Is it possible for an American to maintain good health while spending $65 a month on food?

I'm reading "The Fantasy of a Comfy Retirement Has Always Been a Mirage" (NYT), which begins:

On Thursday, a woman named Sharon from Minnesota called into C-SPAN’s “open forum” to express her despair about the cost of living. “I’m 65 years old. I’m legally blind. I’m on disability. I went to my doc, and I lost 28 pounds in the last year. I did not need to lose 28 pounds. I did not try to lose 28 pounds. I lost the 28 pounds because I cannot afford to eat anymore,” Sharon explained, speaking clearly even though she sounded near tears. Because of Trump administration cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the high cost of groceries, gas and electricity, Sharon only allows herself $65 a month for food....

Of course, that sounds shocking and horrible. I have empathy for Sharon and do not like to see anyone struggling so hard, but I wondered whether it was a least possible to maintain your health while spending only $65 a month. Grok assures me that it is possible. I think we all know what this diet would consist of — lots of oatmeal, rice, beans, potatoes, cabbage, and carrots, along with some apples, bananas, and eggs. It's terrible to allow yourself to lose 28 pounds (that you couldn't spare) before switching to this basic diet or going to a food pantry, but not everyone has enough energy or mental clarity to make the adjustment.

Anyway, to be clear, I'm not saying the government shouldn't help people in this circumstance. On the contrary, I think the country deserves excellent food policy. I'm not a source of advice on what that would be.

Hillary reacts to hearing that Jeffrey Epstein said "Hillary Clinton is much prettier in person."

Watch out! It's an attempted trap:

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"You can't park here."

"I like being a member of the community."

Bill Clinton looking at the Epstein files.

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ADDED: Here's a reference video — Bill Clinton enjoying something in the Epstein files that his lawyer attempts to remove from his line of sight and his reflexive emotional reaction.

"We can sustain this fight — easily — for as long as we need to..."

"Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo.... We know their ability to shoot versus our ability to defend. That difference gets wider and wider every day.... When we say the throttle's going up, the throttle's going up and it's going to stay on high...."

Pete Buttigieg has a splitting maul.

Instapundit reports on what's in The Atlantic.

And then there's this:

Rugged Lumberjack Pete sits at authentic rustic diner awaiting a heaping breakfast plate of carburetors, while Annie Leibovitz captures him in a moment of deep reflection https://t.co/52OgDhd5we pic.twitter.com/Unz6GxyyQQ

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) March 3, 2026

I know what a splitting headache is, but what's a splitting maul?

"So we're dealing with what we're dealing with right now."

NEW: I asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) about Nancy Pelosi saying in 2011 that President Obama didn't need Congressional approval to bomb Libya, but Dems now say President Trump needs approval to bomb Iran?

Jeffries said Iran is "very different" & told me "I… pic.twitter.com/SkLr1R5wr1

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 3, 2026

"We're dealing with what we're dealing with right now" is an excuse for the ages. "This is different," he begins, and yet he hasn't worked out how it's different. He just needs it to be different. A dangerous move when you're winging it and don't know the facts of the things you're saying are different. There are a few seconds — 0:26 to 0:33 — where Jeffries knows he's in trouble. He mutters the hilarious line, "First of all, I was not in Congress," and shows a flash of shame before resetting with the all-purpose segue "So we're dealing with what we're dealing with right now."

The sky at 4:40 in the afternoon.

We skipped the sunrise. The cloud cover was 100%, so we wouldn't have seen the sun (or the blood moon), and anyway, it was raining a little. We took the morning off, but we got out in the afternoon. It wasn't quite sunset, but the sun was low at 4:40. It's there in the photograph... behind that demonic profile.

And here's Meade's view (from a little earlier in the walk):

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

"The Birthrate Is Plunging. Why Some Say That’s a Good Thing. The political class is worried about the historic drop. But..."

"... the biggest change is among the youngest women, who are the least ready to have children."

Headline at the NYT.

