Zorro
Zorro's JournalHegseth Says Defense Department Will Cut Ties With Harvard
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that the Defense Department would sever its academic ties with Harvard University, the latest broadside by the Trump administration in its pressure campaign to force the university to cut a deal with the government.
In a statement and video published on Friday evening, Mr. Hegseth attacked the university in hyperbolic language, decrying it as a politically liberal institution, and said that, beginning in the new school year in September, the Defense Department will “discontinue graduate-level professional military education, fellowships and certificate programs at the school.” Mr. Hegseth added that military personnel who are attending classes will be able to finish those courses of study.
It is unclear what programs will be affected, and to what extent, but there are several graduate-level programs for military officers at Harvard. Mr. Hegseth’s order appeared to squarely target his alma mater: Harvard’s Kennedy School, which teaches government and public policy programs.
The Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, for example, has a national security fellowship for mid-level U.S. military officers. Retired Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., the highest-ranking officer in the armed forces for part of President Trump’s first term, is also a fellow at the Belfer Center. There were 12 officers enrolled in the national security fellowship this year. (David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times, is a lecturer at a defense program in the Belfer Center.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/us/politics/hegseth-defense-harvard.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KVA.SD_h.TiDvdTpi-FzL&smid=url-share
Skier dies on expert run at Mammoth -- as horrified witnesses watch from chair lift
A skier died at Mammoth Mountain on Thursday following a fatal accident in full view of other skiers riding a nearby lift. It was the fourth death at the resort this season.
The skier, who has not been identified, was attempting a run called Dropout 2 — among the steepest marked trails in California — which descends from the summit ridge of the 11,000-foot mountain. The run falls about 1,200 vertical feet below a slow, three-person lift that ferries expert skiers to some of Mammoth’s most adventurous terrain.
The man fell hard enough to pop out of his skis in the steep, icy moguls near the top of the run before sliding headfirst for hundreds of yards, apparently unable to stop himself, according to witnesses who posted on Reddit.
“He then slid while unconscious about another 150 yards down the trail leaving blood ... the entire way while the person he was skiing with was crying out and trying to catch up to jump on him to stop the slide,” one Reddit user wrote.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-06/skier-dies-on-expert-run-at-mammoth-as-horrified-witnesses-watch-from-chair-lift
DeSantis unveils gilded Reagan statue in Miami
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday unveiled a gilded statue of former President Ronald Reagan at Florida International University, marking the late conservative leader’s birthday and continuing a statewide series of commemorations tied to the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary.
The ceremony took place Friday morning outside FIU’s Ronald W. Reagan Presidential House, the on-campus residency of university President Jeanette Nuñez, who previously served as DeSantis’ lieutenant governor. Nuñez joined DeSantis for the unveiling, with the two standing on opposite sides of the covered statue before the shroud fell away.
The life-size monument depicts Reagan in a suit and tie with a composed expression and slight smile, his hands positioned near his waist as if adjusting his jacket. Finished in a bronze tone, the figure stands atop a marble pedestal in front of the president’s mansion, framed by patriotic bunting and palm trees.
As the veil was removed, red, white and blue streamers shot in the air and fell over the crowd.
“It’s an honor to be here on what would have been President Reagan’s 115th birthday,” Nuñez told reporters after the ceremony. “I think the timing was right for a statue, and it’s good to see how lovely it is.”
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2026/02/06/desantis-reagan-statue-fiu-miami-250-anniversary/
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-William Butler Yeats
Epstein built ties to Russians and sought to meet Putin, files show
Justice Department files show that Jeffrey Epstein sought help from a Russian official after claiming a woman from Moscow was blackmailing “powerful businessmen” in New York.Senior Russian officials and business figures, including a former graduate of Russia’s Federal Security Services Academy, cultivated relationships with Jeffrey Epstein, according to a trove of documents newly released by the Justice Department, expanding the scope of international contacts by the late financier and convicted sex offender.
The documents reveal that several high-profile Russians met and corresponded directly with Epstein, and that Epstein made repeated efforts over multiple years to arrange a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. They also include evidence that Epstein enlisted a former leader of a pro-Kremlin youth movement who was once awarded a medal by Putin to help improve his public image.
In response to the disclosures, Poland opened an inquiry into possible links between Epstein and Russian intelligence services, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday.
The Kremlin dismissed the move, with a spokesperson saying that the allegations of ties between Epstein and Russian intelligence “deserve nothing but jokes” and did not merit serious comment.
https://wapo.st/4kl1Byd
The way, the Trump and the lies: prayer breakfast displays US right's devil's pact
Trump might not embody Christian values yet is the religious right’s chosen instrument to turn the tide against liberal, godless AmericaThey had come to say a prayer for the father, the son and the holy ghost.
The father was Donald Trump, who, despite sending federal militias to roam Minneapolis, threatening to invade Greenland and telling lies by the dozen, remains the lord and saviour of the religious right.
