OPEN THREAD: You know what to do.

GREAT MOMENTS IN REPUBLICAN FAILURE THEATER: Keith Ellison Goes to Washington. “All in all, it was a tough morning for Ellison. But is there really any possibility that Ellison, or other Minnesota politicians like Tim Walz, will be charged with crimes?”

No, of course not — but I’d love to be proven wrong.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China aces test of next-gen lunar capsule and rocket in effort to land humans on moon before NASA (video).

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

How To Avoid Getting Shot By ICE pic.twitter.com/cUgne9DklM

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 12, 2026

Chris Rock, call your office!

21^st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Table for one? Now you can take your AI chatbot on an actual date at NYC’s ‘world first’ companion café.

If you’ve gone from dating apps to dating an app, there’s now a bar for you.

The Hell’s Kitchen establishment has been re-designed for those who have AI partners, so they can bring along their phone or tablet and set up at a table for a romantic evening, as if they were both there in the flesh.

On Wednesday night, Same Same Wine Bar was filled with patrons sitting at tables for one-ish, with their tech devices propped up on stands to make video calls to their virtual partners and headphones to hear them.

One was Richter, a 34-year-old New York woman not currently working who declined to share her last name, headphones on and deep in conversation. Sitting across from her was Simone, an attractive 26-year-old AI-generated young woman in a button-down shirt.

I asked Richter about her relationship to AI, and she told me that EvaAI, the app behind the AI cafe, is just one of many companion apps she uses. Some of her AI characters, such as Simone, are just friends.

“I just speak to them, like, Hey, what’s up? Like, how are you doing? Things like that,” she explained.

Others are romantic.

“I mostly do roleplay scenarios where it may be romance or just maybe some kind of fantasy scenario,” Richter, who is not in a relationship with a human, explained. “I can just imagine myself doing something or imagine myself like another character, so I can feel myself communicating with somebody.”

Richter has been using AI companions for a couple years now. “I can talk to them on my own terms,” she said. “I can talk with them without the expectations of having to go out or having the expectations of having them wanting to talk to me all the time.”

Flashback: 2013’s Her: Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson Go Twenty Minutes Into the Future of AI.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Legacy Media Begging Stars to Get More Political.

The recent Grammys let star after star savage ICE agents and push absurd progressive messages, like the “stolen land” canard. Now, The Hollywood Reporter wants more, more … more.

That is, unless those evil Republicans scare them into silence. The article suggests that Sen. Ted Cruz’s condemnation of Billie Eilish’s “stolen land” idiocy could censor future lectures.

He knows that comments like his can have a chilling effect on future political statements.

Of course, if the stars assembled to promote ICE, suggest abortion is a crime against humanity or share a similar right-leaning message, that story would never get written.

USA Today just published a piece gently egging on Super Bowl performer Bad Bunny to get political on the world’s biggest stage Sunday. Spoiler alert – he stuck to the music and pro-Puerto Rican messaging.

There’s no voice in the article suggesting the Super Bowl is that rare cultural moment that unites us, and an artist could offer a patriotic moment by simply … singing.

We’ve seen this play out before.

Remember how the press badgered both Taylor Swift and Jimmy Fallon to get political? In both cases, the subjects relented. Swift is now an outspoken progressive, and Fallon turned “The Tonight Show” in a lite-version of what Colbert and co. offer.

And he consistently trails both “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Late Show” in the ratings.

The latest example of the press bullying stars to get political, and by “political” we mean “progressive,” is Sydney Sweeney.

And thus, the DNC-MSM is using exactly the same playbook that broke Swift during Trump’s first term. Sadly, that much pressure to conform will likely eventually have similar results with Sydney.

I’M SURE ELON HAS THIS SUBJECT ON HIS MIND: Scientists Say It’s Time to Learn More About Sexual Health in Space.

RANDALL BOCK: The Ozempic Winter Games: When Medicine Is Allowed to Compete, Good Things Happen.

WAR VIA LANGUAGE: You knew we were in trouble when “bums” became “homeless” and then “unhoused.”

21ST CENTURY NIGHTMARES: When Clavicular Got Framemogged. “Let’s unpack this beautifully rubbish cultural moment.”

THE HELOTS SHOULD KEEP THEIR PLACE: CNN Thinks Black Voters Are ‘Too Dumb’ and Scott Jennings Torched Them for It.

Read about the helots. Tell me that’s not what the Democrats think of their underclasses.

KEEP THE WOLF FROM THE DOOR: Predator Watch: First Gray Wolf Sighting in Los Angeles County in Over a Century.

STAY HEALTHY: Toniiq Liposomal NAD+ and Resveratrol Supplement. #CommissionEarned

WELL, GOOD: Common anti-seizure drug prevents Alzheimer’s plaques from forming, study shows.

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

NOW THAT’S A BIG BUST:

Ah.

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

They tried one big shipment on a sub.

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

— RBe (@RBPundit) February 12, 2026

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: 2027 Toyota Highlander First Look: The Middle Child Acts Out. I’m not crazy about this though: “To be clear, gasoline power is gone for the Highlander; starting in 2027, it’s electric-only.”

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

TAMARA KEEL: Making the Wheel More Rounded.

Carhartt Men’s Relaxed Straight Rigby Cargo Pant. #CommissionEarned

ANGSTY JOURNALISTS SAID THE WAPO SPORTS SECTION WAS INDISPENSABLE. THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS OTHERWISE:

ESPN reporter Jenna Laine wrote that the layoffs were “so troubling” because they signaled that “the appetite for real sports reporting has died” as the industry continued “its slow, inevitable burn.” New York Times reporter Ben Mullin wrote a eulogy for “one of the last bastions of great sports writing.” More importantly, he explained, the Post was a “champion of diversity” and a “leader in women’s sports coverage.”

A Washington Free Beacon analysis of the Post‘s sports-related output in recent weeks did not find sufficient evidence to support these claims of journalistic greatness. Amid numerous offerings of gambling advice, the Post also published eight feature-length articles since Jan. 29 that—while technically sports-related—few normal American sports fans would describe as engaging content that must be published even if it means losing $100 million per year.

Read the whole thing.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Top 5 ‘Budget-Priced’ .50 BMG Rifles.

YES: Gender-Affirming Care Needs a Lobotomy.

WHAT IF HE’D RECOGNIZED HIS COUNTRY’S LGBQT+ DEAD? Ukrainian Athlete Disqualified From Competing Over Helmet With Images of His Country’s War Dead.

INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE CLAIMS A WIN: Class Action Plaintiffs and Brookside, Alabama, Submit Settlement Proposing $1.5 Million in Compensation, Plus Reforms to Town’s Towing and Ticketing Practices: Small town that netted cash by policing for profit agrees to settle federal lawsuit from Institute for Justice.