February 6, 2026 (2/6/26)

Kellen Browning & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “Seven years after she swept into office as a progressive agitator unafraid to hammer fellow Democrats, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has emerged as an increasingly sought-after leader within the party she set out to disrupt. She has positioned herself as a top antagonist of Vice President JD Vance, a potential heir to ... [Donald] Trump’s political movement, sparring with him on social media. She has stepped up her support of moderate and mainstream Democrats, sending a fund-raising email last month asking her supporters to donate to the Senate campaign of former Representative Mary Peltola of Alaska, a friend whose support for oil drilling and gun rights are at odds with the New York congresswoman’s stances. And, at a time of tumult around the country and uncertainty within the Democratic Party, her direct and camera-ready speaking style is breaking through. After federal agents killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, she swiftly appeared on cable news and argued he had been 'executed in the street.'”

Here's an elaboration on a story linked earlier Friday: ~~~

~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has sought to pressure Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, to help name New York’s Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after ... [Donald] Trump in exchange for releasing billions of dollars he has frozen for a rail tunnel under the Hudson River. Top administration officials have told Mr. Schumer in recent weeks that the money would be released if he agreed to name the facilities in Mr. Trump’s honor, according to four people.... The Trump administration began withholding funds for the new tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey, a $16 billion project, in October. The agency overseeing its construction moved to halt ongoing work on Friday as money was running out. Mr. Trump and Mr. Schumer met at the White House last month to discuss the frozen funds. Though he is the top Senate Democrat, Mr. Schumer has no direct oversight over either transportation hub and rebuffed the request, according to two of the people.... Withholding money from the tunnel over the names of Penn Station, the busiest train station in the country, would be a significant escalation of the effort to ensure Mr. Trump’s legacy, tying it to a project that would have massive ripple effects across the East Coast.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Do you think Trump understands that when Congress or some other entity dedicates a building to, say, George Washington or Franklin Roosevelt, that they're doing it out of love, respect and/or admiration for a dead president, while Trump is trying to secure naming rights through blackmail or some other form of strong-arming? Does Trump understand the difference? The Lincoln Memorial is the highest honor the nation can bestow; Trump Central Station would be a crime. ~~~

~~~ This isn't any better: ~~~

Zachary Small & Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times: “Trump administration officials have suggested that the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery create a section in the museum to display multiple images of the president in addition to his official portrait. The concept initially came up during a Dec. 19 tour of the museum that included Abby Jones, the acting chief of protocol at the State Department, and the White House photographer, Daniel Torok, according to three people familiar with the discussions. They said the administration officials noted that the White House often received artworks of Mr. Trump created by Americans that could make for a display in a corner of the museum. Ms. Jones is taking an increasing role in presenting the president’s viewpoint on what he sees as necessary changes in Smithsonian content.... A spokeswoman for the National Portrait Gallery declined to comment, and it was unclear to what extent the idea of adding more images of Mr. Trump remains under consideration. ”

Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “... Donald Trump deleted a racist video on his social media account that depicted former President and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys, following criticism from a bipartisan group of members of Congress. '... it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,' Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) wrote on X on Friday morning, before the post was deleted. 'The President should remove it.'... The post drew widespread backlash from Democrats. But the criticism from Scott — ... the only Black Republican in the Senate — is particularly notable. In a statement issued before Scott’s criticism, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the backlash and said the clip came from a longer video that showed Trump as the Lion King and depicted top Democrats as jungle characters.... Leavitt said[,] 'Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.' Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) joined Scott by calling on Trump to take the post down.... So too did Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.).... A statement from a White House official — sent from an unsigned press email address — confirmed the video was removed and claimed an unidentified staffer had posted it to the president’s social media account.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Really? Either (a) Trump is trying to deflect responsibility because he's too weak to admit his reprehensible mistake, or (b) an "unidentified staffer" controls his personal social media account, where Trump -- or someone -- announces policies and directs Cabinet members and staff to take certain actions. I'm not sure which is worse. ~~~

     ~~~ Erica Green & Isabella Kwai of the New York Times: “The clip was in line with Mr. Trump’s history of making degrading remarks about people of color, women and immigrants, and he has for years taken aim at the Obamas in particular. Across Mr. Trump’s administration, racist images and slogans have become common on official government websites and social media accounts, with the White House, Labor Department and Homeland Security Department all having promoted posts that echo white supremacist messaging. The White House usually responds to criticism about such things by laughing it off.”

More Murder at Sea in Our Names. Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: “An American military strike blew up a boat suspected of moving drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, killing two people, the United States Southern Command said. The strike was the first authorized by Southcom’s new commander, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, a Marine who took charge of U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean during a ceremony at the Pentagon earlier in the day. It was the 37th strike announced by the Trump administration in the campaign, which began in September. The strikes have claimed 128 lives, according to a tracker maintained by The New York Times. A 12-second video clip accompanying the announcement showed the boat traveling across the water with two people at the rear, near the outboard motors, and then a sudden explosion that set the vessel ablaze. Southcom, based in Doral, Fla., said in a statement that unspecified intelligence had determined that the boat was 'engaged in narco-trafficking operations' and that it was following a known drug smuggling route. A broad range of legal specialists on the use of lethal force have said that the U.S. strikes are illegal, extrajudicial killings because the military cannot deliberately target civilians who do not pose an imminent threat of violence — even if they are suspected of engaging in criminal acts.”

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~~~ Howard Fendrich of the AP: “An unprecedented four-site, dual-cauldron Winter Olympics opening ceremony replete with references to Italian icons and culture — plus American pop diva Mariah Carey — was scheduled to officially start the Milan Cortina Games on Friday as the sports spectacle returns to a nation that last hosted the event 20 years ago. This is the most spread-out Olympics — Summer or Winter — in history, with competition venues dotting an area of about 8,500 square miles (more than 22,000 square kilometers), roughly the size of the entire state of New Jersey.” MB: Also, JayDee will be there. So between JayDee & Mariah Carey, the U.S. sure looks bad. ~~~

     ~~~ MB: I've read the opening ceremonies are to start at about 2:00 pm ET, and that NBC & Peacock will be carrying them. If you love a parade, this video of events in cities across Italy a couple of days ago are spectacular. 

Old Man Trump Demands Congress Name Dulles & Penn Station After Him. Willa Robbins of Mediaite: Donald “Trump demanded that Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agree to put Trump’s name on Penn Station in New York and Washington’s Dulles International Airport in exchange for an end to the president’s freeze on $16 billion that had been slated for a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey.... The Trump administration froze the funding during last fall’s government shutdown. New York and New Jersey sued the administration this week in federal court in Manhattan. Construction remains ongoing, but may be halted as early as Friday due to lack of funds. Trump told Schumer he was prepared to unfreeze the money if he agreed to back a plan to rename Penn Station and Dulles International after himself.... Schumer rejected the idea, telling Trump he did not have the authority to make the change. 'There’s nothing to trade,' a source close to Schumer told Punchbowl [News]. 'The president stopped the funding and can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers.'”

Marie: It makes me sick to even copy & paste the stuff Trump does: ~~~ 

