Persimmon

For awareness: it’s nearly 2 a.m. in Oslo and the embassy was closed, so this is looking more like criminal activity rather than anything tied to Iran.

Iran's parliament speaker said Saturday that the attack on a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island was carried out with support from one of the airbases in a southern neighboring country. He did not name the country. "The crime will receive a proportionate response," he said.

The US doesn’t seem to understand how many targets there are for Iran in the Gulf.

Attacking the desalination plant in Iran is monstrous in itself as so many people depend on them, but it also opens up the way for Iran to target the Gulf’s desalination plants, which would also be monstrous

Smell og røyk ved den amerikanske ambassaden i Oslo Smell og røyk ved den amerikanske ambassaden i Oslo

Loud blast heard near US embassy in Oslo with smoke rising, according to Norwegian police and residents.

Large EMS response. No injuries reported.

www.vg.no/nyheter/i/gk...

Hazing or "dedovshchina (дедовщина)" is central to the Russian Army.

It produces terrible men and even worse soldiers. It is a scourge on the army, on Russian society, and on their victims.

Cruelty never makes anyone better, and few enabling environments for it that start playful stay that way.

What a brilliant observation.

This is a major victory for those suing Kari Lake and USAGM, coming a year after the ruthless destruction of the Voice of America, a beacon of US public diplomacy as an independent broadcaster in nearly 50 languages. Only a façade remains in a few languages, pumping out administration propaganda.

This is very very good news

I get that nothing matters until the NY Times reports it, but some of us more independent outlets had this story a month ago...

www.techdirt.com/2026/02/19/d...

This is an astounding and irresponsible and obvious lie by the Commander in Chief. This feels like another unthinkable red line crossed.

Remember, the hotels are full of people who’ve fled, the displaced, and folks who, already has rooms took people in.

Well done Sweden

61 years ago today at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama.

3. As a result, the court held that any actions she took while exercising those powers —including major personnel decisions like layoffs — have no legal force and cannot be ratified after the fact.

2. The court found that Lake was never eligible to take the role because she had not been Senate-confirmed and also was not serving in the agency when the vacancy occurred.

1. BREAKING

A federal judge has ruled that Kari Lake was not legally allowed to serve as acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) because her appointment violated both the Constitution’s Appointments Clause and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

This is no different from Putin saying MH17 was shot down by Ukraine or Assad saying rebels gassed themselves.

Is this one of those "dumb wars" I keep hearing about? Because it seems like a dumb war

I give up, Claude is conscious. Ergo AI developers must face imprisonment or execution for performing medical experiments on their living slave.

Everything is normal, everything is fine. It’s not like the Trump admin has been bombing civilians purported to be cartel members without evidence, right? RIGHT?

Texas lawmaker quits race, handing GOP nod to man he called ‘known neo-Nazi’ Republican nominee Brandon Herrera, known as 'The AK Guy' on his YouTube channel with over 4 million followers, has posted videos featuring Nazi salutes and music, mock goose-steps

Brandon Harrera is 100% a known Nazi.

Texas lawmaker quits race, handing GOP nod to man he called ‘known neo-Nazi’
www.timesofisrael.com/texas-lawmak...

So, it's not clear from this post what disease they're talking about. It's Polio. Just for funsies, let's look at some numbers.

sauce: www.who.int/news-room/fa...

1 in 200 symptomatic infections become paralyzed and 5-10% of those will die due to the paralysis.

So, Polio has a .05% fatality rate.

Reporter: "Iran accused us of hitting desalination plants."

Trump: "It would allow us to also open the door to other strikes against them.…I know nothing about a desalination plant"

ICE has spun a massive surveillance web. We talked to people caught in it The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Border Patrol, is using a broad web of surveillance tools — purchased as its budget has ballooned under this administration — to...

This dystopian future is here now.

"Emily, who NPR is only identifying by her first name because she fears retribution from the federal government, says she followed an ICE vehicle at a safe distance into a parking lot.

www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/nx-...

U.S. officials to Congress: Iran still retains half of its missile program and a larger proportion of its drones.-NYT

"It breaks my heart": UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher says "we're seeing staggering amounts of money, reportedly a billion dollars a day” being spent on the Middle East war, rather than addressing the world’s “huge humanitarian caseload.”

Leaving aside the fact that he's conflating Iran and Palestine--gee, I wonder why--killing defenseless children is very bad. What monstrous country would do such a thing. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Lebanon’s Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed has announced that approximately 454,000 Lebanese people have registered as displaced. She urged those who have not yet registered to do so, and said the Sports City Stadium in Beirut would be opened as a shelter for families in the municipality. In Akkar there are also multiple shelters. Sayed added that “hot meals and food rations are being distributed in various Lebanese regions in cooperation with organisations and associations, with numbers increasing gradually to ensure no person is left without food.”

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have displaced more than 454,000 people in just a few days.

454,000 people. Because they felt like bombing Beirut.

lmao

DHS, which oversees ICE, has since commented that there was a warrant, signed by an immigration officer. An attorney for Rodríguez says that the warrant was received days after the arrest "which still appears to have been warrantless.”

Our story has been updated to reflect these responses.

A Reporter in Nashville, Detained by ICE Estefany Rodríguez, a journalist for a Spanish-language outlet, was covering immigration raids. The next day, agents arrested her without a warrant.

Estefany Rodríguez, a reporter for a Spanish-language outlet in Nashville, was covering immigration raids. The next day, ICE agents arrested her without a warrant. Read Carolina Abbott Galvão. www.cjr.org/analysis/est...