Hugely Snarky, So Fun

Woke Bitches Win Gold. MAGA Losers? Still Losers.

Cope and seethe forever.

Evan Hurst

Alysa Liu exits the ice after making history. (Screengrab: the Olympics)

God, Team USA is amazing.

โ€œThey hate to see two woke bitches winning,โ€ said US figure skater Amber Glenn, who got death threats from Americaโ€™s least important humans when she dared speak her mind about the vile regime running the United States right now.

The word I want you to keep in mind for this entire post is winning, because winning is the word that differentiates Olympians from the vile MAGA pieces of shit who have spent over a week now BITCHING and MOANING and CRYING and COMPLAINING and BELLYACHING and WHINING and WHINING and WHINING, all because a number of our finest athletes have met their Olympic moments by saying Hey, you know what? Iโ€™m proud to be here, but itโ€™s not that easy right now to embrace everything this flag currently represents.

Theyโ€™re already winners because theyโ€™re there, every one of them.

And every MAGA American is an absolute fucking loser.

Not long after I started The Moral High Ground, the Paris Olympics happened. During those games the MAGA freakout was over the absolutely wonderful opening ceremonies, which totally murdered white American conservative Christian culture by โ€ฆ we forget how, but weโ€™re pretty sure they still bear the scars of that sexy-ass French opening ceremony with the heavy metal and the gender fludity and the joie de vivre. This month, these whining fucking losers have gotten their culture destroyed by Bad Bunnyโ€™s flagrant Spanish-speaking behavior at the Super Bowl, and of course by all these Olympians out here, accomplishing things and some of them not even tonguing Donald Trumpโ€™s asshole like a good little obedient Nazis!

MAGA goes into these situations already mad, if you havenโ€™t noticed. They go into every situation already mad, because despite all the years theyโ€™ve spent bitching about cancel culture and snowflake liberals needing their safe spaces, the reality is that MAGA Americans are the softest, most pathetic clumps of human detritus ever to waste our fucking time making us listen to their grievances.

Shut Up And Sing/Dance/Skate/Ski!

It is the damnedest thing.

There is this pathological tendency among MAGA Americans to be simultaneously the least valuable players of the entire human race, yet still manage to believe everybody who does things they canโ€™t do is on this earth solely to entertain them. That thereโ€™s some unspoken tradeoff wherein God gave all these other people musical brilliance or athletic prowess or [name skill or talent here], therefore they shouldnโ€™t be allowed to have opinions, unless of course those opinions conform with the dominant beliefs of the โ€ฆ least valuable players of the entire human race.

Which they seldom do.

Because winners donโ€™t tend to look at the world the same way losers do.

Theyโ€™re not eaten up by the same fears, the xenophobia, the hatred, the resentment. Theyโ€™re not susceptible to politicians who tell them to blame all their problems on people who look different from them, or who are less fortunate.

Theyโ€™re too busy putting in the work, and then winning. Or putting in the work and coming in second or fourth or really fucking it up, but developing the discipline and the heart to dust themselves off, perhaps heal, and then try again. (My God, bless Lindsey Vonnโ€™s heart.)

I said it during the last Olympics, but it bears repeating that even when MAGA culture wars manage to get close to a place of excellence, itโ€™s remarkable how far from the actual winnerโ€™s podium they happen.

(Why is Riley Gaines one of MAGAโ€™s athletic heroes? Because sheโ€™s a fucking loser. Maybe if she had been a stronger swimmer she could have taken a better path in life.)

(snip; Substack Note embed that didn’t)

But enough about Riley Gaines, letโ€™s talk more about Olympians!

These Team USA athletes have shown us these past two weeks how they are heroes in their disciplines, but also a number of them by truly representing the best of the USA, speaking calmly, humbly, compassionately, bravely about what it feels like to be competing under the American flag right now, as the nation thatโ€™s often been considered the hope of the world is struggling and buckling under a white supremacist, fascist, neo-Nazi regime that seeks to destroy it.

US freestyle skier Hunter Hess said wearing the American flag doesnโ€™t necessarily mean supporting everything thatโ€™s happening in the US right now, and that โ€œit brings up mixed emotions.โ€ He continued: โ€œThereโ€™s obviously a lot going on that Iโ€™m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people arenโ€™t,โ€ and โ€œI just think, if it aligns with my moral values I think Iโ€™m representing it.โ€

Another skier, Chris Lillis: โ€œI feel heartbroken about whatโ€™s happening in the United States. I think that as a country we need to focus on respecting everybodyโ€™s rights and making sure that we are treating our citizens as well as anybody with love and respect.โ€

Amber Glenn: โ€œItโ€™s been a hard time for the [LGBTQ] community overall in this administration. It isnโ€™t the first time that weโ€™ve had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights.โ€ฆI hope I can use my platform and my voice throughout these Games to try and encourage people to stay strong in these hard times.โ€

Rich Ruohonen, Minnesotan, curling team:

โ€œFirst of all, Iโ€™d like to say Iโ€™m proud to be here to represent Team USA, and to represent our country,โ€ Ruohonen began his statement. โ€œBut weโ€™d be remiss if we didnโ€™t mention whatโ€™s going on in Minnesota, and what a tough time itโ€™s been for everybody. This stuff is happening right around where we live.

