Maps and Images Show the Devastation in Nepal’s Flooding
What the Measles Betting Market Does Not Measure. Polymarket is currently running a $7.8 million betting option on the number of measles cases in the U.S. in 2026. It runs a detailed analysis of the bets. It does not measure the real impact of those numbers.
Texas became a powerful magnet for American Muslims seeking affordable homes, good schools, and thriving congregations before Islamophobia’s rise there.
Police Chief in Mississippi Regularly Used Racist Slurs, Private Texts Reveal. Exchanges obtained by reporters show troubling messages sent by the chief of a Mississippi police department facing an uproar over the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy in June.
Flock Cameras. Canoodling Lawyers. How Much Surveillance Are We Comfortable With?
The Average ACA Marketplace Deductible Grew by About $1,000 Per Person in 2026, With More Enrollees Shifting to Higher-Deductible Plans as Enhanced Tax Credits Expired. Marketplace Enrollment Could Fall to About 17.5 Million in 2026
The Pentagon Fired the Editor and Publisher of Stars and Stripes, which also claimed a Middle East correspondent. They are the Pentagon’s latest effort to diminish the news outlet’s editorial independence.
The regime is planning to remove the name of an aircraft carrier meant to honor a pioneering Black military hero, a report from CNN revealed. The USS Doris Miller is currently under construction, but Navy leadership is reportedly discussing removing the name and possibly using FOTUS’s name on the ship instead.
Purge of Top Generals Leaves the Army Rudderless. The leadership vacuum comes as the Army is trying to adapt to a new kind of war dominated by deadly drones.
Tacky Superstore closes because the economy sucks for MAGA too
New album by Peter Sprague features Rebecca Jade
Peter Sprague Plays Guinnvere. The title track of the new album features Rebecca Jade, the first niece. Sprague: “In learning to play Guinnevere, I got a closer look into how they came up with such a unique sonic vibe. The main guitar part is played in a special ‘tuning’ that delivers gorgeous chords that aren’t available in standard tuning. I call them ‘magic chords,’ and it happens when most of the strings are not fretted and instead are ringing free. Mix that in with a few fretted notes that rub against the other notes in a good way — cluster chords as they’re known, and the whole sum sparkles in the air. The Guinnevere recording is available at all of the streaming services, including:Spotify, Apple Music, PS Online Store, and YouTube Music
Johnny Angel – Shelley Fabares. Shelley Fabares, ‘Donna Reed Show’ Actress, Dies at 82. She also starred in Elvis Presley movies and the sitcom “Coach.”
By Garry R. Osgood – Author’s own work; a composite of digital images composing a panorama, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=977796
My daughter and I went to Prospect Park in Brooklyn TWICE in a week in early June. More accurately, it was two times in four days to see two of her cousins, one each from her mother’s and father’s side, who are, of course, also two of my nieces.
In both cases, it involved my daughter driving us from our house in Albany to the Poughkeepsie railroad station, us taking the Metro-North to Grand Central Station in NYC, then a couple of subway rides to a 526-acre location that spans parts of five ZIP Codes.
It’s a lovely setting, with lots of bicyclists riding around. My daughter and I swear some scenes of the various Law & Order TV shows that were shot in specific locations.
Monday, June 1: One niece, Alexa, was getting engaged at c. 11 a.m. But the surprise for her partner was that their friends and family would be gathering for a large picnic lunch. This meant leaving our house at 6 a.m.
The couple has some very nice friends, who, with the relatives, collectively brought WAY more food and beverages than could be consumed.
The one major hitch was on the return trip. Both of our phones died; the drag of Metro North is that, unlike on Amtrak, there are no charging stations. So we found a place to eat while my daughter’s phone slowly charged. We got home about 8 pm.
BRIC
Thursday, June 4: We learned that BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn’s Opening Night, featuring Sheila E., Leon Knight, and DJ Spinna, was taking place at the Lena Horne Bandshell. Rebecca Jade would be performing with Sheila, as she has since 2017, off and on.
This time, we had our portable phone chargers, which we had purchased the night before. When we got to Poughkeepsie in the early afternoon, getting across the Mid-Hudson Bridge was particularly difficult, with stop-and-go traffic. There were no parking spaces nearby, so the daughter parked in a place she THOUGHT would be okay (4-hour parking between 9 and 5, and it was after 1 pm). We bought tickets from the kiosk (the human ticket sellers were closed until 3), and made it on the train with about 30 seconds to spare.
We eventually had Mexican food with Alexa at a local eatery. Then the Daughter and I walked for at least half an hour to the bandshell. The concert was free, but it allegedly required tickets, which weren’t checked.
We went to the musicians’ tent, saw RJ, and spoke to her briefly, but she had to get dressed for the performance. The opening act, the rocker Leon Knight, was okay. DJ Spinna started his set without an introduction, keeping the crowd engaged.
Sheila, Lynn, and Rebecca
When Sheila was about to begin, the Daughter and I moved from sitting on the lawn a distance away to standing as close as we could. She, the legendary vocalist Lynn Mabry, and Rebecca, along with the fine instrumentalists, were in great form.
Here’s just a snippet of the vocalists in Europe in 2019, which was the last time my wife, daughter, and I saw them perform. Sheila gave a couple of vocals to Lynn and RJ. Watch some short pieces of this show here and here.