I get the "good thing" interpretation, but it's also a bad thing, isn't it? The older women, with their greater emotional maturity and economic independence, are not only more able to care for children, they are also more able to think through the whole enterprise of child bearing and child care, to weigh the pros and cons and forgo it altogether. Isn't that what is happening?

"I got him before he got me. I got him first."

Said President Trump, quoted in "How Trump assassination attempts played into his decision to attack Iran" (WaPo)(gift link).

At a briefing on the threats in September 2024, U.S. officials told the Trump campaign that Iran had multiple kill teams inside the country. Trump repeatedly asked whether Iran was behind the Butler shooting, and investigators said they could not rule it out.... The would-be assassin at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida... represented himself at trial and was sentenced last month to life in prison.... 

No evidence has connected Iran with the two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024. Trump suggested he sees a connection, telling ABC, “They tried twice.” The White House did not provide evidence to support a connection....

A trial began last week for a Pakistani man, Asif Merchant, arrested in July 2024 and accused of trying to hire hit men to kill a political figure. Last month, a Brooklyn man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for planning to murder an Iranian dissident, working for an Iranian who prosecutors said was plotting to assassinate Trump....

Classic comments from WaPo readers: "And once again, he has an inability to see beyond himself." And: "Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him."

"Walking hand in hand with the one I love/Ooh, how I love the rainy days."

Neil and his Grandson sing. You can tell Neil is so proud of him! Looks like it they enjoyed it! pic.twitter.com/ur4rvKe7iN

— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) March 3, 2026

At the time of his death (last week), Neil Sedaka was still married to that grandson's grandmother. They'd been married for 64 years. I thought Neil Sedaka was gay, but I see that he was one of those heterosexual men who seem gay to a lot of people. I think it's good for heterosexual men to see that it's fine to be... whatever it was that made people think Neil Sedaka was a gay man. 

Lovely grandparenting! 

"Do flight attendants typically wear tank tops and jeans?"

Bill Clinton says he thought the victims on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane were flight attendants.

Q: “Do flight attendants typically wear tank tops and jeans?”

*Long pause*

CLINTON: “They don’t all wear uniforms on private planes.” pic.twitter.com/w1vgHOAfF8

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 3, 2026

Full context:

Milestones in Feminism: The question is not what did the woman do, but what did the woman wear.

The retrogression is not really Trump's. It's Breitbart's. Trump is just passing along the publicity received by his wife:

Breitbart's opinion on aesthetics is worthless. Look what an ugly mess it is:

That's my screenshot from the Breitbart article.

Readers are expected to look past the drink this/don't drink this/robot puppy/robot bunny advertising and read what looks like a press release: "Melania Trump chose a gray textured wool bar jacket from Dior for the historic occasion, pairing it with a matching gray textured wool skirt, as well as a thin black leather belt from Dior and patent leather stilettos from Christian Louboutin."

A "bar jacket," I was curious enough to learn, is the kind of jacket Christian Dior thought perfect for women drinking cocktails in the afternoon at the bar at the Plaza Athénée hotel in in 1947. Did they have "bladder issues"? Did they dream of electric rabbits?

How dare they put a stereotypically old woman sitting on a toilet right next to the news of the First Lady's appearance at the U.N. doing whatever it was she was doing while wearing some very specific items of clothing!

Sunrise — 6:00, 6:38.

That's the sunrise.

Tonight is the full moon — the blood moon. Meade was out just after nightfall, getting moon video, with the hooting of barred owls:

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

UPDATE, 6:09 a.m.: That wasn't the blood moon back when Meade made that video. The blood moon was a moon eclipse that happened, I'm told, over the past hour. We were up and ready to catch it, but the cloud cover was 100%. So, as usual, it all depends on the clouds. The celestial orbs do their thing, and it's powerful, but the mere clouds decide what will filter through to us Earthlings. It's raining too, just in this one hour, the sunrise hour. Such is our fate, in the clouds.

