April 17, 2026

WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY…

Posted at 6:11 pm by Stephen Green

INTERVIEW WITH VICTOR GLOVER, AMERICAN BAD-ASS: Artemis II pilot talks about what it was really like to fly and land in Orion.

The Lunar Science team won’t like it when I say this, but it’s the truth. If we had launched, done the rendezvous and proximity operations demo, and then had to emergency de-orbit, I would have considered us a massive success. Because that may be the only chance we get to test this really important capability.

We don’t plan to manually dock. It’s a crew interrupt. Boeing CFT (the Starliner Crew Flight Test in 2024, during which Butch Wilmore had to take control of the spacecraft during an emergency) has shown us when these things might need to be done. And Butch held position manually. He had to use his eyeballs to correlate where he was and just hold position. That was a critical moment for them to breathe, and for the team to collect themselves, because if they had tried to retreat or tried to continue docking with ISS, both of those would have been catastrophic.

So this capability, to me, was a huge milestone—now Artemis II gets to pass the baton to III and IV, whatever they are, docking, proximity ops again, landing. Those crews will have the peace of mind that the Artemis II test pilot said it was good to go. An engineer said it was good to go, and an F-18 pilot said it was good to go. That, to me, is unreal. We got so much juice for the squeeze on that.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 5:56 pm by Stephen Green

ALL THE VERY BEST PEOPLE ASSURED ME THIS NEVER HAPPENED:

Posted at 5:40 pm by Stephen Green

IT’S TIME FOR VICTORIA TAFT’S West Coast, Messed Coast™” Newsom’s Free Chesticles for Illegals Helped Quadruple CA’s Medi-Cal Costs “This week your humble correspondent offers some advice for when Democrats pretend to give a rip about ‘affordability.’ Remind them that before the ‘excursion’ in Iran temporarily raised gas prices, President Donald Trump’s prices never reached the heights of the prices planned and in place for the poor saps living on the West Coast, Messed Coast™. Add in the cost of free body parts for illegal alien trans people, and whoa.”

Posted at 5:25 pm by Stephen Green

CALIFORNIA FORBIDS OFFSHORE PRODUCTION, FORCES REFINERIES TO CLOSE, AND YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: California ‘running out of fuel’ as imports dry up, Trump needs to act to prevent crisis: experts.

These problems will extend far beyond the state. Nevada gets about 80% of its gasoline from California, and Arizona gets nearly half of its supply from the state. California is also home to a dozen ports through which a large portion of U.S. exports and imports are transferred, and the state is home to key West Coast military bases. It’s also nearly 15% of the U.S. economy. Without fuel, operations at California’s businesses and industries, and these important ports and bases, will be severely impacted.

While the war in Iran has raised the risk level from stressed to dangerous, Mische explained that the end of the conflict won’t immediately avert the crisis. If the exports of petroleum began to flow normally today, it would be a couple of months before the shortfalls would be addressed. Tankers would need to ship the products across the oceans. Refineries would have to be restarted, and back orders would need to be filled.

“You’re two months out. It’s crazy,” Mische said.

Self-government has proven a one-party-state disaster for California and its neighbors.

Alternate headline: What would we do without experts?

Posted at 4:54 pm by Stephen Green

WELL, WE’LL SEE:

Posted at 4:38 pm by Stephen Green

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: The $700,000 Foot Bath Fraud. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn the freakiest way to rip off health insurers, yet another reason not to use Mugshots.com as a dating app, and how they’re exiting the courtroom in Colorado these days.”

Posted at 4:23 pm by Stephen Green

WHY DID SESAME STREET GET THE WORKS? THAT’S NOBODY’S BUSINESS BUT THE TURKS:

Elmo has apparently been halal for a while now. From February: Elmo Wishes Ramadan Mubarak to All of His Friends.

As you’ve undoubtedly seen, it’s that time of year when politicians wish a blessed Ramadan to their constituents. As Twitchy reported, Rep. Sharice Davids copied and pasted her Ramadan Mubarak post, sending her best wishes to all of her Muslim neighbors in Nassau County … which doesn’t exist in Kansas. A lot of time and care go into these things.

A lot of people noted that Ash Wednesday sort of flew under the radar in favor of Ramadan. Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor Craig Greenberg lit up the Big Four Bridge in honor of Ramadan.

* * * * * * * *

Now, Elmo wishes a blessed Ramadan to all of his friends. Yes, we searched his timeline, too, and came up empty.

To be fair, it was a pretty schizophrenic February for the furry little bugger: No Bueno! Elmo Has Some ‘Splainin’ to Do After Creepy Reaction to Bad Bunny’s Very Adult Super Bowl Set.

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

REQUIRED READING:

Posted at 4:07 pm by Stephen Green

HMM:

Meanwhile, the US naval blockade on Iranian ports and vessels continues, even with Iran suddenly announcing that Hormuz is open again.

Posted at 3:36 pm by Stephen Green