Category: News / Information

So I’m Reading This,

and wondering about the little internet anomalies that happened here after I sent a very nice letter to Sec. Noem about a young woman being detained for protesting, who’s starving to illness because halal food is not provided in her detention facility. You all know me; of course I made it very polite and non-confrontational. I had a few concerns for a bit, then let it go, slept, did yesterday only wondering a bit now and then, but nothing happened. Then this morning, I see this article. sigh I really hate posting this because I’m always encouraging people to write and direct our government, and this is certainly dis-encouraging. And discouraging. But necessary for people to know.

He Sent One Email. Then Federal Agents Came To His Door.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is weaponizing a little-known legal tool to crack down on free speech — and Big Tech is complying.

n October, a Philadelphia man sent an email to the Department of Homeland Security criticizing a government policy. Hours later, federal agents and local police were banging on his door to interrogate him without a warrant. It feels like something out of a movie, but it’s real.

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with ACLU attorney Steve Loney, who’s now representing the man involved, to ask some big questions: How are federal agencies obtaining your private data without a warrant? How are tech giants like Google enabling them? And what should you do if the feds come knocking on your door?

LISTEN: https://megaphone.link/TPG5560517715

Or read the transcript (as I’m doing.) Part of it below, then the rest on the page.

TRANSCRIPT

Following is an automated, unedited transcription of this episode. The text may contain grammatical or spelling errors, especially for proper nouns, or attribute text to the wrong speaker. If you plan to quote any part of this transcript, please first confirm that it is correct by listening to the audio.

[00:00:00] David Sirota: From The Lever’s reader, supported newsroom, it’s Lever Time. I’m David Sirota. The idea of civil liberties can seem abstract. Civil liberties are your basic right to speak out, criticize the government and feel free from state sponsored censorship or intimidation. And it’s easy to take civil liberties for granted as if they just exist.

That is, until they become less abstract and more concrete when the government goes full authoritarian against you. In recent months, we’ve seen the Trump administration deploying immigration enforcement agents to violently invade US cities. Killing people is an obvious violation of their civil liberties, to say the least.

But there’s a quieter assault on civil liberties also happening right now. One that can start with you just sending an innocuous email expressing opposition to a government policy, and then end up with federal agents banging on your door and big tech companies threatening to turn all of your digital data over to federal police.

Now, this may sound like science fiction or something happening in a far away country, but today on Lever Time, you’re gonna hear how it’s happening right here in America at a potentially massive scale, and I have some very big questions for the lawyer right in the middle of this battle.

How can a federal agency subpoena your personal data without a judicial warrant? Why are giant tech companies that once sold themselves as protecting customer’s privacy from government intrusion? Why are they now apparently working with the Trump administration to destroy that privacy? And what can you do if you find one of these subpoena threats in your own email inbox? Coming up, my discussion with ACLU attorney, Steve Loney, who tells the harrowing tale of one man being threatened by the government for sending an email opposing ICE’s policy and what they discovered when pushing back against the Trump administration and Big Tech.

Why don’t we start with, um, just who you are, uh, what you do, and anything you think the audience should know. Uh, for purposes of this conversation.

[00:02:22] Steve Loney: My name is Steve Loney. I’m the senior supervising attorney at the A CLU of Pennsylvania. Um, the senior attorney in the Alus Philadelphia office. I am a civil rights attorney, um, one of the last of the generalists.

So if, uh, people’s civil rights are being violated in Pennsylvania, then um, I may be on the case. I have a pretty significant First Amendment docket, which is how I got involved in cases involving people. Having their data subpoenaed by the federal government, and a couple of the most significant or high profile cases have come out of Pennsylvania and activists, uh, in suburban Philadelphia.

[00:02:58] David Sirota: So the story that we’re talking about today starts with a Washington Post article, and I want you to tell me about this article published in late October. Of 2025 detailing how the Trump administration decided to deport a man, a father of two to Afghanistan, where he expected the Taliban to kill him.

Just set the scene here with this article coming out.