โ€œI am a lawyer as you know, and we have a Constitution, and it allows us freedom of the press, freedom of speech, protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, and makes it that we have to have probable cause to be pulled over. Whatโ€™s happening in Minnesota is wrong โ€” thereโ€™s no shades of grey. Itโ€™s clear.โ€

Youโ€™re either with the Nazis or youโ€™re against them. Period.

For speaking out, these Olympians, some of the real champions of this country, have been bullied, abused, received death threats. Amber Glenn has gotten it some of the worst, because MAGA trash always beats up women the hardest. She had to step off social media because of a โ€œscary amount of hate/threats,โ€ but even as the hate messages were rolling in โ€” you know, while she was busy doing something worthwhile with her life โ€” she said, โ€œI know that a lot of people say youโ€™re just an athlete, like, stick to your job, shut up about politics, but politics affect us all. It is something I will not just be quiet about.โ€

And then โ€œThey hate to see woke bitches winning,โ€ she said on TikTok, posing with Alysa Liu and their team gold figure skating medals.

But my God, how the histrionics have flowed forth from MAGA!

The New York Post canโ€™t fucking stop whining. Wrote their editorial board, โ€œIf you donโ€™t want to represent your country, stay home from the Olympics. Thatโ€™s the message that ungrateful athletes need to hear, after they tore into America in front of the international press.โ€

Ungrateful athletes. Ungrateful to whom, please, bitchass MAGA losers?

In another article, they outsourced the whining to MAGA nobodies and zeroes on the internet:

โ€œThis privileged athleteโ€™s comments clearly show that he puts himself far above his country in this competition,โ€ one user on X wrote. โ€œHis comments are an insult to Team USA and the spirit of the Olympics.โ€

โ€œWhen you wear the Stars and Stripes, you represent ALL of us โ€” not just the parts you like,โ€ another commenter wrote.

โ€œโ€™Mixed emotions?โ€™ Then stay home and let someone who loves this country shine.โ€

Another fumed that Hessโ€™ โ€œwhole purpose in being there is to REPRESENT the USA,โ€ adding that if he has mixed feelings, โ€œthere are other skiers that would love to be there.โ€

But other skiers didnโ€™t make the cut, and guess who else didnโ€™t? Literally every MAGA trash American punching out mad tweets with their diabetes fingers.

Of course, MAGAโ€™s professional whiners, its elected politicians and pundits, have been doing everything they can to goose the culture war outrage for their little piggies.

โ€œYOU chose to wear our flag. YOU chose to represent our country. YOU chose to compete at the @Olympics,โ€ [Rep. Byron] Donalds (R-Fla.) wrote on X. โ€œIf thatโ€™s too hard for you, then GO HOME. Some things are bigger than politics. You just donโ€™t get it.โ€

GOP Senator Rick Scott wants athletes caught expressing wrongthink to be โ€œstripped of their USA Olympic uniform.โ€ JD Vance said some shit but we couldnโ€™t hear it over all the people booing him everywhere he went in Milan.

โ€œShut up and go play in the snow,โ€ said GOP Rep. Tim Burchett, perhaps easily the stupidest member of Congress, at least on the House side. (Canโ€™t definitively call him the stupidest in the whole building, not while Tommy Tuberville and Ron Johnson are still in the Senate.) He was mad about Hunter Hessโ€™s remarks.

And of course, Stupid Hitler, 2016 election popular vote loser, 2020 total election loser, and 2024 couldnโ€™t-even-get-50-percenter, called Hess a โ€œtotal loser,โ€ lied and said Hess said he โ€œdoesnโ€™t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics,โ€ and whined that he โ€œshouldnโ€™t have tried out for the team.โ€

Madame Miserable Megyn Kelly referred to Amber Glenn as โ€œanother turncoat to root againstโ€ on Twitter.

Raymond Arroyo, the little circus-cast-member-looking MAGA milquetoast who goes on Laura Ingraham to say Black guys love Trump because of how they love sneakers and mugshots, told Laura itโ€™s โ€œborderline treasonโ€ what Hess said. (He was also really upset that British skier Gus Kenworthy peed in the snow and spelled out โ€œFUCK ICE.โ€)

Jesse Kelly: โ€œIโ€™m openly rooting against every one of these people. I hope they fall and embarrass themselves and come in dead last. Man, sports sucks now.โ€ So very upset and angry.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffyโ€™s daughter Evita Duffy-Alonso: โ€œI donโ€™t know why we donโ€™t start vetting these Olympians before they actually start to represent us overseas for their patriotism.โ€

Sure, Jan.

There is just no shortage of sad, whining, butthurt comments from these brokedicks, messages of hate from Americaโ€™s Nothings to Americaโ€™s Somethings, MAGA Cletuses and Karens whose grandchildren donโ€™t call them on Christmas, but who yet sincerely believe theyโ€™ve got something valuable to say to our very finest Olympians. My God.

