Monthly Archives: February 2026

February 28, 2026

• Links 2/28/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• US, ISRAEL ATTACK IRAN, START REGIONAL WAR; IRAN RETALIATES AGAINST ISRAEL, US BASES IN BAHRAIN, SAUDI ARABIA, QATAR. UPDATE: ISRAEL TV REPORTS IRAN BLOCKS STRAIT OF HORMUZ
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Trump Says He’s ‘Entitled’ to Illegal Third Term as Allies Draft Voter Suppression Decree
  by Yves Smith 3:18 am

February 27, 2026

• Coffee Break: A Few Notes on the Incoming Surgeon General
  by KLG 2:00 pm

• The Hidden Math Behind Rising Electricity Prices
  by Yves Smith 10:04 am

• Links 2/27/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Iran War Watch: Iran Makes Real Concessions on Nuclear Enrichment But Can Trump Take That Win? UPDATE: Israel Embassy Evacuation Says War May Be Imminent
  by Yves Smith 6:51 am

• Will the US Try to Pull a False Flag to Justify Escalating Its War on Cuba?
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• How X’s Algorithm Shifts Political Attitudes
  by Yves Smith 2:30 am

February 26, 2026

• Curtis Yarvin’s Dystopian Plan for “Gaza Inc.” Closer With Proposed Stablecoin
  by Curro Jimenez 2:00 pm

• From Fed Failures to Inflation and Stablecoins: America’s Trust Is Cracking
  by Yves Smith 9:57 am

• Links 2/26/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Trump Policies and “Donald Dash” Expats Produce Net Emigration for US, Prospective Population Shrinkage
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Pets Are Expensive and Shelters Are Packed. Advocates Say Mamdani Should Help.
  by Yves Smith 4:06 am

• The Roots of Nazi Ideology: Arthur Graf J. Gobineau and His Racial-Racist Political Theory
  by Yves Smith 3:19 am

February 25, 2026

• Coffee Break: SOTU 2026 Kabuki Theater, Bipartisan Kayfabe
  by Nat Wilson Turner 2:00 pm

• The Work-From-Home Wage Premium
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/25/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• In Praise of the Lunch Ladies Who Can Save Us from the Great American Food System
  by KLG 6:45 am

• Senate Democrats to Introduce Bill to Limit Private Equity and Big Investor Ownership of Single Family Homes Despite Nearly Zero Impact on Affordabilty
  by Yves Smith 5:55 am

• How Africa Keeps Losing Despite China v. West Race for Minerals
  by Yves Smith 3:41 am

February 24, 2026

• Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – America’s Coming Suez Moment
  by Haig Hovaness 2:00 pm

• Republicans Scheming to Preserve Trump Tariffs Even After They Create Fewer Manufacturing Jobs
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/24/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Russia Just Denied Claims It Is Planning to Break the US’ Oil Blockade of Cuba, Albeit Only Partially
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• Iran War Watch: Trump Dithers
  by Yves Smith 5:51 am

• Ruling for the Rich: Evidence of a Pro-Wealthy Bias on the US Supreme Court
  by Yves Smith 4:00 am

February 23, 2026

• Coffee Break: Local Protests Against Data Centers, Surveillance Uniting Broad Political Spectrum
  by Nat Wilson Turner 2:00 pm

• Trump Pledges Hospital Boat for Greenland—Which, Unlike US, Has ‘Free and Equal Access to Health for All’
  by Conor Gallagher 9:55 am

• Links 2/23/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Trump Doubling Down on Tariffs After SCOTUS Nixing Sweeping “Emergency” Abuse: Bad for Businesses, Economy, and Trump
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• India Exchanges BRICS Ties for Lead Role in the American AI Cage 
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• Bibi Put Israel’s Partners in an Awkward Position With His Description of the “Hexagon”
  by Yves Smith 2:47 am

February 22, 2026

• Links 2/22/2026
  by Haig Hovaness 6:55 am

• The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Andrei Rublev (1966) Run Time: 3H 2M plus bonus documentary
  by semper loquitur 6:30 am

• Do You Trust Epstein Elite With Nuclear Weapons?
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

February 21, 2026

• Links 2/21/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Rob Urie: No Exit – How Obama’s Bank Bailouts Produced Trump
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Michael Hudson: Destiny of Civilization – Financialization & Collapse
  by Yves Smith 6:30 am

February 20, 2026

• Coffee Break: Landscape, Immigration, mRNA Vaccines, and a Safe Football Helmet
  by KLG 2:00 pm

• AI Chatbots Attacks May End the Internet as We Know It
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/20/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• “Think of the Children”: The Big Lie Used to Justify the End of Internet Freedom
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• Private Equity Is Coming for Your 401(k)
  by Yves Smith 5:12 am

• Iran Crisis Exposes the Impotence of America’s Neoliberal War Machine
  by Yves Smith 2:48 am

February 19, 2026

• The Geopolitics of the Commencement of Ramadan
  by Curro Jimenez 2:02 pm

• Big Tech Accused of AI ‘Greenwashing’
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/19/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Iran War Watch: Why Trump Looks Primed to Proceed Despite High Odds of US Failure
  by Yves Smith 6:53 am