[00:03:26] Steve Loney: It started with a man who ended up being our client sitting in the suburbs of Philadelphia reading. This post article in October about the government sort of stripping status for an asylum seeker, somebody who was trying to stay in the United States legally.

Um, so to the extent that all of this debate around immigration is about, you know, trying to find a path to be here illegally, this individual apparently was seeking a path to be here illegally. He had a live asylum application. His asylum claim was based on his legitimate fear that if he returned. To Afghanistan after having helped the United States while he was there.

Then he would suffer retribution, maybe even be killed by the Taliban. So the post published an article about his case where the government was essentially revoking his status and attempting to deport him imminently. And the men ended up being our client. John, and I’ll avoid using his last name because part of the First Amendment issue here is DHS piercing the bail of anonymity for people who are trying to express their abuse anonymously.

John is a naturalized citizen in Pennsylvania who is very politically interested, very upset about what’s happening. Right now, especially as it pertains to immigration. As somebody who was born in another country and worked to become a United States citizen, he read this article and was appalled by the position the government was taking.

In that article, a government lawyer, a United States lawyer from the DOJ was identified as the lawyer identified by name. It’s this is a public servant doing the business of the government in public. So this is not a doxing situation, however people might try to use that term. This is somebody who publicly signed the papers in the Afghanistan refugees case and was identified by the Post.

Our client did a quick Google search, found the government lawyer’s email address listed publicly. Again, I think he found it on his state bar’s website, so he decided to send an email to the government lawyer. It was a very innocuous, non-threatening, just plea for. The government to do the right thing and not let this individual from Afghanistan go home to face torture and death.

[00:05:38] David Sirota: So at this point in, in this story, the Washington Post publishes a story that’s, uh, a pretty tragic story of the Trump administration deporting a guy potentially sending him back to a country where he could get killed. Somebody else reads this story. Sees the, uh, public official quoted emails, the public official, a plea for a different, a different decision.

[00:06:04] Steve Loney: I believe his words were a plea for decency. Apply human decency. That was this. This was the guy’s crime, was to ask a government official to be decent,

[00:06:12] David Sirota: and that gets to this next part, which is a crime, right? That apparently in doing this, the response was to treat the. Guy who sent the email almost as a criminal, what happened next?

[00:06:28] Steve Loney: What happened next was that the government investigated him or started to investigate him as a criminal. Within hours of hitting send on the email, he used his Gmail account to send this email to the government official, and within hours he received a notice on his Gmail account sort of form. Notice from Google saying that we’re waiting to notify you that your data has been requested by a government agency and you have seven days to seek a court order stopping this or else we’re gonna comply and hand over your data to the government.

[00:06:56] David Sirota: This is hours later.

[00:06:57] Steve Loney: Hours

[00:06:57] David Sirota: later, like not, not a few days later, not caught in the spam filter. It’s like sends the email, maybe goes out, does some errands, comes back, checks his email, and he gets this email in his Gmail precisely saying. The government is like knocking down our door. Google’s door demanding your data,

[00:07:13] Steve Loney: right?

And Google’s not gonna step up and try to resist this. Google’s not gonna look into whether this is a legitimate government inquiry. Google is putting the onus on this individual who all he did was send a two line email to navigate federal courts and figure out what motion to file on his own dime. To stop this train or else Google’s gonna comply with the subpoena.

[00:07:34] David Sirota: This subpoena, to be clear, is known as an administrative subpoena. So just for people who hear this term, it’s not like the government went to a judge, got a judge to sign off on a warrant, like in a couple of hours, and then sent something to Google. This is something. Different. And I think it’s important for people to understand what an administrative subpoena is as distinct from a, a judicial warrant,

[00:08:00] Steve Loney: right?

And, and a judicial warrant is what you would normally expect to be sought by a prosecutorial entity trying to prosecute or investigate a crime. So, as I said before, they treated him like a criminal, but they didn’t follow the procedures and the guardrails that are in place to protect our rights. In the event that.