Here are two more, then I will stop giving these creeps airtime:

โ€œIโ€™d rather us lose with patriots, than win with traitors.โ€

โ€œHey kid, youโ€™re not doing this Country a โ€˜favorโ€™ by repping us. In fact, by doing what youโ€™ve doneโ€ฆ youโ€™re NOT representing us. Take the uniform off. We donโ€™t need ya.โ€

We donโ€™t need them โ€ฆ for what? Do these people think theyโ€™re in some kind of relationship with Americaโ€™s Olympians? Bless their hearts.

Notice, please, how these human fistulas all seem to think Olympians are there to serve them, to entertain them. All these mouthbreathers, incels and shut-ins, whining on Twitter and on Fox News that these winners refuse to represent them personally.

As if these nutsacks and walking participation trophies pounding out their messages with Cheeto dust on their scaly hands are somehow characters in our Olympiansโ€™ stories? LOL.

Hereโ€™s a cold hard truth:

They donโ€™t represent you, MAGA, not really. Because theyโ€™re winners, and youโ€™re fucking losers.

Theyโ€™re winners, and youโ€™re stupid, inbred cows, the absolute worst this country has to offer, the most rancid shit that ever lab-leaked out of the back entrance of Godโ€™s imagination factory while His little elves were out on a smoke break.

Sure, they technically compete under the same flag these dorks are always humping with their erections whenever that Lee Greenwood song comes on, but thatโ€™s about the extent of the connection.

Because theyโ€™re winners, and MAGA are fucking losers.

Lord, the New York Post was even forced to admit that in one of its pathetic articles, that Hess has been all over winnersโ€™ podiums at the World Cup and the X Games. That Lillis won gold in 2022 in Beijing. That Glenn is the reigning and three-time US figure skating champion.

Whining that these winners should be pulled from the team? Pffffffft. What, so some kind of 176th-place MAGA athletes can take their places? They think these woke Olympians are taking jobs MAGA would get otherwise?

Maybe Secretary Shitfaced Hegseth can teach them some of his Sit And Be Fit kettlebell swings to get their training started.

Whine whine whine whine whine whine whine. Thatโ€™s all we ever hear from these people.

And to make a picky point here, but no, pedophile-loving MAGA piss troughs, these athletes donโ€™t hate their country. They hate what these MAGA fascists are doing to their country, as theyโ€™re trying to seize permanent power and turn the United States into a shithole that only reflects MAGAโ€™s darkest and most perverted shortcomings, and yanks us all away from the light weโ€™re striving for. They hate MAGAโ€™s vile, inferior vision for a United States thatโ€™s nothing but a humping blanket all their most pathetic fucking fears, weakness, grievances and hatred, and a vehicle for retribution against all those who donโ€™t have to live that way because they arenโ€™t total fucking losers like MAGA.

So yeah, I guess Olympians really arenโ€™t competing for the MAGA version of America thatโ€™s drenched in the piss-stench of failure. Reckon most of โ€˜em are too nice to say that, though.

One final thing: As Parker Molloy notes, what these Olympians have said is actually pretty tame, comparatively, and you can really see how far the fascism has encroached comparing this yearโ€™s statements to past years under Trump. An example is 2017 Lindsey Vonn, who said โ€œabsolutely notโ€ to the prospect of visiting Trumpโ€™s White House. What about just before these Olympics? โ€œIโ€™m not going to answer that question because, Iโ€™m just not going to answer it,โ€ she said. โ€œI want to keep my passport.โ€ Unfortunately not a crazy thing to say.

I am of course sure MAGA is thrilled at how these Olympics have gone for Vonn.

That said, I do think itโ€™s swinging back the other direction. I think six months ago, nine months ago, these athletes might not even have said the things theyโ€™ve said. But then ICE started cold-blooded murdering Americans in the streets and building concentration camps and the Epstein Files just kept leaking out and the fascists are trying to ban James Talarico from saying words on Stephen Colbert, and, and, and.

People are fucking pissed. And I think decent Americans have gotten their groove back, and are much more full of the sense these days that we are going to win.

Speaking of winning:

And Then Last Night!

If you saw the womenโ€™s free skate on Thursday, you already know. If you didnโ€™t, LA LA LA LA LA SPOILERS.

After one painfully unfortunate mistake in Amber Glennโ€™s short program โ€” which waddling MAGA spectators also celebrated โ€” she was pretty much out of medal contention in 13th place, but came back to have the free skate of her absolute life, and climbed all the way to fifth in the final standings.

And then it was Alysa Liuโ€™s turn. She was third after the short program, but she just โ€ฆ did something incredible. She skated to โ€œMacArthur Park,โ€ and she just floated and bounced across that ice like she didnโ€™t have a care in the world. She was flawless. You knew you were seeing something special, the way the commentators just shut. up.

More than anything it was so fun. This woman, my God she is cool.

โ€œTHATโ€™S WHAT Iโ€™M TALKINโ€™ ABOUT!โ€ Liu shouted as she came off the ice. [It has been pointed out in the comments that she actually said โ€œThatโ€™s what Iโ€™m FUCKINโ€™ talking about!โ€ and that it was censored in subsequent broadcasts. This makes Liu even cooler. – Ed.] She won the USโ€™s first womenโ€™s individual figure skating medal since 2006, the first American gold since Sarah Hughes in 2002.