• Russia’s BRICS Sherpa Debunked Speculation About It Turning Into A Security Bloc
  by Yves Smith 4:00 am

• The Myth of the West: Democracy and the State
  by Yves Smith 2:55 am

February 18, 2026

• Coffee Break: Paramount Still Reaching for WBD as CBS Misplays Colbert-Talarico Interview
  by Nat Wilson Turner 2:00 pm

• Would Raising Taxes on the Richest New Yorkers Drive Them Away?
  by Yves Smith 9:57 am

• Links 2/18/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Will Russia (and Iran) Be Forced to ‘Restore Order’ in the Caucasus? Part 2: The March to Central Asia 
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• Twin Cities Unions Planning ‘Largest US Rent Strike in 100+ Years’ as ICE Occupation Drives Eviction Crisis
  by Yves Smith 5:50 am

• One Affordability Battle After Another: What To Do About the AI-Fossil Fuel Industrial Complex
  by Yves Smith 1:56 am

February 17, 2026

• Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Requiem for Nuclear Arms Control
  by Haig Hovaness 2:00 pm

• Iran Regime Change Tout Spews NSFW, Misogynistic Abuse When Asked Merely to Stop Spamming
  by Yves Smith 9:04 am

• Links 2/17/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Trump To Host “Six Stooges” Presidential Summit in Miami With Goal of Pushing China Out of Latin America
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• Why Does Economics Refuse to Acknowledge John Ruskin’s Illith, as in Harmful Activity?
  by Yves Smith 4:20 am

• Urban Slums: Stepping-Stone for Some and Traps (or Shields) for Others
  by Yves Smith 2:55 am

February 16, 2026

• Coffee Break: Rubio and AOC Audition for 2028 in Munich
  by Nat Wilson Turner 2:00 pm

• As Alberta Separatists Court the U.S., Prosperity Is Fuelling a Sovereigntist Turn
  by Conor Gallagher 9:55 am

• Links 2/16/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• War With Iran to Accelerate Trump’s Golden March to Ruin
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Will Russia and Iran Be Forced to ‘Restore Order’ in the Caucasus? 
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• Ralph Linton (1936), Identity Politics, and the Concept of Ascribed Status
  by Yves Smith 5:30 am

February 15, 2026

• Links 2/15/2026
  by Haig Hovaness 6:55 am

• The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Defamation (2009) Run Time: 1H 31M Plus Bonus Jazz!
  by semper loquitur 6:30 am

• Trump’s DHS Is Pushing the Boundaries of Probable Cause and Due Process to Fuel a Farm Labor Crisis
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

February 14, 2026

• Links 2/14/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Trump’s Concentration Camp Build-Out Includes Nearly $40 Billion for Warehouse Conversions
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Germany’s “Two-Speed Europe” Proposal Is the EU’s Adaptation to Great Power Geopolitics
  by Yves Smith 6:35 am

February 13, 2026

• Coffee Break: Science Agonistes, with Hope at the End
  by KLG 2:00 pm

• When War Weakens Democracy
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/13/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• More Handwringing About Collapsing Birth Rates: How Focus on Gender Roles Misses the Mark
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• The EU’s Digital Euro Is Just a Whisker Away from Becoming a Legal Reality
  by Nick Corbishley 6:46 am

• Iran Has More Options Up Its Sleeve Than Trump and Netanyahu Assume
  by Yves Smith 2:27 am

February 12, 2026

• Why Governments Insist on CBDCs or Stablecoins When Most People Don’t Want Them
  by Curro Jimenez 2:00 pm

• Has the Rate of Global Warming More Than Doubled?
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/12/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Bloomberg’s $108 Oil as Worst Case Iran War Scenario: Too Optimistic?
  by Yves Smith 6:52 am

• Suffocating an Island: What the U.S. Blockade Is Doing to Cuba
  by Yves Smith 3:05 am

• Satyajit Das: On Cinema – Antonioni’s Mysteries
  by Yves Smith 2:14 am

February 11, 2026

• Coffee Break: Crisis of Credibility Edition
  by Nat Wilson Turner 2:00 pm

• Costs of Device-Reliant Parenting: Kids Deficient in Empathy and Storytelling Skills, Can’t Read, Show Declining Cognitive Performance
  by Yves Smith 9:58 am

• Links 2/11/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Health and Wellbeing in the Age of Diagnosis
  by KLG 6:45 am

• Reuters Finds AI-Using Surgery Devices Harmed Patients; Nature Magazine and Reuters Find Medical Chatbots Not Beating Patients’ Own Internet Sleuthing
  by Yves Smith 5:30 am

• The Finance Curse Is Killing Britain
  by Yves Smith 4:16 am

February 10, 2026

• Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – The Incredible Shrinking “Most Powerful Military in History”
  by Haig Hovaness 2:00 pm

• ‘This Is Your Money’: Trump Assault on CFPB Has Cost Consumers $19 Billion
  by Yves Smith 9:59 am

