The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
[Photo H/T: BirdRockDoc (Lurker)]
My kind of establishment. I wonder if The Fabulous was to leave me alone if I would get a puppy and a shot of espresso.
Good morning boys and girls and everything in between from behind enemy lines this morning. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few house keeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Escanaba)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be exceptional. Don't be Pretti Good.
3) Running with sharp objects will be on your permanent record.
4) Have a great weekend!!
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Daily Tech News 21 February 2026
—Pixy Misa
Top Story- Discord continues to go from strength to strength, at least insofar as the levels of mishandling its introduction of age verification and the number of users fleeing the platform. (Ars Technica)
I never much liked Discord; its interface is awkward and annoying. But the age verification thing was pretty much forced on it by fascist governments in Europe and, uh, Australia.
On the other hand, the company did itself no favours by claiming that uploaded ID documents would remain secure after they had already leaked.
And even less so with the latest incident where, after reasserting that documents would be deleted immediately after they were verified - which we already knew was untrue, because deleted documents can't be leaked - they contradicted themselves in an official announcement and then deleted the announcement and pretended they had never announced it.
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A Meme Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
—WeirdDave
Welcome everybody to Friday meme night!
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Vehicular Tension Cafe
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Chicago under the El, I assume
From this account but I don't think he's the photographer
Dogs that jilt their male owners in favor of the girlfriends.
Poor German shepherd overrun by fur-vermin.
Chubby dog on a strict diet pretends to be starving whenever a guest drops in.
A puppy at a "Puppy Yoga" session picks its new owner.
Extreme Makeover: Stray Dog Edition.
Old dog left chained outside all the time with no food or water is rescued.
Newborn elephant stands for the first time.
A cow appreciates all the hard work the guardian dog does.
Man holds the strings while dog strums the guitar.
The Olympics featured one moment I care about: A wolfdog decided to join in a skiing race.
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The Week in Woke
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Tom Bevan @TomBevanRCPYour terms are acceptable.
Only a brokebrain AWFUL would think that she has leverage over a conservative by arguing for less sexualization of young girls. Um, you're the Groomers who tell young girls to start giving blowjobs at age 12.
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretzThe Jill Filipovic tweet about elective surgery is a landmark. It reveals as few things ever have what life inside the left-liberal bubble is like as those inside imagine they understand the non-liberal perspective and think they know how to trip it up, when the opposite is true
This may shock you, but yet another Hate Crime Hoax massively advertised by the left-wing anti-civilization media has proven to be entirely fictitious.
The media will provide no apologies or explanations for once again inciting racial hatred against whites and encouraging mass violence by the left.
T. Becket Adams:
Hate crime hoaxes are nothing new, but during the "woke" overcorrection of the late teens and early 2020s, when Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer, Sports Illustrated put a man on the cover of a swimsuit issue, and everyone pretended to enjoy "Hamilton," they reached heretofore unimaginable heights.Consider the 2021 incident in Plano, Texas, where a white teenager, Asher Vann, was accused of "torturing" a black classmate, SeMarion Humphrey.
It was a shocking story, full of cruelty and racial animus.
It was also a total fiction.
It was March 2021 when Humphrey's mother, Summer Smith, alleged that Vann shot her son with BBs, slapped him, called him racial slurs, and even forced him to drink urine. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and the Dallas Morning News were among the first to jump on the story, each eager to report on the supposed indignities suffered by a black teen at the hands of an evidently racist white Texan. A leader of a Black Lives Matter-affiliated group claimed that Humphrey had been "tortured for hours." The NAACP organized marches. Vann was doxxed, and protesters gathered outside his home.
Smith, who described Vann as "evil," made the rounds on the networks. Her attorney, Kim Cole, launched a GiveSendGo campaign "to help with the expenses of therapy and private schooling" for Humphrey. The campaign, featured on Good Morning America, raised an impressive $120,000.
This was five years ago.
On Jan. 22 of this year, a Texas district court judge ordered Smith and Cole to pay $3.2 million in damages to Vann. The decision followed a jury's finding last year that the duo had fabricated the story and "intentionally inflicted severe emotional distress" on the young man.
As for the online donations, Humphrey's mother bogarted them. Of the $120,000 raised, only $1,000 went towards her son's schooling. Much of the rest was spent on luxury items, including "a designer dog, dining and travel, beauty products, liquor, vapes, cell phones, car payments, and rent," according to a Washington Free Beacon review of account statements.
As for Vann, he's now in college and moving on with his life, having spent the past five years weathering death threats and doxxing attempts.
Lastly, as for the media outlets that were so eager to promote the Humphrey hoax, none of them have published follow-up reports mentioning either the 2025 jury decision or the damages awarded by the Texas judge. Vann also told the Free Beacon that none of the news outlets that amplified Smith's allegations ever contacted him for comment. Not even once.
Read the whole thing.
Whatever you do, White Devils, you must always give black people the benefit of the doubt. Of course, black people do not owe you the same benefit of the doubt, Colonizers. You see, you can tell who the "oppressed" and the "oppressors" are, because the "oppressed" have special, state- and culture-enforced privileges, and the "oppressors" have special, state- and culture-enforced disadvantages.
Wait, what?
A woman in leftist-dominated Brazil is facing jail for saying, very controversially, that men cannot be women.
Is there some hope that the nation may return to sanity?
Surprising Revival: Gen Z Men & Highly Educated Lead Return to ReligionBy Joel Kotkin & Bheki Mahlobo, RealClearInvestigations
The decline of religion remains a fundamental reality in most Western countries, particularly in Europe, where over 50% of those under age 40 do not identify with any faith. Even in more religious America, some estimate that as many as 100,000 churches will close in the near future. Meanwhile, the ranks of "Nones," those outside religious communities, have grown so large that their numbers rival those of Catholics and evangelical Protestants.Yet, as we document in a new report for the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy, there are signs that religion is enjoying more than a nascent revival. Data emerging from the 2020s suggest that we are witnessing a complex spiritual restructuring that intersects with economic mobility, demographic resilience, and a profound intellectual realignment.
For the first time in decades, Pew Research notes, in the U.S. at least, Christianity has stopped its nosedive as more people begin to see the efficacy, and the rewards, of religious faith and practice.
This fragile development is especially noteworthy as it exposes growing divides and fault lines in American politics and culture. Drawing on a vast array of longitudinal studies, interviews, and other sources, one startling finding in both America and abroad is that, contrary to past assertions, today the faithful are not poor and ignorant but increasingly from the educated upper middle class.
Even the cognitive elites are experiencing a growing trend to embrace religious activity. Indeed, in a rebuke of the aggressive New Atheism of the early 2000s advanced by thought leaders such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, a counter-movement appears to be growing among scientists, philosophers, and public intellectuals who view religious tradition not as a delusion to be eradicated but as a sustainable civilizational operating system.
As our politics splinter along gender -- with women increasingly forming the base for Democrats and men, for Republicans -- it is men who are leading the return to church. Reversing a 25-year-long trend, men reported higher church attendance than women in 2025. This growing divide may continue to separate men and women, with grave implications at a time when rates of marriage and parenthood are declining.
Even in places where religion continues to decline, the remaining faithful are shifting away from more liberal faiths to those hewing closer to traditional values. For many, more orthodox sects provide existential security and create a sustainable sense of community.
