MY TOLERANCE LEVEL FOR CELEBRITY ANTI-AMERICAN B.S. DROPPED BELOW ZERO YEARS AGO: The Eileen Gu Question: Should American-Born Olympians Who Represent China Keep Their U.S. Citizenship?
Author Archive: Stephen Green
February 16, 2026
YOU HATE HAVING TO RELY ON THE COURTS, BUT…: The Silver Lining in New Mexico’s and Virginia’s Current Move to Ban ‘Assault Weapons.’ “It’s in jurisdiction of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unlike the circuit courts covering, say, California or New York or Massachusetts, the Tenth Circuit might strike down an AWB. That could generate a circuit split, since other circuit courts to look at the issue have upheld AWBs. And a circuit split makes it likelier for the Supreme Court to accept an AWB case.”
IT AIN’T OVER YET: Warner Bros. may reopen sale talks with Paramount following new deal terms.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s board is considering reopening sales talks with Paramount Skydance after recently receiving an amended offer with sweetened deal terms, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.
Warner Bros. in December agreed to sell both its film studio and HBO Max streaming service to Netflix for $27.75 per share. Paramount, which owns CBS and MTV, in December launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros., promising its shareholders $30 per share in an all-cash deal.
Last week, Paramount upped the ante, saying it would add a ticking fee of 25 cents a share to its offer for any delay in regulatory approval of the deal.
The ticking fee would be approximately $650 million in cash value per quarter for every quarter the deal has not closed by Dec. 31, 2026, CNBC.com previously reported.
Paramount also said it will cover a $2.8 billion termination fee paid to Netflix if the Warner Bros. deal is terminated. Paramount also said it will eliminate $1.5 billion in possible debt refinancing costs.
That’s a pretty sweet offer.
WE HAVE THREE WAYS OUT AND ONLY ONE OF THEM DOESN’T SUCK: Welp, Here Comes the ‘Death Spiral.’
JON CALDARA: Michael Bennet blundering to defeat in Colorado’s primary. “The election for Colorado’s next governor does not take place in November. It’s in fewer than five months, on June 30. That’s the state’s primary election. Whoever wins the Democratic primary is the next governor (with all apologies to the seeming 328 Republicans running for the seat). So, out of a state of 6 million people, we must choose between an affable socialist and a tired Washington, DC liberal. Aren’t we the lucky ones.”
I keep saying that as bad as Gov. Polis is, whoever follows him will be worse — the only question is how much worse.
Looks like Colorado Dems are ready to push the limits.
ANOTHER 2,658 TORPEDOS CIRCLE BACK: Reid Hoffman Funded Suit Against Trump Alleging Rape. Epstein Files Mention Him 2,658 Times.
LARGELY, PROBABLY: Is the autism epidemic a myth?
Autism diagnoses are way up in recent decades, writes psychologist Adam Omary in a Washington Post op-ed. But there is no “autism epidemic.”
Autism diagnoses rose by a factor of five, from 67 to 322 cases per 10,000 children, from 2000 to 2022, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April, he notes. But “this dramatic rise may be entirely driven by children with mild or no significant functional impairment,” according to a large-scale study based on CDC data, Omary writes. “Between 2000 and 2016, there was a 464 percent increase in diagnoses among children with no significant functional impairment whatsoever,” while there was a “20 percent decrease in the prevalence of moderate or severe autism.”
Omary believes children who once would have been called “quirky” are now being diagnosed with mild autism.
Many studies use data from parent-reported surveys in counts of “suspected cases” of autism, he writes. One popular survey asks parents if their child questions such as: “Would rather be alone than with others,” “Has difficulty making friends,” and “Is regarded by other children as odd or weird.”
Abigail Shrier argues in her 2024 book, Bad Therapy, that child psychiatry has drifted toward overdiagnosis, Omary writes.
I’d add that a spectrum covering everything from people unable to function in society or even care for themselves, all the way to Elon Musk is too broad to be very meaningful.
NOT SURE HOW CLOSE ALBERTA ACTUALLY IS TO INDEPENDENCE, BUT THIS CAN’T BE HELPING OTTAWA’S CAUSE:
OH CANADA: With Alberta on the brink of deciding on independence, PM Carney has reportedly dispatched Chinese shock troops to the province armed with firearm types that were seized from residents 30 years ago. In all seriousness, Carney’s decision to embrace China’s new world… https://t.co/k2w2GqvoFi pic.twitter.com/F7yA4qomq8
— @amuse (@amuse) February 15, 2026
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Czech Official Sends Hillary Clinton Crawling Back Into Her Box of Wine. “Mrs. C. traveled to Munich and ran into a situation that she’s not used to: somebody dared to challenge her. That doesn’t happen often, given that most people are afraid of getting Vince Fosterized. Maybe the updated version of that should be ‘Epsteinated.'”
If nothing else happens today, at least I added “Epsteinated” to my SpellCheck.
NOTE: X seems to be having some trouble this morning — sorry about the embeds not working, but they should come back up as soon as X does.
