Grant Smith

We are At War now, according to President Bush, and I take him at his word. He also says this War might last for "a very long time." Generals and military scholars will tell you that eight or 10 years is actually not such a long time in the span of human history - which is no doubt true - but history also tells us that 10 years of martial law and a wartime economy are going to feel like a Lifetime to people who are in their twenties today. The poor bastards of what will forever be known as Generation Z are doomed to be the first generation of Americans who will grow up with a lower standard of living than their parents enjoyed. That is extremely heavy news, and it will take a while for it to sink in. The 22 babies born in New York City while the World Trade Center burned will never know what they missed. The last half of the 20th century will seem like a wild party for rich kids, compared to what's coming now. The party's over, folks.

From Hunter S. Thompson’s ESPN page 2 column one week after 9/11.

Hegseth strikes deal with Scouts: Girls allowed for now, DEI is banned In announcing the Pentagon’s agreement with Scouting America, the defense secretary assailed the group for welcoming transgender children but stopped short of saying they would be denied entry.

At least we know in the hours before the attack Hegseth was laser focused on keeping Americans safe

Can't believe there are still journalists claiming Musk has an "absolutist stance on free speech" given his multitude of efforts to punish and silence his opponents for their speech.

Refugee released by Border Patrol found dead, sparking outrage Surveillance video obtained by The Post shows Border Patrol agents releasing the partially blind refugee, who went missing for days before being found dead.

We obtained footage showing a man who appeared to be refugee Nurul Amin Shah Alam being dropped off by Border Patrol outside a Buffalo coffee shop after 8pm. The shop locks its door at 7pm. He never made it inside, and was found dead five days later:

There is a real argument that the Trump administration's ICE excesses are radicalizing judges of all political stripes against him and his admin. Decisions made by ICE (and the agency's general shrug at court orders) have dramatically brought down DOJ's reputation along with it.

Sen. Andy Kim proposes cutting public funding to stop migrant jails and abuses • New Jersey Monitor Sen. Andy Kim (D) introduced three bills he said would rein in "lawless" immigration enforcement agents by restricting their funding.

The Roxbury warehouse the feds bought to store humans is "larger than eight football fields, and it will be turned into this industrial-size detention facility of human misery,” said US Sen. Andy Kim of NJ. newjerseymonitor.com/2026/02/27/a...

Cover of The Lancet:

@thelancet.com
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

On February 20, officials at the “Central Office” ordered FCI Butner’s medical director to terminate Ms. Pinson’s hormone treatment. Declaration of Grace Pinson ¶ 4 (Feb. 24, 2024) (hereinafter “Feb. 24 Pinson Decl.”). In the days that followed, prison officials made Ms. Pinson strip naked and subjected her to a demeaning visual cavity search in front of multiple male guards; they rifled through her personal and sensitive papers, including legal documents, and tossed them into a cell covered in feces, and extended her detention her in a segregation unit after she was supposed to return to general population. Id. ¶¶ 5-8. One of the officials who engaged in this conduct, Lt. Teague, told Ms. Pinson that if “you want to make it home alive, you need to stop sending stuff to that fucking judge.” Id. ¶ 6. Lt. Teague told Elmer Moreno, another incarcerated person who conferred with class counsel about this litigation, that Mr. Moreno was being held in solitary confinement because he had “been talking to [Ms. Pinson’s] lawyers.” Id. ¶ 9. Summarizing his management philosophy, Lt. Teague informed Ms. Pinson: “I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again, I don’t give a fuck what that judge says, I do what I want.” Id. ¶

👀

"Constructed in a record two months after a $1.2 billion contract was granted to a Virginia-based company w/no listed related experience, it is viewed as a model for more than two dozen ICE facilities the gov’t plans to convert into detention centers across the country, including several in Texas."

Golden age? Americans doubt Trump's claim of booming economy as midterms near, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds President Donald Trump says the U.S. economy is booming and that he has fixed inflation. But most Americans, including many in his Republican Party, do not see things that way, according to a Reuters/...

"Even as a two-income household, we are struggling," said Tennessee resident Marcus Tripp, who leans Republican. "I am worried more about how much my rent and everything is going up than I am about whether the guy down the street has citizenship documents or not."

www.reuters.com/world/us/gol...

NYPD Still Illegally Stopping New Yorkers 12 Years After Court Ruling, Monitor Finds Illegal stops, missing paperwork and weak discipline remain widespread despite federal oversight.

“The report is the latest to document the NYPD’s lack of compliance with court-ordered reforms stemming from the landmark 2013 Floyd v. City of New York ruling, which found the department’s practices violated the constitutional rights of Black and Latino residents.”

www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/26/n...

Trump Iranian missile claim unsupported by U.S. intelligence, say sources President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the United States is not backed by U.S. intelligence reports, and appears to be exaggerated, according to three sources familiar with the reports.

