February 15, 2026

Ali Watkins of the New York Times: “Former President Barack Obama this weekend indirectly addressed a racist video posted earlier this month by ... [Donald] Trump, which depicted Mr. Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as apes. In a podcast interview published on Saturday, Mr. Obama was asked about the 'devolution of the discourse' in American politics, with the host mentioning the video shared by Mr. Trump as one of several examples of inflammatory comments or statements by officials from the current administration. 'There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television, and what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office,' Mr. Obama told Brian Tyler Cohen, a YouTuber and podcast host. 'That’s been lost,' he added. Appearing on Mr. Cohen’s 'No Lie' podcast, Mr. Obama did not directly address the video, which was deleted from Mr. Trump’s Truth Social account after it prompted rare, bipartisan outrage. But Mr. Obama stressed that he believed that most Americans found such content abhorrent.” An NBC News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The video & a transcript of the interview are here. ~~~

     ~~~ Cheyanne Daniels of Politico: “Former President Barack Obama is urging the Democratic Party to invest in younger candidates if it wants to come out victorious in the 2026 midterm elections and, eventually, the 2028 presidential election. In an interview with YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen that was published Saturday, the 64-year-old said part of the reason his own elections were so successful was because he was young at the time .'I’m a pretty healthy 64, feel great, but the truth is, half of the references that my daughters make about social media, TikTok and such, I don’t know who they’re talking about,' he said. 'There is an element of, at some point, you age out. You’re not connected directly to the immediate struggles that folks are going through.'”

     ~~~ Marie: As a person in her ninth decade, I could not agree more. I'll have more to say on this later this week. It's something I'm been thinking about, thanks to a little inspiration from Plato.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: “After a year back in the White House, Mr. Trump’s efforts to promote himself as the singularly dominant figure in the world have become so commonplace that they no longer seem surprising. He regularly depicts himself in a heroic, almost godly fashion, as a monarch, as a Superman, as a Jedi knight, as a military hero, even as a pope in a white cassock. While Mr. Trump has spent a lifetime promoting his personal brand..., what he is doing in his second term as president comes closer to building a cult of personality the likes of which has never been seen in American history.... Cults of personality are traditionally associated with dictators and demagogues, not democrats.... But Mr. Trump does not seem concerned that he might be heading down a dangerous path.... Indeed, last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he ... [said,] 'Usually they say, “He’s a horrible dictator-type person, I’m a dictator,’” he said after delivering a rambling speech. 'But sometimes, you need a dictator.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What Baker curiously omits from his analysis is how Trump's self-aggrandizement makes him a laughingstock and an international embarrassment. Even a Congressional Republican, though afraid to say so out-loud, called Trump "the Orange Jesus." That is, Trump is a joke not only to normal people but also to dedicated right-wingers. 

Marie: Kudos to Robert Reich for being braver than I am. Here's an open letter Reich writes in response to a New York Times report that DHS has subpoenaed Google (owner of YouTube), Meta (Facebook and Instagram), & other media corporations for the names on accounts that criticize ICE enforcement:

“Hello? Kristi Noem? Robert Reich here. I hear you’re trying to find the names of people who are making negative comments on social media about ICE enforcement. Look no further. I’ve done it frequently. I’m still doing it. This note to you, which I’m posting on Substack, is another example. If you want more details, just type 'Robert Reich' into an internet browser, followed by YouTube or Facebook or Instagram or X or TikTok or Reddit. Or Substack. Then type in your name, or ICE, or the Department of Homeland Security. That will give you plenty of evidence.... Let me not mince words: I really truly believe you’re doing a sh*tty job.” And so on. Thanks to RAS for the link.

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Donnie Delusional. Rick Hasen on his Election Law Blog: “Yesterday I noted the latest set of unhinged social media posts from ... [Donald] Trump in which he declared that voter id requirements and other election changes would be imposed in the midterms via executive order whether approved by Congress or not.... An executive order ... is not law.... One of the odd parts of Trump’s post was the statement that 'I have searched the depths of legal arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the near future.' What could Trump have been referring to?... A reader wrote to me ... about an obscure post which seems insane but could explain the big Trump reveal to come: ['A retired Marriott Hotels manager named John N. Goodman was reading a microfilmed copy of the Constitution at a Broward County Library when he spotted a 'shadow' on the document. The next day, he examined the shadow with "a high-powered magnifier" and it said states cannot dictate electoral outcomes unfairly. Goodman's 'research'] found its way to Washington, D.C. recently when My Pillow founder Mike Lindell met with ... Trump.']...  If this is what the President was referring to as 'irrefutable' proof to support an executive order on elections, he’s more gullible and ignorant than I thought.”