As our report makes clear, the budding religious revival taking place in the U.S. reflects a global trend, especially strong in Africa, which is now the most demographically robust place on the planet.
The implications and promise of this trend cannot be overstated. Data show that religious communities function as potent engines of human capital accumulation, risk mitigation, and social capital. These mechanisms effectively propel adherents up the socioeconomic ladder.
Mamdani is threatening to jack up property tax rates by nearly 10%. (9.5%.) Homeowners, including the black ones (note that Mamdani's communist advisor on rent says she wants to punish white property owners, but conceded that black property owners would be acceptable collateral damage) are now attacking Mamdani for this betrayal.
A transgender state rep from Minnesota -- where else would he have come from? -- says that we should not impose age-verification blocks on porn sites because children might find the hardcore deviant porn "educational if they are queer."
A further milestone in queer education:
Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok12h
JUST IN: Sec of War Pete Hegseth confirms the male teacher at Fort Bragg who identifies as a transgender wolf has been FIRED
He allegedly engaged in s*xual inappropriate behavior in class, wore women's clothing, a dog collar, and an animal tail, and told children he turns into a wolf at night while making them howl
Thank you @SecWar!!
2 illegal alien 'perverts' allegedly sodomized, beat, ripped fingernails off male victim in NC home invasion
Jonathan David Garcia-Larios was previously deported in 2024EXCLUSIVE: The two men arrested in an atrocious North Carolina home invasion last week have been identified as criminal illegal aliens from Mexico who allegedly terrorized a male victim by sodomizing and beating him and ripping out his fingernails, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
The overnight ambush, which Pitt County authorities said involved at least three male suspects, occurred in a quiet Greenville suburb last Wednesday.
"Two heinous criminals broke into the victim's home and used a sharp, edged weapon and restrained him against his will," DHS said, citing local outlet Reflector.
"This is a real-life nightmare. Burglarizing, kidnapping, assaulting, and sodomizing, and ripping off the fingernails of an innocent victim are extremely wicked and heinous," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin added in a statement.
The two undocumented immigrants were identified as 21-year-old Chapel Hill resident Zaid Mayen and 20-year-old Jonathan David Garcia-Larios, a homeless man who was previously deported from the U.S. in 2024. They were arrested last Friday with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals and local law enforcement.
Authorities noted that the suspects entered the U.S. at an unknown date and time.
DHS added that the "two sexual perverts and violent thugs" unleashed a series of horrific attacks despite having no known criminal record in the U.S.
"Zaid Mayen-Esteban and Jonathan David Garcia-Larios should have never been in this country. Prior to this heinous act, these illegal aliens had no criminal record in the U.S," McLaughlin said.
"Under Secretary Noem's leadership we are not waiting for illegal aliens to commit crimes before we target them for arrest and removal. We pray for the continued recovery of this innocent victim."
The unnamed victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of injuries and "thankfully survived," DHS said.
Fox hails this as an "exclusive" -- but of course it's an exclusive. The leftwing propaganda networks absolutely refuse to report on illegal alien crime.
Oh myyyy:
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China Is Sending Pregnant Women to the US to Give Birth, Have Their Children Declared American Citizens, Move Back to China, and Then Have Them Vote in US Elections When They Reach Age 18
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer, who previously exposed how much cash congressmen were taking on the sly, reports that China is directing CCP-connected pregnant women to engage in "birth tourism." They "dip a toe" into the US to have a baby, get that baby certified as a citizen, and the bring it to China to be raised under the communist system as a loyal communist stooge.
Then when the kid turns 18, he is eligible to vote in US elections. China is doing this on an "industrial scale," he says, and has already created one million Manchurian Voters it will have vote from overseas to turn US elections to the Chinese communist party's favor.
He makes the case that this is only possible due to the bizarre notion of "birthright citizenship," and we must end this judge-created mistake or else China will be electing all of our politicians in ten or twenty years.
That video below the fold.
The GOP is pushing a law that would end incentives for Chinese birth tourism. Note that it wouldn't end birthright citizenship, though, or ban pregnant Chinese women from visiting the US.
It would, however, end an Obama-Biden rule that allows Chinese nationals to get a quickie visa. Like, when they start feeling contractions.
Three Republican senators are urging the Trump administration to shut down visa and parole programs they say allow Chinese nationals to exploit US citizenship laws through birth tourism and surrogacy.Sens. Rick Scott, Jim Banks, and Markwayne Mullin sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum calling the programs a national security risk. They argue the policies allow nationals from Communist China to gain fast-track access to US citizenship through children born in US territories.
The senators focused on the Guam--Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Visa Waiver Program and a newer offshoot created under the Biden administration. They said the programs allow visa-free entry for Chinese nationals and have fueled a sharp rise in birth tourism in Saipan.
"We write to express our gratitude for your commitment to protecting the homeland from foreign threats," the senators wrote. They said an Obama- and Biden-era policy allows Chinese nationals "to obtain fast-track American citizenship," calling it a "clear and significant short- and long-term national security risk".
The letter cites a Wall Street Journal investigation that found Chinese nationals increasingly using the US surrogacy system to secure citizenship for their children. The senators said these practices often occur outside traditional immigration vetting.
Of course, we shouldn't worry about that too much, because Democrats are already allowing straight-up foreigners from hostile countries to vote in our elections.
Many social media users were wondering if this actually happened and if what he said about the "honor system" of registering to vote online in California is correct; yes, it did, and yes, he's correct. Shakir Khan, a Pakistani immigrant and now-former city councilman from Lodi, California, was arrested in February, 2023 and charged with 14 felonies related to election fraud....
But the details of what Khan allegedly did are even more alarming than what's stated in this weekend's viral tweets. This case is a grab bag of every worst-case scenario that can come out of the combination of online voter registration, universal mail ballots, and ballot harvesting.
Here are the highlights (more detail can be found in the 2023 story, and all of it is taken from the press conference at the end of this piece):
During a raid of Khan's home in October 2020 on unrelated charges, officials observed a stash of 41 sealed and completed mail ballots for the 2020 presidential election. Due to CA's ballot harvesting laws the ballots were not seized, but investigators photographed the ballots and documented their findings.In the fall of 2021, officials noticed 70 people were registered to vote at one address in Lodi, which they recognized as Khan's.
Sheriff's investigators determined that Khan had used the state's online voter registration system to re-register existing California voters from other districts to his address, and at least a few non-citizens living in foreign countries (including his brother in Pakistan) to vote using his address, email address, or phone number.
Investigators reviewed the ballot return envelopes from ballots cast in the 2020 general election, which had been maintained by the Registrar, and found that many of those tied to Khan's address all had the same handwriting on the outside.
...
Khan forced voters whose information he'd hijacked to vote for him and for Joe Biden, either by filling them out himself or threatening the voter.
When Khan heard that investigators were speaking to people he'd fraudulently registered to vote, he posted a video to TikTok to threaten and intimidate them.
See the link to RedState for more.
Foreign pirates and conquerors are stealing our country out from under us.
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Educational Excellence: "Honors Student" Who Cannot Read or Write Sues Government School Which Allowed Her to Graduate as a Complete Illitarate
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Incredible.
But it's not. We all know these failure factors are churning out one illiterate after another and scamming the taxpayer $30,000 per student per year for this "service."