A prosecutor wants a warrant to search your stuff. So what they’re doing instead is trying to shoehorn these kinds of requests into administrative subpoenas. So administrative subpoenas are authorized to some extent by statute. So DHS has statutory authority to investigate, essentially, I’m gonna oversimplify, but essentially violations of immigration law or interference with immigration functions.

So if DHS is legitimately. Investigating a violation of the immigration laws. It can issue its own subpoena. It doesn’t have to go to to a judge because it’s not, that is not a criminal process. That or it’s not yet a criminal process, right? So the agency can do agency things through an administrative subpoena, but there are still guardrails and, and a bygone, quaint era of Trump won.

We might’ve expected the tech companies who are under no obligation. This is, this is a big distinction between a criminal search warrant signed by a judge and an administrative subpoena. The recipient of the administrative subpoena, the tech company can actually say no. They can say thanks. No thanks.

And in that past era when tech companies seemed to be more interested in kind of marketing how good of a job they were doing at protecting their users’, privacy would kind of tout that we will push back on these subpoenas. And they did. And there were some cases like this, that back and forth, the administrative subpoena goes to Google or any tech company, they look at it, they realize it’s not a judicially signed warrant.

They say, no thanks. Then the onus is on the government to go to court and they know how to file things in federal court. The onus is on the government to go to court and justify why their investigation is tied to that statutory authority. Right. And it’s so then it’s not on the end user. But things have shifted now in a couple of different ways.

One is we’ve learned that. DHS is overusing these administrative subpoenas.

[00:10:16] David Sirota: How much, like what are we talking about overusing?

(snip-more)

No SAVE America Act:

I know; it’s always something, and it’s always call/write our lawmakers (which is no more than what we ought to be doing, anyway, but still.) Maybe a reader hasn’t decided what to stand up for, or stand up to. Might as well be this, then:

Tell Your Senators: Save US From the SAVE America Act–An Awful “Solution” to a Non-Existent Problem

I Feel Seen!

Good News From The Bee

Thanks For Watching

News From Rest Of The World

U.S. news, too; scroll past what you’ve seen. I like to know what’s happening outside the U.S. as well as here; I loved to read newspapers when they were big and full of news from everywhere. I don’t make time to read this often enough.

Everything Briefing

February 18, 2026

Talks and Passing

Jacob Redman

Good morning, everyone!

https://substack.com/embedjs/embed.js“>(snip-embedded note on the page; click this or the title above)

In 1984, Jesse Jackson became the first Black candidate to win a presidential primary contest and qualify for the ballot in all 50 states.

Campaigning under the slogan “Now Is The Time,” Jackson won more than three million votes and four contests in the Democratic primary.

Four years later, he placed second for the nomination, winning 11 c…

576

Today, we will look at a series of U.S. political developments, Ukrainian peace talks, and U.S.-Iranian nuclear talks.

Let’s get to it.

♻️ Help this post reach more readers: like, repost, and share 📬

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United States

-Congressional negotiations on a spending bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have stalled, as Democratic and Republican leaders remain divided on changes to immigration enforcement practices.

DHS, which houses the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, entered a partial shutdown on Saturday after Congress failed to pass a funding bill amid the standoff.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to a compromise bill to fund all government agencies except for DHS through September as they negotiated changes to immigration enforcement tactics.

Ahead of the funding lapse, congressional Democrats called the White House’s counterproposals insufficient.

-Americans’ approval of Trump’s immigration policies has fallen to a new low, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

-Stephen Colbert said that CBS forced him to not air an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on his late-night show, saying that executives were fearful that the appearance could draw ire from the Federal Communications Commission.

The interview was posted to The Late Show’s YouTube page. View it here:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/oiTJ7Pz_59A?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

Earlier this month, the FCC opened an investigation into ABC’s The View after an appearance by Talarico.

The latest move came just as early voting began in Texas, where Talarico, a State Representative, is facing off against Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary.

The election will be held on March 3.

-Arizona Senator Mark Kelly said he will “seriously consider” a bid for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.