~~~ David Gilmour of Mediaite: “Donald Trump shared a 2020 election conspiracy video to Truth Social on Thursday night that briefly depicts former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The 62-second video, shared at 11:44 p.m. ET, is largely focused on pushing a conspiracy about manipulated vote-counting machines that projected former President Joe Biden would win states like Georgia. But an AI clip spliced into the end of the video shows the faces of the Obamas superimposed on apes’ bodies for roughly a second, accompanied by The Tokens’ song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight.' The clip carries a watermark linked to a pro-Trump account on X with tens of thousands of followers.”

Rebecca Robbins & Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: Donald “Trump announced the debut of a website on Thursday night to help Americans use their own money to buy prescription drugs. The government website, TrumpRx.gov, will not sell medications. Instead, it provides an entry point for consumers to search for their drugs and then buy them elsewhere, either from pharmacies or websites offered by major manufacturers to buy medications directly. Mr. Trump and two administration officials unveiled the site at an event in an auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House. Dr. Mehmet Oz, who oversees Medicare and Medicaid, predicted that the offering of fertility drugs would lead to a boom in 'Trump babies.' The president talked up the site as a way for Americans to get the lowest prices. 'We’re going to save a lot of money and be healthy,' he promised....

“But researchers who study drug pricing warned that many people would pay too much if they use TrumpRx.... It is unlikely that many consumers will save money by using TrumpRx. Nearly all of the drugs on the site are already widely covered through insurance, and some are available as inexpensive generics from competing manufacturers. A person who has low out-of-pocket costs for a drug through insurance could waste hundreds of dollars a year paying out-of-pocket through TrumpRx.” MB: So this is kinda a typical Trump product like Trump University; IOW, a useless scam. A Politico story is here.

This is the biggest thing ever to happen on drug prices … it’s going to reduce the cost of health care because health care is probably 50 percent drugs, right?... This achievement alone should win us the midterms. -- Donald Trump, at a rally in North Carolina, December 2025 ~~

~~~ Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Thursday is set to launch TrumpRx.gov, a government website aimed at helping Americans purchase medications at discounted prices, capping his nearly year-long pressure campaign to extract pricing concessions from pharmaceutical companies. The scheduled 7 p.m. event, announced by the White House, has been one of Trump’s top political priorities ahead of this year’s midterm elections.... As part of the initiative, pharmaceutical companies have agreed to list their drugs on TrumpRx.gov, which officials say will connect shoppers to discounts offered by the companies and help them purchase medications without using insurance.... Trump has portrayed the effort ... as one of his signature policy accomplishments, often appearing alongside pharmaceutical executives to showcase price concessions his administration secured.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Quashes Another Cultural Tradition. Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: “The Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival, held in Washington every summer since 1967, will not take place this summer in its usual spot on the National Mall, which instead will be used for ... [Donald] Trump’s Great American State Fair. The Smithsonian announced on Thursday that this summer, for the 250th anniversary of American independence, it will take its festival 'on the road' to communities across the country and in three U.S. territories.... The Folklife Festival, the Smithsonian’s oldest and largest public event, “honors contemporary living cultural traditions and celebrates those who practice and sustain them,” according to the institution’s website. Typically, the festival brings artisans, performers and speakers from all around the country to the Mall for several weeks around July 4.... But this year, the task of summing up American culture and identity on the Mall will be taken up by the Great American State Fair, a plan Mr. Trump first announced on the campaign trail in 2023.” 

Old Man Trump Is Very Confused. Avery Lotz of Axios: Donald "Trump on Thursday said Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard attend the search of Fulton County's election center, contradicting Gabbard's claim that the president requested her presence.... Gabbard 'took a lot of heat ... because she went in at Pam's insistence ... and she looked at votes,' Trump said at Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast. 'They say why is she doing it?' he said. 'Because Pam wanted her to do it.' But when asked during his Wednesday NBC News sit-down why Gabbard was present at the raid, he replied, 'I don't know but, you know — a lot of the cheating comes from — it's — it's international cheating.'... Gabbard tells a different story about who sent her to Georgia. She explained in a Monday letter to Democratic lawmakers that Trump requested her presence. To advance the effort toward "safeguarding" election integrity, Gabbard wrote, Trump 'specifically directed my observance of the execution of the Fulton County search warrant.' Gabbard's office says there's 'no contradiction' and that both the president and Bondi asked for her to be there." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Layoff plans hit their highest January total since the global financial crisis while hiring intentions reached their lowest since the same period, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday. U.S. employers announced 108,435 layoffs for the month, up 118% from the same period a year ago and 205% from December 2025. The total marked the highest for any January since 2009, while the economy was in the final months of its steepest downturn since the Great Depression. At the same time, companies announced just 5,306 new hires, also the lowest January since 2009, which is when Challenger began tracking such data. The crisis recession officially ended in March 2009." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ But Donald Trump doesn't care: ~~~

