Sunday, February 22, 2026
From Lewandowski wiki--copied and pasted--
In September 2021, Lewandowski was removed from his role as chairman of a super PAC called Make America Great Again Action after reports of sexual harassment accusations from a donor.[108][109]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corey_Lewandowski
That same month, conservative media outlet American Greatness reported that Lewandowski was having an extramarital affair with South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, for whom he had long been a political advisor.[110][111] Noem called the report a "disgusting lie", saying, "these old, tired attacks on conservative women are based on a falsehood that we can't achieve anything without a man's help."[112][113][114] In September 2023, the New York Post and the Daily Mail published similar reports about Noem and Lewandowski, which Noem's spokesman denied.[115][116] As of September 2025, according to New York Magazine, they were widely understood by those who work with them to be romantically attached, although both deny it.[8] In February 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that sources "said they do little to hide their relationship inside the department," that Lewandowski "spends time" at Noem's government housing, and that the "pair" have been traveling in a leased luxury jet "with a private cabin in the back".[106]
Coast Guard sounds alarm on Kristi Noem.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard has become increasingly strained throughout her first year leading the department, according to two U.S. officials, a Coast Guard official and a former Coast Guard official.
Early in her tenure, Noem made decisions that rankled Coast Guard officials, including shifting resources away from a search-and-rescue mission to find a missing service member and putting them toward deporting migrants, the sources told NBC News.
Saturday, February 21, 2026
A friend sent around a video of "HK NewYear 2026" which was clearly an AI simulation--animation--
not a video recording of a real event.
How I caught on: The audience in the foreground was too uniform--not real. For instance, one was "people" all pointing in one direction.
Another had a paper cutout sihouette of "people."
SILHOUETTE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
silhouette suggests a shape especially of a head or figure with all detail blacked out in shadow leaving only the outline clearly defined.
Also it went on too long and was too complex to be real.
It's no different from the still AI images anyone can generate say on Substack--to illustrate an article.
Trump uses AI on portraits of himself and to lampoon his enemies (Obamas)
They are Fiction--not reality. These just move.
Don'tbe fooled.
Grandma's Depression era recipes and tips--
https://www.allrecipes.com/grandma-kitchen-tricks-11905943?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
You can tenderize meat with fresh papaya skins.
From the Guardian--Don't go to the USA--copied and pasted--
So why did ICE detain her, and keep her locked up for so long? A possible answer began to emerge over the weeks she was incarcerated. As Karen got to know the guards at the Northwest ICE Processing Center where she was held, she kept hearing the same thing from them: that ICE officers are paid a bonus every time they detain someone. “Individual ICE agents get money per head that they detain – the guards told me that,” Karen says.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
It’s no secret that the Trump administration has been pouring money into ICE. Its annual budget – $6bn a decade ago – is now $85bn; ICE is now the highest -funded law enforcement agency in the US. Since last August, new recruits can expect to receive a signing-on bonus of up to $50,000. Karen’s experience has left her convinced that ICE agents are being given even more incentives – to arrest and detain anyone they possibly can, even blameless tourists who have all the paperwork they need to be in the US.
From Axios--Supreme Court decision on Trump Tariffs--what it means--copied and pasted.
State of play: The overturned IEEPA tariffs mean that billions of dollars are now in limbo across America, according to economic research firm Trade Partnership Worldwide, based on trade from February to December 2025.
https://www.axios.com/2026/02/20/trump-tariffs-states-refunds?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
That impact was largest for some of the biggest states, with California leading the way with $26 billion paid in IEEPA tariffs. It was followed by Texas ($11.4 billion), Georgia ($7.1 billion), Illinois ($6.7 billion) and New York ($6.7 billion).
How it works: The group uses data from the Census Bureau and the U.S. International Trade Commission to determine the tariffs that should be paid and then estimates excess tariff payments by using state-level census import data to assign them by product, country and month paid.
It says their estimated totals are likely conservative because it assumed any product subject to both IEEPA and another tariff authority, like section 202, fell under the latter. It also doesn't account for any IEEPA tariffs paid so far in 2026.
Friday, February 20, 2026
Art project that failed so far--I don't like plasticine due to oily smell--this air drying clay cracked.