-In a Presidents’ Day message, former President George W. Bush paid tribute to George Washington, saying he “ensured America wouldn’t become a monarchy, or worse.”

Read the full message on Substack here:

In Pursuit

George Washington by George W. Bush

Read more

2 days ago · 1386 likes · 291 comments · In Pursuit and George W. Bush

-Measles cases in South Carolina have surged.

-Speculation has swirled around whether Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito plans to retire this year.

-Jesse Jackson, the longtime civil rights activist and two-time presidential candidate, died yesterday at the age of 84.

Tributes poured in following the news of his passing.

View them here.

Jesse Jackson exposed racism and rifts in politics - The Washington Post

-On this day in 1931, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio.

Toni Morrison, the Teacher | The New Yorker

In 1938, Joseph Kennedy Sr., the father of future President John F. Kennedy, was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s in the Oval Office as President Franklin Roosevelt looked on.

In 1967, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” died at the age of 62.

In 1988, Anthony Kennedy was seated as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court.

Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, Kennedy would go on to serve as the Court’s crucial swing vote on issues of abortion, affirmative action, and gay marriage.

Anthony Kennedy's Supreme Court tenure, in photos (and one drawing) - POLITICO

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, tasking Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles with identifying strategies to improve the country’s long-term fiscal outlook.

The body, known as the Simpson-Bowles Commission, issued a report titled “The Moment of Truth,” later that year, calling for a combination of spending cuts, tax and entitlement reforms, and other measures to reduce the deficit.

Obama Signs Executive Order To Create Fiscal Responsibility Commission
Other Links:
Hillary Clinton accuses Trump administration of a ‘cover-up’ over its handling of Epstein documents – CNN
Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant says she was trafficked from South Africa and soon realized it was “not a modeling opportunity, I’ve been kidnapped” – CBS
Federal judge rules Kilmar Abrego Garcia can’t be re-detained by immigration authorities – AP
Maryland bans partnerships with ICE, citing ‘unaccountable agents’ – Washington Post
Top DHS spokesperson who became a face of Trump immigration policy is leaving – NPR
Minnesota’s Legislature braces for a federal immigration fight as the enforcement surge winds down – AP
Senate clamps down on DC tax bill – Politico
Republican congressman’s anti-Muslim remark prompts calls for his resignation – NBC

Africa

-Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan scorned Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland, the breakaway region of Somalia, saying the move did not benefit the Horn of Africa region.

Israel officially recognized the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state in December, becoming the first member of the United Nations to do so.

In response, Somalia called the move an “existential threat,” with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud saying that his country would “fight in its capacity” to prevent an Israeli military presence in the region.

Somaliland declared independence in 1991 following a five-year civil war.

Somaliland profile - BBC News

-Nigeria’s defense ministry said yesterday that 100 more U.S. military personnel had arrived in the country as part of a mission to counter Islamist militant groups in the West African country.

President Trump ordered strikes on Islamic State targets in the country on Christmas Day and has accused the government of failing to protect Christians in its northwestern region, a claim it rejects.

-The new U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, conservative activist and writer Leo Brent Bozell III, arrived in the country yesterday amid strained bilateral ties.

-Unemployment in South Africa declined to 31.4% in the fourth quarter, a five-year low.

The jobless rate in the country has remained above 20% since the mid-1990s and remains one of the highest in the world.

-On this day in 2004, President Bush hosted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the Oval Office as Washington sought the North African country’s cooperation in its war against terrorist organizations.

According to press reports, Bush also urged Ben Ali to adopt democratic reforms.

Ben Ali ruled Tunisia with an iron fist from 1987 until 2011 when he was ousted by a pro-democracy movement that would sweep the region, which would become known as the Arab Spring.