The Body Under the 19th Hole. Alexander Willis of the Raw Story: “An explosive allegation against ... Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein has surfaced in the Justice Department’s recent release of 3.5 million files, including disturbing details about a supposed body allegedly buried at one of Trump’s more than a dozen golf courses. According to an FBI document released by the DOJ, the agency received a tip in June of 2021 from an individual whose name has been redacted, but is described as an alleged 'victim,' a former member of the Sinaloa Cartel, and a close confidant of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. According to the document, the individual was formally interviewed by an FBI agent, and accused Trump of being aware of and having funded 'underage sex parties at the Donald Trump Golf course.' That individual went on to claim that they had 'recordings of Trump, Epstein and Maxwell discussing marketing strategies for high profile sex parties.'... The individual claimed that in one of the recordings, Trump can be heard stating 'he was aware of the underage sex parties.' The tipster also told the FBI agent that they had personally witnessed Robin Leach – the British entertainment reporter ... – 'strangle a young girl during a sex party' at one of Trump’s golf courses or resorts. '[They] claim she is buried behind the 19th hole at the Donald Trump Golf Course,' the report reads.”

Daniel Ruetenik of CBS News: Donald "Trump's longtime confidant Thomas Barrack, now serving as U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, was in regular, close contact with Jeffrey Epstein for years after Epstein's 2008 conviction.... The correspondence places Barrack, a globe-trotting billionaire, among a circle of wealthy and influential figures who maintained social contact with Epstein even as his criminal history became widely known. Their relationship continued even after Barrack became a prolific fundraiser for Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign, and later, led his inaugural committee and became a frequent presence in the White House. At times, Epstein appeared to regard Barrack as a potential conduit for passing information to Mr. Trump, though available records show the communication going only in one direction.... The exchanges include invitations to private residences, introductions to diplomats and investors, and discussions of business opportunities. They also show Epstein repeatedly encouraged Barrack to move communications to encrypted messaging apps, records of which are not part of the government release." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And wouldn't it be nice if those talented FBI folks would decode those encrypted messages for us? 

Bannon's Strange Delusions of Power. Mike Bedigan of the Independent: “Steve Bannon discussed plans to 'take down' Pope Francis with Jeffrey Epstein, according to new files shared by the Department of Justice. 'Will take down [Pope] Francis,' Bannon appears to have written in a message to the pedophile financier in June 2019. 'The Clintons, Xi, Francis, EU – come on brother.' Bannon, a former presidential advisor to Donald Trump and who reportedly identifies as a Roman Catholic, was highly critical of Francis, viewing his progressive global agenda as contrary to his own 'sovereigntist' stance. In a 2018 interview with The Spectator Bannon described the Pope as 'beneath contempt,' and accused him of 'siding with globalist elites.'”

Rubio Shows Off Ability to Speak Out of Both Sides of His Mouth. Felicia Schwartz of Politico: “U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Europe to help the Trump administration refashion the global order with a focus on sovereignty, reindustrialization and military strength. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, he made no apology for the Trump administration’s repeated calls to annex Greenland or at times harsh criticisms of Europe, but he took a conciliatory tone — stressing that the U.S. wants to cooperate with Europe to 'revitalize an old friendship.'... In his speech, Rubio emphasized the U.S. and Europe’s economic, military, cultural and spiritual connections — but underplayed the common values that had once underpinned the Western alliance.” ~~~

~~~ Chris Lunday of Politico: “The U.S. is being much less offensive at this year’s Munich Security Conference but one of Europe’s top Trump whisperers sees it as a shift in tone, not substance. 'American foreign policy has changed,' Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland and occasional golf buddy of ... Donald Trump, said in a live interview with Politico, pointing to the U.S. National Security Strategy that reserved some of its harshest remarks for American allies in Europe and recent messaging from senior officials. The American approach combines ideology and hierarchy, he said: “One is ideological: It’s very MAGA … and then the second strand is America First.'” ~~~

