February 10, 2026

Mark Carney reminds Trump that Canada paid for key border bridge US president says he won't open

Mark Carney said he had held a “positive” conversation with Donald Trump after the US leader threatened to block a new key bridge between their two countries, reminding the president that Canada paid for the structure – and that the US shares ownership.

Late on Monday, Trump posted a lengthy message on social media, falsely claiming that the $4.6bn Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, had “virtually no US content”. The bridge is due to open in early 2026.

n his post, Trump had also claimed that Canada owns both ends of the bridge and made a bizarre assertion that increased trade between Canada and China would include a ban on Canadians playing ice hockey.

“Now, the Canadian Government expects me, as President of the United States, to PERMIT them to just ‘take advantage of America!’ What does the United States of America get – Absolutely NOTHING!” he wrote.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday ahead of a flashpoint ice hockey game between the two countries at the Olympics, Carney downplayed Trump’s comments, telling reporters in French the “situation will be resolved”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/10/trump-canada-windsor-detroit-bridge

I sm so sick of Shitler's bullying and I'm sure everyone else here is too---not to mention the people of Canada!

February 10, 2026

Epstein engineered intimate relationship for Tesla's Kimbal Musk, emails show

Jeffrey Epstein engineered an intimate relationship between a woman in his network and Kimbal Musk, who is the brother of Elon Musk and on the board of directors at Tesla, according to emails from the Department of Justice’s recent release of documents involving the convicted sex offender. The younger Musk and the woman were involved for around six months between 2012 and 2013, with Kimbal Musk describing them as “dating”.

In the lead up to Musk and the woman’s first meeting, Epstein and his longtime associate Boris Nikolic labored to set them up and bring her to a birthday party Musk was throwing – with Nikolic telling Epstein “please prepare [the woman] — ”.

“Jeffrey and Boris, many thanks for connecting me with [the woman],” Musk later emailed Epstein and Nikolic in October 2012 after a lunch at Epstein’s Manhattan apartment. “I believe you both played a role. ”

Throughout Musk and the woman’s time together, she forwarded Epstein several of the personal messages Musk sent to her and asked Epstein for guidance on the relationship. There is nothing in the emails to suggest that Musk was aware of her backchannel correspondence with Epstein.

Through her lawyer, the woman has said in recent years that she was trapped, coerced and abused by Epstein while in his circle. The woman has not publicly told her story nor spoken about her relationship with Musk, and the Guardian has chosen not to publish her name. Her full name appears in the documents due to a faulty redaction, while other mentions in the emails match her first name and an itinerary of her travels with Musk that Epstein retained. Attempts to reach her and her lawyer did not receive any reply. A request for comment sent to Nikolic via his venture capital firm did not receive a reply. Nikolic, who was named as a backup executor of Epstein’s estate, has not been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and previously said he did not consent to being named as an executor.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/10/jeffrey-epstein-tesla-kimbal-musk

Well, well...the plot thickens. Is this why Eloon wanted so desperately to be invited to the party?

February 10, 2026

The question Republicans still don't know how to answer: Why should ICE agents wear masks?

Every day, in communities nationwide, police officers do their jobs with a high degree of transparency: The public can see the officers’ faces, badge numbers, rank and, in most instances, even their surnames featured on uniforms. Though many cops are forced to deal with threats and violence, there isn’t a police department in the United States that allows officers to wear masks or hide their identities while they carry out day-to-day duties.

Indeed, that’s the American norm across agencies, departments and jurisdictions. State troopers don’t wear masks. Neither do FBI agents. U.S. marshals don’t wear masks; sheriffs don’t wear masks; judges and prosecutors don’t wear masks; and Secret Service agents don’t wear masks.

But federal immigration agents, most notably Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, have spent much of the past year operating under a unique standard.

Much of the public is not on board with this. The latest national poll from Quinnipiac University, for example, found that 61% of Americans believe ICE agents should not be permitted to wear masks or other face coverings.

By and large, Republican policymakers don’t seem to care, though they keep struggling with the same obvious question: Why should ICE agents have the kind of secrecy that’s at odds with the American tradition, Americans’ attitudes and the standards of every other person who works in American law enforcement?