Other Links:
At least 6,000 killed over 3 days during RSF attack on Sudan’s el-Fasher, UN says – AP
Prominent Angolan journalist targeted with Predator spyware – Reuters
Zimbabwe war veterans challenge Mnangagwa term extension in court – Reuters
Ex-Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s family dismiss allegations he was poisoned – lawyers – BBC
South Africa cashes in on adventure tourism – Semafor

Americas and the Caribbean

-Peru’s Congress voted to remove interim President Jośe Jorí from office yesterday over undisclosed meetings he held with Chinese business executives.

Peru’s Congress in Lima on February 16, 2026.

Jorí had just assumed office in October. His removal comes just ahead of a presidential election in April and as the public expresses outrage over rising crime in the Andean nation.

The country has had seven presidents since 2016.

-Guatemala lifted a state of emergency one month after the killing of 10 police officers by suspected gang members.

-The Colombian government said yesterday it would resume peace talks with the country’s largest illegal armed group.

-Prison deaths have continued to rise in Ecuador despite President Daniel Noboa’s strategy to rein them in, according to Reuters.

-Qatar’s prime minister arrived in Venezuela yesterday.

The Gulf nation has often acted as an intermediary between the United States and the government in Caracas.

-Canadians have cut their travel to the United States for a second consecutive year, according to new data.

-Annual inflation in Canada slowed to 2.3% in January, according to government data released yesterday. The decline was fueled by a steep drop in gasoline prices, offsetting a rise in food and clothing costs.

-On this day in 1940, President Roosevelt visited the Panama Canal Zone as part of an inspection tour.

FDR In Panama
Other Links:
Strikes on 3 more alleged drug boats kill 11 people, US military says – AP
Trump says Venezuela’s acting leader ‘has to say’ Nicolás Maduro is the legitimate president – NBC
Prices Jump as Venezuelans Abroad Consider Buying Property Back Home – The New York Times
Colombia identifies remains of rebel group priest killed in 1966 – Reuters
Costa Rican authorities investigate killing of a US citizen in an apparent robbery – AP

Asia/Indo-Pacific

-Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Tarique Rahman was sworn in as prime minister yesterday, capping two years of political instability in the South Asian nation.

The BNP secured a landslide election victory in last week’s parliamentary vote—the first since the ouster of authoritarian Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

Hasina resigned her post following massive student-led protests against a job quota system. After a harsh crackdown by her government, protesters marched on her official residence, forcing her to flee to India.

For decades, the BNP acted as the primary opposition to Hasina’s ruling Awami League, facing persistent targeting by the government.

The country was led by a transitional government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus since Hasina’s ouster.

Bangladesh | History, Capital, Map, Flag, Population, Pronunciation, & Facts | Britannica
With a population of 285 million, Bangladesh is the eighth-most populous country in the world.

-Japan’s lower house of parliament, known as the Diet, will meet today to formally elect Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Earlier this month, Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party secured a landslide election victory following a snap parliamentary vote.

-President Trump said yesterday that Japan plans to invest $36 billion for industrial projects in Georgia, Ohio, and Texas.

Other Links:
US plans to deploy more missile launchers to the Philippines despite China’s alarm – AP
Philippines says takes exception to Chinese Embassy comment on job losses – Reuters
China’s humanoid robots take center stage at Lunar New Year show – NBC
Afghanistan says it has released 3 Pakistani soldiers captured during October cross-border fighting – AP
Imran Khan’s sons seek visas to visit him in Pakistan – Reuters

Europe

-Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia will meet today for a second round of U.S.-mediated talks as President Trump pushes Kyiv to agree to a settlement to end the nearly four-year-long war.

Just ahead of the talks in Geneva, Switzerland, Russia launched strikes across Ukraine, damaging the power network in the southern port city of Odesa.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the persistent overnight attacks have left tens of thousands of residents without heat and water amid freezing temperatures.

Next week, the war will enter its fifth year. On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of the country, seeking to quickly capture the capital, but was met by resistance from Ukrainian forces.

Since then, Russia has captured roughly 20% of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory, with fighting stalling along the frontlines in recent months.

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, Feb. 13, 2026 | ISW

Meanwhile, an estimated 100,000 to 140,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, compared with 275,000 to 325,000 Russian troops.