President Trump's claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the US is not backed by American intelligence reports and appears to be exaggerated, reports Reuters. www.reuters.com/business/aero...

Wow. Ellie Aghayeva — the Columbia student detained by ICE this morning — has been released and posted this on her Instagram.

Comes after NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed his concern on the arrest to Trump in a meeting just earlier.

How America Chose Not to Hold the Powerful to Account Our national project of elite impunity

After the arrests of powerful men across the world, you might be asking why the US has so much trouble holding its leaders accountable for lawbreaking. Since Nixon, all three branches of government have worked hard to ensure they can break the law with impunity www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

ICE is struggling to keep pace with vetting new hires during its historic recruitment push, so it's hiring officers before completing standard checks.

The agency fired five people after belatedly finding that they had outstanding warrants for their arrest.

www.reuters.com/world/ice-st...

Exclusive: US aims to bring in 4,500 white South Africans per month as refugees, document says The U.S. aims to process 4,500 refugee applications from white South Africans per month, far above President Donald Trump's stated refugee program cap, and is installing trailers on embassy property i...

As U.S. closes door to most immigrants and deploys masked militias to hunt the nation for those without documentation, it’s going the extra mile to get white South Africans into the country. Via Reuters.

10 hour study with me at Columbia showing lunch

Her in the library

DHS illegally arrested me please help Text against image of her knees

Columbia student detained today is a day-in-the-life influencer with 100K followers. Her stories right now go from her studying for a Genetics exam in a nicely edited "ten hour study with me at Columbia" video, to a photo of her knees with the caption "dhs illegally arrested me please help"

I can’t believe this is real

Seized Art, Eavesdropping Guards: Parents Describe a Clampdown at Dilley Detention Center as Kids Shared Their Stories Detainees told ProPublica that art supplies have been removed in room searches, immigrants have lost access to Gmail and staff hover within earshot during video calls.

NEW: Guards have taken away crayons, colored pencils & paper during recent room searches at Dilley, according to detainees and others. After one inspection, the children just “cried and cried and cried,” a mother said. The facility denies the claims.

By @mckenziefunk.com @micarosenberg.bsky.social

Blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol dies in Buffalo. A nearly blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol miles from his home dies in Buffalo after having been missing for nearly a week.

US immigration officials picked up a blind Rohingya refugee last week in Buffalo, NY. Then, realizing they had no basis to deport him, they released him five miles from his home. He needed a walking stick and died trying to make his way back to his house: www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/b...

February 26, 2026 Dear members of the Columbia community: This morning at approximately 6:30 a.m., federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered a Columbia Residential building and detained a student. We are working to gather more information, working to reach the family, and providing legal support. Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a "missing person." We are working to gather more details. It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including

It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access. An administrative warrant is not sufficient. If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety. Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University's response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena. We will update our community as additional information becomes available. Sincerely,

BREAKING: Columbia President Claire Shipman says DHS agents entered a residential buliding this morning and detained a student.

"Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a 'missing person.'"

Kansas informs trans residents their driver’s licenses become invalid on Thursday Some transgender Kansans said they had received the letters from the Department of Revenue. Others hadn’t by Wednesday evening.

“‘The persecution is the point,’ said Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Legislature, who received the [Kansas Dept of Revenue] notice on Wednesday.” To underscore that: a Kansas state legislator is among those whose driver’s license will be voided. (🎁 link:)

Tennessee woman says hospital canceled her sterilization surgery while admitted to hospital Mojo Foster said she had been seeking a salpingectomy — a surgery that removes the fallopian tubes — after years of trying other birth control options.

Tennessee has one of the strictest abortion bans in the county.

They’re trying to pass a law that would make abortion punishable by death.

Men tell women to “not get pregnant” if they can’t cope with the risk.

The state refuses them sterilization due to “sacred fertility”

Armed ICE officer in Portland called 911 during confrontation: ‘I’m going to have to shoot this kid.’ Dispatch records and a police report obtained by OPB describe the previously unreported incident last fall.

In a 5-minute phone call to dispatchers, a federal immigration officer requests police backup last October to help with a kid tailing him on a motorized bicycle. "I need someone here now, or else I'm going to have to shoot this kid," the officer said on a recording of the call obtained by OPB.

Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Listen...these dudes changed the locks on her mailbox

They marked her mail undeliverable and returned it to the sender

They blocked her & her tenants from receiving doctor’s bills, medications, credit card statements, car titles, property tax statements, & more

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/posta...

The technology was revealed in December to produce a far higher rate of false positives for black (5.5 %) and Asian (4.0 %) faces than for white faces (0.04 %) at certain settings, according to Home Office commissioned research.

Also, way more people think Big Food is harming Americans’ health than Big Pharma - 77% to 60%!