"Iran’s democratic opposition groups — monarchists and republicans, secular and religious minorities, leftists, liberals, and every ethnicity — are united..."

"... on four foundational principles: Iran’s territorial integrity; individual liberties and equality of all citizens; separation of religion and state; and the Iranian people’s right to decide a democratic form of government. Many Iranians, often despite facing bullets, have called on me to lead this transition. I am in awe of their courage, and I have answered their call. Our path forward will be transparent: a new constitution drafted and ratified by referendum, followed by free elections under international oversight. When Iranians vote, the transitional government dissolves.... A free Iran would extend [the Abraham Accords] by immediately recognizing Israel and pursuing a broader regional peace framework linking Iran, Israel and our Arab neighbors in cooperation rather than conflict. I suggest calling the agreement the Cyrus Accords, for Cyrus the Great, the benevolent ancient Persian ruler whom Thomas Jefferson cited as an inspiration...."

Writes Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last shah of Iran, in "Thanks to President Trump, the hour of Iran’s freedom is at hand/Our path forward is a new constitution followed by free elections under international oversight" (WaPo).

"Mr. Clean was first devised in the mid-1950s, when Procter & Gamble commissioned a commercial artist, Richard Black, to create a marketing character..."

"... for a new detergent-based household cleaner. The company envisioned a bald man with a nose ring, a nod to the genie-like powers of a product that cleaned 'like magic.' Mr. Black, who died in 2014, drafted two sketches of a strong, smiling genie: one with a nose ring, and one with an earring. Procter & Gamble chose the second one...."

From "Mr. Clean, the Bald, Broad-Shouldered Cleaning Mascot, Retires The character became the face of a household cleaner in 1958. It’s not clear what the brand plans for its next mascot" (NYT).

At Straight Dope, there's skepticism: "Its a marketing ploy to draw attention to a brand that has been taken for granted. He will come out of retirement"/"Yeah, like when Mr. Peanut 'died' a few years ago."

A retrospective:

 

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Another close call for Florida man.

"Missing Florida man found over a week later trapped in shoulder-deep mud/Local crews rescued Andrew Giddens, 36, near a borrow pit after he faced freezing weather without food or water" (The Guardian).

Deputy Derrick Holmes of the sheriff’s office in Florida’s Putnam county spotted Giddens’ abandoned car on 23 February relatively close to a sand plant belonging to Vulcan Materials Company.... Vulcan employees, meanwhile, had not stopped looking for signs of Giddens when one spotted him during the early evening of 25 February in shoulder-deep mud by what is known as a borrow pit.... Giddens was alert and could talk, but the worker who had found him could not get to him because he was surrounded by “unstable” ground, the sheriff’s office said.... The elaborate [rescue] operation took about three hours, with rescuers needing to be careful to not become stuck in the mud themselves....

Here's the sheriff's office video, which refers to the substance — in scare quotes — as "quick sand."

"Historical Figures as Boring Modern People."

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"In the before times, I was very wary of candidates whose quest for the presidency seemed too insistent and all-consuming..."

"... who had been nursing the dream for too long and clinging to it too tightly. I worried that such single-mindedness erased any space for subtlety, for introspection, for ambivalence, for the crucially instructive mess of an unscripted life. And would voters relate to it? Part of what drew many Democrats I know to Barack Obama was that he seemed to be working through decidedly mixed feelings about his quest for the presidency — as most well-adjusted people would be. Part of what drew many Republicans I know to George W. Bush was that he seemed less comfortable on the campaign trail than on his ranch.... Newsom seems entirely unrestrained and wholly immodest, his confession of a 960 on his SAT notwithstanding.... But Newsom’s strut is working for him.... [I]f the Newsom way is looking like the surest path to a post-Trump future, I’m happy to head in that direction."

Writes Frank Bruni, in "Will a Peacock Like Gavin Newsom Fly?" (NYT).