~~~ Victor Jack of Politico: “Europe must emerge as a geopolitical power that speaks in a 'direct and clear' way to the U.S. as it moves to reset transatlantic ties, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa told Politico. In the wake of ... Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, 'I don't think we will be doing business as usual,' Siliņa said in an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.” ~~~ 

~~~ A person filled with hate & resentment shrivels into obscurity. It turns out the same thing happens to great nations. ~~~

~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: “The disputes this past year between Washington and Europe — over tariffs, Greenland, free speech for right-wing political parties and the Trump administration’s declaration that Europe is headed to 'civilizational erasure' unless it controls its borders — have obscured a more fundamental shift. Leaders of several European nations said that after that series of shocks they are talking about 'de-risking' from the United States.... The Europeans now warn of threats that the Americans, in their speeches to the conference, never acknowledged. And among them is Mr. Trump’s unpredictability.... Evidence of the damage done over the past year was everywhere.... Perhaps the biggest concern voiced by European officials now is that Mr. Trump will agree to almost any kind of deal on Ukraine, to claim a victory even if it sets Mr. Putin up for future attacks. Petr Pavel, the Czech president, said, 'A very quick peace will not result in a Nobel Prize for peace, but in 'another aggression.'” (Also linked yesterday.)

Susan Haigh of the AP: “The U.S. State Department has ordered certain public libraries nationwide to cease processing passport applications, disrupting a long-standing service that librarians say their communities have come to rely on and that has run smoothly for years. The agency, which regulates U.S. passports, began issuing cease and desist orders to not-for-profit libraries in late fall.... A State Department spokesperson said the order was given because federal law and regulations 'clearly prohibit non-governmental organizations' from collecting and retaining fees for a passport application. Government-run libraries are not impacted.... The American Library Association estimates about 1,400 mostly non-profit public libraries nationwide could potentially be affected, or about 15% of all public libraries.... Members of Congress from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Maryland are pushing back, sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio this month asking him to extend the existing program until Congress finds a permanent solution.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the lead. RAS is so surprised about the State Department's sudden effort to make it harder to get a passport: "Just as the Republicans are saying we will be needing a passport to vote." Huh. 

More Murders at Sea, Ctd. Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: “A U.S. military strike killed three people and blew up a boat in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, the U.S. Southern Command said, raising the death toll in the Trump administration’s five-month-old campaign against suspected drug smugglers at sea to 133. The attack was the first known strike in the Caribbean Sea since early November and the 39th disclosed by the U.S. government in the campaign, according to a tracker maintained by The New York Times. The announcement on Friday was accompanied by an 11-second video clip that appeared to show a missile striking the middle of the boat as it traversed open waters, and destroying it. The command said, citing unspecified intelligence, that the boat had been following 'known drug-trafficking routes in the Caribbean' and that it was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”

Marie: Yesterday, I thought I linked to a New York Times investigative report by Karoun Demirjian & others on “the Debacle That Led to the Closure of El Paso’s Airspace.” (Gift link, maybe.) Either I forgot to enter the link, or the link failed, as it sometimes does. Anyway, I have since found what appears to be a gift link to the article, so all's the better. The crux of the report is this: ~~~

“Publicly, the administration has yet to acknowledge that a departmental standoff over [anti-drone laser] weapons led to the airspace closure. Even the rationale for deploying the laser system is in dispute.... For the better part of the last year, [Transportation Secretary Sean] Duffy and F.A.A. leaders have been locked in a war of wills with their national security counterparts over aviation safety. The aftermath of the midair collision at National Airport exposed the fractious nature of the relationship between the F.A.A. and the Defense Department, as Mr. Duffy scrambled to put safety restrictions in place and the military maneuvered to sidestep them.... 

“[Though the Pentagon has claimed it had received no prior notification of the El Paso airspace closure,] by 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Washington, the F.A.A. had explicitly warned the Pentagon and the National Security Council that it would be shutting down the airspace above Fort Bliss until they could iron things out. The restriction was to begin seven hours later. But it is unclear whether those warnings ever made their way to [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth..., [Donald] Trump or his senior-most staff. The interagency process has atrophied under Mr. Trump, who has dramatically shrunk the size of the National Security Council during his second term, even as the portfolio of international crises has grown.”

New York Times Editors: “The hearing in the House Judiciary Committee room this week offered a grim tableau of the state of American justice. Sitting in the gallery were victims of Jeffrey Epstein, women who have waited decades for clarity and accountability. Sitting before them was Attorney General Pam Bondi. When offered the opportunity to apologize to these women for the Department of Justice’s disastrous handling of the Epstein files, Ms. Bondi didn’t just decline; she sneered. Instead, she demanded that Democrats apologize to ... [Donald] Trump. She proceeded to subject committee members from both parties to schoolyard taunts.... Ms. Bondi’s performance ... was a final indignity in a process that has victimized Mr. Epstein’s victims all over again. Under the guise of transparency, the Justice Department has managed to expose the victims to further humiliation while shielding the powerful behind a wall of redactions.... A two-tiered justice system that coddles the powerful and revictimizes the vulnerable is a violation of American values.”

The Trump administration's streak of lawless abandon continues unabated: ~~~ 