Two winners.

Oh yeah, and again, the American skaters won the team gold. Which includes Amber Glenn.

โ€œThey hate to see two woke bitches winning.โ€

Fuck yes they do.

Cope forever, losers.

Good News From The Bee

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 โ€œNow Is The Time,โ€ 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 cโ€ฆ

576

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

Letโ€™s get to it.

โ™ป๏ธ Help this post reach more readers: like, repost, and share ๐Ÿ“ฌ

Share


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 Houseโ€™s counterproposals insufficient.

-Americansโ€™ approval of Trumpโ€™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 Showโ€™s YouTube page. View it here:

Earlier this month, the FCC opened an investigation into ABCโ€™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 โ€œseriously considerโ€ a bid for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.

-In a Presidentsโ€™ Day message, former President George W. Bush paid tribute to George Washington, saying he โ€œensured America wouldnโ€™t become a monarchy, or worse.โ€

Read the full message on Substack here:

In Pursuit

George Washington by George W. Bush

Read more

2 days ago ยท 1386 likes ยท 291 comments ยท 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 โ€œfather of the atomic bomb,โ€ 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 Courtโ€™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 countryโ€™s long-term fiscal outlook.

The body, known as the Simpson-Bowles Commission, issued a report titled โ€œThe Moment of Truth,โ€ 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 โ€˜cover-upโ€™ over its handling of Epstein documents – CNN
Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant says she was trafficked from South Africa and soon realized it was โ€œnot a modeling opportunity, Iโ€™ve been kidnappedโ€ – CBS
Federal judge rules Kilmar Abrego Garcia canโ€™t be re-detained by immigration authorities – AP
Maryland bans partnerships with ICE, citing โ€˜unaccountable agentsโ€™ – Washington Post
Top DHS spokesperson who became a face of Trump immigration policy is leaving – NPR
Minnesotaโ€™s Legislature braces for a federal immigration fight as the enforcement surge winds down – AP
Senate clamps down on DC tax bill – Politico
Republican congressmanโ€™s anti-Muslim remark prompts calls for his resignation – NBC

Africa

-Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoฤŸan scorned Israelโ€™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 โ€œexistential threat,โ€ with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud saying that his country would โ€œfight in its capacityโ€ to prevent an Israeli military presence in the region.

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

Somaliland profile - BBC News

-Nigeriaโ€™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 countryโ€™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 Sudanโ€™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 Lunguโ€™s family dismiss allegations he was poisoned – lawyers – BBC
South Africa cashes in on adventure tourism – Semafor

Americas and the Caribbean

-Peruโ€™s Congress voted to remove interim President Joล›e Jorรญ from office yesterday over undisclosed meetings he held with Chinese business executives.

Peruโ€™s Congress in Lima on February 16, 2026.

Jorรญ 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 countryโ€™s largest illegal armed group.

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

-Qatarโ€™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 Venezuelaโ€™s acting leader โ€˜has to sayโ€™ Nicolรกs 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 weekโ€™s parliamentary voteโ€”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 Hasinaโ€™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 Hasinaโ€™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.

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

Earlier this month, Takaichiโ€™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 Chinaโ€™s alarm – AP
Philippines says takes exception to Chinese Embassy comment on job losses – Reuters
Chinaโ€™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 Khanโ€™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 Ukraineโ€™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 countryโ€™s monarchy.

Today, he is regarded as a โ€œfounding fatherโ€ of what would become the European Union.

No photo description available.
Other Links:
Ukraineโ€™s Zelenskiy says Trump exerting undue pressure on him – Reuters
Russian woman carried Ukraine placard at Winter Olympics opening ceremony – AP
EU wonโ€™t โ€˜shy awayโ€™ 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 activistโ€™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 โ€œguiding principles.โ€

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 Tehranโ€™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 Targetsโ€”Assessing the ...

-Israelโ€™s cabinet has approved a plan that would mandate land registration in the West Bank, a move Palestinians regard as โ€œde facto annexation.โ€

-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 allianceโ€™s 12th member state alongside Greece.

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

18 Feb.1952 โ€“ 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
Trumpโ€™s โ€˜Board of Peaceโ€™ 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

Thatโ€™s all for today. See you tomorrow.

Arting (Or Not!) With Jenny Lawson

Posting especially because of the final photo, with which many of us can identify … ๐Ÿคญ

Unfinished business

Jenny Lawson (thebloggess) Feb 16, 2026

Hello, friend!

Okay, confession time.

Last week I recorded the audiobook for How To Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay and then I collapsed in a limp pile of exhaustion, which is embarrassing because why is โ€œjust talkingโ€ for two days so hard? Regardless, I spent several nights that I would have normally been drawing while watching 90-Day-Fiance (donโ€™t judge me) instead just hiding under the covers and recovering from being human in public for too long. And thatโ€™s why this weekโ€™s doodle is unfinished:

But the good news is that because itโ€™s unfinished you can print it out and color it or draw on it and then you can share your version in the comments if you want. EVERYONE WINS.

