Measles Hits an ICE Facility: What Happens Next.— When infectious disease and incarceration collide, the outcome is predictable
The EPA Just Made Our Air Less Safe to Breathe— Repealing the Endangerment Finding will shape our clinical reality for years to come
In South Korea, ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of carrying out an insurrection in his country when he declared martial law in 2024 to try to seize control from the opposing political party.
Kremlin officials used the February 23 Defender of the Fatherland Day holiday to set conditions to mitigate any domestic backlash that may result from limited rolling reserve involuntary callups in the future.
Jesse Jackson Witnessed Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination. Here’s How He Carried the Torch for the Civil Rights Movement Into the Future. ‘I am somebody.’ The Common Ground speech.
Robert Duvall, a Chameleon of an Actor Onscreen and Onstage, Dies at 95. I saw him in To Kill A Mockingbird, The Godfather, The Conversation, an episode of The Twilight Zone, and a bunch of other projects.
Eric Dane Dead at 53, 10 Months After Announcing ALS Diagnosis. In the final year of his life, the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Euphoria’ actor was a leading advocate for ALS research.
Stephen Colbert’s interview with one of the Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas, James Talarico. Talarico is a Matthew 25 Christian, which I espouse.
Heather Cox Richardson, February 15, 2026: “At the Munich Security Conference last year…Vice President J.D. Vance announced the U.S. was switching sides in global affairs. Henceforth, it would work to destroy the values of representative democracy and the global systems of trade and security that the U.S. and partners constructed after World War II.
“In their place, officials in the [regime] and their media allies have embraced the Great Replacement theory that says Brown and Black migration to Europe and the U.S. is destroying ‘western civilization.’ Such migration must be stopped, they argue, and Brown and Black people purged from the U.S. and Europe. The end of equal rights for migrants will enable white Christian men to dominate society and pass laws that reinforce traditional religious and patriarchal hierarchies…”
“In his speech to the conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was less confrontational than Vance was last year, but the message was the same. He attacked all three of the pillars on which the U.S. has previously stood in foreign affairs. Global trade has ruined the U.S. economy, he said, while international institutions have undermined sovereignty, and ‘a climate cult’ has imposed energy policies that are ‘impoverishing our people.’
Newsweek: “On the surface, the applause for… Rubio’s weekend speech at the Munich Security Conference suggested he had assuaged European concerns. In reality, the speech underlined the immense division between Europe and America. It may have deepened it.”
MUSIC
VOTE for this year’s San Diego Music Awards! Rebecca Jade (the first niece) is up for Best R&B, Funk, or Soul Song – Not Me No Way, and for Artist of the Year. You may vote once per day.
Philadelphia is suing the regime over the decision to remove an exhibit at Independence National Historical Park depicting the factual history of slavery in the United States.
FOTUS’s second term delivers massive gains for billionaires as working Americans face cuts and rising costs
New CDC guidance could revive childhood meningococcal disease, a rare but deadly disease
Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update from the Council on Criminal Justice(CCJ)
The RootsTech 2026 schedule is live. The world’s largest family discovery event will be taking place March 5-7. Register to hear inspiring speakers, watch exciting keynotes, and get expert help discovering your family story.
Bruce Bilson Obituary: Director on The Patty Duke Show, Get Smart, Hogan’s HeroesPlease Don’t Eat the Daisies, The Doris Day Show, The Odd Couple, Love, American Style, B.J. and the Bear, Barney Miller, The Fall Guy, Hotel, Dinosaurs, The Sentinel and Viper, among others
Forty years ago, they slipped the surly bond of earth
Baseball HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2026: Center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, and second baseman Jeff Kent.
The Trial of the Century: On the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes.
New York’s Grand Central Terminal Helped Provide the Blueprint for American Cities. It Happened by Accident
Now I Know: Why Does Toothpaste Make Orange Juice Taste So Awful? and Why Isn’t This Tennis Ball Bouncing? and The Meal That Makes You See Tiny People? and The Panhandle That Failed and Not The Frisco Kids and The $3 Grocery Bag That Became a Global Status Symbol and Every Rose Has Its … Jalen?
ICE
Video Contradicts DHS Claims About Killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Heather Cox Richardson: “Video from the scene shows Pretti directing traffic on a street out of an area with agents around, then trying to help another person get up after she had been pushed to the ground by the agents. The agents then surround Pretti and shoot pepper spray into his face, then pull him to the ground from behind and hit him as he appears to be trying to keep his head off the ground. An agent appears to take a gun out of Pretti’s waistband during the struggle, then turns and leaves with it. A shot then stops Pretti’s movements, appearing to kill him, before nine more shots ring out, apparently as agents continued to fire into his body.It looked like an execution.”
As William J. Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove noted: “Alex Pretti was killed by people who celebrated his death. They do not need better training. They demand a moral movement to disarm them and reconstruct democracy.”
Legal scholars and political scientists say the regime’s escalating ICE operation, National Guard brinkmanship, and Insurrection Act threats in Minnesota closely resemble conditions identified in civil war simulations, raising alarms about constitutional collapse and violent state-federal conflict. “We don’t need no stinkin’ warrants.”
