February 16, 2026

THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: Spike Lee Makes Anti-Israel Statement at NBA All-Star Game.

Deni Avdija is the first Israeli basketball star to play in the NBA’s All-Star Game, as a starter for Team World. Avdija is proud to be there, telling the media, “It’s a dream come true,” to represent Israel on the court.

But because sports cannot be free of politics, this is how filmmaker Spike Lee showed up at the game, decked out in “Free Palestine” garb.

Exit question: “If he’s that desperate for an invite to dinner with [Mamdani] why not just buzz the guy?”

Well, he’s already endorsed him, and the two would likely get on very well: NYC Health Department staffer wished Israelis were wiped off Earth in vile resurfaced X post: report.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

IT AIN’T OVER YET: Warner Bros. may reopen sale talks with Paramount following new deal terms.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s board is considering reopening sales talks with Paramount Skydance after recently receiving an amended offer with sweetened deal terms, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

Warner Bros. in December agreed to sell both its film studio and HBO Max streaming service to Netflix for $27.75 per share. Paramount, which owns CBS and MTV, in December launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros., promising its shareholders $30 per share in an all-cash deal.

Last week, Paramount upped the ante, saying it would add a ticking fee of 25 cents a share to its offer for any delay in regulatory approval of the deal.

The ticking fee would be approximately $650 million in cash value per quarter for every quarter the deal has not closed by Dec. 31, 2026, CNBC.com previously reported.

Paramount also said it will cover a $2.8 billion termination fee paid to Netflix if the Warner Bros. deal is terminated. Paramount also said it will eliminate $1.5 billion in possible debt refinancing costs.

That’s a pretty sweet offer.

Posted at 11:40 am by Stephen Green

#JOURNALISM: LOL, John Harwood.

Tweet continues:

The fact was Obama got a greater percentage of white voters than Gore, Kerry, or Dukakis and then trump in 2016 won almost a third of the counties that had gone for Obama in both his victories…

Harwood should keep his race baiting leftist tripe over on blue sky…

Obama was the inflection point…finally, a black president to put an end to the last vestiges of the Left who continued to whine about racism…

Instead, the Press went on permanent holiday, anointed Obama the black messiah, even Jesus didn’t have someone waxing poetic about the crease of his slacks, and spent eight years becoming younger, more left, and less enamored of even a modicum of belief in free speech.

Flashbacks:

● CNBC Hack John Harwood Is Really, Really Upset That Al-Baghdadi Was Killed.

● NYT/CNBC’S John Harwood Advises Hillary Campaign, Gloats About Provoking Trump At Debate.

● CNBC’s John Harwood Has No Business Moderating A GOP Presidential Debate.

● CNBC Alters Transcript of John Harwood Question About Hillary’s Email.

● “Everyone in the [CNBC] newsroom knows [John Harwood is] extremely far left.”

● Tool de Force: CNN’s John Harwood Defends Biden, Insists Inflation Pain Is a GOP ‘Charade.’

Posted at 10:55 am by Ed Driscoll

JON CALDARA: Michael Bennet blundering to defeat in Colorado’s primary. “The election for Colorado’s next governor does not take place in November. It’s in fewer than five months, on June 30. That’s the state’s primary election. Whoever wins the Democratic primary is the next governor (with all apologies to the seeming 328 Republicans running for the seat). So, out of a state of 6 million people, we must choose between an affable socialist and a tired Washington, DC liberal. Aren’t we the lucky ones.”

I keep saying that as bad as Gov. Polis is, whoever follows him will be worse — the only question is how much worse.

Looks like Colorado Dems are ready to push the limits.

Posted at 10:38 am by Stephen Green

CRIME: Follow the science!

Posted at 9:37 am by Glenn Reynolds

LARGELY, PROBABLY: Is the autism epidemic a myth?

Autism diagnoses are way up in recent decades, writes psychologist Adam Omary in a Washington Post op-ed. But there is no “autism epidemic.”

Autism diagnoses rose by a factor of five, from 67 to 322 cases per 10,000 children, from 2000 to 2022, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April, he notes. But “this dramatic rise may be entirely driven by children with mild or no significant functional impairment,” according to a large-scale study based on CDC data, Omary writes. “Between 2000 and 2016, there was a 464 percent increase in diagnoses among children with no significant functional impairment whatsoever,” while there was a “20 percent decrease in the prevalence of moderate or severe autism.”

Omary believes children who once would have been called “quirky” are now being diagnosed with mild autism.

Many studies use data from parent-reported surveys in counts of “suspected cases” of autism, he writes. One popular survey asks parents if their child questions such as: “Would rather be alone than with others,” “Has difficulty making friends,” and “Is regarded by other children as odd or weird.”

Abigail Shrier argues in her 2024 book, Bad Therapy, that child psychiatry has drifted toward overdiagnosis, Omary writes.

I’d add that a spectrum covering everything from people unable to function in society or even care for themselves, all the way to Elon Musk is too broad to be very meaningful.

Posted at 9:36 am by Stephen Green

NOT SURE HOW CLOSE ALBERTA ACTUALLY IS TO INDEPENDENCE, BUT THIS CAN’T BE HELPING OTTAWA’S CAUSE:

Posted at 9:20 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Czech Official Sends Hillary Clinton Crawling Back Into Her Box of Wine. “Mrs. C. traveled to Munich and ran into a situation that she’s not used to: somebody dared to challenge her. That doesn’t happen often, given that most people are afraid of getting Vince Fosterized. Maybe the updated version of that should be ‘Epsteinated.'”

If nothing else happens today, at least I added “Epsteinated” to my SpellCheck.

Posted at 9:05 am by Stephen Green

NOTE: X seems to be having some trouble this morning — sorry about the embeds not working, but they should come back up as soon as X does.

Posted at 8:49 am by Stephen Green

INDEED:

And this from the replies: “The best part is that after he was made aware of this, both Khanna and Massie blamed the DOJ for ‘not adding context.’ Zero accountability.”

Posted at 8:49 am by Stephen Green

NUKES FOR EUROPE? Poland should ‘begin work’ on nuclear defenses, Nawrocki says.

In an interview with Polsat television on Sunday, Nawrocki described himself as “a great supporter of Poland joining the nuclear project” and argued that the country should develop its security strategy “based on nuclear potential.”

He added: “This path, with respect for all international regulations, is the path we should take. … We must work towards this goal so that we can begin the work. We are a country right on the border of an armed conflict. The aggressive, imperial attitude of Russia toward Poland is well known.”

His comments come amid a growing debate in several European countries about developing their own nuclear weapons in the light of growing threats from Moscow and an erosion of trust in the United States.

Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, for example, said at the Munich Security Conference this weekend that “nuclear deterrence can give us new opportunities.” Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said talks were ongoing with France about a European deterrent.

Non-proliferation has been dying for a while, but I never thought I’d see even Latvia openly discussing nukes.

Posted at 8:34 am by Stephen Green

#WINNING:

Posted at 8:25 am by Glenn Reynolds

CHEAPER TO KEEP HER:

Posted at 8:18 am by Stephen Green