Hereโ€™s a fun tip: I sometimes use the recolor app to upload my drawings and color them:

(PS. Iโ€™m not getting paid to plug them. Itโ€™s just a free app I stumbled on.)

So anywayโ€ฆthis is just to remind you that itโ€™s okay to not hit every deadline (or any deadline) because you are so much more than your output. And so am I.

Thank goodness.

Hugs,

me

PS. As tax for not having a finished drawing, please accept this picture of a very sleepy Dorothy Barker intentionally laying on my art so that I will pet her instead of drawing.

Everyoneโ€™s a critic.

Jesse Jackson Tribute From “The Nation”

Jesse Jackson Gave Peace a Chance

The iconic civil rights leader, who has died at 84, made anti-war and pro-diplomacy politics central to his presidential bids and his lifelong activism.

John Nichols

Jesse Jackson at a rally against the Gulf War in Washington, DC, on January 18, 1991.
(Ricky Flores / Getty Images)

he Rev. Jesse Jackson Jr., the iconic champion of racial, economic, and social justice whose work as a young aide to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began a public life that would eventually see him mount a pair of transformative presidential bids, died Tuesday morning at age 84.

Jacksonโ€™s legacy is so rich, and extends across so many generations and struggles, that it cannot be contained in one reflection. He was, as the Rev. Al Sharpton said Tuesday, โ€œa movement unto himself.โ€

Over seven decades in the public arena, Jackson emerged as one of the most multifaceted figures in American history: a legendary civil rights leader, a knowing and caring defender of the disenfranchised, a vital advocate for voting rights and voter mobilization, a savvy media critic who recognized the importance of challenging narratives that promoted discrimination and division, an essential ally of labor unions, a reformer of the Democratic Party, a friend to struggling family farmers and urban workers alike, and a counselor to presidents and prime ministers. He was, as well, a man of deep faith, who expressed that faith in his ardent advocacy for peace.

That dedication to peace was central to both his 1984 and 1988 presidential bids, a fact that is too frequently neglected in cursory reflections on those seismic Rainbow Coalition campaigns.

Political historians recognize Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy and New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy as the great antiโ€“Vietnam War candidates of the 1968 presidential campaign. George McGovern, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972, is often recalled as the most ardent foe of a US military intervention to be nominated by a major American political party since Democrats ran William Jennings Bryan in 1900. Former Vermont governor Howard Dean and former Ohio representative Dennis Kucinich are remembered for seeking the Democratic presidential nod in 2004 as sharp critics of the Iraq War. Barack Obamaโ€™s prescient opposition to the Bush-Cheney administrationโ€™s war of choice, which he voiced as early as 2002, did much to advance his successful bid for the presidency in 2008. And Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, whose 2020 presidential bid Jackson supported, reframed foreign policy debates by explicitly rejecting the elite consensus about the US role in the Middle East and so many other parts of the world.

Jacksonโ€™s two 1980s campaigns deserve a key place in this proud historyโ€”both because they wereย uniquely dynamicย and because they had a profound and lasting impact on progressive thinking about foreign policy. Thatโ€™s one of the many reasons, when veterans of the Jackson campaigns got together, we often reflected on this too-frequently-neglected aspect of his political legacy. His was a powerful and transformative message that resonates to this day.

groundbreaking advocacy on behalf of economic, social, and racial justice at home, but Jackson also outlined what was then a fresh foreign policy vision, rooted in what has come to be known as progressive internationalism. He advanced a comprehensiveโ€”and morally coherentโ€”argument for shifting American foreign policy away from military interventionism, nuclear brinksmanship, and Cold War posturing and toward diplomacy, cooperation, and dramatically reduced Pentagon spending.

Jackson understood precisely what was at stake, and he declared in a voice so resonant that it inspired a new generation of activists, โ€œPeace is worth the risk!โ€

And he was taking a risk. It is important to recall howโ€”as Ronald Reagan was ramping up the Cold War around the world and pouring US resources into heated conflicts in El Salvador and on the border of Nicaraguaโ€”Jackson boldly broke not just with the Republican president but also with many Democrats to make opposition to war a focal point of his bid.

After it was revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency had mined three harbors in Central America, as part of an effort to destabilize the countryโ€™s left-wing government,ย Jackson declared in April 1984 thatย โ€œthe undeclared war against the people of Nicaraguaโ€ฆmust be stopped.โ€ In addition to criticizing the Reagan administration and the CIA, Jackson took issue with Walter Mondale and Gary Hart, the front-runners for the Democratic nomination that year, for failing to clearly deliver a message that the US must โ€œstop our funding of terror in Nicaragua and El Salvador now and to withdraw all our troops from Central America.โ€

โ€œIt is not enough for Walter Mondale to call mining the harbors a clumsy and ill-conceived act,โ€ argued Jackson. โ€œIt is not enough to imply that the main problem was not informing Congress adequately. Our foreign policy in Central America is wrong. We are standing on the wrong side of history. We are engaged in killing people, and starving people who are trying to work out their own destiny.โ€