There's no sure "path to a post-Trump future." To pose the problem in those terms frames the real problem: Democrats have made hatred of Trump their central issue. Get some substance of your own! You still have to be something that the people want. That was true in "the before times," and it's true now.

A classic clip from "the before times":

"We are not defenders anymore. We are warriors.... We will finish this on 'America First' conditions of Trump's choosing..."

Sunrise.

"Retirement Plan."

An Oscar-nominated short, by John Kelly:

And here's David Sedaris brilliantly admiring it, in "The Dream of Finishing One’s To-Do List in 'Retirement Plan'/In John Kelly’s animated short film, narrated by Domhnall Gleeson, nothing’s off limits when it comes to thinking about the future—particularly when there’s so much left to do" (The New Yorker):

Sunrise — 6:12, 6:25, 6:33, 6:35.

We had a nice little snow yesterday afternoon, as you can see in Photo #4, the one with the sun popping. My favorite in this set though is #1. I love the "lake smoke." Photos ##2 and 3 speak for themselves with those loud colors. #2 is what I call a broiler. I like the bumpy embers. In #3, the bumps have smoothed out and cooled off.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

And here's Meade's view, with the sun really popping:

"I think that rock has been purposely dialed down in the culture.... All I know is I saw the gravity shift...."

"This gets wizard behind the curtain, right? Somebody's going to say, 'Well, how do you know who was the wizard behind the curtain?' All I know is I saw the gravity shift. Okay? If you were at MTV or around MTV in 1997–98, suddenly they decided rock was out—right when rock was still very, very high up—and it was replaced by rap. They immediately changed their standards and practices. Things that weren't allowed were suddenly allowed; people were waving guns. Okay, so some people assert that the CIA was involved in all that—again, above my pay grade—but I saw it happen. I did witness it happen. And of course great music came out of it. So it's not like a barren wasteland where something was pushed in to replace something else. Qualitative things and great artists came in, but there was this overt shift. I saw it happen. And then now... rap seems to be waning in terms of its cultural influence. Pop is completely dominant. Rock is probably the most dominant ticket-selling thing in the Western world, and yet there's almost no representation of rock in culture. So why do we have that schism? I think they purposely dialed down the ability of rock stars to have a voice in the culture...."

Says Billy Corgan:

"[Trump] said he would be willing to negotiate but that if Iran was not serious, he would order an overwhelming military attack."

"He did give diplomacy a chance, but ultimately, he was not willing to simply put a fresh coat of paint on Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal; he wanted serious indications that Iran was committing to giving up its quest for a nuclear weapon. When it was clear they were not, he followed through on his threat. Many past presidents have said that 'all options are on the table' with regard to Iran. Trump meant it...."

Writes Philip Klein in "Donald Trump Wasn’t Bluffing on Iran" (National Review).

From the comments over there: "How Barack Obama must feel now, having tried sucking up to the Ayatollah, then bribing him (as did Biden later), and now finally realizing, after mocking Trump and denouncing Trump and lying about Trump, that the president who will be remembered as being truly consequential, is Trump. Sleep well, President Obama. Trump got him."

Which causes another commenter to quote this:

"When a spectator shouted that banning clapping was 'undemocratic,' the mayor countered that 'clapping for some and not all is not democratic'..."

"... and that 'we have to allow for people to feel safe to say what they feel.' The mayor’s attempt at enforcing her idea of civility only prompted more shouting, after which she said: 'I’m not going to argue. If I hear any more clapping or disruption from the crowd, I will have to unfortunately have you all removed.' 'Do it now! Do it to me!' David Reed, 77, a Takoma Park resident, yelled, according to the city’s video recording of the meeting. More applause followed. 'You’re not the dictator of the council!' Paul Huebner, 75, a retired project manager, shouted. 'This is outrageous!'... The kerfuffle prompted a robust discussion among the lawmakers about civility and First Amendment rights that spilled into subsequent meetings and online discussions over the next two weeks...."

