TIME TO ADJUST EXPECTATIONS: A tiny world beyond Neptune has an atmosphere that shouldn’t exist. “In the cold reaches of the outer solar system lie thousands of small objects known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) because they lie outside the orbit of Neptune. A thin atmosphere has been observed around Pluto, the most famous TNO, but studies of other TNOs have yielded negative results. Most TNOs are so cold, and their surface gravity so weak, that they are not expected to retain atmospheres.”

Posted at 4:50 pm by Stephen Green

SO MUCH LEFTY VIOLENCE:

Posted at 4:48 pm by Glenn Reynolds

LIFE IMITATES STAR WARS:

Posted at 4:34 pm by Stephen Green

R.I.P. STEWART BAKER. I worked with him on some interesting stuff many years ago, and of course have known him as a blogger for decades. We sometimes disagreed, but he will be missed.

Posted at 3:55 pm by Glenn Reynolds

THANKS FOR NOTHING, DEMS: House bill Balances Colorado budget using taxpayer refunds.

Polis’ office suggests that, due to immediate reductions in state tax collections upon passage of the federal OBBBA, the state is entitled to recoup Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds accordingly.

However, as previously explained, Legislative Council Staff believed that the request was legally dubious and could exacerbate future fiscal challenges should the governor’s office be wrong.

Regardless, four members of the Joint Budget Committee decided to pursue recouping TABOR refunds from taxpayers, and House Bill 1419 is how they plan to do it.

Assuming the governor’s suggestion is legal, the state would retain $136.1 million in overcollected revenue that would otherwise be refunded back to taxpayers under TABOR in FY2026-27 and $153 million in FY2027-28.

However, if the Polis proposal is found illegal, the state would likely be required to repay the money at 10% annual interest, as required by TABOR.

But cut spending? Never.

Posted at 3:48 pm by Stephen Green