JOANNE JACOBS: No need to listen, read, write or think: AI will do college for you.

Going to lectures, reading and writing aren’t necessary, reports Matthew Gault on 404. Companion claims to have developed an agentic AI tool called Einstein that will log into Canvas, a popular edtech platform, to complete assignments, participate in discussions and take tests with no input needed from the “student.”

I suspect it’s not real. The link to Einstein’s website doesn’t work for me, and I wonder if it’s a way to scare professors away from using edtech platforms that are susceptible to cheating. But, these days, who knows?

“Universities…by and large adopted a transactive model of education,” said Matthew Kirschenbaum, a University of Virginia professor, who’s written about the impact of artificial intelligence. “Students see their diploma as a credential” that will be “the springboard to economic stability and prosperity.”

If students are paying for the credential — not for learning — then why not have AI do the work?

That’s the real question, isn’t it?

I REMEMBER WHEN EVERYBODY LOVED A WINNER: Why Pick on American Hockey Players? The Left Jumps the Zamboni by Criticizing USA Men’s Gold Medal Team.

2027 PREVIEW? How China is masking drone flights in potential Taiwan rehearsal.

A large Chinese military drone has conducted regular flights over the South China Sea in recent months while transmitting false transponder signals that made it appear to be other aircraft, including a sanctioned Belarusian cargo plane and a British Typhoon fighter jet.

Military attaches and security analysts scrutinising the operations say the flights represent a step-change in China’s grey-zone tactics in the contested South China Sea and appear to be testing possible decoy capabilities in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Since August, at least 23 flights have been logged under the call sign YILO4200, a known long-endurance Chinese military drone, but the aircraft transmitted registration numbers of other aircraft, according to Reuters analysis of data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

The flight paths often head east from the Chinese province of Hainan towards the Philippines, near the disputed Paracel Islands, and down Vietnam’s coast, the flight analysis showed.

Here’s the reference (although there are countless versions of it, going back several years) from the headline: Why does 2027 Keep Coming up About the Chinese Military? “From the Davidson Window to other prognostications, the window of greatest possibility for war with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is generally seen as opening in 2027.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: A Pox on Everyone Who Keeps Hillary Clinton in the News. “It’s the Republicans who are foisting her upon us now, however and it’s all in another futile attempt to ‘get’ the Clintons. As I’ve written often, nailing the Clintons for anything is the Great White Whale for many conservatives. And as I have written even more often: it ain’t gonna happen. When Mr. and Mrs. C were first subpoenaed over the Epstein stuff last summer, I reminded everyone that they’ve been through this before and are very good at never getting any comeuppance.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA shakes up leadership of human spaceflight program in wake of critical Starliner report. “The agency announced today (Feb. 26) that Joel Montalbano and Dana Hutcherson will serve as acting associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) and acting program manager of the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), respectively. They will both take charge immediately.”

ICYMI: Things Are So Bad, This Hospital Now Screens for Childhood Illiteracy.

CYBERSECURITY: New AirSnitch attack breaks Wi-Fi encryption in homes, offices, and enterprises.

The hardware manufacturers face yet another challenge: The client isolation mechanisms vary from maker to maker. With no industry-wide standard, these one-off solutions are splintered and may not receive the concerted security attention that formal protocols are given.

So how bad is AirSnitch, really?

With a basic understanding of AirSnitch, the next step is to put it into historical context and assess how big a threat it poses in the real world. In some respects, it resembles the 2007 PTW attack (named for its creators Andrei Pyshkin, Erik Tews, and Ralf-Philipp Weinmann) that completely and immediately broke WEP, leaving Wi-Fi users everywhere with no means to protect themselves against nearby adversaries. For now, client isolation is similarly defeated—almost completely and overnight—with no immediate remedy available.

At the same time, the bar for waging WEP attacks was significantly lower, since it was available to anyone within range of an AP. AirSnitch, by contrast, requires that the attacker already have some sort of access to the Wi-Fi network. For many people, that may mean steering clear of public Wi-Fi networks altogether.

If the network is properly secured—meaning it’s protected by a strong password that’s known only to authorized users — AirSnitch may not be of much value to an attacker. The nuance here is that even if an attacker doesn’t have access to a specific SSID, they may still use AirSnitch if they have access to other SSIDs or BSSIDs that use the same AP or other connecting infrastructure.