From "A mayor ordered no clapping at a city meeting. Applause did not follow. The Takoma Park, Maryland, mayor’s order that people not clap during a public meeting led to insults and even a poll" (WaPo).

It's funny that the mayor used the word "democratic" to refer to responding to every person and every idea equally. It strikes me as the very opposite of democracy. In democracy, people choose, we express favoritism, and the person that gets the most support obtains power to impose it on others.

"Across Iran crowds took to the streets, playing music, honking car horns and cheering. Fireworks were set off and residents applauded at their windows."

"Raha, 42, who lives in the capital, said she had spent 'years' dreaming of news of the leader’s death, 'but it was nothing like the dreams I had imagined. I’m laughing, crying and shouting. The killer of my dreams, the killer of my youth, the killer of Iran’s most beautiful children is no longer breathing... I feel exhausted, like a soldier who has fought for hours and is suddenly told that the enemy is dead. I want to sleep for days — a deep, heavy sleep.' Alireza, 42, who also lives in the city, was similarly thrilled after US-Israeli missile strikes hit Khamenei’s compound on Saturday. 'I wish that in those moments when his residence was attacked and the rubble fell on him, he stayed alive for a few minutes — that he suffered, that he felt pain — remembering all the suffering he gave to millions of Iranians over all these years,' he said."

From "Fear turns to joy as ordinary Iranians see off Ayatollah Khamenei/There was smoke and a sound. We looked up. Did they kill Khamenei, they asked" (London Times).

Sunrise — 6:07, 6:29, 6:31, 6:35.

When the sunrise photographs do not include the sun, it's either because no photo with the sun was among the best photos in the set or because the sun failed to pop. It's back there behind the clouds, we can trust, but the clouds are blocking the popping. Today was one of those days when the clouds won out. They seemed thin and wispy enough that we couldn't know until a few minutes after the sunrise time, and we waited out the time in the bitter cold.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

"Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead. This is not only Justice for the people of Iran..."

"... but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS. He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do. This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country. We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces, no longer want to fight, and are looking for Immunity from us. As I said last night, 'Now they can have Immunity, later they only get Death!' Hopefully, the IRGC and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots, and work together as a unit to bring back the Country to the Greatness it deserves. That process should soon be starting in that, not only the death of Khamenei but the Country has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and, even, obliterated. The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!

"Thank you for your attention to this matter.

"PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP"

At Truth Social.

"You told me to buy a pony/But all I wanted was you..."

"Ayatollah is dead, Israel says/Body of Ali Khamenei has been found amid US-Israeli bombing, according to officials."

The London Times reports.

"Go get your stuff. Stop whining."

"When do we send them an airmail message?"

Question answered: February 28, 2026.

Nearly 20 years later.

"I might be a Democrat, but in this specific case, the president is absolutely correct to do these kinds of actions."

'BIZZARRE': Senator John Fetterman calls out his fellow Democrats who don't agree with the U.S. and Israel's strike on Iran:

"I'd like to remind my colleague over in the House that Iran massacred 30,000 of their own people... This war is not about the Iranian people. It's about… pic.twitter.com/jL7D49PKX3

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 28, 2026

Senator Fetterman: "I'd like to remind my colleague over in the House that Iran massacred 30,000 of their own people.... This war is not about the Iranian people. It's about this poisonous regime. And that's why I'm proud to stand with our military. I'm proud to stand with Israel. I might be a Democrat, but in this specific case, the President is absolutely correct to do these kinds of actions. And now we have Israel's back. And now, that's why it's entirely the path for peace in that region. How many treaties? How much negotiation? I never thought they would work. Iran has only ever responded to these kinds of thing[s]. And now, here we are right now, and we have the opportunity. Real peace. And to change their way committed to trying to destroy Israel and destabilizing the entire region."

Fetterman is a little brain damaged, and I like the ring of truth in the unusualness of his expression. I like: "And now, here we are right now." 

Up until now, I had been distracted from the existence of Keith Olbermann.