~~~ Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Trump administration finalized a new policy on Thursday that would strip job protections from up to 50,000 federal workers, a move that would make it easier for ... [Donald] Trump to remove or discipline them.... Until now, the roughly 4,000 people appointed by the president, known as political appointees, were the only federal workers who could be fired at will. The policy issued on Thursday allows the administration to expand that number to include career employees whom the administration considers to also have policy-related roles.... The announcement represents another push in the administration’s campaign to reshape the federal work force, which has included mass firings, layoffs, pressured resignations and early retirements. In total, more than 352,000 employees left the federal government in 2025, according to the most recent data from the Office of Personnel Management. The announcement is also the latest step the administration has taken to replace nonpartisan civil servants with employees who are ideologically aligned with the president.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ AND Jeff Bezos really doesn't care: ~~~

~~~ “Doors Open at the Watergate.” Erik Wemple of the New York Times: “One night in June 1972..., [Martin Weil of the Washington Post] paused upon hearing this [on the police scanner]: 'Doors open at the Watergate.' He decided against chasing down the meaning of those words that night. But the next day, he approached the city desk to ask if anything was afoot. The answer was yes — the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex had been burglarized. And The Post, of course, was pursuing that story and many, many others, until it attained what the newspaper’s publisher at the time, Katharine Graham, later termed a position of 'dominance' in the Washington region. On Wednesday, The Post announced plans to move on from that legacy as part of widespread cuts to the newsroom. The layoffs ... are landing hard on the local news desk, where Mr. Weil has worked since 1965. He was among those laid off, one of the last ties to the paper’s Watergate era.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Another Jan 6 Criminal Pardoned by Trump Pleads Guilty to a New Crime. AP: “A New York man accused of threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pleaded guilty Thursday, a year after ... Donald Trump pardoned him for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Christopher P. Moynihan, 35, also agreed to serve three years of probation. During a hearing in the town court in Clinton, New York, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge, and sentencing was set for April 2.” MB: Trump probably doesn't see Moynihan's threat to Jeffries as a crime inasmuch as Trump was fine with the January 6 insurrectionists hanging his own vice president. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: More and more we are seeing that the people who support Trump are not just confused or gullible Midwesterners hoping for the fair shake Trump promised them. Neither are they merely small-minded selfish people who hoped Trump would give them stuff because they're Christian White people. Rather, a lot of them are plain ole thugs and miscreants. Some are career criminals. Not all the nut cases are on the right, however: ~~~

~~~ Sarah Lynch of CBS News: "A Maryland man who said he feared that ... [Donald] Trump's reelection would lead to a 'fascist takeover' is facing attempted murder charges, after he showed up at  Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought's Northern Virginia home, wearing a surgical mask and gloves.... During the course of the investigation, agents with the U.S. Marshals Service also discovered that Demarco had previously claimed to be writing a manifesto and that he had also drafted a series of notes detailing everything from a weapons stash to a 'Body Disposal Guide.' The court records show that Demarco is accused of plotting to murder a victim with the initials 'R.V.' who, according to the criminal complaint, 'has served as a presidential appointee.' The complaint adds that the alleged victim was involved in the creation of Project 2025...."

Trump Quashes Another Cultural Tradition. Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: “The Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival, held in Washington every summer since 1967, will not take place this summer in its usual spot on the National Mall, which instead will be used for ... [Donald] Trump’s Great American State Fair. The Smithsonian announced on Thursday that this summer, for the 250th anniversary of American independence, it will take its festival 'on the road' to communities across the country and in three U.S. territories.... The Folklife Festival, the Smithsonian’s oldest and largest public event, “honors contemporary living cultural traditions and celebrates those who practice and sustain them,” according to the institution’s website. Typically, the festival brings artisans, performers and speakers from all around the country to the Mall for several weeks around July 4.... But this year, the task of summing up American culture and identity on the Mall will be taken up by the Great American State Fair, a plan Mr. Trump first announced on the campaign trail in 2023.”