Sheila is a very positive performer. When she said it was her birthday (that didn’t seem right, and it is actually December 12), she was suggesting that we should be celebrating each day.
As is often the case, she leaned into the Prince catalog. Her group would be performing in Minneapolis two days later, near his birthday, and a decade after he died.
Afterwards
We went to the tent. By then, we COULD hang with Rebecca and also another relative, the eldest child of my second cousin Anne, whom I had last seen on Thanksgiving 2013.
We briefly spoke with Sheila and Lynn about their trip to Albany on the 4th of July 2023, which was canceled when a last-minute lightning storm hit the Empire State Plaza.
My daughter and I got to Grand Central at midnight. The next train was not until 12:48 a.m. It was a local, making all of the stops. Miraculously, my daughter slept through most of the trip.
We got to the car. The GPS directed her to state routes 9G and 23 before we finally reached the Thruway near Catskill. We got home at 4:45 a.m.
These were two great trips, though I wished they had been spaced a bit further apart…
What I Can’t Show You (John Green visits Koidu Government Hospital and sees the Maternal Center of Excellence for the first time), and Despair is Not Wisdom (Hank Green).
The FDA withdrew studies showing that the Covid and shingles vaccines were safe.
Gas Station Drugs: a world of questionable supplements and boner pills, and The Hadow Docket: a shortcut to the Supreme Court – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
I Was Told I Had 6 Months to Live. That Was 20 Years Ago. — Here’s what two brain surgeries taught me about public health and care access.
I caught myself thinking: “Some of these research papers are awfully good for what might be a student’s first effort.”
Some white nationalists swoop in after natural disasters, trying to soften their image while offering help (Lesley Stahl/60 Minutes)
Demand destruction vs fuel-superseding infrastructure: Will FOTUS Hormuz us into the full Gretacene?
AI
Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass. AI is pushing millions of employees to the edge of a cliff as most sectors are racing to replace jobs with AI. As a wise friend of mine noted, “We need programs and plans to ensure everyone is active, connected, engaged with society when millions have no work. Some countries will get this right, while others will slide into a dystopian abyss of depression, isolation, and anger toward technology that will not bode well for a peaceful, productive humanity.”
I got punished for paying off my car loan two years early
A rare archaeological site in the Sonoran Desert was bulldozed by a DHS contractor involved in building the latest sections of the border wall.
Free Phone Calls Saved Incarcerated People and Their Loved Ones $622.5 Million
Young Boy Finds the First Ancient Greek Artifact Discovered in Berlin
New Musicals ‘Schmigadoon!’ and ‘Lost Boys’ Lead List of Tony Nominees
The Song That Puts You to Sleep (On Purpose) and The Cartoon That Shut Down Boston and Operation Mincemeat and The Part of Canada That Doesn’t Want You
In the spirit of Ask Roger Anything, a concert survey.
First concert: MAYBE Jonathan Edwards at SUNY New Paltz? Did I see Pete Seeger earlier? I THINK Billy Preston was slightly later, but I am unsure.
Last concert: The last pop concert would be the New Edition/Boyz II Men/Toni Braxton concert in the Boston Garden on February 15. But the last concert was on March 14, when my wife and I saw and heard the Albany Symphony Orchestra play Francisco del Pino: Ritual; Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4; and Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 7.
Next concert: I haven’t bought tickets, but maybe Alison Krauss and Union Station, whom we saw in 2003.
Best concert: I’m convinced it was Talking Heads at SPAC, and seeing (finally!) the Stop Making Sense movie in 2025 codified that. But it could also be the Temptations at the Colonie Coliseum during the Reunion tour, both from back in the 1980s.
Loudest concert: MxPx opened for No Doubt in Albany in 1997. The sheer constant audio assault was unnerving.
MOSTEST
Seen the most: This is a tricky question, because I’ve probably seen Pete Seeger more than two dozen times. Were they “concerts”? Mostly, no. His show at Page Hall in the UAlbany downtown campus in the early 1980s, and possibly his performance on the Clearwater. But most were at political rallies of some sort.
I MAY have seen Lucinda Williams thrice, two times in Albany and once at SPAC. Pete Droge, I MUST have seen at least thrice, once opening for Tom Petty and once (or twice) elsewhere in Albany. I definitely saw him in the Boston area the evening after I had taped my JEOPARDY appearance in September 1998.
But, I’m going to go with Rebecca Jade, whom I saw perform in San Diego in 2018, in Syracuse in 2023, and in Horseheads, near Elmira, NY, in August 2024. Additionally, I saw her perform on Dave Koz’s Christmas shows in 2021 and 2024. Moreover, during COVID, she performed online more than a dozen times, both at home and with Peter Sprague. This doesn’t count her backup singing for Sheila E. in 2017 and 2019.
Most surprising: I saw Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, and Amos Lee in ALB in 2007. Lee and Costello sounded great; Dylan’s sound was muddy.
Wish I could’ve seen: The Rolling Stones and The Who, both were in town at different times.
Concert where the support act became huge: I saw Seals and Crofts, November 12, 1971, in New York City, Boz Scaggs opening.
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.
In the spirit of Ask Roger Anything, a concert survey. 