A Connecticut college student is suing the Hartford Board of Education and the city of Hartford for negligence.Nineteen-year-old Aleysha Ortiz says she graduated from high school with honors and earned a college scholarship, but she can't read or write.
In some ways, Ortiz is living an American dream.
The 19-year-old began her freshman year at the University of Connecticut in Hartford this past fall.
She's excited to study public policy; it's the culmination of hard work after moving north from Puerto Rico as a child.
By the way, the problem isn't that she speaks Spanish. She's spoken English since birth.
She cannot read or write in any language.
"I remember I was very nervous, but I know it was going to be better opportunities for me to learn," Ortiz remarked.
But Ortiz says those opportunities never came to fruition.
"All I see is words everywhere," Ortiz said.
Ortiz graduated from the Hartford Public Schools system last year, but she says she is now illiterate and still doesn't know how to read or write.
"They would just either tell me to stay in a corner and sleep or just draw pictures, flowers for them," Ortiz said about her earlier education.
When she was in high school, Ortiz relied on speech-to-text programs and other apps to read or write essays.
Ortiz said her mother, who does not speak English well, tried to get answers.
"She advocated so much," Ortiz said. "She went to the school. The principal promised her that it would be better. Sometimes it would be people from the district or the directors promising her they would do better."
Now, Ortiz is suing the Hartford Board of Education and the city for negligence.
...
Turner fears a crucial guardrail will be lost if President Donald Trump's administration follows through with abolishing the Department of Education.
"How do I protect the special education children?" Turner asked. "Who do I go to if I close it down?"
Oh yeah, we have to keep the Department of Education open. It's done such a bang-up job so far.
Now I know this girl seems to have cheated her way through school, and undoubtedly, she has the first responsibility for her own education. She and her mother.
But this school appears to have just passed this illiterate dum-dum through grade after grade without every verifying she could read simple sentences at a five-year-old level.
Hey I know how we can improve government teacher performance: Just pay them more.
That will attract new talent.
Oh, but also, you're not allowed to actually hire new talent. We have written the law to require that teachers have useless degrees in education, which is a huge entry barrier to people who studied more useful things in college, and who don't want to go back to school for three years to be a teacher.
So we'll just pay the existing, horrible teachers more. This will attract new talent... from within them!
Second headline:
Left-Wing Teachers Oppose Deporting Criminal Illegal Aliens Because They'll Get Less Money if Illegal Alien Children Leave the Country
Mark Krikorian
@MarkSKrikorian"Public schools depend on the children of illegal aliens to keep up enrollment levels and extract more money from state taxpayers."
It's all about the kids with these teachers. All about the kids.
Nothing but the kids.
Powerline:
This, from the Minneapolis Star Tribune,
School leaders fear declining attendance during ICE surge will also lower state funding.Public schools depend on the children of illegal aliens to keep up enrollment levels and extract more money from state taxpayers.
More students means more teachers, which means more public school teacher union members, which means more union dues, which means bigger donations to the Democratic party....
Democrats in Minnesota have gone all-in on an illegal-immigrant-based economy....
To that end, public schools in Minnesota have sued the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security in an effort to kick ICE out of the state (File No. 26-cv-1023). It's one of many such lawsuits filed by Democrats and Democrat-controlled institutions.The Star Tribune reports,
Because the money to pay teachers, counselors, bus drivers and principals is tied to attendance, officials fear prolonged absences by students in hiding will lead to declining state funding for schools.
FischerKing
@FischerKing6422h
This would be funny if it weren't so serious. Illegal alien children in American public schools degrade education for everyone across the board because of the lack of English proficiency, which slows everything down, prevents native students from getting the education their parents pay for through taxes. But the schools/teachers/unions actually want illegals because it drives up enrollment - which means more funding, more teachers etc. So those taxpayers wind up paying more but getting less. This is from the Minneapolis tribune, will link to full article in next post.
In better education news: Three red states, Alabama, Mississippi, and Lousiana, are seeing historic gains in student learning by using teaching techniques that actually work.
These aren't new techniques. They're very old techniques. They're techniques the left-wing, grifter educrat establishment chucked aside to pursue novel, failing techniques because educrats don't get paid if they just tell people to keep using the same techniques that worked in the past.
No, the EduGrifters only get paid if they propose something New! and Counter-Intuitive!
The educrats are constantly proposing new pedagogies for the exact same reason they put out a new Madden Football every single year: Churn. You have to keep churning out new product to keep your business going.
Soaking wet lefty Nicholas Kristof of the NYT is surprised to find out that it's conservative states, not his beloved edugrifter blue ones, who are actually teaching children how to read and do math.
A ray of hope is emerging in American education.
Not among Democrats or Republicans, each diverted by culture wars.
Actually, Nick, it is among Republicans.
Nice try though!
Not in the education reform movement, largely abandoned by the philanthropists who once propelled it.
The edugrifter's "reform" movement that has produced nothing but failure upon failure for 50 years? Yes, quite right, the hope isn't coming from them.
Rather, hope emerges in the most unlikely of places: three states here in the Deep South that long represented America's educational basement.
Why is that so unlikely? Oh, because leftwingers, who fail at everything, are so smart and talented, right?
These states -- Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi -- have histories of child poverty, racism and dismal educational outcomes, and they continue to spend less than most other states on public schools.
Oh they spend less? Well everyone knows that when you give every kid a $700 laptop and pay their teachers on the level of lawyers, educational achievement goes up.
Oh wait it doesn't. Never did.
Yet, consider:Louisiana ranks No. 1 in the country in recovery from pandemic losses in reading, while Alabama ranks No. 1 in math recovery.The state with the lowest chronic absenteeism in schools is Alabama, according to a tracker with data from 40 states.
Once an educational laughingstock, Mississippi now ranks ninth in the country in fourth-grade reading levels -- and after adjusting for demographics such as poverty and race, Mississippi ranks No. 1, while Louisiana ranks No. 2, according to calculations by the Urban Institute. Using the same demographic adjustment, Mississippi also ranks No. 1 in America in both fourth-grade and eighth-grade math.
Black fourth graders in Mississippi are on average better readers than those in Massachusetts, which is often thought to have the best public school system in the country (and one that spends twice as much per pupil).
I wrote about Mississippi's educational successes in 2023, but many of my fellow liberals then scoffed at the notion of learning from a state so tainted.
Oh an admission that lefties really think the sun shines out of their assholes and have contempt for anyone not like them. (You know, like true tolerant, welcoming cosmopolitans.)
Skeptics, mostly on the left, have made many critiques of the gains, including that they fade in upper grades, that the states are cheating, that this is all a temporary blip and that any progress is simply a result of holding back weak readers.The critiques have been effectively rebutted -- for starters, they can't explain the continuing gains in Mississippi or the magnitude of the gains. Just as striking, the Mississippi gains increasingly are being replicated in Alabama and Louisiana, as they follow similar approaches. That's enormously encouraging, for it suggests that other states can also lift student trajectories if they are willing to learn from Southern red states they may be more accustomed to looking down on.
So I traveled through Mississippi and Alabama with the photographer Lynsey Addario to understand the lessons to be learned. Perhaps the most important is an insistence on metrics, accountability and mastery of reading by the end of third grade. And while reading gets the attention, just as important is getting kids to attend school regularly.