Josephine Walker of Axios: "A watchdog group is asking the Justice Department to explain why it hasn't included communication from top Trump administration officials in its release of over 2 million pages tied to Jeffrey Epstein, according to a complaint filed Friday.... The letter, from the Democracy Defenders Fund, alleges that the DOJ 'impermissibly' narrowed the scope of disclosed documents that were required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The complaint calls it  'deeply troubling' that no communications from Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel appear in the ream of documents, despite their involvement in releasing the files to the public." 

The Mysterious Figure Mounting the Stairs. Daniel Reutenik of CBS News: "Newly released Department of Justice documents show that investigators reviewing surveillance footage from the night of Jeffrey Epstein's death observed an orange-colored shape moving up a staircase toward the isolated, locked tier where his cell was located at approximately 10:39 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019. That entry in an observation log of the video from the Metropolitan Correctional Center appears to suggest something previously unreported by authorities: 'A flash of orange looks to be going up the L Tier stairs — could possibly be an inmate escorted up to that Tier.' It also appears, according to an FBI memorandum, that reviews by investigators led to disparate conclusions by the FBI and those examining the same video from the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General.... Official reviews of Epstein's death make no mention of the figure in orange, and later pronouncements from authorities including the attorney general at the time, Bill Barr, were  that no one entered Epstein's housing tier the night of his death."  

Jia Yang of the New York Times: “... the Trump administration, led by the president’s most influential policy adviser, Stephen Miller, is in pursuit of a radical vision for America.... They are channeling an immigration regime instituted in 1924, when strict racial quotas — driven by fears of foreigners and a rise in eugenic thinking — led to a bottoming-out of foreign-born Americans that lasted for decades. The quotas signed into law in 1924 were ... about protecting a white, Christian character for the country.... The quotas were immediately effective, and merciless.... But just as the country was approaching its nadir in immigration, a group of liberal leaders began a long-shot campaign to undo the discriminatory 1920s quotas.... [They argued that the very presence of i]mmigrants ... was what made this country American in the first place.... On top of Trump’s insults against Haitian, Somali and Mexican immigrants and the Muslim travel ban from his first term, the collective implications of racial selection are clear.” Miller's admiration for Calvin Coolidge's quota policy is outlined in the story.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: “The top federal prosecutor in Minnesota says his short-staffed office has been abandoning 'pressing and important priorities' to manage the flood of immigration cases stemming from ... the Trump administration’s mass deportation push in the Twin Cities. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, in a little-noticed filing last week with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, said his office is buckling under the crushing weight of hundreds of emergency lawsuits filed by immigrants arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent weeks. He said 427 had been filed in January alone, and that the pace is expected to continue into February.... Rosen’s admissions contradict claims by the Department of Homeland Security that the flood of immigration cases filed in federal court has not overtaxed the Justice Department. A spokesperson said Wednesday that the administration is 'more than prepared to handle the legal caseload' caused by the mass deportation effort.... The rupture between DHS and DOJ has been on display in Minnesota, where DOJ attorneys say they’ve struggled to gain cooperation from ICE amid the enforcement surge....” (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump, Noem Retaliate Against Five-Year-Old. Regina Medina of MPR News: "The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family. The 5-year-old returned home this week after he was detained with his father on Jan. 20 and sent to a detention center in Texas. The Department of Homeland Security filed a motion Wednesday to expedite deportation proceedings in the family’s case, said immigration attorney Danielle Molliver with Nwokocha & Operana Law Offices. A hearing is scheduled for Friday, although Molliver is requesting more time to respond. She said she thought the motion was 'retaliatory.' 'It's really frustrating as an attorney, because they keep throwing new obstacles in our way. There's absolutely no reason that this should be expedited. It's not very common,' Molliver said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is who these people are. They are such sick fucks they retaliate against a five-year-old because the first injustice they did the little guy made them "look bad" (which they are).  

The Disappeareds. Daniel Wu of the Washington Post: “It took a month, and a chance encounter more than 1,000 miles away, for [a Columbia Heights elementary school principal Jason] Kuhlman to learn that [a] missing [student], along with her family, was being held by immigration authorities in a Texas detention center. Two of her Valley View classmates — brothers in second grade and fifth grade who had also been sent to Texas with their mother — recognized her in the [Dilley] detention center cafeteria, Kuhlman said....  School staff had searched for the girl on ICE’s lookup for detainees but did not find her, he said. The school district has since been able to connect the girl’s family with legal representation. [The school]’s staff has now turned their attention to another family who has gone silent.” 