-Russia sentenced a U.S. citizen to four years in prison.

-According to a new poll, one in five Europeans say dictatorship is preferable to democratic rule.

-On this day in 1971, President Richard Nixon hosted Italian Prime Minister Emilio Colombo at the White House.

Colombo, who served as premier from 1970 to 1972, was the last surviving member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1948 Italian Constitution and abolished the country’s monarchy.

Today, he is regarded as a “founding father” of what would become the European Union.

No photo description available.
Other Links:
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says Trump exerting undue pressure on him – Reuters
Russian woman carried Ukraine placard at Winter Olympics opening ceremony – AP
EU won’t ‘shy away’ from new sanctions on Russia if G7 deal fails – Euronews
Six companies directed by former British duchess to shut down amid Epstein controversies – CNN
France arrests nine in right-wing activist’s death – DW

Middle East

-The United States and Iran held a second round of talks in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi saying the two sides agreed to “guiding principles.”

The talks come as President Trump seeks to get Iran to agree to limit its nuclear program, threatening military action if it does not.

In June, Trump ordered strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities in a bid to disable its nuclear program. Tehran insists the program is for peaceful purposes, which Washington and European capitals reject.

In his first term, Trump withdrew Washington from the pact struck by his predecessor, Barack Obama, that placed curbs on Tehran’s then-nascent nuclear program. The Biden administration sought to bring Iran back into compliance with the terms of the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but was unsuccessful.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran possesses a substantial stockpile of enriched uranium, the fissile material needed to build a nuclear bomb. The watchdog reports that Iran has over 400 kg of 60% enriched uranium, which is just a short step from 90% weapons-grade.

U.S., Israel Attack Iranian Nuclear Targets—Assessing the ...

-Israel’s cabinet has approved a plan that would mandate land registration in the West Bank, a move Palestinians regard as “de facto annexation.”

-Hezbollah rejected a plan by the government for the terrorist group to disarm.

-On this day in 1952, Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as the western military alliance’s 12th member state alongside Greece.

Today, the Middle Eastern country contributes the second-largest army in the bloc.

18 Feb.1952 – 18 Feb.2012 : Marking 60 years of Turkey's NATO membership | YERELCE
Other Links:
Iran says it temporarily closed the Strait of Hormuz as it held more indirect talks with the US – AP
Trump says he will be involved indirectly in Iran talks – Reuters
Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Presses Hamas on Disarmament, Officials Say – The New York Times
Ramadan arrives in Gaza under shaky ceasefire deal, but the festive spirit eludes many Palestinians – AP
Australia rules out helping families of IS militants leave Syrian camp – Reuters

That’s all for today. See you tomorrow.

Irish ICE Detainee Describes Concentration Camp Conditions

This man had a valid work permit and was married to a US citizen.  Listen to the horrific conditions he describes being kept in. Hugs

Students say man threatened to shoot them during anti-ICE protest in Santa Clarita

There is a video of the confrontation at the link below.   Adults threating young people for using their constitutional right is horrifying and shows the republican party is entirely demanding a one party rule that only supports maga views.  Anything else must be destroyed.  Hugs

https://www.foxla.com/news/santa-clarita-saugus-anti-ice-protest-man-threatens-students

By 
Published  February 11, 2026 8:18pm PST
Santa Clarita
FOX 11

The Brief

    • Video shows a tense confrontation between Saugus High students and a man in a black truck. 
    • The students say the man pulled up to them during an anti-ICE protest and threatened to shoot them. 
    • No gun was found, deputies say. 

LOS ANGELES – An anti-ICE protest turned scary for students as a man pulled up and allegedly threatened to shoot them. 

Saugus High School students can be seen on video running away from a black truck during an anti-ICE protest at Central Park on Tuesday afternoon. 

What they’re saying:

Witness Rebecca Hindman, who runs the social media group “Rise Up SCV”, was stopped at a nearby light and approached the students.