By "metrics," he means testing kids to make sure they are learning.
And as you know, our failing teacher-grifters are adamantly opposed to testing -- which they deride as merely "teaching to the test" (as has historically been done) -- because testing kids reveals their own failure to teach them and undermines their case for the next big raise during their next teachers strike.
..In classrooms and offices, teachers and administrators frequently mentioned the motivating power of report cards -- not the letter grades given out by schools, but those they (the schools themselves) receive.
Well what do you know, testing and measuring actually improves performance.
Literally everyone who is not an ideologically-captured denialist knows this. It is true in every field. "What gets measured, gets improved," the saying goes.
And what doesn't get measured is allowed to slide and slide until it becomes a disaster. Ask your friends in Minnesota about how their practice of not checking up on social welfare businesses turned out.
..What I see is schools fighting for their students. These states have created a structure that closely monitors each school's performance and incentivizes principals and teachers alike to do everything they can to get kids back in class and learning.
Teachers union teachers are adamant that they not be measured for actual job performance, so good luck with that in the blue states.
For many years, skeptics have offered dispiriting arguments about the prospects for educational gains: The way to improve literacy is to fix the family, fix addiction, fix the parents, for as long as the child's environment is broken, there's not much else that can be done.
The gains in these states suggest that that critique is wrong. Mississippi and Alabama haven't fixed child poverty, trauma and deeply troubled communities -- but they have figured out how to get kids to read by the end of third grade.
This matters in myriad ways: One recent study found that states with large increases in school test scores enjoyed rising incomes and drops in teen motherhood, incarceration and arrest rates compared with states that didn't enjoy such gains.
What's particularly impressive is that the Southern surge states lifted student achievement with only modest budgets. Spending per pupil in Alabama and Mississippi was below $12,000 in 2024, while in New York it was almost $30,000.
That's worth celebrating and emulating. Yet, unfortunately, there's not much sign of that.
No. I wonder why.
By the way, Kristof focused on these schools' fight to reduce truancy and make sure students actually show up for class.
He completely refused to mention which pedagogy they employ. Are they using time-tested phonics, thrown on the scrapheap by edugrifter "reformers' in the seventies, or the "whole word" reading, where supposedly you just look at a word and its meaning magically appears in a student's mind, which the edugrifters used as an improvement over phonics and then saw students become illiterate?
Well Nick and the New York Times won't tell you so I will, with an assist from Google AI:
Alabama public schools use the Science of Reading, focusing on systematic phonics, phonemic awareness, and explicit instruction through programs like the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI), mandated by the Alabama Literacy Act (2019), which requires K-3 reading proficiency, teacher training, and bans the ineffective three-cueing system to build strong decoding and comprehension skills for all students.
A "phoneme" is just a part of a word, like "sh" or "nt," or just any single letter, that makes a specific sound. In other words, just phonics.
Why did Nick Kristof hide this information from readers?
Even when he's telling liberals "you should emulate the Alabama system," he can't be honest about it.
Why? Because leftists and their "experts" are facing the worst legitimacy and credibility crisis in Western history and they can't afford admitting another huge "L."
So they'll just pretend, publicly, that the Alabama plan is just about New! and Exciting! education reforms made to reduce truancy.
But they're the honest, good, caring, kind people only motivated by concerns for the public good and entirely untainted by grubby tribal concerns like always making sure your tribe comes out on top. Just ask them!
Or just read the signs on their lawns! "In this house, We Believe..."
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Democrats Shut Down DHS, Attempting to Force Trump to Accept Biden's Open Borders Regime As the Law of the Land
—Disinformation Expert Ace
DHS funding ran out last Friday.
Christian Collins @CollinsforTX
Due to the Democrat shutdown:- TSA agents are working without pay
- FEMA workers are working without pay
- DHS employees are working without pay.Meanwhile, Democrats have just announced a "Trans Bill of Rights."
These unserious politicians need to be voted out.
Ironically, the incompetent Democrat Theater-Kids and Groomers aren't shutting down ICE at all, which was fully funded for a year under the Big Beautiful Bill:
Nick Sortor @nicksortorBREAKING: The US Senate has just FAILED to advance the DHS funding bill, which means DHS will likely shutdown tomorrow night
Fetterman was the lone Democrat to vote in favor.
These idiots aren’t shutting down ICE, because ICE is FULLY FUNDED for the year.
They’re shutting down the Coast Guard, TSA, Cybersecurity agencies, and more. Democrats are putting our country at risk for PURE POLITICS.
Disgusting.
For his part, Trump's playing hardball.
If you recall, when Republicans have shut the government down, Democrats have always employed what is called "the Washington Monument Strategy" to make shutdowns as painful as possible for the public. They not only shut down parks, but they had park personnel, who were on furlough, act like cops and chase visitors out.
Obama even had Rangers working near Mount Rushmore drag chains across a turn-off on a local road to keep people from parking their cars just to look at the monument.
They spent government money, in short, during a shutdown to punish the public so that they'd pressure Republicans to cave.
Trump is taking a page from the Democrats.
President Donald Trump's administration has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to suspend the deployment of hundreds of aid workers to disaster-affected areas around the country while the Department of Homeland Security is shut down, internal messages reviewed by Reuters showed.DHS, which FEMA is part of, entered a partial shutdown on Saturday, but has largely continued to operate since most of its functions are deemed essential. The shutdown happened after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms.
"DHS has issued a stop-travel order for all DHS funded travel, effecting 2/18/26, for the duration of the lapse in appropriation. Currently this DOES include disaster travel," according to an internal email sent by Kurt Weirich, a chief of staff at FEMA.
More than 300 FEMA disaster responders were preparing for upcoming assignments but were told to stand down, including some who are currently at a training facility, CNN reported earlier.
A Maryland sewer line just burst and is pumping in tons and tons of unprocessed shit and piss into the Potomac.
But FEMA's not coming.
The freeze comes after Trump said on Monday the federal government will step in to protect the Potomac River following the collapse of a major sewer pipe in the Washington, D.C., region last month.A sewer line in Montgomery County, Maryland, collapsed on Jan. 19, causing an overflow of more than 240 million gallons (909 million liters) of wastewater into the Potomac River.
Trump said FEMA, which has seen significant staff cuts since he took office in January 2025, will coordinate the response. So far, however, FEMA has deployed few, if any, resources to assist with the sewage spill, CNN reported, citing three agency officials.
CNN has never before objected to the Washington Monument Strategy. Suddenly they're all "But the public shouldn't suffer for Washington's squabbles!"
This is the Democrat Party -- the Party of Illegal Aliens. The Party Against the American People.
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Congressional Democrats Will Introduce Law to Assert Some Unknown Federal Power to Regulate State Health Codes, and Insist That Hospitals Must Continue Mutilating Children's Genitals and Breasts
—Disinformation Expert Ace
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Trump: "Bad Things" Will Happen to Iran If They Don't Agree to Stop Producing Uranium, Building Long-Range Missiles, and Funding Hamas;
Meanwhile, the USS Ford Closes In on Iran
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Is Trump ready to strike Iran? I don't put a lot of stock in Lindsey Graham's insane, low-T ramblings, but he claims the decision to strike has already been made:
Insider Paper @TheInsiderPaperBREAKING: Senator Lindsey Graham, in an interview with Sky News Arabia: "The US decision regarding Iran has already been made. The ships are not arriving in the area only because the weather is pleasant at this time of year"
Yeah I dunno. Trump's mind is very changeable. And he's often both ingratiating and noncommittal, meaning he'll speak to someone and make vague noises that sound like agreement but actually are not definite and don't commit him to anything.
