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.”

SPACE: The SpaceX Merger: If You Want More Compute, Leave Earth. “Tesla is building a ‘gigantic’ chip factory to produce AI hardware at scale: batteries, power electronics, chips (he’s musing about creating the factory’s equipment and memory from scratch, too). SpaceX is gearing up to build 10,000 rockets a year. Solar panels in orbit can collect 13x the energy of those on the ground, where unlike on Earth they’re always exposed to sunlight. Elon wants to launch solar-paneled data centers in space.”

MCCONNELL DID THE MEME:

McConnell’s heel turn on election security is worse than spite. It’s about money and power.

Trump blew up the system, and especially the foreign policy, that allowed McConnell and his idiot staffers and all their lobbyist friends to get rich. They have to get rid of Trump, and… https://t.co/K9XOU8cBHW

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 13, 2026

The meme:

I DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS AT ALL: The Least Laid Generation in History: Gen Z Is Ghosting Sex — and the Implications Are Huge.

UM…: Air Force Now Denies Receiving F-35s Without Radars.

The U.S. Air Force has now denied taking delivery of any F-35A Joint Strike Fighters from the latest Lot 17 production batch without radars installed. This comes a day after TWZ published a detailed piece examining a recent unconfirmed report that the U.S. military has been receiving radar-less F-35s since last June due to issues tied to the new AN/APG-85 radar. Earlier this week, the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) had declined to confirm or deny whether that was the case, citing “enhanced security measures.”

“USAF F-35A lot 17 aircraft are delivering with APG-81 radars,” an Air Force spokesperson told TWZ today in an unprompted statement. “The Air Force is working with the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office to deliver F-35s with APG-85 radars, and actual modernization plans, capabilities, and schedules remain classified to maintain program security.”

When TWZ broke the story earlier this week, the Air Force at first refused to confirm or deny — so who knows?

IT’S TIME FOR VICTORIA TAFT’S West Coast, Messed Coast™ — And Then the Facebook Guy Fled California With His Zuck-Buck Billions. “Ima let you finish, Gav, but this latest Newsom disaster is not only getting embarrassing, but it’s the most expensive capital flight since, well, probably since American oil companies bugged out of Venezuela with what was left of their companies. Or New Yorkers moved to Florida during COVID.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China performs an impressive rocket landing.

China’s space program, striving to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030, carried out a test flight of a new reusable booster and crew capsule late Tuesday (US time), and the results were spectacular, Ars reports. The launch of a subscale version of the Long March 10 rocket, still in development, provided engineers with an opportunity to verify the performance of an important part of the new Mengzhou capsule’s safety system. A test version of the Mengzhou spacecraft, flying without anyone onboard, climbed into the stratosphere on top of the Long March booster before activating its launch abort motors a little more than a minute into the flight as the rocket reached the moment of maximum aerodynamic pressure, known as Max-Q.

China getting there on rocket reuse… The abort motors pulled the capsule away from the booster, simulating an in-flight escape that might be necessary to whisk crews away from a failing rocket. The Mengzhou spacecraft later deployed parachutes and splashed down offshore from Hainan Island. Remarkably, the booster continued its ascent without the crew capsule, soaring into space on the power of its kerosene-fueled YF-100 engines before reentering the atmosphere, reigniting its engines, and nailing a propulsive landing in the South China Sea, right next to a recovery barge waiting to bring it back to shore.

SpaceX won’t hold a monopoly on reuse forever…

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Excuse Me, But California Dems Stole How Much Again?

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: The Supreme Court’s Decade of Dithering on Hardware Cases Comes at a High Cost to Gun Owners.

So many more people have had their right to bear arms stripped from them since the Supreme Court denied cert in the first wave of “assault weapon” cases back in 2015 over the dissent of Justices Scalia and Thomas. A lot more states have since passed various bans.

People don’t live forever while the Court dilly dallies. Waiting more than a decade to decide these issues has a real cost to people’s liberties. People like Sam Paredes spent decades fighting for their rights in antigun states like California, only to pass away before the Court could be bothered to take up their case. It’s enraging just how much their neglect has hurt us.

Maybe there was nothing SCOTUS could do back in 2015 with a 5-4 court with a squish like Justice Kennedy who didn’t want to go any further than Heller did. But now, since 2020, the votes are either there or it’s time we find out if Roberts and Barrett are going to stab (shoot?) us in the back.

Read the whole thing.

WINNING: Trump’s Taiwan Pact Reshapes Supply Chains and Global Power.

INCENTIVES MATTER: Voluntary departures hit record high as detained immigrants lose hope of getting released or winning in court.

That figure only appears to be climbing as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown widens and detention populations swell. The percentage of voluntary departures among those detained grew nearly every month of 2025, reaching 38% in December. The analysis does not include those who were not given a hearing before an immigration judge, such as immigrants in expedited removal proceedings.

“It’s set up for every individual who is detained to get to the point where they’re just emotionally drained and exhausted through it all of the way that we’re being treated, to just say, ‘OK, all I want is my freedom,'” said Vilma Palacios, who agreed to return to Honduras in late December after being detained for six months in Basile, Louisiana.

This is a CBS News report, so they pretty much gloss over the fact that that’s how things are supposed to go for anyone who enters the country illegally.

I’d also add that Mitt Romney — hardly anybody’s idea of a conservative, “severe” or otherwise — got unfairly raked over the coals during the 2012 election for suggesting self-deportation as a partial solution to illegal immigration.