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/the-question-republicans-still-dont-know-how-to-answer-why-should-ice-agents-wear-masks

Exactly!

February 10, 2026

FBI releases images of masked person in hunt for Savannah Guthrie's mother

The FBI have released images of a masked person in the hunt for news anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother.

Officials are seeking to identify the individual, who they say was armed, more than eight days after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home.

Savannah Guthrie said on Monday that her family believes their mother is still alive and issued a new appeal to anyone with information.

Nancy Guthrie disappeared in the middle of night from her Tucson, Arizona, home and was last seen on 31 January. Authorities believe she was taken against her will.

"As of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie's front door the morning of her disappearance," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on X.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4wdgxr081o

If our side can use AI to decipher images of masked ICE goons, they can certainly do the same...unless they're all too stupid because the smart ones left.

February 10, 2026

Thank you SO much for all the hearts!

It's so heartwarming (pun not intended) to see them piling up every day.

I make a practice, as always, to give mine away to those who don't have so many.

February 9, 2026

A Federal Worker Developed A Brain Tumor. The Trump Admin's Next Move Was Unspeakably Cruel.

When Helen Shaw found out in December that she needed to have a brain tumor removed, she emailed her employer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to ask about the agency’s short-term disability plan.

A human-resources representative for the watchdog agency told Shaw that the plan “likely will not be available” by the time she expected to have surgery in 2026. Sure enough, in January, all employees received the news in an email: Russell Vought, the CFPB’s acting director, was ending not only their disability plan but their dental and life insurance plans as well.

Shaw, a single mother, is now trying to decide what to do. A neurologist offering a second opinion told her she could wait and see if the tumor grows before proceeding with a craniotomy — a surgery where doctors would cut into her skull so they could remove the tumor. She had hoped the short-term disability plan would replace some of her lost income during a recovery that could last three months. Instead, she’s left wondering how she’d support her 9- and 4-year-old kids, one of whom has special needs, when she’s not supposed to walk down the stairs. She was recently quoted $11,000 per month for overnight care, and that was from someone offering her a break due to her circumstances.

She feels overwhelmed — and angry at what’s happened to her agency under President Donald Trump.

“Everything the administration has been doing with regard to the CFPB is illegal,” said Shaw, who clarified that she was speaking in her personal capacity. “From trying to shut down an agency that Congress created, down to my situation where they’re now coming for CFPB employees’ paychecks and health care and benefits.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/russell-vought-cfpb-cuts_n_697d1c86e4b0d9ba36c6b65c?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Russell Vought is an asshole---oh wait, assholes serve a useful function.

February 7, 2026

Green Day Singer Gives ICE Officers Some Career Advice 2 Days Before Super Bowl

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong advised U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to say “good riddance” to their jobs.

“This goes out to all the ICE agents out there, wherever you are,” Armstrong said on stage Friday at a pre-Super Bowl event held in San Francisco by FanDuel and Spotify. “Quit your shitty-ass job.”

The comments came two days before Green Day is lined up to perform in the Super Bowl pre-game ceremony on Sunday.

“Quit that shitty job you have,” Armstrong continued. “Because when this is over — and it will be over at some point in time — Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, JD Vance, Donald Trump, they’re gonna drop you like a bad fucking habit. Come on this side of the line.”

While it remains to be seen if the rock band will get political at the Super Bowl, Green Day has made headlines over the past year for repeatedly switching up lyrics to take aim at present-day conservatives.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/green-day-super-bowl-ice_n_6987760ee4b04dcdbed5ad4e?origin=home-latest-news-unit

He's right---but once a future employer sees that they were in ICE, who's gonna hire them?

February 7, 2026

Winter Olympian Pees A Message In The Snow For Trump Administration

Freestyle Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy streamed his protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week, seemingly peeing his message in the snow.

“fuck ice,” the yellow message read in a photo Kenworthy shared on Instagram.

Kenworth appeared to confirm in another post that he actually urinated the words.

Kenworthy, who won a silver medal for the United States in 2014 and is competing for Great Britain at the Milan Cortina Games, included a sample script for people to contact their senators and voice their objections to the Trump administration’s immigration policies. He concluded with an impassioned plea.