There may be a roadblock, too: "Our great allies" in the Ummah Kingdom of Great Britain are forbidding us from using our base in Diego Garcia in any strikes on Iran:
Faytuks Network @FaytuksNetworkThe UK has blocked U.S. use of RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia for Iran strikes, citing international law, leading Trump to withdraw support for Starmer's £35B Chagos Islands handover deal with Mauritius. Senior UK officials privately called the situation 'bleak.' - The Times
On the other hand, we've moved one-third of our Navy and a huge number of jets into the area. "Experts," whatever that means now, say there's a 90% chance of hostilities.
A massive fleet of US warplanes is heading to Iran to lay the groundations to bomb the Islamic Republic.Aircraft including combat jets and support plane like air-to-air refuellers are flying to the Middle East - just hours after Iran launched a series of wargames.
These manoeuvres, in conjunction with the approaching USS Gerald R Ford strike group and USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, have led insiders to estimate that there is a 90 per cent chance of war.
Former Israeli intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said he believes a strike would happen in a "matter of days".
The fleet of planes includes more than 50 American fighter jets, which include F-35s and F-16s, and dozens of air-to-air refuelling tankers.
One source within the administration told Axios: "The boss is getting fed up. Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is a 90 per cent chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks."
The USS Ford will reportedly be poised to strike by next week.
Trump says "bad things" will happen if Iran does not agree to his demands.
Iran held annual military drills with Russia on Thursday as a second American aircraft carrier drew closer to the Middle East, with both the United States and Iran signaling they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran's nuclear program fizzle out.President Donald Trump said he believes 10 to 15 days is "enough time" for Iran to reach a deal. But the talks have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups. Indirect talks held in recent weeks made little visible progress, and one or both sides could be buying time for final war preparations.
Iran insists that the only thing it will discuss is its nuclear program, and also, it will not make any concessions regarding its nuclear program.
Let's definitely keep talking to them!
Iran's theocracy is more vulnerable than ever following 12 days of Israeli and U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites and military last year, as well as mass protests in January that were violently suppressed. But it is still capable of striking Israel and U.S. bases in the region, and has warned that any attack would trigger a regional war.
The war will be fought in the region of Tehran.
Iran earlier this week launched a drill that involved live-fire in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow opening of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world's traded oil passes.
Tensions are also rising inside Iran, as mourners hold ceremonies honoring slain protesters 40 days after their killing by security forces. Some gatherings have seen anti-government chants despite threats from authorities.
The movements of additional American warships and airplanes, with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier near the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, don't guarantee a U.S. strike on Iran -- but it bolsters Trump's ability to carry out one should he choose to do so.
...
The official said top national security officials gathered Wednesday to discuss Iran, and were briefed that the "full forces" needed to carry out potential military action are expected to be in place by mid-March. The official did not provide a timeline for when Iran is expected to deliver its written response."It's proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran, and we have to make a meaningful deal. Otherwise bad things happen," Trump said Thursday.
...Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urged his nation's citizens to immediately leave Iran as "within a few, a dozen, or even a few dozen hours, the possibility of evacuation will be out of the question." He did not elaborate, and the Polish Embassy in Tehran did not appear to be drawing down its staff.
The German military said that it had moved "a mid-two digit number of non-mission critical personnel" out of a base in northern Iraq because of the current situation in the region and in line with its partners' actions. It said that some troops remain to help keep the multinational camp running in Irbil, where they train Iraqi forces.
This image provided Thursday Feb. 19, 2026 by the Iranian military and dated...
"This week, another 50 U.S. combat aircraft -- F-35s, F-22s, and F-16s -- were ordered to the region, supplementing the hundreds deployed to bases in the Arab Gulf states," the New York-based Soufan Center think tank wrote. "The deployments reinforce Trump's threat -- restated on a nearly daily basis -- to proceed with a major air and missile campaign on the regime if talks fail."
On the other hand, this genius warns us that Iran's missile system is mighty and will send the US fleet to the bottom of the sea.
Say how did Iran's drones, anti-ship missiles, and anti-aircraft missiles work in Venezuela? I heard not so good. What did you hear?
And now, as reported by the WSJ via Ed Morrissey, Trump is considering launching a "limited" strike against Iran to convince them he is serious and prod them to make actual concessions on nukes, missiles, and funding terrorist proxies.
I think that's kind of dumb. Nothing convinces an opponent you are not serious than your preference to deliver mere pinprick Attitude Adjustment strikes.
Talks continue between Iran, the US, and the various mediators hoping to avert military action as the weekend approaches. Thus far, Iran still thinks it can get a new JCPOA, while Donald Trump still thinks he can force them to deal rationally. Both sides appear ready to be disappointed, at the very least.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that the regime's nuclear program will survive both the strikes in June and the coming reckoning from the US armada assembling in the Persian Gulf. Araghchi did offer yet another deal in which Iran just postpones the inevitable...In other words, Araghchi offers only a restoration of Barack Obama's 2015 Iran deal,
...
If the Iranians remain locked in a JCPOA fantasy, Trump may be stuck in some misapprehensions of his own. The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House is now considering a limited opening strike, perhaps to push the Iranians into concessions on ballistic missiles and terror proxies. That strategy has its own problems:
President Trump is weighing an initial limited military strike on Iran to force it to meet his demands for a nuclear deal, a first step that would be designed to pressure Tehran into an agreement but fall short of a full-scale attack that could inspire a major retaliation.The opening assault, which if authorized could come within days, would target a few military or government sites, people familiar with the matter said. If Iran still refused to comply with Trump's directive to end its nuclear enrichment, the U.S. would respond with a broad campaign against regime facilities--potentially aimed at toppling the Tehran regime.
The first limited-strike option, which hasn't been previously reported, signals Trump might be open to using military force not only as a reprimand for Iran's failure to make a deal, but also to pave the way for a U.S.-friendly accord. One of the people said Trump could ratchet up his attacks, starting small before ordering larger strikes until the Iranian regime either dismantles its nuclear work or falls.
There are many lessons of Vietnam, but one of the biggest ones is that slow escalation is a terrible strategy. An enemy can absorb small attacks and disruptions and adapt to them.
The right strategy is the same optimal strategy for picking up a girl at a bar: Go Ugly Early.
By 6-3 Vote, Supreme Court Rules All of Trump's Tariffs Illegal
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Of course Roberts and Coney-Barrett joined the left. I don't know why we say "joined the left." They're on the left.
Just going to guess that the libertarian Gorsuch also joined the left. (Update: He did. Actually I also just guessed that the liberal cooze Coney-Barrett once again joined the left, and that guess was right as well. Although it's barely a "guess," is it?)
The Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's far-reaching global tariffs on Friday, handing him a significant loss on an issue crucial to his economic agenda.The 6-3 decision centers on tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law, including the sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs he levied on nearly every other country.
