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February 27, 2026
"I had not spent a lot of my life hanging out with Republicans, and what I imagined they were talking about was exactly the opposite."
"Now I'm in an administration surrounded by immensely talented people who are immensely idealistic. I always imagined Republicans would get together thinking about how to screw the poor and reduce taxes on the rich, but they're actually narrowly focused on how do we solve these big problems and make our country work. The level of idealism that I see at every level in the White House and in my agency is inspiring. And then the level of capability—the competence of the people I'm surrounded with...."
And a bit earlier in the conversation:
Moon in the afternoon.
The moon rose at 1:22 p.m. today. It's a waxing gibbous moon at 85.3% illumination. Beautiful.
Video by Meade.
"We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba."
"The Cuban government is talking with us, and they're in a big deal of trouble. As you know, they have no money. They have no anything right now. But they're talking with us, and maybe we'll have a friendly takeover of Cuba. We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.... We've had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba. I've been hearing about Cuba since I'm a little boy, but they're in big trouble. And we could very well—something could, I think, very positive for the people that were expelled or worse from Cuba that live here. You know, we have people living here."
"But even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause."
"We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long. And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him."Said Bill Clinton, in his opening statement.
As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing—I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals. pic.twitter.com/0rX8cat5Pu
— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) February 27, 2026
RFK Jr. is on a "national BBQ tour."
What if what is true is what you want to be true?First stop on my national BBQ tour, I visited Terry Black’s to EAT REAL FOOD. pic.twitter.com/AYmIPmMAz3
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) February 26, 2026
Hegseth succeeds in pressuring Scouting America — AKA the Boy Scouts of America — to rid itself of DEI.
"No more DEI. Zero."
The Department of War has officially put Scouting America on notice.
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 27, 2026
It’s time to get back to basics — and DoW is leading the charge. pic.twitter.com/EnY9mvaFLX
From the Department of War:
Headline that I wish wasn't literal: "Needy Caterpillars Vibrate to Complex Rhythms to Communicate With Ants."
It's just a Smithsonian article about some damned thing actually caterpillars do to con ants:
They found that the caterpillars with the most significant myrmecophily, or relationship with ants, communicated signals with exceedingly regular timing and particularly intricate rhythms very similar to those that ants employ. On the other hand, the caterpillars with weak or zero myrmecophily had simpler and less regular rhythms....
Great. Good for the caterpillars and I hope the ants are digging the good vibrations.
I want the article — about human beings — that would fit that headline if only it were metaphorical. Clearly, we the People are the ants, and the needy caterpillars are politicians.
"[O]ne server... has watched diners grapple with a layered dessert consisting of honeycomb semifreddo covered in a tundra of shaved Comte cheese"
"'We get a lot of people who will take a couple bites and be like, "Well, I just thought it was way too much cheese,"' he says. 'I will have sat there and watched you just scoop right off the top, which is quite literally all cheese.' Now, he provides a bit of gentle parenting, making sure diners reach their spoons to the bottom of the dish and get semifreddo in each bite. In a world of Yelp Elites and TikTokers and Beli-trackers and, yes, restaurant critics like myself, it makes sense to leave nothing open to interpretation. Only, interpretation is half the fun...."
From "It’s time to retire the restaurant monologue/When did dinner out start to feel like a TED Talk?" (Eater).
Have you misinterpreted any food lately?
Have you provided fun through food interpretation? All I can think of is the David Sedaris diary entry where he talks about a restaurant's use of foam: "I had a foie gras soup that looked as if it had been pissed on. Hugh had sea urchins, the shells emptied out and filled with what looked to be dirty bubble bath... [S]hould the trend continue, you’d never again be able to tell if the waiter had spit in your food." From "Theft by Finding" (commission earned).
"These people are kinda crazy" — JD Vance adds a "kinda" to Trump's "These people are crazy."
Trump:
JD:
Assess the difference "kinda" made:
Is the California open primary going to produce 2 Republican candidates for Governor?
Some headlines from the last few weeks: "Democrats' fear rising that too many candidates in governor's race could lead to a Republican victory," "Another poll shows two Republicans leading governor’s race. Should CA Dems fret?," "The Nation’s Most Democratic State Might Elect a Trump-Friendly Governor," "California’s Governor Race Is a Democratic Nightmare, But There’s One Easy Fix," "Are too many Democrats running for governor in California? Republicans see an opportunity," "Crowded California governor’s race creates opening for Republicans," and, my favorite, "Commonsense reform: preventing an 'only in California' cluster f*ck."
February 26, 2026
"Trump’s goalposts are infinite."
I'm listening to the NYT "Daily" podcast, "Inside the Operation to Take Down Mexico’s Biggest Drug Lord" (transcript and audio at Podscribe).
Natalie Kitroeff, the host for "The Daily" says: "I’m just curious if we know at what point President Trump is going to be satisfied with the progress that Mexico is making. Like, do we know if this move to take out El Mencho might have appeased Trump and bought the Mexican government some time?"
Jack Nicas, the Mexico City bureau chief for the NYT, says: "I think Trump’s goalposts are infinite. And the strongest evidence of that is that less than 24 hours after the Mexican government killed El Mencho, probably the single biggest achievement that the government has had in the cartel war in years, Trump posted online, quote, 'Mexico must step up their efforts on cartel and drugs.'
"A federal judge on Thursday declined to halt construction of the ballroom President Trump plans to build over the demolished East Wing of the White House..."
"... concluding that the lawsuit, as filed, focused on the wrong questions about the president’s authority.... Judge Richard J. Leon of the Federal District Court in Washington wrote that the group that had filed the lawsuit could amend the claim to focus more squarely on the president’s power to make sweeping changes to the building without input from Congress.... The National Trust for Historic Preservation... argued that left unchecked, Mr. Trump could redevelop the White House beyond recognition, using funds from entities seeking access or a business edge. The argument appeared to resonate with Judge Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush.... Asked to list any other time a president had marshaled private funds to carry out a significant White House renovation without approval from Congress, Mr. Roth cited the installation of a swimming pool by President Gerald Ford and the construction of a tennis pavilion during Mr. Trump’s first term. 'The ’77 Gerald Ford swimming pool? You compare that to tearing down and building a new East Wing?' Judge Leon replied. 'C’mon, be serious.'..."
"It’s a small amount, not too gory. But white people think it’s scary."
Said Ratthee Rueangpisansin, the events and marketing director of a Thai restaurant in NYC, speaking about pig blood as a soup ingredient. He's quoted in "Will Americans Get Over Their Fear of Eating Animal Blood? The ingredient — a staple of cuisines around the world — is increasingly showing up on restaurant menus and in cookbooks in the U.S."
I hate to purport to speak on behalf of all "white people," but I think it's not that we're afraid. We're disgusted.
People eat blood around the world in all kinds of ways: from France’s rich, gamy sauces and Spain’s morcilla to Swedish blood pancakes, British black pudding and the chocolate-laced blood sweets of Italy; in sausages and stews throughout Southeast Asia; in the wobbly slabs of blood tofu that are a key element in China’s hot pots and soups. Yet in the United States, most blood from slaughterhouses is processed into animal feed and fertilizer. In this era of nose-to-tail dining, when we pat ourselves on our sustainable backs for every ear, liver or trotter we dare to eat, why do we routinely pour the most vital part of the animal down the drain?
It's not down the drain. It's into animal feed and fertilizer. But maybe there is some wonderful stuff we the white people of America are missing out on.
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