I'm at another crossroads in life--making a new Village--
Supreme Court strikes down T's reciprocal tariffs--I look forward to getting Chinese sausages and bamboo shoots at Biden era prices--
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-strikes-trumps-tariffs-major-blow-president-rcna244827?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
He looked very defeated on AF 1, standing far from the reporters and lying that he was "exonerated" from the Epstein Files.
Another source says he was mentioned 1 m times.
There are still unreleased files.
This report above says businesses who lost money from the tariffs have already sued Treasury for compensation.
2-20-2026
Everything has become subscription only--one way to get independent news is to join
Substack--some articles will be subscription only, some free. You can also go on LinkedIn. X or Bluesky--I suggest Bluesky.
Everyone has to do this out of economic necessity.
So I will post less here.
Or you can just read the headlines.
Thursday, February 19, 2026
King Charles' brother Andrew Mountbatten--
Epstein was initially sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in 2008 after pleading guilty to state charges—one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. He was in custody once more awaiting trial on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors when he died in a New York jail cell in 2019.
https://time.com/7379650/andrew-mountbatten-windsor-arrested-prince-epstein-files-police-statement/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
2-19-2026
Andrew was famously interviewed on BBC’s Newsnight in 2019 and questioned over why he visited Epstein in New York in 2010.
The royal was accused of sexual abuse himself by one of Epstein’s most prominent victims, the late Virginia Giuffre. He strongly denied the allegations.
During his Newsnight interview, Andrew said he had no recollection of ever meeting Giuffre and seemingly questioned the veracity of a photograph of himself, Giuffre, and Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.
1.8 m year old hominin fossils--
The exact date of the three Yunxian skulls, which were found between 1989 and 2022, has long been debated, but they were previously considered to be around 1 million years old based on the age of animal teeth found close by, although one study dated them to around 1.1 million years ago using electron spin resonance and uranium-series dating. So when the opportunity arose to try a new dating technique at the site, Bae and his colleagues thought it was a good chance to revisit the debate.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/human-evolution/absolute-surprise-homo-
erectus-skulls-found-in-china-are-almost-1-8-million-years-old-the-oldest-evidence-of-the-ancient-human-relatives-in-east-asia?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Their team used a technique called cosmogenic nuclide burial dating to determine the age of the quartz found in the sediment layers where the skulls were found. This dating technique measures the half-life of two chemical variants — Aluminum-26 and Beryllium-10 — to determine how much time has passed since the quartz was exposed to cosmic rays.
This dating method revealed the hominin fossils were approximately 1.77 million years old, which is about 600,000 years older than the oldest age proposed for the site previously, Bae said.
Because the new date is younger than the stone tools discovered elsewhere in China, there is still a large time gap of around 600,000 years between the earliest fossil evidence and the earliest tool evidence, he added.
. . .
By--
Sophie Berdugo
Staff writer
Sophie is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. She covers a wide range of topics, having previously reported on research spanning from bonobo communication to the first water in the universe. Her work has also appeared in outlets including New Scientist, The Observer and BBC Wildlife, and she was shortlisted for the Association of British Science Writers' 2025 "Newcomer of the Year" award for her freelance work at New Scientist. Before becoming a science journalist, she completed a doctorate in evolutionary anthropology from the University of Oxford, where she spent four years looking at why some chimps are better at using tools than others.
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Annette Gordon-Reed--non-fiction--The Hemmings of Monticello--
https://www.amazon.com/Hemingses-Monticello-American-Family/dp/0393337766/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_3/134-9485351-2647940?pd_rd_w=bYlFj&content-id=amzn1.sym.4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_p=4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_r=M3NM215ZXC02KGE9NHKC&pd_rd_wg=65vdb&pd_rd_r=4870ae17-5cbb-4e8e-bf4c-600ef077d3c6&pd_rd_i=0393337766&psc=1&asin=0393337766&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1
I always wanted to go--but never got there--for lack of someone to drive me there.
She had 6 children--possibly by Jefferson--Sally Hemmings--J's slave mistress--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Hemings
Her earth floored BR next to J's was discovered--about 15 years ago--not mentioned in this wiki.
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Monday, February 16, 2026
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