It's the first major piece of Trump's broad agenda to come squarely before the nation's highest court, which he helped shape with the appointments of three conservative jurists in his first term.
The majority found that the Constitution "very clearly" gives Congress the power to impose taxes, which include tariffs. "The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.
Except that Congress has also been determined to have the power to delegate this power to Executive decision-making -- which is exactly what Congress did, in granting the President the power to "regulate... importation" in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented."The tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy. But as a matter of text, history, and precedent, they are clearly lawful," Kavanaugh wrote.
Trump called the majority decision "a disgrace" when he was notified during his morning meeting with several governors, according to someone with direct knowledge of the president's reaction, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation.
...
The majority did not address whether companies could get refunded for the billions they have collectively paid in tariffs. Many companies, including the big-box warehouse chain Costco, have already lined up to demand refunds in lower courts. Kavanaugh noted the process could be complicated.
"The Court says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the Government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers. But that process is likely to be a 'mess,' as was acknowledged at oral argument," he wrote.
The Treasury had collected more than $133 billion from the import taxes the president has imposed under the emergency powers law as of December, federal data shows. The impact over the next decade was estimated at some $3 trillion.
Gunther Eagleman @GuntherEagleman16m
🚨BREAKING: Justice Clarence Thomas just UNLEASHED pure FIRE in his dissent on the tariff ruling, dropping TRUTH BOMBS that expose the majority's BS and defend President Trump's America First authority like a boss!
He didn't mince words. He straight-up NAILED it:
"NEITHER the statutory text nor the Constitution provide a basis for ruling against the President."
BOOM. Read that again. The Constitution and the law ITSELF back Trump--no ifs, ands, or buts.
Thomas keeps swinging:
"Congress authorized the President to 'regulate . . . importation.' Throughout American history, the authority to 'regulate importation' has been understood to include the authority to impose duties on imports."
Historical facts don't care about your feelings, globalists.
He doubles down:
"The meaning of that phrase was beyond doubt by the time that Congress enacted this statute, shortly after President Nixon's highly publicized duties on imports were UPHELD based on identical language."
Nixon did it. Courts said YES. Same exact words. Case closed.
Then the kill shot:
"The statute that the President relied on therefore authorized him to impose the duties on imports at issue in these cases."
Crystal. Clear.
Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius19m
So let me get this straight. Congress can totally delegate extreme, life-changing powers to rogue federal executive agencies like the EPA for 50+ years, but it cannot delegate tariff power to the President?
I know the laws governing the two issues are not the same, but the absurd inconsistency is the only thing laymen see.
Actually, Justice Gorsuch seems to be driving at that in his concurrence. There is a question about whether Congress even has the power to delegate its constitutional powers. Prior rulings that it can do this is what empowered the gigantic leviathan state we now live in. Some people want to overturn that system of congressional delegation of the powers the Constitution grants solely to it.
Gorsuch wants to know why the liberal justices want to read this and only this statute of being incapable of granting the president congressional powers, while permitting every other statute to delegate equal powers to the president. He seems to want to go further and overturn the entire system of Congress granting the Executive law-making power so it can churn out Infinite Laws, and mocks the majority for keeping that system in place while finding a violation only with Trump's use of congressionally-delegated power.
Continue reading
THE MORNING RANT: General Motors Hires Another Senior Executive from a Money-Losing EV Startup
—Buck Throckmorton
Most start-up businesses fail, especially in tech and tech-adjacent sectors. Accordingly, most startups also lose their investors’ money. A small percentage of start-ups succeed, and when their founders and investors eventually sell, they enjoy a well-earned windfall for the entrepreneurial risk and hard work they put in to the enterprise. A miniscule number of start-ups become giant corporations.
General Motors - which is already an industrial giant – is staffing its senior executive offices with new hires whose corporate experience is at money-losing start-ups selling niche products. GM cannot succeed by employing a start-up strategy, but it certainly can fail. Inexplicably that is the direction General Motors’ executives and board have chosen to proceed.
It was just announced that General Motors has hired Claudia Gast away from EV manufacturer Lucid Motors to be its new Vice President of Strategy, Corporate Development, and Technology Partnerships. In this role she will report directly to CEO Mary Barra. Ms. Gast will actually be wearing two C-Suite hats, as she will also be the new Deputy Chief Financial Officer, reporting directly to the CFO in that capacity. Ms. Gast’s role at Lucid Motors was Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development.
This hiring announcement comes on the heels of news that GM’s presumed CEO-in-training, Sterling Anderson, is also a new hire from a money-losing start-up. As I documented in a recent piece at The American Spectator (“EVs and Autonomous Vehicles: General Motors’ Doomed Focus on Unprofitable Boutique Products”), Mr. Anderson was hired less than a year ago from Aurora Innovation, a tech start-up he co-founded that is pursuing the grail of self-driving semi-trucks. After losing $4 billion over the past four years at Aurora, and putting less than 10 test vehicles on Texas interstates, Mr. Anderson left Aurora and has quickly positioned himself to be General Motors’ next CEO. CNBC reported a few weeks ago that Mr. Anderson “has consolidated power to oversee ‘the end-to-end product lifecycle’ of GM vehicles, including manufacturing, engineering, battery, software and services product management, and engineering teams, according to GM.”
I noted in the Spectator piece that despite GM’s massive EV losses under Mary Barra, “the company is apparently casting its lot with a tech executive whose profit-and-loss experience is with cash burn rather than cash flow.”
And now, with Claudia Gast, GM is yet again staffing a high-level executive position with a person who has no experience in high-volume, mass-market products, nor does she bring from Lucid experience in running a profitable operation.
Lucid Motors sells a low-volume, specialty product, specifically luxury EVs. The starting price for a Lucid is about $80,000, with sales of about 15,000 units per year. By contrast, GM sells about 3 million vehicles per year.
Investors in Lucid stock have been taken to the cleaners. From its split-adjusted* IPO stock price of $150 per share in 2021, the stock peaked at over $550 per share in 2022, and has since fallen below $10 per share – a 98% decline. (*The IPO was at $15 per share, but due to the stock price subsequently crashing to near-zero, Lucid did a 1-for-10 reverse stock split last August.)
As for financial performance, Lucid has lost about $12 billion over the past four years, and it is running out of cash. At the end of 2024, Lucid had $4 billion in cash. Nine months later it was down to $2.3 billion, and it will likely be lower still when the full-year 2025 financial statements are released soon. Ms. Gast is wise to jump ship before the cash runs out.
There is nothing in the resumes of Mr. Anderson or Ms. Gast that indicates they have any experience steering a ship with a product line and customer base like General Motors. After the catastrophic run under Mary Barra, and the damage from the EV distraction, GM desperately needs to focus on being a profitable, mass-market manufacturer of traditional gas and diesel vehicles.
GM’s Board of Directors should have brought in (or promoted) industry veterans who understand what GM’s customers want to buy and what its dealers can sell. Instead, they’ve brought in executives who have experience managing cash burn and losses on low-volume, niche products. This negligent oversight by the Board is a dereliction of their fiduciary duty.