INDEED:
"Ironically, in denouncing how 'wealthy powerful men' are protected in a two-tiered legal system, Khanna pulled the ultimate powerplay — defaming four individuals with little concern of accountability. Ironically, Khanna succeeded in showing the ultimate example of the impunity… https://t.co/TOUKK9oLYM
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) February 15, 2026
And this from the replies: “The best part is that after he was made aware of this, both Khanna and Massie blamed the DOJ for ‘not adding context.’ Zero accountability.”
NUKES FOR EUROPE? Poland should ‘begin work’ on nuclear defenses, Nawrocki says.
In an interview with Polsat television on Sunday, Nawrocki described himself as “a great supporter of Poland joining the nuclear project” and argued that the country should develop its security strategy “based on nuclear potential.”
He added: “This path, with respect for all international regulations, is the path we should take. … We must work towards this goal so that we can begin the work. We are a country right on the border of an armed conflict. The aggressive, imperial attitude of Russia toward Poland is well known.”
His comments come amid a growing debate in several European countries about developing their own nuclear weapons in the light of growing threats from Moscow and an erosion of trust in the United States.
Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, for example, said at the Munich Security Conference this weekend that “nuclear deterrence can give us new opportunities.” Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said talks were ongoing with France about a European deterrent.
Non-proliferation has been dying for a while, but I never thought I’d see even Latvia openly discussing nukes.
CHEAPER TO KEEP HER:
There’s a weird poeticism to the radical American left being funded by divorce settlements. https://t.co/RNaCyaQIxS
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) February 15, 2026
MORE NUKES IS GOOD NUKES: War, Energy Departments Announce Nuclear Energy Initiative.
THIS ACTUALLY BEGAN UNDER ADAMS, BUT WATCH IT ACCELERATE:
Under Mamdani, the Muslim calls to prayer in NYC is becoming the new normal @AmyMek pic.twitter.com/M5zuPXs8yX
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) February 16, 2026
IT’S ONLY JOBS: City Hall boots Israel drone supplier from Brooklyn Navy Yard — after Mamdani took office.
A NYC manufacturer that supplies drones to Israel to monitor the Gaza Strip border was booted from the city-owned Brooklyn Navy Yard six weeks after pro-Palestine Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. — whose board members serve at the pleasure of the mayor and manage the 300-acre industrial park — opted not to renew its lease with Easy Aerial, Councilman Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) gloated on X Thursday.
“This public asset should not be leasing space to companies producing drones that are being transformed into weapons of war,” he said.
The company has long been the target of protests outside the former Navy shipyard, including by a group called “Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard” that demanded the board evict tenants that assist Israel.
State Assemblyman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn), a staunch Zionist, said the decision to boot Easy Aerial is foolish.
“Chasing good jobs out of New York because Mr. Mamdani and his friends hate Jews is probably not a very good economic development program,” he said.
But it’s excellent moral preening.
February 14, 2026
MASSIE, LOL:
The Bondi-led DOJ has obtained a wildly successful string of huge victories in the courts at the appellate and Supreme Court levels that have advanced the Trump Administration agenda across a broad range of issues that will be consequential for decades to come.
If the Epstein… https://t.co/VGQ0dWpplW
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) February 14, 2026
MOST PECULIAR:
On the one hand, you have four random guys who had nothing to do with Epstein.
On the other hand, you have your billionaire donor, Reid Hoffman, who visited Epstein's island and ranch and was working to help him as late as 2018.
Really weird that you never mention the latter. https://t.co/v6ZEiPkEdu
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) February 14, 2026
TRULY AWFL:
This is perfect.
ICE agent: “If you cared, you would care about the child who got raped and the person who got murdered by the guy we’re looking for. “
Awful, ugly white lady: “I don’t care.”
The entire insane national debate encapsulated in 20 sec.
— Gerry Callahan (@GerryCallahan) February 13, 2026
February 13, 2026
WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT…
Staggering, really.
UPDATE: Embed isn’t working for whatever reason, so here’s a screencap instead.
UPDATE (From Ed): It’s worth noting what’s under the ellipses in the above tweet to get the full effect: “8% of Nicaragua entered the US in 4 years. 8% of the entire country. 7% of Cuba. 6% of Haiti. 5% of Honduras.” Absolutely staggering numbers.
JENNIFER RUST REVIEWS DENNIS PRAGER’S LATEST: Who Decides What Is Good and What Is Evil? Book Review: ‘If There Is No God.’
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Edtech is booming, but so is ‘brain rot.’
IQ, which measures the ability to learn in school, used to correlate closely with years of schooling, Horvath writes. Not any more. “Despite spending more time in school than any generation before, Gen-Z is losing school-ability.”
Trying to make learning easier will backfire, he warns. “The more students rely on easy, supportive digital tools, the less friction they encounter and the less mental effort they must exert. But friction is not a flaw of learning: it is learning.”
“Edtech companies tout huge learning gains,” but researchers have found “technology rarely boosts learning in schools — and often impairs it, editorializes The Economist.
Around the world, in-school computer use is up and test scores are down, the story notes. “Back in 2013, Bill Gates remarked that it would take a decade to know whether education technology really worked,” The Economist concludes. “More than ten years and hundreds of billions of dollars later, the answer is increasingly clear.”
Maybe educating was never the point.
IT’S FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: The Twofer Eye-Bleach Mugshot Edition. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn twice how not to pose for the camera, how to save the Baby Jesus, and how to (almost) steal booze in Texas.”