February 5, 2026

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: ‘There’ll Be Consequences’: Trump WH Warns Defense Contractors.

While the president loves a booming market, Trump has grown frustrated with prime defense contractors – heavy-weight companies with direct Pentagon contracts and Fortune 500 valuations – rewarding shareholders rather than reinvesting profits into their manufacturing capacity even as they fall behind in the delivery of weapons and systems.

“This situation,” Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post, “will no longer be allowed or tolerated!” He then issued an executive order that threatens to limit dividends, stock buybacks, and CEO pay.

One month later, the stock price of all five of the prime defense contractors – Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX – have all rebounded. None, however, have made new commitments on paying dividends, and just one company, Northrop Grumman, manufacturer of the new B-21 Stealth Bomber, has publicly announced that they plan to pause stock buybacks.

But that does not mean Trump isn’t getting his way. The saber-rattling seems to be working. Defense contractors are expected to increase reinvestment, spending capital on their own manufacturing capacity, by more than a third this year.

Nope, still not sick of all the winning.

Posted at 11:43 am by Stephen Green

LAUGHING WOLF ON ARTEMIS II: I’m actually hoping the upcoming mission slips not just to March, but into April.

First, Congress mandated out-of-date tech and other delights to keep certain companies and production lines open (and donations to politicians flowing). Old tech is not necessarily bad: I almost got to co-pilot a Ford Tri-Motor once (lost out to someone with a bit more seniority) and it was a fun and amazing flight. It works, but no one is trying to repurpose the Ford into a hypersonic aircraft, which is not a bad analogy for all the Shuttle-derived tech required by Congress for Artemis.

Second, there have been issues identified — and fixed in record time. Sorry, having worked at NASA as a contractor I’m not fully buying it. If I haven’t already done so, remind me to tell you about how a NASA safety fix that wasn’t tested ended the first tethered satellite system mission pretty much at the start. Short version is that I wouldn’t ride in that capsule. Your mileage may vary.

Third, the tech involved does not do well with cold weather launches. Challenger.

I feel better with Isaacman calling the shots — better, but not great.

Posted at 10:41 am by Stephen Green

AND NOW YOU KNOW… THE REST OF THE STORY:

Sounds more like the rule of law was coming for the judge.

Posted at 10:34 am by Stephen Green

FINALLY: How Billie Eilish OBLITERATED the Palestinian Narrative!

Because the claim that “this land was stolen from people who themselves never stole it” is historically false.

It’s false everywhere. False on the North American Continent. False on Japan. False in Africa. False just about everywhere humans have ever existed.

But you know who knows that better than anyone else? The Palestinians.

And Billie Eilish just DESTROYED the narrative that the land was stolen FROM THEM.

Because if she is willing to go back half a millennia with her arbitrary line of distinction, why not more than 2,000 years. It’s Palestinian land? Really? Let’s check who stole the land from the Jews (or Israelis or Hebrews):

Meanwhile, for some more recent history out of Palestine:

 

Posted at 10:22 am by Ed Driscoll

WOW: What One Australian Teen Did to Save His Family Is Superhuman. “A 13-year-old boy from Australia has gone viral after a superhuman display of heroics rescued his family after they drifted out to sea. And this is one of a million reasons why you won’t catch this writer out on the ocean or any other large body of water. That, and an irrational fear of giant squid. I don’t care what anyone says, the kraken is real.”

I don’t know about the kraken, but I sometimes miss living by the ocean.

Posted at 10:10 am by Stephen Green

RESPECTS, REALLY? It’s Time to Pay Our Last Respects to The Washington Post.

The body count is over 300 employees, a third of the Post’s workforce. Its books section is gone. Its international reporting will wither and likely die. And, as a point of personal privilege, the Post’s legendary sports section will evaporate. In my daily sportswriting days, there was no better or more talented crew to hang with at various events. I remember at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, I decided one day to write a column on water polo, of which I knew nothing. About five minutes after I sat down, the late Ken Denlinger of the Post sat down next to me. “So,” he said, “what’s going on in the game?” How in the hell do I know, I answered. “Well,” he said, “you’ve been here longer than me. You’re the veteran.” If there’s anything about those days that I miss, it’s the camaraderie of the press box, and it was always a party when the Post gang was there—Tom Boswell at the baseball games, Mike Wilbon and the late John Feinstein at some basketball arena or another, the great Sally Jenkins anywhere.

Ominously, and vaguely, Murray said that the revamped Post will consist of efforts that “will be focused on covering politics and government, and the paper will also prioritize coverage of nationals news and features topics like science, health, medicine, technology, climate, and business.”

Instead of respects, how about a little more mockery?

Plus: “I just gotta say it’s truly amazing how journalists can grovel for their jobs while effortlessly maintaining their condescension.”

Update: RB nailed it, too. I’m usually sympathetic to people getting laid off, but not this crew.

Posted at 9:39 am by Stephen Green

TAPS’ WPOST OBIT: Jeff Bezos warned the Washington Post newsroom two years ago that reality is an undefeated champion. Yesterday, one of every three newsroomers were let go as reality struck home. My Substack obit of what was once a great newspaper.

Posted at 8:51 am by Mark Tapscott

POLITICS IN THE WEST:

Posted at 8:42 am by Glenn Reynolds

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: CA ended non-resident carry ban, now will pay challengers’ lawyers $128K.

The deal comes four months after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a new gun law, known as AB 1078, which explicitly granted non-Californians the right to apply for a license to conceal and carry firearms in California, formally ending a longstanding ban.

However, the passage of that law only came after Bonta spent nearly two years in court attempting to defend the ban against legal challenges – a defense that continued up until the moment California lawmakers formally changed the law.

Those challenges were launched in 2023 by a coalition of Second Amendment rights groups and other organizations representing gun owners in California and elsewhere in the U.S.

Winning.

Posted at 8:37 am by Stephen Green

PREFERENCE CASCADE: AMA Now Says ‘Evidence Is Insufficient’ for Trans Surgeries.

And don’t just ask me, ask the originator of the term:

Posted at 8:09 am by Glenn Reynolds