[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]
Mid-Morning Art Thread
—CBD
A Goldsmith in his Shop
Petrus Christus
This is sort of a repeat, because the first one I used had an incorrect title, and was also gaudy looking with oversaturated color. For this version I went to the source; The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
From the Met's description:
A celebrated masterpiece of Northern Renaissance Art, this painting was signed and dated 1449 by Petrus Christus, the leading painter in Bruges (Flanders) after the death of Jan van Eyck. The panel attests to Netherlandish artists’ keen interest in pictorial illusionism and meticulous attention to detail, especially in the luminous jeweled, glass, and metallic objects, secular and ecclesiastic trade wares that are examples of the goldsmith's virtuosity. The main figure in this enigmatic painting was long identified as Saint Eligius (the patron saint of goldsmiths) due to the presence of a halo, which was recognized as a later addition and subsequently removed. The panel is likely a vocational painting, which portrays the profession of goldsmithing and perhaps a specific goldsmith. Technical analysis reveals the underdrawing of the goldsmith's face to be very carefully modeled—more so than the faces of the couple—indicating the possibility of a portrait. It has been suggested that he is Willem van Vleuten, a Bruges goldsmith who worked for Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. In 1449, the date of this painting, the duke commissioned from van Vlueten a gift for Mary of Guelders on the occasion of her marriage to James II, King of Scots. That couple may well be depicted in this painting, portrayed buying a wedding ring that is being weighed on a scale. The girdle that extends over the ledge of the shop into the viewer’s space is a further allusion to matrimony. The convex mirror, which links the pictorial space to the street outside, reflects two young men with a falcon (a symbol of pride and greed) and establishes a moral comparison between the imperfect world of the viewer and the world of virtue and balance depicted here.
Often these descriptions are a mess of post-modern, woke nonsense. This one is good!
The Morning Report — 2/20/26
—J.J. Sefton
Good morning kids. Once again we've got trouble at home and trouble abroad (hmm, sounds like the opening of a Grateful Dead ditty) Let's start off overseas with things heating up in and around Iran. The internal unrest inside that nation that we had all thought or hoped would at long last see the toppling of the Muallahocracy appears, at least from what I can tell, to have significantly quieted down. Of course the IRGC and other security forces have arrested and/or executed hundreds if not thousands of protesters at this point and hence the quieting down. That said, as the unrest was building, President Trump ordered a carrier battle group to take up station in the Mediterranean within striking range of Iran and now that it is in position, the saber rattling is reaching a fever pitch.
President Donald J. Trump warned that the U.S. could strike Iran if a nuclear deal is not reached within the next ten days. . . President Trump, world leaders attending the Board of Peace meeting, and Iranian officials involved in nuclear negotiations.. . February 19, 2026, during the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington, DC.. . : “We may have to take it a step further, or we may not. Maybe we’re going to make a deal. You’re going to be finding out over the next probably ten days.” — President Donald Trump . . The U.S. military has mobilized assets in the Middle East, as nuclear negotiations with Iran remain ongoing.
I seriously do not understand what the hell this is all about. First, I thought we along with the Israelis took out Iran's nuclear capabilities with the bombing campaign a few months ago? And what's to negotiate? Why is allowing their heinous, evil government to remain in power an acceptable outcome for a promise that is not worth the paper it's written on?!
And this whole Board of Peace nonsense is a complete waste of time given the nature of Islam, despite the supposed phony moderation of some of the players involved. Islam has been on the march for close to a millennium and a half and it will not stop until it conquers the entire world, even if it means bringing about Armageddon to obtain that goal. And Armageddon is a central pillar of Shiite Twelverism (look it up) which is at the heart of the Iranian regime.
Until Islam reforms itself or is eradicated from the face of the Earth for all time, there will be no peace in the region and indeed the rest of the world where it is allowed to flourish.
On Thursday, a federal judge in California overturned a previous immigration court ruling that supported the Trump administration’s illegal immigrant detention policies. U.S. District Court Judge Sunshine Sykes, a Joe Biden appointee, criticized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for their characterization of detainees as the “worst of the worst.”“‘Worst of the worst’ is an inaccurate description of most of those affected by DHS and ICE’s operations,” Judge Sykes ruled. She argued that the administration’s language was designed to justify the scale of its actions against illegal immigrants.“Even though these press releases might contain an inkling of truth, they ignore a greater, more dire reality,” she claimed, adding: “Beyond its terror against noncitizens, the executive branch has extended its violence on its own citizens, killing two American citizens—Renée Good and Alex Pretti—in Minnesota,” Sykes wrote in her decision, adding, “The threats posed by the executive branch cannot be viewed in isolation.”The ruling, if upheld, could block mass deportations and ensure bond hearings for many non-convicted illegal immigrant detainees. Previously, DHS had denied bond hearings to migrants arrested by federal immigration authorities, even if they had been in the United States for years. Those who recently illegally crossed the border were also not guaranteed immediate bond hearings under the policy.
” White House border czar Tom Homan said that there will be “mass deportation. . . “I will do whatever I can, because the president has made a promise to the American people, there will be mass deportation, but it’s going to prioritize public safety threats first. And that’s just the way we should be doing it. Targeted enforcement operations are a way to go. And for the people are going nuts is if you’re walking away from mass deportation. Look at the numbers. We already got record numbers to deportation but arresting the public safety threat first makes sense because you’re the biggest danger to the community. Prioritize public safety threats and national security threats doesn’t mean to forget about everybody else. I’ve said it from day one, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table. We’re looking for you, and we’ll remove you when we find you.”
So Mr. Border Czar, how does your declaration square with what Biden's hack in black has said and done.
Lots of other links to peruse and ponder, especially regarding socialism, it's embrace by more and more Americans, especially youth and what can be done to smack people upside the head before the bodies pile up in mass graves or freeze to death in the NYC cold or starve to death due to the raging success of Free Grocery Stores!!!!
Have a great weekend!
And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
- Douglas Murray: Where there was once flagrant distortion of the news, a number of the Big Tech companies are now doing things in a far more subtle and insidious way.
How Apple News and other tech giants change the narrative for Democrats
- In recent years, multiple polls show that socialism has gained traction among America’s youth. This did not occur by accident. Rather, it happened because America’s public schools do not teach millions of students the truth about socialism. A new Heartland Institute Policy Brief titled “Teaching the Truth About Socialism in America’s Public Schools,” examines how we got here and what policymakers can do to rectify this troubling trend.
Teaching the Truth About Socialism in America’s Public Schools (See also the related story in the Culture Wars section - jjs)
- Welcome to Moscow . . . 1965.
New York’s First Free Grocery Store Opens
Continue reading
Daily Tech News 20 February 2026
—Pixy Misa
Top Story- The US government is building a specifically VPN-enabled website to allow Euroserfs to access content banned by their fascist overlords. (Reuter)
Radio Free Europe, part two. Only this time the Europeans aren't being oppressed by the Soviet Union, but by themselves.
- Why Europe doesn't have a Tesla. (Works In Progress)
The article highlights the continent's absurdly restrictive labour laws which are certainly a key part of the problem.
But European leaders have decided on a slow and messy suicide, and many of their voters are entirely on board with this.
Continue reading
Thursday Overnight Open Thread - February 19, 2026 [Doof]
—Open Blogger
Photo from STEPH_Protect The 2A on X
Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Thursday night ONT. Content is here for the few of you who actually care. Gray boxes are here for regulars and any lurker(s) who get inspired to de-lurk. Which one are you?