What a mess.

I keep my home network as protected as possible — which might not be enough — and quit using anybody else’s WiFi years ago, and just rely on 5G and tethering when needed.

WELL, GOOD: Trump Racks Up Another Victory Over Leftist Crazies Trying to Stop His Ballroom.

WOW: Netflix Backs Out of Warner Bros. Bidding, Paramount Set to Win. “In a stunning twist, Netflix is declining to raise its bid for Warner Bros., positioning David Ellison’s Paramount as the winner in the battle for the fabled studio.”

ICYMI: So Hackers Just Stole Mexico’s Tax and Voter Rolls and You’ll Never Guess How

WATERGATE WAS A THREAT TO OUR REPUBLIC BECAUSE REASONS, BUT THIS IS DIFFERENT BECAUSE SHUT UP:

Joe Biden’s FBI spying on Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Susie Wiles — and even listening to her phone calls with her lawyer! — makes Watergate look like jaywalking.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 26, 2026

Related:

🚨 HOLY CRAP! Secretary Noem just revealed @ElonMusk helped find that a few DHS staffers installed SPYWARE on her phone and computer, as well as on the devices of of other political hires

These people need to be JAILED! There HAVE to be consequences, or they’ll keep doing it!… pic.twitter.com/tjhnZyPnEP

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 26, 2026

More to come, I’m certain.

SPACE: SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule heads for home after historic ISS-boosting mission.

The robotic Dragon departed on schedule today at 12:05 p.m. EST (1705 GMT), ending a roughly six-month orbital stay during which it demonstrated a novel ISS-boosting capability.
…
“During its time docked to the station, Dragon performed six reboosts — five in 2025 and a final maneuver on Jan. 23 — before preparations for its departure began,” they added.

Such reboosts have historically been done by Russia’s Progress freighter. It’s unclear, however, if Russia will remain an ISS partner through the lifetime of the orbiting lab, which is expected to be deorbited in late 2030.

If Russia leaves the consortium early, other reboosting methods will be needed. Dragon just showed it can handle the job, and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft has done so as well.

It’s a shame what’s become of Russia’s space program, but those wounds are self-inflicted.

POWDER KEG: Could Iran Attack Israel Preemptively? Three War Scenarios That Could Ignite the Middle East.

THERE GOES MY “LIBERTARIAN” GOVERNOR AGAIN: Gov. Polis eyes taxpayer refunds as budget wound band-aid.

While the most obvious and effective way to address the state’s budget would be to tackle Medicaid’s perverse incentives that drive bloated costs, there is no shortage of creative ways the legislature can try to dig deeper into Colorado taxpayers’ pockets.

One proposal, as suggested by Polis’ office, is to reduce the amount of over-collected revenue refunded to Coloradans under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in fiscal years 2026-27 and 2027-28, thereby increasing General Fund revenue by approximately $296.1 million across both budget years.

They argue that the state government is entitled to recoup some of the TABOR refunds paid in FY2025-26 because of the immediate state revenue losses caused by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

While Polis’ office is apparently confident in the legality of this reasoning, JBC analysts remain unconvinced, saying the scheme poses significant legal risk and that if the state were to lose the legal battle, it could be required to make substantial repayments to Colorado taxpayers, with interest, potentially exacerbating the state’s structural budget issues.

Per capita state spending has risen more than 25% in inflation-adjusted terms since Polis took office, and what’s left of the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights (TABOR) is the only thing slowing that down.

Colorado didn’t seem to be suffering from a lack of government all those per capita dollars ago, I can’t think of anything that’s gotten better, particularly in education — and the roads certainly seem to be worse.

Heckuva job, Jared.

WE’RE NOW IN THE PRE-EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Things Are So Bad, This Hospital Now Screens for Childhood Illiteracy.

MINNESOTA NOT-SO-NICE: Flailing DFL Reboots an Expansive Gun Control Agenda Including Sweeping New Bans. “The bills, HF 3434, SF 3681, HF 3433, HF 3402 and HF 3407, have only received first readings and committee referrals but the breadth of the package signals antigun Democrats in the Land of 10,000 Lakes intend to restore Gov. Tim Waltz’s stalled gun control push from last fall and drive it into a session-long pressure campaign.”