Andy Mannix, et al., of ProPublica: “... local police did not open investigations into six of the 12 shootings by on-duty federal agents that have led to the deaths or injuries of citizens and immigrants since September, a ProPublica analysis found. In three other shooting cases, state or local police said they have opened inquiries, which they called a routine practice in those jurisdictions. And in Minnesota, where ICE and Border Patrol shot and killed two U.S. citizens and injured a Venezuelan man last month, state police have tried to conduct independent investigations only to be thwarted by the Trump administration, which has gone so far as to block officers from a scene, even when they had a judicial warrant. In almost every instance, President Donald Trump’s administration blamed the injured and dead for the shooting within hours of the incident, raising questions about whether federal officials can fairly and objectively investigate their own....

“Given the aggressive tactics employed by immigration agents under the Trump administration..., legal experts said local police and prosecutors are morally obligated to at least try to hold federal law enforcement officers accountable.... Immigration agents at the border have long been criticized for use of deadly force and lack of rigorous investigations afterward. But now the same militarized force is on display in major American cities far from the border....” (Also linked yesterday.)

It was a brutal lie against the American public....This was really about immigrants purportedly occupying apartments unlawfully, which is radically different than the story they told. -- Mark Fleming of the National Immigrant Justice Center ~~

~~~ Melissa Sanchez & Jodi Cohen of ProPublica: “For months, the Trump administration has justified its dramatic midnight raid on a Chicago apartment complex by saying that it had intelligence that the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had taken over the building. But officials have provided no evidence to back up the claim. Now, new documents confirm in the government’s own words that what prompted the raid was more pedestrian: allegations that immigrants were squatting in the complex. And the landlord had given federal officials ... the blessing to search the building.... [Arrest] records [say] that agents entered and searched the complex with the 'owner/manager’s verbal and written consent.' Agents wrote that they launched the operation 'based on intelligence that there were illegal aliens unlawfully occupying apartments.' They said they focused their search on units 'that were not legally rented or leased at the time.' That narrative appears word for word in [two] arrest reports — for a Venezuelan man and a Mexican man.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~  Marie: So no doubt millions of our taxpayer dollars -- this was the big, made-for-teevee show where agents rappelled down from a Blackhawk helicopter in the middle of the night, broke down doors and dragged people, including terrified children, out into the street in their underwear -- went to help some slum landlord clear squatters out of his building. 

Isabel Yip of NBC News: “Fans at an All Elite Wrestling match Wednesday night in Las Vegas broke out into an anti-ICE chant that briefly paused the pro wrestling match. At the AEW World Championship Eliminator Match, which was being broadcast live on TBS and HBO Max, a loud and sustained cry against Immigration and Customs Enforcement of 'F--- ICE' reverberated through the audience before the opening bell rang. The AEW Dynamite main event brought together a large crowd in Las Vegas, a major immigration destination for Latinos where almost 35% of the population is Hispanic or Latino. The professional wrestling company has also attracted a larger Latino fan base in recent years by embracing Mexican luchadores and the Latino wrestling tradition.” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Krugman: "... the Trump/Miller assault on Minnesota has produced a huge, rapid backlash.... Harsh criticism of ICE and its actions is cropping up in many usually nonpolitical spaces, from hobbyist forums to, yes, professional wrestling matches.... Trump’s war on immigrants is turning into a war against the decency of the American people. And it would be stupid as well as immoral to refuse to choose sides."  

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted on Wednesday that the keto diet could cure schizophrenia — an unfounded claim that experts say vastly overstates preliminary research into whether the high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet might help patients with the disorder.... 'We now know that the things that you eat are driving mental illness in this country,' Mr. Kennedy told a crowd at the Tennessee State Capitol, adding that a doctor at Harvard had 'cured schizophrenia using keto diets.' He went on, 'There are studies right now that I saw two days ago where people lose their bipolar diagnosis by changing their diet.'” MB: Now, if only the Paleo diet could kill brainworm.

Marie: I'm a day late with this, but it's one of the craziest things I ever read, so I'm not taking a pass: ~~~