~~~ Pranav Baskar & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “In a secret deportation arrangement, the Trump administration flew nine people, nearly all of whom had been granted U.S. court protections from being sent back to their home countries, to the African nation of Cameroon in January. None of them are from Cameroon, according to government documents obtained by The New York Times and lawyers for the deportees, and the United States has not made any public deal with Cameroon to accept deportees who hail from other nations. Several of the men and women deported — whose cases have not been previously reported — told The Times they did not know they were being sent to Cameroon until they were handcuffed and chained on a Department of Homeland Security flight leaving Alexandria, La., on Jan. 14.... The State Department said it would not comment on its 'diplomatic communications with other governments' when asked about the terms of an agreement.

“Most of those migrants and their lawyers say they have been detained since then at a state-owned compound in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. They say they’ve been told by local authorities that they cannot leave the facility unless they agree to return to their home countries, from which they fled to escape war or persecution. As far as is known, the deportations are the first such expulsions to Cameroon. They highlight the extraordinary secrecy that surrounds ... [Donald] Trump’s global deportation effort.” The link appears to be a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Kyle Cheney & Myah Ward of Politico: “Federal immigration authorities say they no longer have to provide on-demand access to detention facilities for members of Congress. The reason? The government shutdown. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who have been fighting a lawsuit brought by Democratic lawmakers over prior denied visit attempts, have informed lawmakers that they simply don’t have the staff or funding to support those visits.... In court, ICE has added another explanation: As a result of the shutdown, there’s now no law on the books that requires the Trump administration to accommodate lawmakers’ visits. That requirement had been contained in government funding laws that expired when the shutdown began. Instead, ICE informed U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb that it is now funding its operations with appropriations made in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which does not require congressional access.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Aah, but these visits aren't really necessary, are they? ~~~

~~~ Katie Thomas, et al., of the New York Times: “... CoreCivic[, the publicly traded detention company has secured contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars since ... [Donald] Trump took office last year, but it has a checkered track record of providing medical care to the people in its facilities. In recent years, it has been accused of falsifying records to disguise unsafe conditions, failing to provide lifesaving medications, and being slow to take critically ill people to the hospital, according to court records, government audits, sworn declarations and interviews with lawyers and people who were detained.... Aside from [measles] outbreaks [in CoreCivic centers in Texas and Arizona], more than a dozen detainees and immigration lawyers in both states detailed unsanitary conditions and lax care. They described hourslong waits to see a nurse, only to be turned away and told they were not sick enough to receive care. People with injuries often wait days or weeks to receive X-rays, diabetes patients lack regular access to insulin and people hoping to see outside specialists ... are frequently denied.... Those lucky enough to see a doctor ... sometimes must wait days or weeks before [prescribed] medication arrives.... Illnesses spread rapidly throughout the facilities..., accelerated by sleeping quarters that are often cramped and communal bathrooms that are often filthy.... When several children fell ill with stomach ailments at Dilley, CoreCivic’s medical staff refused to treat them unless they had already vomited at least eight times.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

I’ve never seen federal agents so out of control and acting in such a malicious manner. -- Rubén Castillo, head of the Illinois Accountability Commission, & former federal prosecutor & judge ~~~

~~~ Jon Schuppe & Natasha Korecki of NBC News: “Federal officers carrying out ... Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in cities across the country have shot 13 people with guns. But far more often, they have used harsh tactics to scare or repel those they see as getting in their way. The officers, masked and kitted out with military-grade armor and rifles, have faced down peaceful protesters and people who have threatened, obstructed or attacked them, with methods that are less deadly than guns but still inflict grievous injuries.... They batter bodies with rubber bullets and sear eyes with pepper spray. They lob tear gas and explosive flash-bangs at chanting crowds. They smash car windows. They shove people to the ground. They ram vehicles and point their guns.... Hundreds have been hurt, and courts in at least four states have found that officers used force inappropriately and indiscriminately. NBC News reviewed dozens of incidents since the spring and found that Department of Homeland Security officers have repeatedly deployed 'less lethal' weapons in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines....” ~~~

~~~ Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "The Trump administration has been barred from carrying out 'warrantless' immigration enforcement operations in or 'within 100 feet of the entrance' to various churches across the country. In a 62-page memorandum and order, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor, a George W. Bush appointee, rejected the need for such efforts in all but the most limited of cases in the name of religious freedom. 'The prospect that a street-level law-enforcement agent — acting without a judicial warrant and with little or no supervisory control — could conduct a raid during a church service, or lie in wait to interrogate or seize congregants as they seek to enter a church, is profoundly troubling,' the judge writes. 'Indeed, according to the new policy, agents could conduct a raid, with weapons drawn, at any type of church proceeding ... subject only to the exercise of their "discretion and common sense."'" Read on. This is not such a "win" for the First Amendment as it first seems. ~~~