WELCOME TO THE PARTY, PAL: Black Americans Are Fed up With Democrats Calling Them Stupid and Ignorant, and It’s Hilarious.

THE FIX IS IN:

Forcing senators to talk during the filibuster is literally how the filibuster is supposed to work.
Republicans either don’t want to sit through another 25 hour speech by Cory Booker or are being paid off by lobbyists. Either way, they’re betraying us for personal gain or comfort https://t.co/VkEbdopxYR

— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) February 26, 2026

BOEING: F-47 Still ‘Doing Exceptionally Well,’ on Track for 2028 Flight.

Then-Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin first articulated the 2028 goal for the F-47’s first flight in September 2025

Now, roughly half a year closer to that target, White said that the timeline remains on track. He also praised Boeing’s work to invest in the F-47; despite a rocky period in recent years with its commercial aviation business and KC-46 Pegasus refueler, Boeing so far appeared to stay ahead of problems with the F-47.

“Boeing has done a really good job of ramping up the personnel piece,” White said. “In the early phases of these programs … you typically watch the personnel ramp against the timeline and activities you have to have to get done. They’ve done very well with that.”

Keep it up, fellas.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS KEEP HUMANS IN THE LOOP: Three Top AI Models in Simulated War Games Recommended Using Nukes 95 Percent of the Time.

CDR SALAMANDER: China’s Goal: Control & Take.

Issue-1: The People’s Republic of China (PRC), having drained as much as she can from nearby seas, has decided to strip-mine life from the most remote corners of our shared oceans. All I can think about is how reckless and unsustainable this is. It all comes from a mix of greed and worries about internal security from a poor and malnourished population—a not uncommon historical Chinese problem

Issue-2: China, even as she has grown powerful, remains an incredibly insecure nation against the rest of the world. Creating land around your sea lines of communication so you can claim waters that used to belong to everyone? Not all that subtle.

Let’s go back to Issue-1.

So scared of your own population and your inability to keep them fed and employed ashore—today—that you will knowingly strip mine life from the world’s oceans, regardless of its impact on everyone—tomorrow.

Once an ecosystem is ripped out from its foundation, there is no guarantee it can recover. They don’t care. That will be someone else’s problem. No one will do anything, as they either lack the will, or they have been bought off.

“China is asshoe,” sure — but read the whole thing for more.

WELL, GOOD: Vance Announces White House Is Withholding Medicaid Funding to Minnesota Amid Fraud Investigation.

I HAD BEEN ASSURED BY THE VERY BEST PEOPLE THAT THEY WERE MERELY DREAMERS:

Left out of this headline, but in the article:

“The statistics indicate the vast majority of DACA recipients taken into federal immigration custody during that period had criminal records.” https://t.co/3xVmuyfhZg

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 26, 2026

From the replies: “The D in DACA is Deferred. The action has been deferred for 14 years. That’s long enough.”

CRIMINALS ARE STUPID, EXHIBIT #1,000,006: Pro-Tip: Don’t Rob People Who Are Leaving Gun Ranges.

A trio of rocket surgeons apparently wanted to audition as the Three Stooges of Crime, watching for a guy to leave a gun store and live-fire range in Houston. They actually laid in wait outside a gun range looking for someone to rob. In Texas. Where “howdy” might as well as mean, “I’m packing, you packing too?”

What could possibly go wrong?

The unsuspecting good guy—fresh off of honing his marksmanship skills — maybe even practicing some precision headshots for fun — hopped in his ride, maybe oblivious (or maybe not) to the idiot mobile that was tailing him.

Less than a mile down the road, the Stooges decided to execute their incredibly well-thought-out plan as the good guy parked his ride. Because robbing people who you know have guns at 4 p.m. in broad daylight is a surefire formula for success.

Hilarity ensues.

YES:

Absolutely.

Otherwise, the filibuster will be killed immediately if Dems get the House, Senate and Presidency in 2029.

They already tried to do it and were stopped by Manchin & Sinema, who were then kicked out of the Dem party. https://t.co/lIAjwxuFwv

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2026

Talking filibusters — which I believe used to be the only filibusters — require real commitment.