~~~ Jerry Mitchell of Mississippi Today: “The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a 'racist.' Edits to the brochure have removed that reference to Byron De La Beckwith, according to Park Service officials.... Other edits include eliminating the reference to Medgar Evers lying in a pool of blood after being shot.... The original brochures pulled from the home called Beckwith 'a member of the racist and segregationist White Citizens’ Council.'... Beckwith also belonged to the nation’s most violent white supremacist group, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, responsible for at least 10 killings in Mississippi.... Jeff Steinberg, founder of Sojourn to the Past..., said[,] '... If you opened a picture dictionary and turned to the definition for ‘racist,’ you’d probably find a picture of Byron De La Beckwith.'...

“Under [an executive order signed b Donald Trump], the interior secretary must revise or replace signs that 'perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history.'... Interior Secretary Doug Burgum['s subsequent ... calls for the removal of 'descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.'” Thank you to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ MB: Here are six witnesses who testified that De La Beckwith had boasted about or admitted to killing Medgar Evers because he was a Black civil rights leader; he was the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi. As RAS points out, yesterday was the anniversary of De La Beckwith's finally being convicted more than 30 years after he assassinated Medgar Evers. 

Megan Mineiro of the New York Times: “Three Democratic lawmakers said they would not participate in the Justice Department’s investigation into a video they made urging military service members to resist illegal orders. Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Representatives Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania said they had rejected a request from Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a longtime ally of ... [Donald] Trump, to interview them about the video that the president condemned as sedition and 'punishable by death.' But his administration has not said what crime the Democrats are alleged to have committed to warrant being investigated.”

Michael Gold of the New York Times: “Bipartisan Senate talks aimed at reining in ... [Donald] Trump’s immigration crackdown appeared to sputter on Thursday before they had even started, raising the risk of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security in a little over a week. Senators left Washington for the weekend without opening serious talks on a measure needed to keep the department running past a Feb. 13 midnight deadline, with Democrats demanding major changes to immigration enforcement operations and Republicans digging in against measures to curb the Trump administration’s deportation drive. Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, the Republican chairwoman of the panel that oversees homeland security spending, said that she had made overtures to meet with Democrats that had so far gone unacknowledged. 'Obviously, we can’t find a pathway forward if we don’t have a conversation,' said Ms. Britt, who released a scathing statement on Wednesday night rejecting as 'ridiculous' the proposals that Democrats have put forth for guardrails on federal immigration agents.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Perhaps Katie Britt is not all that bright, but one would think that a member of the World's Greatest Deliberative Body would know that "scathing statements" calling the other side's proposals "ridiculous" are not the way to frame an "overture" or to "have a conversation"? ~~~

     ~~~ Caroline Kitchener of the New York Times tries to make Katie Britt into a wonderful, reasonable, caring Republican -- when we all know there's no such thing. Just so you recall who she is, here's a reprise of Britt's State of the Union response, only I'll admit that doesn't quite look like Britt: ~~~

     ~~~ Happily, Kitchener describes Britt's catastrophic national debut as not a disaster at all but a learning experience for the Southern mom: “Eventually, she said, the episode became a lesson in how to 'block out the noise' and stay focused on what matters: 'being the hands and feet of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.'” 

David Yaffe-Bellany of the New York Times: “The price of Bitcoin is lower than it was the day before ... [Donald] Trump’s election. A leading cryptocurrency exchange is laying off a large chunk of its work force. And a push for industry-friendly legislation has stalled in Congress. After months of declining prices and dispiriting setbacks, the crypto industry has found itself deep in one of its periodic slumps — a so-called crypto winter.... The downturn is especially disappointing for the industry because it has come at a time when the White House is embracing crypto and promising to boost the industry in the United States.” 