Continue reading
Golden Hour Cafe
—Disinformation Expert Ace
King of Wings hoodoo in New Mexico, under the Milky Way
by Wayne Pinkston
Elements of this photo look unreal but
that hoodoo is actually real
As the underage male prostitute said to Adam Schiff, "That's a big hole to fill."
United by their shared love of head-butting.
Amateurs talk about tactics, professionals talk about logistics.
SCTV: The Ricardo Montalban School of Fine Acting. Jess!
Bored duck twiddles his feet.
Puppy dumped in park is rescued and finds his forever home.
Golden retriever holds a toy so that a blind puppy can play with it.
Rescuing a groundhog from a pool.
World's largest gathering of golden retrievers (allegedly) in Golden, Colorado.
Continue reading
BREAKING: DEMOCRAT TERRORISTS CRASH STOLEN AMBULANCE LOADED WITH GAS CANS INTO AN IDAHO FEDERAL BUILDING
—Disinformation Expert Ace
unther Eagleman @GuntherEagleman28m
🚨 BREAKING: DOMESTIC TERROR ATTEMPT IN IDAHO
Ambulance stolen, packed with staged gas cans, rammed straight into a DHS office in what cops are calling an attempted ARSON MASSACRE targeting ICE agents.
Police: This was no accident
Stolen ambulance allegedly driven into Idaho DHS office building in attempted arson attack Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea says suspect staged accelerant in vegetation before driving emergency vehicle into DHS building
They mean he stashed gas cans in the bushes where they wouldn't be seen, then loaded them into the stolen bus just before the attack.
Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea provided new details about an attack on a DHS building Thursday. (KBOI)
State and federal authorities are investigating after a suspect allegedly stole an ambulance, loaded up staged gas cans and plowed the emergency vehicle into a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office in Idaho -- in what investigators believe was an attempted arson attack.
Just after 11 p.m. Wednesday, an ambulance was stolen from a bay at St. Luke's West hospital.
However, the suspect was unable to ignite the accelerant before being scared off by responding agencies, according to Basterrechea.
"We want to emphasize that this was a serious criminal act," Basterrechea said. "The theft and destruction of an emergency vehicle not only created a risk to responding personnel, but it also temporarily removed a critical medical resource from the community."
...
"Comments on social media, such as 'property damage isn't violence,' is absolutely false," Basterrechea continued. "This was absolutely an act of violence, and if the suspect had not been interrupted, there is no doubt this building would have been burned, putting the lives of first responders and others at risk."
Shades of Timothy McVeigh.
Though I don't imagine the disgusting press and Deep State will find this new Timothy McVeigh nearly as objectionable as the old one.
Continue reading
Quick Hits
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Mistrial declared in trial of antifa domestic terrorists who shot up ICE agents as their antifa terrorist lawyer wears an MLKJr. t-shirt to court to elicit sympathy from lefty jurors. The lawyer may well face sanctions. The trial will be restarted with a different jury.
FCC chair Brendan Carr has has begun an investigation of The View for its brazen violation of equal time rules.
FCC chair Brendan Carr confirmed Wednesday that the commission has started enforcement proceedings that will look into The View's alleged violations of political equal time rules."Disney has a program called The View. And they've been asserting the position that The View is what is known as 'bona fide news' in the statute," Carr said during a Wednesday night appearance on FOX News Channel's The Ingraham Angle. "If you are bona fide news, you don't have to give candidates equal air time. But, Disney and The View have not established that that program is, in fact, bona fide news. We've started enforcement proceedings, taking a look at that. And, again, we're going to hold broadcasters accountable."
Lefties whine: if the FCC starts enforcing the law about equal time, you won't be able to see the cavalcades of your favorite Democrat politicians on Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and The View!
FCC Chair to Hollywood: Talk Shows Aren't Legitimate NewsABC's 'The View' is currently under investigation over an interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico, after which it didn't meet FCC requirements that would've allowed his opponents equal time.
Say goodbye to most appearances by political candidates on daytime and late night talk shows.
After an open meeting on Wednesday, Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr said that networks should operate under the assumption that shows like The View, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Show don't qualify for long-standing regulatory exemptions that allowed them to discuss political candidates on their shows without having to meet unwieldy requirements. Failing to comply, he said, will trigger an enforcement action.
"The general rule is equal time applies," Carr said of the FCC provision. "There's narrow exceptions you have to fit in."
Like being a "bona fide news program," which these propaganda festivals are clearly not.
The clarification marks a dramatic departure from how the commission has historically treated talk shows, which have qualified for exemptions as legitimate news programs for decades and are now considered partisan bad actors under the Trump administration. The change doesn't necessarily prohibit interviews with political candidates but imposes obligations requiring them to give comparable time to opponents. In practice, it will prevent networks from having anyone on by potentially forcing them to have everyone on. Carr's remarks come after Colbert said on Monday that CBS killed an interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico because the appearance would trigger regulatory obligations.
"Congress passed the equal time provision for a very specific reason," he said. "They did not want the media leads in Hollywood and in New York to put their thumbs on the scale and pick their winners and losers in primaries and general elections. That's the point."
LOL:
Brian Stelter @brianstelterNotably, and admirably, ABC has insulated "The View" crew from this political pressure. A network source says the show "regularly hosts sitting leaders and political candidates to discuss differing viewpoints. The format is consistent with how the show has operated for years."
Sure, Tater. Suuure.
Ian Miller
@ianmSC21h
Ironically, this statement claiming that The View "regularly hosts sitting leaders and political candidates to discuss differing viewpoints" is funnier than anything Stephen Colbert has done in years
Out: FaceBook is for old people
In: FaceBook is for dead people
What happens to social media accounts belonging to those who shuffle off this mortal coil has been a subject of debate ever since the tech went mainstream. Should dormant accounts be left alone, or should their surviving loved ones be given backdoor access to maintain them as digital memorials?To Meta, there could be a morbid alternative: training an AI model on a deceased user's posts, keeping post-mortem accounts active by uploading new content in their voice long after they passed away.
As Business Insider reports, Meta was granted a patent in 2023 for the idea, outlining how a large language model (LLM) can "simulate" a user's social media activity.
A SLM (Smol Language Model) could simulate you-lot's activity in the comments. Just boobs, crossbows, and Promethus, for some reason.
...However, the conversation appears to have dramatically shifted over the last three years, especially now that AI slop has infiltrated and practically assumed control over platforms like Facebook and Instagram: Meta now says it's given up on the sepulchral concept.
"We have no plans to move forward with this example," a spokesperson told BI.
What about using the LLM to simulate activity from former users to make FaceBook appear more active than it is?
It's not a stretch to assume Meta may have had an ulterior motive to create digital avatars masquerading as the deceased. Facebook has quickly turned into a graveyard of long-forgotten accounts, never-ending ads, unanswered birthday wishes, and updates from that band you hadn't thought about since high school. At the same time, its feeds are filling with toxic AI slop.As engagement drops, the company's core business -- selling ads -- could take a hit.
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The Demonic Drunkard Tucker Carlson Spins His Most Brazen Lie Yet, Claiming He Was "Detained" by Evil Jews in Israel
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Here are the lies Tucker Carlson pumped out on behalf of his Qatari Paymasters and Case Officers:
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