“That’s when I found out there was a young man in a red sweatshirt who is a senior at Saugus and that the gentleman in the car had threatened to shoot him in the face,” Hindman told FOX 11.

No gun can be seen in the videos, but students insisted the man threatened them.  After initially running away, they went back to the truck to confront the man.

“I’m like what are you doing, why are you doing this, you shouldn’t be threatening children that’s not ok. He just was abstinent and seemed to be getting a kick that he threatened children. That he threatened a Hispanic child with potential death,” Hindman added. 

“From the videos I’ve seen, something was definitely used to threaten him. I don’t know what because the initial reaction of the students that were there was definitely fear.”

Dig deeper:

The LA County Sheriff’s Department said no gun was found.

They also issued the following statement, “Responding deputies canvassed the area but were unable to locate the male adult. The Deputies contacted the involved parties at the scene, and the incident was documented. Investigators are continuing to pursue leads and are contacting additional witnesses as part of the ongoing investigation.”

Local perspective:

Hindman said a threat to shoot students near a campus that experienced a mass shooting on November 14th, 2019 is especially disturbing.

The Source: Information for this story came from an interview with Rebecca Hindman. A statement was provided by the LA County Sheriff’s Department.

From W. Kamau Bell In Minneapolis:

Listen, read, or both; click through to hear it.

ICE Created a Restaurant That is 100% Free (And They Aren’t Allowed to Eat There)

Episode 4 of I SPENT THREE DAYS IN MINNEAPOLIS!

W. Kamau Bell

In the days after federal agents killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti (only days after other federal agents killed Renee Good), I saw a video of a haggard Minneapolis restaurant owner saying that he was going to give food away until the federal government’s occupation of Minnesota ends. His restaurant, Modern Times Cafe, was going to be 100% free… for everyone. It wasn’t just going to be free for people who proved they needed free food or for folks who asked for free food. It was going to be FREE. FOR. EVERYONE. Dylan Alverson, owner of the now-renamed Post Modern Times Cafe, was mad as hell, and he was not going to charge for pancakes anymore!

(Full Instagram bit on the page; above is a photo)

Actor and singer Mandy Patinkin’s son Gideon had shared Dylan’s video with me. Gideon runs Mandy’s verified Instagram account. The Patinkins’ IG page is filled with hopeful political messages, righteous leftist anger, and—most importantly—ways to help. At some point our Internet paths crossed, and we have tagged each other in posts ever since. Seeing Dylan’s video was yet another battery in my back that gave me the juice to go to Minneapolis. I saw the video on Monday, January 26, and by that Thursday, January 29 I was on a Zoom with the McKnight Foundation to figure out how we could work together to get me to the Twin Cities. Once we decided that I would go, I quickly put a visit to Post Modern Times on the agenda. I didn’t go there for McKnight. I went there for me. I really wanted to meet Dylan. He reminded me of people I met in Berkeley, back in the day. True believers who are more than excited to go against the grain. Luckily, Dylan was down to talk. As we discuss in the episode, he is not one for attention. He just wants to help his neighbors. I also found out that since he shared that initial video, he has decided that having a free restaurant feels so good that he wants to keep Post Modern Times Cafe free, even after Trump’s government leaves (which they finally announced they are going to do).

(Snip)

Dylan plans to turn his restaurant into a nonprofit organization. This just shows, yet again, that the effect this occupation has had on Minnesota is permanent. It doesn’t matter if the feds leave today, they have:

  • killed two people,
  • shot at least one more,
  • made schoolchildren afraid to go to school,
  • made some people (especially Latino restaurant workers) afraid to go to work,
  • hurt local business across Minnesota, because consumers are afraid to shop (or are too broke shop because they aren’t working), and
  • generally traumatized the state.

None of that gets erased, fixed, or healed just because the goons get gone. I truly hope that more people are able to sue the federal government like the teachers union, Education Minnesota, did. The only thing that has stopped the people of the Twin Cities and beyond from folding completely is that there are many, many, MANY people like Dylan Alverson who are committed to community. Like Dylan, they are committed above and beyond their own self-interest… or even their own commonsense.

