Sunrise — 6:25, 6:32, 6:41, 6:54.

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"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.'..."

The NYT reports.

"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.

"The Clintons are likely to be asked why, long after Maxwell had been publicly accused of trafficking girls with Epstein in 2009, she was still welcome at events with the couple."

"In 2010, Maxwell attended the wedding of the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, and in 2013 was a guest at the Clinton Global Initiative conference. The former president Clinton also attended a dinner with Maxwell in Los Angeles as late as 2014, according to reports.... Speaking to Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney-general, Maxwell said Bill was 'my friend, not Epstein’s friend.' She said: 'President Clinton liked me, and we got along terribly well. But I never saw that warmth with Mr Epstein.'"

From "The questions Bill and Hillary Clinton need to answer about Epstein files
The couple will be questioned, starting on Thursday, over pictures with the paedophile and emails to Ghislaine Maxwell. What will they have to explain?" (London Times).

"A lot of people have a misconception that the Boomers are drinking less... It’s not because the Boomers are drinking less, it’s because there are less Boomers."

Said Jon Phillips, a Sonoma County wine manufacturer, quoted in "California winery owner gives hottest take yet on why industry is dying" (NY Post).

Why wouldn't the next generation step up as consumers of wine?

“[Boomers] were the people that were really responsible for joining wine clubs and Gen X that came after Boomers just weren’t really into wine to the same level that the Boomers were into wine,” [Phillips] said.

Gen X never wants to do anything. Phillips is waiting for Millennials and Gen Zs to mature into the wine-drinking way of life. I guess I should hope he's disappointed. 

"It begins with one — one frog...."

 

I found the Portland Frog Brigade via this NY Post column, "Dems ditched American heroes for adults in frog suits and tiresome De Niro — all we can do is pity them."

The frog suits made me think of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals," #6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." 

But the column says we should pity these people. It quotes Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon:

"Tonight I defy Trump and his authoritarian project by standing in joyful, radical, peaceful resistance with the Portland Frog Brigade. We answered with frog costumes, dancing, singing and joy when Trump wanted us to cower in fear."

I did think frogs were a right-wing mascot — I'm thinking Pepe the Frog — but it's 10 years since Pepe's heyday and people of all persuasions are entitled to a frog of their own. I think the hippie vibe is a good move — costumes, dancing, singing, joy. 

"For almost the entirety of her married life, she has had to answer questions about her husband’s action."

"She has supported him throughout. There is no reason for her to have to suffer this last indignity. She has nothing to do with it. It is infuriating. She is a global icon, a trailblazer for women. It is heartbreaking that she has to do this."

Said Patti Solis Doyle, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton, quoted in "For Hillary Clinton, an Epstein Deposition Is the Latest ‘Stand by Your Man’ Moment/The former first lady, senator and secretary of state had no dealings with Jeffrey Epstein but is once again under pressure to answer for the actions and relationships of her husband" (NYT).

Should "a trailblazer for women" vouch for a man who has abused women? But maybe what Hillary knows is that no abuse was involved within Bill's relationship to Jeffrey.

Mr. Clinton had a relationship with Mr. Epstein years before Mr. Epstein’s sex crimes conviction. The former president took four trips on Mr. Epstein’s private jet in 2002 and 2003 and appears in photographs in the files released by the Justice Department. But Mrs. Clinton did not. She has said that she “cannot recall ever speaking to Epstein,” and that she met Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate, only a few times. During the period when Mr. Clinton was building the Clinton Global Initiative and interacting with Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell, Mrs. Clinton “was busy being a U.S. senator,” said Ms. Doyle, who worked for her at the time. “She was not involved.”

I wonder if the members of Congress will be satisfied with the assertion that to be a member of Congress is to be too busy to get into mischief. 

Sunrise — 6:28, 6:36, 6:45, 6:51.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

With 4 Supreme Court Justices in attendance at the SOTU, Trump called the tariff opinion "unfortunate" and "disappointing."