A photo taken during a protest in south Minneapolis after federal agents killed Alex Pretti encapsulates a story unfolding on America’s streets.
Nurse Alex Pretti’s Death and the Symbolism of the Human Body
Empathy is the new Christian battleground (I’m pro-empathy)
The casino-fication of news: New partnerships between the prediction market Kalshi and cable TV networks will transform every news event into a betting opportunity.
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. ADOPTED 10 December 1984 BY UN General Assembly resolution 39/46
At least 31 languages have a word very similar to ‘huh?’
Archaeologists Find Evidence of a Bronze City in Kazakhstan
Now I Know: The Cost of Being a Simpsons Superfan and A Free Race Ticket, With Ups and Downs, and The Book That Got Americans Hanged and The Worst of the Best is Still Pretty Amazing, and Let’s Have a Book Burning? and The Country of Cookie Dough
Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation For Children Changed By CDC As Academy Of Pediatrics Opposes Decision
U.S. Wants to Scrutinize Foreign Tourists’ Social Media History. Even visitors from countries like Britain and France, whose citizens don’t need visas, would have to share five years’ worth of social media.
By the River, the second movement of the ‘Florida Suite’ by Frederick Delius (1862-1934)
J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums and Best Music Videos of 2025
One of my favorite companies, Joel Whitburn’s Record Research, has a future.
Seattle-based musician and chocolatier Aaron Lindstrom wanted to create a space that combined his two passions: chocolate and music. Cocoa Legato is a unique bean-to-bar chocolate factory and café that hosts live music performances and focuses on producing naturally vegan dark chocolate. 12/01/2025
Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!
Since it’s Thanksgiving weekend, we’re going to keep this simple. We stole this from a blogger named Idzie, who called this the F.A.B. (film, audio, book) meme.
F.A.B. yet again
F. Film: What movie or TV show are you watching?
I stumbled onto Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Since 1990, I have watched a representative sampling of most L&O programs, enough to anticipate their beats. But the rhythm of this show, while familiar, is fresh enough with its Canadianisms to enjoy.
Wikipedia: “The series premiered on February 22, 2024, on Citytv, and became the #1 prime-time drama of the year in Canada by attracting 1.1 million views on the first episode. The first season ran for 10 episodes; in June 2024, it was renewed for a second and third season.”
It stars Aden Young as Detective Sergeant Henry Graff, Kathleen Munroe as Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman, K. C. Collins as Deputy Crown Attorney Theo Forrester, and Karen Robinson as Inspector Vivienne Holness. In the first few episodes, the latter two had far too little to do; that’s been rectified a bit.
In the US, the CW has been broadcasting the first season – I just finished episode 9. Season 2, already completed in Canada, will air in the US in 2026.
Music
A. Audio: What are you listening to?
I have finally allowed myself to listen to Advent/Christmas music. Also, I’ve been playing the CDs of Rebecca Jade, who, as it turns out, is the daughter of my sister Leslie; in other words, the first niece. Check out her videos; I’m particularly fond of Peter Sprague’s and her take on Wichita Lineman.
B. Book: What are you reading?
My daughter borrowed a book from a Western Massachusetts college library and insisted I read it before she has to return it in late January. It is titled More Brilliant Than The Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction by Kodwo Eshun. Buying the book, which was published in 1998, would cost north of $400.
I can tell you that the Discontents, which you would call the table of contents, namechecks Miles Davis, Grandmaster Flash, Cypress Hill, Funkadelic, Kraftwerk, the Jungle Brothers, Sun Ra, Alice and John Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders. The index mentions others, such as John Cage, Chic, Queen, Public Enemy, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and Sly and the Family Stone.
Being an obedient parent, I shall have read it by the deadline.
Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.
A.Word.A.Day: kleptocrat – A politician or an official who uses their position to enrich themselves.
United States Boycotts UN Human Rights Review. The move sets “a terrible precedent that would only embolden dictators and autocrats and dangerously weaken respect for human rights at home and abroad.”
SCOTUS ruling allows ICE to use racial profiling in Los Angeles raids.
Israel’s Attacks on Seed Banks Destroy Millennia of Palestinian Cultural Heritage, and Israel Bombs Hamas Ceasefire Negotiating Team in Doha
Lysenkoism Comes to America: As RFK Jr. purges the CDC and cancels billions in research grants, Americans need a refresher course on what happened to Soviet biological research during the Stalin years.
Submit Your Official Comment Against the EPA’s Plan to Rescind Its Ability to Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions Created By Any Industry and Gut Vehicle Standards Needed to Fight Climate Change
Tax cuts helped health giants dodge billions while patients faced higher costs and denials.
In Memoriam: Mark Volman of the Turtles (1947-2025). From Stuart Mason: The masterpiece of the album The Battle of the Bands was ‘Elenore,’ simultaneously an absolutely deathless sunshine pop classic and a not particularly subtle middle finger to White Whale Records.
Supertramp co-founder, singer, and keyboardist Rick Davies died at the age of 81 after a 10-year battle with Multiple Myeloma. 5 standout Rick Davies tracks by Supertramp.
Empathy is the new Christian 
A MAGA 
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