"Operation Epic Fury" because
"Operation Epstein Diversion" didn't sound warfightery enough

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 28, 2026

I imagine there are people who think the main problem in the world today is to figure out what happened in the past that had to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Still, there are others who get off pretending they believe it is. Some of them pose as highly amused by this phony baloney belief of theirs. They use cutesy words like "warfightery" to nudge you in the ribs. Don't you get how funny they are?

"I love Trump."

@gbnews A schoolboy in Iran screams that he loves Donald Trump after the President launches strikes across the country. #Iran #USA #DonaldTrump #GBNews ♬ original sound - GB News

"Just clarifying, I made this tweet at 5am while playing speed chess, eating mozz sticks.... I didn't mean 'WW3' literally I was being semi-comedically glib."

Everybody's a comedian.

Just clarifying, I made this tweet at 5am while playing speed chess, eating mozz sticks & listening to live updates on the scale of the damage & breadth of countries already getting attacked. I didn't mean "WW3" literally I was being semi-comedically glibhttps://t.co/YhE9AKWFcg pic.twitter.com/4hGYR8h8Ol

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) February 28, 2026

If you "don't know of a 280 character way of describing whatever this is," there is always the option of saying nothing. I can't copy the tweets of the sayers of nothing, and they can't go viral, but thanks to everyone who's quietly contemplating the situation and hoping for the best.  

Screenshot, in case Benz has the sense to delete it:

Glenn Greenwald reanimates Charlie Kirk to oppose the war in Iran.

Charlie Kirk, in June of 2025, explaining why a massive US war against Iran, and an attempt to facilitate regime change, as pushed by people like Lindsey Graham, is "pathologically insane":pic.twitter.com/nusMqOWOUM

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 28, 2026

"The Iranian regime, to be clear, deserves no sympathy. It has wrought misery since its revolution 47 years ago — on its own people, on its neighbors..."

"... and around the world. It massacred thousands of protesters this year. It imprisons and executes political dissidents. It oppresses women, L.G.B.T.Q. people and religious minorities. Its leaders have impoverished their own citizens while corruptly enriching themselves. They have proclaimed 'Death to America' since coming to power and killed hundreds of U.S. service members in the region, as well as bankrolled terrorism that has killed civilians in the Middle East and as far away as Argentina. Iran’s government presents a distinct threat because it combines this murderous ideology with nuclear ambitions. Iran has repeatedly defied international inspectors over the years. Since the June attack, the government has shown signs of restarting its pursuit of nuclear weapons technology. American presidents of both parties have rightly made a commitment to prevent Tehran from getting a bomb...."

But "Trump’s Attack on Iran is Reckless," in the estimation of The Editorial Board of the NYT (gift link).

There's a link on "massacred" that goes to another NYT article: "How Iran Crushed a Citizen Uprising With Lethal Force" (gift link).

"Eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard terrible people."

pic.twitter.com/BZuJDudLej

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2026

Transcript: 

A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world. 

Sunrise — 6:24, 6:38.

Write about anything you want in the comments.

"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."

Goodbye to Neil Sedaka.

"Neil Sedaka, Legendary Singer-Songwriter Behind ‘Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,’ ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘Love Will Keep Us Together,’ Dies at 86" (Variety).

"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."

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

What if what is true is what you want to be true?

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.

It’s time to get back to basics — and DoW is leading the charge. pic.twitter.com/EnY9mvaFLX

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 27, 2026

 

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:

How does JD's "kinda" — in calling people "crazy" — distinguish him from Trump? Check all that apply.

He's a gentler, sweeter man.

He's less decisive, less sure he's got it right.

He's not that tightly bound to Trump.

He prefers fuzzier speech.

He has reservations about using the concept of insanity.

He's maintaining a distinction from Trump for 2028 election purposes.

"Kinda" is just filler, like saying "um." It means absolutely nothing.

 

pollcode.com free polls

Is the California open primary going to produce 2 Republican candidates for Governor?

 

Link.

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."