While Dylan’s free restaurant may seem like a gimmick or a naive idea, Dylan sees it as part of a larger way to fight back against our authoritarian government. Dylan put it best in our interview:

“The world is watching, and they should. This could be the start of a revolution. We don’t know. But to me, it feels like it. And I’m willing to go as far as I need to if I can make that happen.”

Post Modern Times will only be able to keep up its anti-capitalistic “gamble” (gamble is Dylan’s word for what they are doing) if they also have community support. If you can, donate or spread the word about Post Modern Times Cafe’s bold plan.

(snip-MORE, including a podcast with Mandy Patinkin & Katherine Grody, helping MN teachers, and yet more!)

How Cool Is This?

Chart Shows Widespread Side Effect to Bad Bunny Performing in Spanish

By Melissa Fleur Afshar Life and Trends Reporter

Duolingo saw a sharp rise in Spanish learners following Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, according to a post shared by the language-learning app on social media.

“Duolingo saw a 35 percent increase in Spanish learners last night. Better late than never,” the company wrote on Threads on February 9, under its official account, @duolingo. The post, which included a graph showing a clear spike in Spanish lessons, has been liked more than 7,500 times to date.

The surge followed Bad Bunny’s history‑making performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, where he became the first artist to sing primarily in Spanish during the most-watched sporting event in the U.S. Duolingo’s official Threads account shared the data shortly after the night ended, highlighting the immediate impact the performance appeared to have on language learning behavior.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance came months after he used a Spanish-language monologue on Saturday Night Live (SNL) to tell audiences they had “four months to learn” Spanish ahead of the game. Despite online backlash from some commentators at the time, the data shared by Duolingo suggests many viewers embraced the message, with interest in learning Spanish rising sharply during the Halftime Show.

Snip-MORE

Today In History/Black History

From LitHub.

Malcolm X is assassinated in New York City.

On Sunday, February 21, 1965, a little after 3pm, as he was preparing to address his Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York’s Audubon Ballroom, the controversial civil rights leader and revolutionary Malcolm X was shot dead by members of the Nation of Islam, the religious group X had broken from the year before. He was 39.

“In the aftermath, rivers of ink spilled across New York City’s many newspapers,” wrote Ted Hamm. The legendary journalist Jimmy Breslin was callous and dismissive; Langston Hughes “somewhat cryptic.”  

James Baldwin, who was in London at the time, famously shouted at the reporters who found him after X’s death: “You did it! It is because of you—the men that created this white supremacy—that this man is dead. You are not guilty, but you did it. … Your mills, your cities, your rape of a continent started all this.” 
Later, Baldwin told the story this way:

“There we were, at the table, all dressed up, and we’d ordered everything, and we were having a very nice time with each other. The headwaiter came, and said there was a phone call for me, and Gloria rose to take it. She was very strange when she came back—she didn’t say anything, and I began to be afraid to ask her anything. Then, nibbling at something she obviously wasn’t tasting, she said, ‘Well, I’ve got to tell you because the press is on its way over here. They’ve just killed Malcolm X.’ The British press said that I accused innocent people of this murder. What I tried to say then, and will try to repeat now, is that whatever hand pulled the trigger did not buy the bullet. That bullet was forged in the crucible of the West, that death was dictated by the most successful conspiracy in the history of the world, and its name is white supremacy.”

“I was certainly saddened by the shocking and tragic assassination of your husband,” Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote to Betty Shabazz, X’s wife, after the murder. 

“While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems that we face as a race.”

More than sixty years later, some details about the assassination remain unclear. But Malcolm X has endured as a cultural icon, death being, in the end, not quite enough to silence him.
MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM

 How Two of America’s Biggest Columnists Reacted to the Assassination of Malcolm X   

Fatima Bhutto on Channeling the Fearlessness of Malcolm X  

Naming the Unnamed:On the Many Uses of the Letter X
EVERGREEN QUOTE:“You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or who says it.”–Malcolm X