The son was his protege, Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, who, despite documented human rights violations and mass detentions that swept up 3,000 children, was praised by a congressman for leadership that displays “character” and “conscience”.
And the holy ghost was the Republican party’s moral spine, now reduced to a phantom thread. “The power of Trump compels you!” as The Exorcist nearly said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/05/trump-religious-right-republicans
A new policy will make it easier for Trump to remove or discipline tens of thousands of federal workers.
The Trump administration finalized a new policy on Thursday that would strip job protections from up to 50,000 federal workers, a move that would make it easier for President Trump to remove or discipline them, in his latest effort to dismantle the federal work force.
Until now, the roughly 4,000 people appointed by the president, known as political appointees, were the only federal workers who could be fired at will. The policy issued on Thursday allows the administration to expand that number to include career employees whom the administration considers to also have policy-related roles. For these employees, any whistle-blower complaints would be handled by their agencies internally and not the independent office of special counsel as it has been in the past.
The 255-page rule did not say precisely which positions would be affected — the White House is currently reviewing the positions submitted by agencies and will ultimately decide, Scott Kupor, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, said on Thursday. In announcing the final rule, the office responded to criticism of such a move by saying that political patronage, loyalty tests and political discrimination in the federal work force were “explicitly” prohibited.
Political appointees work in positions that determine policies and promote the administration’s agenda. The White House has not responded to questions about how many of those 4,000 positions are currently filled.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/us/politics/trump-federal-workers-protections.html?smid=url-share
Minute Maid's frozen juices are being discontinued
Pour, or instead squeeze, one out for a childhood staple: Minute Maid’s frozen juices are soon disappearing from shelves after an 80-year run.
Coca-Cola, which owns Minute Maid, said in a statement Thursday that it’s exiting the frozen can category. That will result in its lineup of juice concentrates being discontinued in the coming months.
The changes are “in response to shifting consumer preferences,” a company spokesperson told CNN, noting that it’s “focusing on products that better match what our consumers want.”
Minute Maid sells frozen juices in a variety of flavors, including orange, lemonade, pink lemonade, raspberry lemonade and limeade. The products will last on shelves until supplies run out.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/minute-maid-frozen-juices-being-172951501.html
Trump, 79, Rambles About His Chances of Getting Into Heaven
President Donald Trump obsessed over his chances of making it into heaven and bragged about all the good he’s done for religion on Thursday as he attended a National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. It’s not the first time that the 79-year-old president, who is the oldest ever elected, has pondered aloud about his chances in the hereafter.
“I really think I probably should make it,” Trump argued. “I mean I’m not a perfect candidate, but I did a hell of a lot of good for perfect people. That’s for sure.”
At the start of his speech, Trump almost immediately turned to rambling about the media before making the case for getting into heaven. The president complained that the last time he attended the event, he said, “I will never make it to heaven,” intending to be funny, but it wasn’t taken that way.
“I say ‘I’m never going to make it to heaven. I just don’t think I qualify. I don’t think there’s a thing I can do, but all of these good things I’m doing, including for religion,’” Trump continued, after pointing out the room was full of “fake news.”
He then got distracted and declared: “You know religion is back now hotter than ever before,” which he took credit for, before turning back to his complaint.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-rambles-about-his-chances-of-getting-into-heaven/
Donnie Ding Dong talks about what's "hot" more than Paris Hilton. And "hot" is probably not the best word to use in connection with religion...
Uh Oh, Sounds Like Eagle Ed Martin Done Tainted Up DOJ's Revenge Cases!
Yesterday we learned old Ed Martin had been forced out of his post as Czar of Weaponization under Attorney General Pam Bondi, and his office relocated from DOJ HQ to the more far-flung Northeast pardon office for not crushing Trump’s enemies fast enough. But turns out the backstory is much worse than that for Eagle Ed, so bad even Todd Blanche’s own DOJ probe found that he fucked up bigly, possibly criminally, whoops!
You’ll recall Trump spite-named Martin to two positions after his nomination for US Attorney for Washington DC failed, when it came to light he’d made hundreds of paid appearances repeating Putin’s talking points on Russian television, and had ongoing affectionate relationships with January 6 rioters, including exceptionally-even-for-MAGA rabid anti-semite Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, best known for shaving himself a literal Hitler mustache.
So Trump made up for dumb old Ed his own job, Weaponization Czar, and made him Pardon Attorney too, as in, trying to undo Joe Biden’s pardons so Trump can go after the members of the January 6 House Select Committee and Hunter Biden’s dong some more.
Yet Ed has failed at every step! The upside to incompetent people who have been accepting Russian money is that they are doggedly loyal. The downside is, well, they’re incompetent.
Not only incompetent, turns out, but sounds like Martin might have engaged in a little bit of criminal activity on the side, emailing grand jury materials from the DOJ’s mortgage fraud inquiries into Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James to unauthorized people. Not only is that against the law, but fatally taints any evidentiary fruits from the fetid tree. Which LAWYER Ed Martin well ought to know.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/uh-oh-sounds-like-eagle-ed-martin
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