But it’s working now.

SELECTIVE FURY: World’s Wrath Hits U.S., Misses China and India.

THIS SEEMS LIKELY: Expert credits Trump tax certainty for economic confidence, Americans returning to workforce.

Washington skeptics were quieted Wednesday morning as the January jobs report beat expectations, revealing a resilient American workforce that added 130,000 jobs to start the year.

While experts predicted a winter chill for hiring, the 4.3% unemployment rate tells a different story — one of a Main Street economy — showing renewed strength. According to Patrice Onwuka of the Independent Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity, this isn’t just a lucky break; it’s the direct result of “one big, beautiful bill” giving businesses the tax certainty they need to build, hire and grow.

“Today’s January jobs report is strong and, importantly, beat expectations. This should inspire more hope for unemployed workers, but also boost confidence in the economy among Americans broadly,” Onwuka told Fox News Digital.

“Workers are being drawn back into the labor force because they believe they can find work,” she added. “Also, the tax cuts will boost employment. As workers also realize just how much the Working Families Tax Cuts… rewards hard work through no taxes on tips and no taxes on overtime, it may draw people back into the labor force or encourage those already working to stack up earnings by increasing their hours and effort.”

A healthy business climate helps tremendously, and it isn’t even difficult to create one.

SHARKS GOTTA SWIM, BATS GOTTA FLY: Dems Will Vote to Shut Down DHS Then Fly to Europe on Taxpayer Money.

YOU CAN’T WIN IF YOU DON’T PLAY: No Republicans to appear on ballot in 2026 New Mexico Senate election.

Republican Christopher Vanden Heuvel was disqualified by New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who ruled that the 2026 Senate candidate didn’t turn in enough qualified voter signatures to appear on the June primary ballot, wiping the Republican field. Though the state is solidly blue, the disqualification will mark the first time in the state’s modern history that a Republican won’t appear on the Senate ballot, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

Incumbent Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) will now cruise to a second term, barring an unlikely defeat in a Democratic primary.

Dems fight everywhere, and pick up the occasional unexpected win. Too often, the GOP doesn’t even show up.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Disney’s Epic Woke Choke on ‘Snow White’ Gives Me Hope for America. “Let us head into the weekend with something a little off of the beaten path of political stories this week. We will get back to the Bad Bunny Epstein Minnesota outrages next week, but today we are going to examine how a fairy tale princess beat up on some woke idiots and took a lot of their lunch money.”

GO LONG: Alphabet selling very rare 100-year bonds to help fund AI investment.

Alphabet has lined up banks to sell a rare 100-year bond, stepping up a borrowing spree by Big Tech companies racing to fund their vast investments in AI this year.

The so-called century bond will form part of a debut sterling issuance this week by Google’s parent company, said people familiar with the matter.

Alphabet was also selling $20 billion of dollar bonds on Monday and lining up a Swiss franc bond sale, the people said. The dollar portion of the deal was upsized from $15 billion because of strong demand, they added.

Century bonds—long-term borrowing at its most extreme—are highly unusual, although a flurry was sold during the period of very low interest rates that followed the financial crisis, including by governments such as Austria and Argentina.

The University of Oxford, EDF, and the Wellcome Trust—the most recent in 2018—are the only issuers to have tapped the sterling century market. Such sales are even rarer in the tech sector, with most of the industry’s biggest groups issuing up to 40 years, although IBM sold a 100-year bond in 1996.

If nothing else, maybe they’ll become collectors’ items.

ICYMI: CNN ‘Circling the Drain’ As Warner Buyout Heats Up.

FA MEETS FO: Kentucky Homeowner Thwarts a Not-So-Neighborly Home Invasion.

In the quiet pre-dawn hours last Friday in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Danny Hyatt decided to pull off what he probably figured was just another quick score. At 36-years-old you’d think he’d know better than to storm into occupied dwellings, but he probably figured it beats working for a living. Unfortunately for Danny Boy, the homeowner wasn’t a helpless waif who subscribed to the Moms Demand Action “guns are icky and dangerous” way of thinking. Far from it.

Hyatt decided his neighbor – yes, his neighbor – had some stuff he coveted. At 5 a.m., he forced entry. Local cops called it a straight-up home invasion. Hyatt’s neighbor, however, kept their safety rescue tool close by (not locked in a safe with ammunition stored separately), and used it to educate Danny on neighborly ethics.

Hyatt absorbed some hot lead. And despite the best efforts of first responders, he died on scene.

Full story at the link.

RABBI MICHAEL BARCLAY: Donald Trump Negotiates Like King Solomon.

CHRIS QUEEN: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: College Baseball Returns. “College baseball is a sleeper sport in the South,” I wrote in my book Neon Crosses. “You don’t see the rabid following that you do for football and basketball, but college baseball fans have a passion that’s different — I know because I’m one of them.”

NOW THAT’S A BIG BUST:

Ah.

I was wondering why there was a lack of drug boats getting blown up in the Caribbean.

They tried one big shipment on a sub.

And got busted. https://t.co/lRZFhxA3vZ

— RBe (@RBPundit) February 12, 2026

IT WOULD TAKE A HEART OF STONE NOT TO LAUGH AND/OR CUE THE WORLD’S SMALLEST VIOLIN: CNN ‘Circling the Drain’ As Warner Buyout Heats Up.

YES: Gender-Affirming Care Needs a Lobotomy.