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New Jersey House Primary Race Too Close to Call. Caroline Vakil of the Hill: “Former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) is locked in a tight race with progressive candidate Analilia Mejia in the primary for New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s (D) old seat in the House. Decision Desk HQ had called the race for Malinowski around 8:50 p.m. ET, but retracted the call shortly after 10 p.m. ET as Mejia gradually surpassed him in the vote tally — a stunning overperformance that few political observers expected ahead of Thursday.... Malinowski and Mejia are two of 11 Democrats seeking the nomination.... Whoever wins the Democratic primary will face Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, the lone Republican competing for Sherrill’s seat, in the general election on April 16. Sherrill’s seat went for former Vice President Harris by just shy of nine points in 2024.” 

Texas. Karen Zraick of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Texas has struck down a law barring state agencies from investing in firms accused of boycotting fossil fuel companies. The 2021 law had become a model for similar measures around the country, as part of a larger push against the use of environmental principles in investing. Judge Alan D. Albright of the U.S. District Court in Austin ruled that the law was unconstitutional and blocked the state from enforcing it. The law, known as S.B. 13, was overly broad and related to activities protected by free speech rights, he wrote in a 12-page decision signed on Tuesday. He said the measure allowed the state to penalize companies 'for all manner of protected expression concerning fossil fuels.' The decision was part of a lawsuit filed in 2024 by the American Sustainable Business Council. Two of the companies it represents, Etho Capital and Sphere, had been put on what they called a blacklist.”

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Iran, et al. Samuel Granados & Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: “Iran appears to have rapidly repaired several ballistic missile facilities damaged in strikes last year, but it has made only limited fixes to major nuclear sites struck by Israel and the United States, a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery suggests. The uneven pace of reconstruction offers clues about Iran’s military priorities as the United States amasses forces near it and President Trump weighs new military action. If the United States were to attack, Iran would most likely retaliate with ballistic missiles targeting Israel and U.S. assets in the region. The United States and Iran were expected to meet in Oman on Friday in an attempt to stave off another conflict. The scope of the talks was not immediately clear, but Iran’s nuclear program was likely to be a key focus.” The link may be a gift link.

Norway. Lynsey Chutel of the New York Times: “Newly released files showed how chummy Crown Princess Mette-Marit was with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Then her son was arrested for assault, just before he went on trial for rape in a separate case.... But polls, interviews and votes in Parliament show most Norwegians still support the monarchy. Many have voiced anger and disappointment at the crown princess’s relationship with Mr. Epstein, but they aren’t ready to kick her out of the palace.... Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Hoiby, is on trial facing 38 criminal charges, including four counts of rape and six of filming people without their consent. He has also been charged with physically attacking and harassing a former partner.... [Mette-Marit and Epstein]  joked in emails about Mr. Epstein’s relentless pursuit of young women.” ~~~

     ~~~ Mette-Marit's Wikipedia page, which discusses her friendship with Epstein, is quite damaging. ~~~ 

     ~~~ Marie: Perhaps the reason Trump the Barbarian was so irritated about not getting the Nobel Peace Prize (so irritated he thought he should grab Greenland from Denmark -- go figure) is that he figured the royal family's being in the Friends of Epstein circle made him a shoo-in. (AND the Norwegian royals -- though I don't know about Mette-Marit are of Danish descent.)

Russia. Nataliya Vasilyeva of the New York Times: “A top Russian general involved in intelligence gathering for the Ukraine war was shot in Moscow on Friday, the authorities said, in the latest high-profile attack on a military leader inside Russia. The general, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, deputy head of the G.R.U., the Russian military intelligence agency, was hospitalized after an attacker shot him in the back inside an apartment building in the north of Moscow, the Investigative Committee of Russia said in a statement on Friday morning. The general’s condition was not immediately clear. The investigators said that the attacker had managed to escape.... The shooting happened the morning after the general’s boss, the head of the G.R.U., Igor Kostyukov, led the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates.... The shooting on Friday continues a string of attacks and assassinations of top Russian military officers in Moscow.” A France 24 story is here.