Jacksonโ€™s 1984 Rainbow Coalition campaign shocked pundits by winning primaries and caucuses in key states, and by collecting roughly 20 percent of the Democratic primary vote. Jackson also made a historic trip to Central America and the Caribbean, where he met with regional leadersโ€”including Cuban President Fidel Castroโ€”and warned, โ€œThe signs of war are rising. We see the military buildup throughout the region. We see the United States taking sides instead of helping to reconcile the conflict. We cannot allow another Vietnam.โ€

The bitter legacy of the Vietnam War, which Jackson had opposed as a young aide to Dr. King, weighed heavily on his mind during the 1984 campaign. At the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, Jackson delivered a renowned, electrifying speech, in which he recalled,

Twenty years ago, our young people were dying in a war for which they could not even vote. Twenty years later, young America has the power to stop a war in Central America and the responsibility to vote in great numbers. Young America must be politically active in 1984. The choice is war or peace.

Jacksonโ€™s focus in 1984 and in 1988 extended beyond concerns about the โ€œdirty warsโ€ in Central America. He campaigned as an outspoken advocate for nuclear disarmament, embracing the โ€œnuclear freezeโ€ movement to halt the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons by the United States and the Soviet Union. He called for a rethinking of US military and economic alliances in order to advance democracy and human rights, argued for an end to US aid to the violent apartheid regime in South Africa, and proposed a new approach to Middle East relations that respected the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.

As a 42-year-old first-time candidate in the fall of 1983, Jackson met with Arab Americans, urged the US to use diplomacy so that the Middle East would no longer be a โ€flashpoint for both hot and cold war,โ€ and said that any path to peace had to include a โ€homeland and a state for Palestine.โ€

โ€It is a tragedy to see the lack of talk and dialogue in the Middle East, but it is even worse not to see it here,โ€ said Jackson. โ€The first step for peace in the Middle East is for black Americans, Arab-Americans and Jewish-Americans to start talking here.โ€

A young James Zogby, then the director of the Arab-American Antidiscrimination Committee, cheered Jacksonโ€™s inclusion of Palestinian rights in his campaign platform. โ€He challenged us on 50 issues and not just one,โ€ said Zogby, who would go on to place Jacksonโ€™s name in nomination at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. โ€He respected us as Arab-Americans and didnโ€™t pander to us. This is the first time ever that a presidential candidate has come before an Arab-American audience, and we donโ€™t feel disenfranchised anymore.โ€

At the end of 1983, Jackson traveled to the Middle East and visited the Jaramana refugee camp in Syria, where on New Yearโ€™s Day in 1984, he told a group of Palestinian children, โ€œKeep your dreams high. Donโ€™t let anyone break your spirit. Youโ€™ll be free one day.โ€ It was on that same journey that he secured the release of US Navy airman Lt. Robert Goodman, whose plane had been shot down over Lebanon and who had been captured and held by Syrian forces.

Jackson remained actively engaged with Middle East peace issues through the rest of his life. Among the memorials posted on Tuesday was one from former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who wrote, โ€œIt was an honor to march alongside him against the Iraq War in 2003. May his legacy inspire us to strive for a world of dignity and peace for all.โ€ More than two decades later, one of an ailing Jacksonโ€™s last great initiatives was an emergency conferenceโ€”held at the headquarters of the Rainbow-Push Coalition in Chicago in early 2024โ€”to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

Jacksonโ€™s faith in diplomacy and negotiation was part of a broader commitment to creating the circumstances for peace to thrive. Just like his mentor King, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient who linked his nonviolent civil rights activism in the US to the global anti-war movementโ€”and who took his own huge risk for peace by standing against the Vietnam Warโ€”Jackson recognized the political courage that was required to advance that commitment.

As a presidential candidate, he showed that courage by talking about cutting as much as 25 percent from the Pentagon budget. In response to critics who claimed his ideas were too radical, Jackson told New Hampshire primary voters in February of 1984, โ€œWe are so strong militarily that we can afford to take measures such as these in the pursuit of peace.โ€ฆ We must fight for peace and give peace a chance.โ€

At the close of his 1988 campaign, in which he was endorsed by The Nation and won more than a dozen statewide primary and caucus contests, securing 6.9 million votes, Jackson pulled all the threads together in an epic address to that yearโ€™s Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. He spoke movingly of tackling poverty and inequality within the United States, but he was just as compelling in his discussion of foreign policy, which included a stirring call for disarmament that is as relevant today as it was 35 years ago.

Jackson told the cheering delegates:

The nuclear war build-up is irrational. Strong leadership cannot desire to look tough and let that stand in the way of the pursuit of peace. Leadership must reverse the arms race. At least we should pledge no first use. Why? Because first use begets first retaliation. And thatโ€™s mutual annihilation. Thatโ€™s not a rational way out.

No use at all. Letโ€™s think it out and not fight it out because itโ€™s an unwinnable fight. Why hold a card that you can never drop? Letโ€™s give peace a chance.