“Innocent people have been murdered, and enough is enough,” he wrote. “We can’t wait around while ICE continues to operate with unchecked power in our communities. Senators still have leverage right now, and Senator [Name] must use it to demand real guardrails and accountability.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gus-kenworthy-pees-snow-ice_n_69870b6de4b09b6b16d7d41b?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Guys have an advantage there!

February 7, 2026

The Epstein files reveal that a vast global conspiracy actually exists - sort of

The millions of Jeffrey Epstein files dumped last Friday by the US Department of Justice will provide journalists, conspiracy theorists and interested members of the public with months of reading. And what they will read is enraging.

What makes these files so infuriating, however, is not just Epstein’s horrific predatory behavior, which is well-known, but the more mundane examples of elite conduct that the documents continue to expose. They vividly illustrate a world whose existence many everyday people, whether fevered with visions of the Illuminati or just jaundiced by banal anti-establishment cynicism, already suspected exists: an informal global club of powerful, ultra-rich people who all seemingly know each other, help one another out, and protect each other from the consequences of their depravity.

The new files will probably not provide satisfying answers to questions about, say, whether any of Epstein’s famous friends participated in his sex trafficking, or if his death in custody in 2019 was truly a suicide, as authorities have said. But conspiracy theorists may still feel vindicated – and to some extent they should, Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, said.

Although the documents may not expose an actual criminal conspiracy, he said, they confirm the belief behind most conspiracy theories: that elites “get special treatment, that they’re shielded from the rules that are supposed to apply to everyone equally, and that there is a kind of corruption in the broadest sense of the word”.

The new material is the largest, and possibly last, tranche of the so-called Epstein files, though the government is keeping as many as 3m more pages under wraps. Yet even the initial revelations of these files deepen the astonishing constellation of ties between Epstein and members of the global elite – including tech billionaires; a former US president; British, Norwegian and Saudi royalty or royal courtiers; current and former US cabinet secretaries and governors; and prominent business executives and academics.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/epstein-files-global-conspiracy

They're all in it. All of them.

February 7, 2026

The powerful, personal politics of America's Olympic 'Blade Angels'

By Hannah Holland

They call themselves the “Blade Angels.” U.S. Olympians Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito are known across figure skating and, increasingly, among spectators for their technical skill and precision, creativity and camaraderie. Above all, they are known for their authenticity. In a sport still largely defined by traditional, narrow ideas of femininity and grace, Liu and Glenn are not stereotypical figure skaters. They lean into their athleticism. They are open about what they like and who they love. Liu is unabashedly alternative and Glenn is queer. Which means, whether or not they medal, their very presence at the 2026 Winter Games is political.

For all of the Olympics’ celebration of sport, athleticism and international goodwill, the Games have long been a stage for political statements: Think the Refugee Olympic Team in 2016; the U.S. and Soviet boycotts in 1980 and 1984, respectively; or U.S. medalists raising their black-gloved fists on the Mexico City podium in 1968 to highlight racial injustice.

The 2026 Games already feel especially charged, not only with some countries eager to defeat U.S. athletes as a sort of rebuke to the Trump administration, but also because the administration is at ideological odds with some outspoken American athletes. “It’s a confusing time to be wearing the Stars and Stripes,” U.S. cross-country skier Ben Ogden said Thursday. There “are aspects of being American I’m not proud of.” The announcement that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit would join the U.S. delegation — ostensibly to provide security — has added to tensions.

Skating events began Friday, with Liu and Glenn competing on behalf of a homeland in the throes of a cultural regression. Court rulings and state legislatures have restricted women’s autonomy in recent years. The Trump administration is promoting neo-traditional roles for women.

Against this backdrop, the Blade Angels, particularly Liu and Glenn, can be seen as opposition figures. They are powerful. They are themselves. They are unashamed. And they are succeeding.

https://www.ms.now/opinion/olympics-figure-skaters-alysa-liu-amber-glenn-women-politics

Hurray for them! Because I am sick and tired of female figure skaters being in the "baby ballerina" mode and expected to say nothing!