~~~ Here's what appears to be a gift link to a New York Times story linked yesterday (with a "regular" link) in which Mitch Smith & Hamed Aleaziz reported on how DHS thugs lied and lied again about an incident in Minneapolis in which an immigration agent shot Julio C. Sosa-Celis, then tried to blame the victim and others for precipitating the use of lethal force.

⭐Matt Shumer on X: "Something Big Is Happening." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Maureen Dowd of the New York Times has more words to the wise from people who know. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery Only if You Get Paid for It. Will Oremus of the Washington Post: “As emails and texts rolled in from friends, family members and co-workers, asking if [an] AI podcast voice was his, [former NPR 'Morning Edition' host David] Greene became convinced he’d been ripped off. Now he’s suing Google, alleging that it violated his rights by building a product that replicated his voice without payment or permission, giving users the power to make it say things Greene would never say.... The case is the latest to pit the rights of individual human creators against those of a booming AI industry.... Behind the artificial voices in [Google's] NotebookLM and similar tools are language models trained on vast libraries of writing and speech by real humans who were never told their words and voices would be used in that way — raising profound questions of copyright and ownership.”

Marie: Gary Legum of Wonkette speaks for me re: a story linked here yesterday & Friday: "There was good news on Friday for anyone concerned that the Trump administration’s gutting of USAID that has led to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths from starvation and disease in the last year and will likely result in millions more over the rest of the decade: at least the agency had $15 million left over to pay for a full-time security detail for Russ Vought, the architect of much of that death and suffering! We suppose this isn’t so much good news as it is the sort of news that history books often record as having inspired thriving guillotine production industries.... Vought, who also oversees the Office of Management and Budget and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is reportedly being protected by a dozen members of the US Marshals Service.... Vought was also famously an architect of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation blueprint for slashing federal spending and services while pushing the nation’s government to become more openly theocratic. He famously said that he wanted to traumatize federal employees, so they wouldn’t want to come to work. It’s hard to believe a guy like that has enemies!" ~~~

~~~ AND speaking of Trumpsters it's easy to despise, Wonkette's Doktor Zoom zooms in on Susie Wiles and Rick Grenell, who apparently have been feuding for a long time: "It’s so sad entertaining when terrible people can’t get along."

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Arizona. The New York Times ran a liveblog yesterday on developments in the search for Nancy Guthrie, the elderly woman who is believed to have been kidnapped from her home near Tucson, Arizona. ~~~

“The F.B.I. on Thursday released a description of a suspect who appeared in doorbell camera footage at Ms. Guthrie’s home the night she was taken, saying the person was male, approximately 5 feet 9 inches or 5 feet 10 inches, with an average build. He was wearing a black, 25-liter, Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack, the agency said. The F.B.I. also increased its reward to a maximum of $100,000 for information leading to Ms. Guthrie’s location or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.” (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~ Ron Treviño of KHOU Houston: “A legendary Houston forensic artist [Lois Gibson] stepped out of retirement to draw an unofficial sketch she hopes might help in the search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of 'Today' show host Savannah Guthrie. The new development comes as investigators continue to focus on doorbell video from Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home, where an armed, masked person was seen approaching the front door the night she disappeared 12 days ago.” To the left is the sketch Gibson drew based on the doorcam video. (Also linked yesterday.) 

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Russia. Anton Troianovski, et al., of the New York Times: “Aleksei A. Navalny was most likely poisoned by a toxin found in a South American frog, five European countries said on Saturday, making the most concrete Western accusation yet that Russia’s leading opposition figure was murdered by his government in an Arctic prison two years ago. Samples taken from Mr. Navalny’s body showed the presence of a toxic substance, epibatidine, according to a statement released by the foreign ministries of Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.” 

     ~~~ Marie: Odds of finding a South American frog sneaking into an Arctic prison of its own volition: Zero. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the joint statement of the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands on the cause of Navalny's death.