He didn't condemn the Court or even say it got the law wrong. Here's the transcript (NYT). You can see that he accepts the Court's role in saying what the law is, and he's processed the loss and has moved on to finding new ways to win:

"The first duty in life is that we all strike a pose... I struck a pose, I put a mask on, and at times my face grew into it, becoming someone I couldn't even recognize.""

Two-faced California Governor Gavin Newsom says that he's been wearing a "mask" for years.

NEWSOM: "I put a mask on, and at times my face grew into it…"

What a strange, little man. pic.twitter.com/HawZxCDqk6

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 25, 2026

Newsom attributes the line —"The first duty in life is that we all strike a pose, and the second duty no one's really figured out" — to Oscar Wilde.  

Did Oscar Wilde say that? In "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young." he said, "The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one has as yet discovered." 

"Strike a pose" is Madonna:

But who doesn't mix up Oscar Wilde and Madonna?

"These people are crazy, I’m telling you. They’re crazy. Amazing. Terrible. Boy, oh boy."

From the SOTU transcript (NYT): "All Democrats, every single one of them, voted against these really important and very necessary massive tax cuts. They wanted large-scale tax increases to hurt the people instead.... Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars.... Everybody knows it. Even Democrats know it. They just don’t want to say it.... As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It’s all cut off — it’s all cut off.... They have closed the agency responsible for protecting Americans from terrorists and murderers.... We have no money because of the Democrats.... All voters must show proof of citizenship... and this should be an easy one and by the way it’s polling at 89 percent including Democrats, 89 percent.... Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly agree on the policy.... And the reason they don’t want to do it.... They want to cheat..... But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will.... These people are crazy, I’m telling you. They’re crazy. Amazing. Terrible. Boy, oh boy.... Democrats are destroying our country....  Dangerous repeat offenders continue to be released by pro-crime Democrat politicians again and again...."

I don't agree with this precise statement of what has happened to John Roberts, but, clearly something has happened.

Left: John Roberts after his nomination.

Right: John Roberts today.

It isn’t the aging that stands out.

You can see the extinguished husk of his soul.

This is a man that knows he sold out, and that the Court of John Roberts will be remembered as a stain on American History. pic.twitter.com/JzNfTCyv2D

— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) February 25, 2026

What do you think?

What happened to John Roberts? Pick the best explanation.

He got older. This is what 71 looks like.

You're seeing the extinguished husk of his soul.

The Supreme Court has been a crushing ordeal.

The SOTU is a crushing ordeal. He'll light back up when he gets out of there.

Malaria!

 

pollcode.com free polls

Unique Way/True and Life.

My son Chris sends another photograph from New York City:

"The idea is that our ancestors evolved to associate the scent of alcohol with ripe, energy-rich fruit."

"In ancestral forests, faint whiffs of fermentation would have been a useful signal of easy calories. A taste for ethanol, at low concentrations, would therefore have given these early primates an evolutionary advantage. If the hypothesis is true, this helps explain our own fondness for the stuff. During years where fermented fruit is abundant, the chimpanzees of Ngogo, in the north of the national park, spend more time travelling to distant areas of their home territories than usual. It is tempting to think that the booze is making them more adventurous. However, Maro believes it is more to do with the sugar providing a burst of energy...."

From "Wild chimpanzees 'would fail human sobriety tests'/Chimps love naturally fermented fruit — so much so, they register alcohol levels that would get a human banned from operating heavy machinery" (London Times).

Trump delivered a very long SOTU last night. Did you watch? Really?

It was too late for me, but I watched. Until I didn't.

It's an unnecessary formality, very stiff and awkward, but Trump made it his own. Hunched over the lectern and with his hair coming unglued, he boasted of achievements and called out individuals in the audience, who were, in his view, either fantastic or horrible. We're in a grand struggle between good and evil, don't you know? I dropped out at some point because sleep had a greater claim on me, as it did on some members of the audience. But Trump was still fully inflated, and the video remains. But there's something about watching it live that keeps you going, and once it's dead, you don't really care, do you?