=====

Also see: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/jesse-jacksons-rainbow-coalition-was-as-political-as-it-was-poetic/

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 governmentโ€™s occupation of Minnesota ends. His restaurant, Modern Times Cafe, was going to be 100% freeโ€ฆ for everyone. It wasnโ€™t just going to be free for people whoย proved they needed free foodย or for folks whoย 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 Patinkinโ€™s son Gideon had shared Dylanโ€™s video with me.ย Gideon runs Mandyโ€™s verified Instagram account.ย The Patinkinsโ€™ IG page is filled with hopeful political messages, righteous leftist anger, andโ€”most importantlyโ€”ways to help. At some point our Internet paths crossed, and we have tagged each other in posts ever since. Seeing Dylanโ€™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 withย the McKnight Foundationย 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 didnโ€™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 Trumpโ€™s government leavesย (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 doesnโ€™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 arenโ€™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-interestโ€ฆ or even their own commonsense.

While Dylanโ€™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:

โ€œThe world is watching, and they should. This could be the start of a revolution. We donโ€™t know. But to me, it feels like it. And Iโ€™m willing to go as far as I need to if I can make that happen.โ€

Post Modern Times will only be able to keep up its anti-capitalistic โ€œgambleโ€ (gamble is Dylanโ€™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 Cafeโ€™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

Byย Melissa Fleur Afshar Life and Trends Reporter


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

โ€œDuolingo saw a 35 percent increase in Spanish learners last night. Better late than never,โ€ 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 Bunnyโ€™s historyโ€‘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. Duolingoโ€™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 Bunnyโ€™s Super Bowl appearance came months after he used a Spanish-language monologue on Saturday Night Live (SNL) to tell audiences they had โ€œfour months to learnโ€ 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

Joy

His wife joins him during this dance.

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 Yorkโ€™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.

โ€œIn the aftermath, rivers of ink spilled across New York Cityโ€™s many newspapers,โ€ย wrote Ted Hamm. The legendary journalist Jimmy Breslin was callous and dismissive; Langston Hughes โ€œsomewhat cryptic.โ€ย ย 

James Baldwin, who was in London at the time, famously shouted at the reporters who found him after Xโ€™s death: โ€œYou did it! It is because of youโ€”the men that created this white supremacyโ€”that this man is dead. You are not guilty, but you did it. โ€ฆ Your mills, your cities, your rape of a continent started all this.โ€ย 
Later, Baldwin told the story this way:

“There we were, at the table, all dressed up, and weโ€™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 backโ€”she didnโ€™t say anything, and I began to be afraid to ask her anything. Then, nibbling at something she obviously wasnโ€™t tasting, she said, ‘Well, Iโ€™ve got to tell you because the press is on its way over here. Theyโ€™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.”

โ€œI was certainly saddened by the shocking and tragic assassination of your husband,โ€ Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote to Betty Shabazz, Xโ€™s wife, after the murder.ย 

“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 assassinationย remain unclear. But Malcolm X has endured as a cultural icon, death being, in the end,ย not quite enough to silence him.
MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM

ย How Two of Americaโ€™s Biggest Columnists Reacted to the Assassination of Malcolm Xย โ€Šย 

Fatima Bhutto on Channeling the Fearlessness of Malcolm Xโ€Šย 

Naming the Unnamed:On the Many Uses of the Letter X
EVERGREEN QUOTE:โ€œYouโ€™re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you canโ€™t face reality. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or who says it.โ€โ€“Malcolm X

Ooo! Spies! Black History Month

Black American Spies and Why They Were The Best

Black spies used their invisibility in plain sight to carry out some of the nationโ€™s most important war efforts.

By Shellie M. Scott

circa 1925: Portrait of American-born singer and dancer Josephine Baker (1906 โ€“ 1975) lying on a tiger rug in a silk evening gown and diamond earrings. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

When most people think of historyโ€™s American spies, they imagine a sleuthy white man, tracking troop movements, planting bugs and obtaining secrets under the radar of the enemy. Whatโ€™s rarely imagined, let alone taught, is the role Black Americans played in espionage from the Revolutionary War through modern times.

Enslaved and free Black men and women slipped into rooms they werenโ€™t meant to enter, cozied up to marks who underestimated them and quietly ran intelligence networks that relied on invisibility in plain sight. Here are Black spies whose intelligence work shaped history.

Mary Elizabeth Bowser

Screenshot: YouTube โ€œMary Elizabeth Bowser: Unsung Heroes of the Civil War | Ancestral Finding Postcardโ€

Dubbed the โ€œbaddest bitch in historyโ€ by Comedy Central, Bowser became known as one of the Unionโ€™s most daring Civil War spies. Literate and underestimated, Bowser worked as an undercover agent from inside the Confederacyโ€™s most vulnerable locations โ€” Confederate President Jefferson Davisโ€™s home, according to African American Registry.

Masking her intelligence by pretending to be bat sh*t crazy, โ€œCrazy Bet,โ€ as she was known, used a rumored photographic memory to collect important military information and pass it on to Ulysses S. Grant.

James Armistead Lafayette

Fascimile of the Marquis de Lafayetteโ€™s original certificate commending James Armistead for his revolutionary war service, 1784. From the New York Public Library. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

James Armistead Lafayette was born enslaved but became a master of deception during the American Revolution. According to Americaโ€™s Army Museum, he disguised himself as a runaway, infiltrated British camps, delivered key intelligence to the Marquis de Lafayette and fed false information to the enemy. His double agent work was crucial at Yorktown in 1781.