• Links 2/10/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• The Ultimate Insult: As Washington Starves Cuba of Energy (And Most Everything Else), It Offers $6 Million in Humanitarian Aid
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• America’s Real Health Crisis? Inequality— and a Generation Pays
  by Yves Smith 5:31 am

• The European Veal Pen: How the US Weaponized Russophobic Paranoia & Energy Geopolitics To Capture Control of Europe
  by Yves Smith 4:46 am

February 9, 2026

• Coffee Break: Trump’s Stochastic Election Attacks, AIPAC Misfire
  by Nat Wilson Turner 2:00 pm

• Journalism May Be Too Slow To Remain Credible Once Events Are Filtered Through Social Media
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Iran War Watch: US Moves Towards Attack Footing Despite Questionable Odds of Success
  by Yves Smith 7:50 am

• Links 2/9/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• An Iranian Architecture Appreciation Post 
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• An Effort to Ease Water Pollution With Oysters Fizzled. Why?
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

February 8, 2026

• Links 2/8/2026
  by Haig Hovaness 6:55 am

• The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Paprika (2006) Run Time: 1H 38M
  by semper loquitur 6:30 am

• With ICE Using Medicaid Data, Hospitals and States Are in a Bind Over Warning Immigrant Patients
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

February 7, 2026

• Links 2/7/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• How Much Further Can U.S. Forces Go in Mexico?
  by Yves Smith 6:41 am

• Why Futuristic, Tech-Centered ‘Smart City’ Projects Are Destined To Fail
  by Yves Smith 3:01 am

February 6, 2026

• Coffee Break: Science and Medicine, Bad and Good
  by KLG 2:00 pm

• Q&A: Tech Billionaires’ AI Space Empire Fantasies Are ‘An Insidious Form of Climate Denial’
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/6/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• The Political Fallout from the UK’s Mandelson-Gate Scandal Has Only Just Begun
  by Nick Corbishley 6:42 am

• Bitcoin/Crypto Crash Captures Headlines as Potentially More Serious Tech-Driven Debt Retreat Progresses
  by Yves Smith 4:01 am

• How Vulnerable is the US Electrical Grid to Winter Outages?
  by Yves Smith 1:22 am

February 5, 2026

• The Epstein Files as a Weapon in the Conflict Over Currency and the “Central Domain”
  by Curro Jimenez 2:00 pm

• The Actual Gavin Newsom Is Much Worse Than You Think
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/5/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• American Society for Plastic Surgery Position Statement Withdraws Support for Transition Surgery for Those Under 19 as New $2 Million Judgement Points to Looming Liability for Hospitals
  by Yves Smith 4:01 am

• Historia Arcana of the NATO Pact
  by Yves Smith 4:00 am

• ICE and Border Patrol in Minnesota − Accused of Violating 1st, 2nd, 4th and 10th Amendment Rights − Are Testing Whether the Constitution Can Survive
  by Yves Smith 2:22 am

February 4, 2026

• Coffee Break: Elon Musk Headed for Supernova with OpenAI Suit, SpaceX-xAI Merger?
  by Nat Wilson Turner 2:00 pm

• Turmoil at FEMA Adds to the Revolt Against Kristi Noem
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/4/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Collective West Press Starting to Acknowledge Ukraine’s Untenable Position and Inevitable Loss
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Türkiye Plays Peacemaker But Has Central Role in Iran Encirclement
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

• Why American Life Expectancy is Falling Behind Globally, Falling Apart by State
  by Yves Smith 4:47 am

February 3, 2026

• Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – The Folly of Bombing Iran
  by Haig Hovaness 2:00 pm

• US Military Helping DHS Build Massive Network of ‘Concentration Camps,’ Navy Contract Reveals
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/3/2026
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Mexico Warns of “Far-Reaching Humanitarian Crisis” in Cuba, As US Seeks to Starve Island Nation Into Final Submission
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• Modi Appears to Cave to Trump, Agrees to Buy Venezuela Oil in Place of Russia’s, End Tariffs on US Agriculture
  by Yves Smith 6:40 am

• It’s 2026 and You’re Uninsured. Now What?
  by Yves Smith 5:05 am

February 2, 2026

• Coffee Break: The Mask of Unreality Slipping?
  by Nat Wilson Turner 2:00 pm

• Michael Hudson and Vijay Prashad: How Hyper-Imperialism Shapes Global Conflict
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/2/2026
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Iran War? A Look at Boundary Conditions Says Trump Will TACO With Intent to Strike Later; Israel Terrorism Set to Continue
  by Yves Smith 6:28 am

• The US of AI: How Energy Laws and Oversight Are Being Trashed to Benefit the Broligarchy
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• ‘Corruption on a Breathtaking Level’: Report Details Massive Foreign Investment in Trump Crypto Firm
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

February 1, 2026

• Links 2/1/2026
  by Haig Hovaness 6:55 am

• The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Lilya 4-Ever (2002) Run Time: 1H 44M Plus Bonus Horror
  by semper loquitur 6:30 am

• Cybernetic Attention: All Watched over by Machines We Learned to Watch
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am