February 16, 2026

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

ROGER SIMON: A Tale of Two Foxes: Enroute Nashville/Miami Beach, media schizophrenia is revealed. “What I learned was, on the surface, something I always knew, that there were two foxes—Fox News and Fox Business. (Yes, there are smaller tributaries, but we’ll ignore them for the moment.) What I didn’t realize was how deeply divergent the two Foxes could be at times, and what that says about media in general.”

Posted at 8:16 am by Glenn Reynolds

THEY’RE BAAAACK!! AND NOW THEY WANT TO DISCRIMINATE BY RACE IN STUDENT FINANCIAL AID!!:  Legislators in the California Assembly are at it again—trying to gut Proposition 209, the history-making ballot initiative that amended the state constitution in 1996 to ban state-sponsored preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, or ethnicity.  And I literally mean “history-making.”  Paul Johnson’s History of the American People tells the story of America from the late 15th century to the end of the 20th.  Somehow (bless him) he found a wee bit of room to discuss Prop 209. (As the co-chair of that 1996 campaign, I’m darn proud of that.)

This is the third time in six years that the Cal Legislature has moved to gut Prop 209’s ban on affirmative-action preferences.  In 2020, the Legislature put a referendum on the ballot to repeal Prop 209 entirely.  But it was THUMPINGLY defeated—over 57% of voters said NO—even though YES Campaign spent 14 times more than we did.  (I’m proud of having co-chaired that campaign too.)  In 2024, the Assembly approved a trickier version that would have empowered the governor to make an unlimited number of EXCEPTIONS to Prop 209.  But that version never made it past the Senate. Cooler heads prevailed there—largely because we descended on their offices, held rallies, and buried them in letters, emails, and tweets.

But they just can’t stop.  The newest effort would exempt public education from Prop 209’s coverage.  Given the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in the Harvard case, this bill does not try to exempt admissions in higher education.  But it exempts everything else.  The big-ticket items would be (1) discrimination in admission to programs for gifted and talented students at the Kindergarten-12th grade level; and (2) discrimination in financial aid in higher education.

For years, universities all over the country—at least those not subject to Proposition 209 or one of its clones—have been giving African American students much sweeter financial aid packages than equally needy Asian American or white students.  The evidence of this has only recently come to light in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College (2003).

Typically, the discrimination takes the form of giving outright GRANTS to African American students, while white or Asian American students get saddled with LOANS.  I have a hard time imagining that voters would approve of this.  But the Assembly bill has nevertheless made it through committee on a strict party-line vote.  It is expected to come to the Assembly floor soon.  And right now there’s not much standing in its way.

If this goes on the ballot, I think we’ll defeat it.  But it will cost millions.  If by some miracle, it passes, we should be able to defeat in court any policies adopted as a result.  But that, too, will cost millions and will take years of work by public interest attorneys.

I could use a little grassroots help on this.  I don’t need money.  Opposing legislation of this type is cheap; it’s when it goes on the ballot or ends up in litigation that it gets expensive.   I need emails and tweets directed at senators.  We only need to get four Democratic senators to see that this is a stupid waste of their time and money.  I’ll post how you can help (on the cheap!) soon.

Posted at 8:11 am by Gail Heriot

CHANGE OF THE GUARD:

So “Climate Change” is over now that Big Tech needs power for AI, the trans BS is out, Hillary’s speech suggests that immigrants are losing their appeal, so what will the next crazed Current Thing be for the left? You know there will be one, because there always has to be one.

Posted at 8:00 am by Glenn Reynolds

AS MANY OF YOU KNOW, I’M ON THE BOARD OF THE NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE, a nonprofit legal shop engaging in pro-liberty litigation, mostly in the context of the administrative state. Here’s the annual report on what they’ve accomplished in the past year.

Posted at 7:53 am by Glenn Reynolds

PURR:  I sent my book manuscript–Why We Walk on Eggshells:  How Our Civil Rights Law Helped Bring About the Woke Era–And the Trump Era, Too–to the publisher on Friday.  I’m finished … except for the part about the editing process, which will certainly take up some time.  I hope to be able to post more on Instapundit.  My first thought was that I would be able to spend the day cleaning out my closets and then maybe get a manicure.  Dammit, I’m a girl, and girls ought to be allowed to do girl things now and then.  Alas, the California Legislature is again trying to gut Proposition 209, so that is likely to be my full-time job for a while.  With luck, we’ll be able to kill the bill (as we did in 2023-24 with help from Instapundit readers).  I’ll be posting about that soon.

The closets will have to wait … maybe until 2027.  But I am going to have a Dr. Pepper float to celebrate the book manuscript.

Posted at 7:43 am by Gail Heriot

IT’S ONLY JOBS: City Hall boots Israel drone supplier from Brooklyn Navy Yard — after Mamdani took office.

A NYC manufacturer that supplies drones to Israel to monitor the Gaza Strip border was booted from the city-owned Brooklyn Navy Yard six weeks after pro-Palestine Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. — whose board members serve at the pleasure of the mayor and manage the 300-acre industrial park — opted not to renew its lease with Easy Aerial, Councilman Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) gloated on X Thursday.

“This public asset should not be leasing space to companies producing drones that are being transformed into weapons of war,” he said.

The company has long been the target of protests outside the former Navy shipyard, including by a group called “Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard” that demanded the board evict tenants that assist Israel.

State Assemblyman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn), a staunch Zionist, said the decision to boot Easy Aerial is foolish.

“Chasing good jobs out of New York because Mr. Mamdani and his friends hate Jews is probably not a very good economic development program,” he said.

But it’s excellent moral preening.

Posted at 7:32 am by Stephen Green

OH, PLEASE HILLARY:

Posted at 7:30 am by Glenn Reynolds

CHANGING THEIR MESSAGING BUT NOT THEIR GOALS:

Posted at 7:27 am by Glenn Reynolds

HAHA: Who could have seen this coming?

Posted at 7:16 am by Glenn Reynolds