With Marquis de Lafayetteโ€™s support, he later won his freedom and dropped his enslaverโ€™s name.

Josephine Baker

circa 1925: Portrait of American-born singer and dancer Josephine Baker (1906 โ€“ 1975) lying on a tiger rug in a silk evening gown and diamond earrings. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Josephine Baker was a known boundary-breaking dancer, singer and international icon, but few knew she was also a World War II spy for the French Resistance. Though she spied on behalf of France rather than the U.S., Baker belongs in this conversation about Black espionage.

At the height of her fame, Baker used her celebrity to move through elite European society and collect information on Nazi Germany and other Axis powers, according to History.com. Baker hid intelligence in invisible ink on sheet music and pinned notes inside her clothing, later explaining, โ€œnobody would think I was a spy.โ€

Her bravery earned her Franceโ€™s highest military honors.

Debra Evans Smith

Screenshot: YouTube

While working in Records Management, Debra Evans Smith attended the FBI Academy after gaining nine pounds to meet the minimum weight requirement.

When only one percent of Black women were spies, Smith was drawn to counterintelligence. She volunteered for surveillance, learned Russian, and spent four years handling Russian counterintelligence in Los Angeles, conducting interviews and investigations in the language, according to the FBI. For her, the work was never about individual casesโ€”it was about serving the country.

Abraham Gallaway

Screenshot:ย https://6abc.com/post/meet-the-most-important-civil-war-leader-youve-never-heard-of/5921540/

If youโ€™ve never heard of Abraham Gallaway, thatโ€™s no accident. According to historian Dr. David Cecelski, Gallaway may have been the most important Southern war hero, but his legacy was erased when North Carolina rewrote its own history in the late 1800s, depicting enslaved people as โ€œdocile.โ€ Gallawayโ€™s story did not fit their narrative.

Born enslaved in 1837 near Wilmington, N.C., he escaped at 19. Gallaway became a โ€œmaster spyโ€ for the Union Army during the Civil War, providing military intelligence from within the South and establishing a spy network. He also became a state senator, according to 6 ABC. Today, his story is preserved at the North Carolina Museum of History.

Mary Louvestre

Mary Louvestre (sometimes spelled Touvestre) was a free Black woman who would not take no for an answer. Working as a seamstress in Virginia, she stole documents about troop movements and walked to deliver them to Union officials in Washington, D.C. When officers brushed her off, hesitating to meet with her, she kept going back until they listened.

Darrell M. Blocker

Darrell M. Blocker spent 32 years in U.S. intelligence, retiring in 2018 as the most senior Black officer in the CIAโ€™s Directorate of Operations and earning the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. A second-generation intelligence professional, Blockerโ€™s work took him to dangerous territory in places like Iran and North Korea, according to the International Spy Museum.

Having lived in 10 foreign countries, he has held titles including Deputy Director of the Counterterrorism Center and managed the CIAโ€™s Ebola response.

Recently, he flipped his knowledge into a role as Hollywood creative consultant.

Harriet Tubman

A portrait of Harriet Tubman, African-American abolitionist and a Union spy during the American Civil War, circa 1870. (Photo by HB Lindsey/Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

Harriet Tubman was more than the Underground Railroadโ€™s โ€œMoses.โ€ She made power moves in the Union Army, using her reputation to recruit Black scouts. Tubman gathered intel no one else could. According to Brandeis University, she became the first woman to lead a U.S. military raid in 1863, which freed 750 people and sealed her acumen as a true strategist.

George E. Hocker, Jr.

YouTube: โ€œ2025 Maryโ€™s Woods MLK Jr Celebrationโ€

George E. Hocker, Jr., a Washington, D.C. native, joined the CIA in 1957 while studying at Howard University. Working as a file clerk to fund his education, he stopped short of aspirations to work as a spy because CIA leaders told him Black people were not intelligent enough or able to โ€œblend in.โ€

He believed them โ€ฆ until the 1963 March on Washington inspired him to pursue his dream despite racism. During the Cold War, Hocker gathered intelligence in Africa and later went to Latin America, risking his life on dangerous assignments. Hoker never lost sight of the fight at home, stating, โ€œWhile I was fighting for my countryโ€™s interests abroad, my fellow Black Americans were facing war zones of their own at home,โ€ as quoted in Newsweek.

Robert Smalls

Robert Smalls, 1887. African-American politician, publisher, businessman and maritime pilot. Born into slavery, he escaped, and commandeered and piloted a Confederate transport ship which became a Union warship. His example and persuasion helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army. From โ€œMen of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Risingโ€ by William J. Simmons. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Born into slavery in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina, Robert Smalls rose to become a skilled pilot on the Confederate transport CSSโ€ฏPlanter by his early twenties. In a bold act of courage in 1862, he seized the ship, picked up his family, and navigated past Confederate forts under the guise of a captain, delivering the vessel safely to Union forces. Smalls went on to become the first African American to command a U.S. naval vessel, and after the war, he purchased his former enslaverโ€™s house, reclaiming a space that had once symbolized his bondage.