Good Morning. I hope that you are enjoying this weekend, fully vaccinated and boosted, with family and friends. That new booster shot has been approved..be sure to get it. Call and see if your pharmacy has it.
Order your free COVID Tests., if you still can.
About that Target boycott “ending”😒😒😒
The complete rage I feel while reading this.
Whistleblower claims ex-DOGE member says he took Social Security data to new job
The Social Security inspector general’s office is investigating allegations that the former DOGE engineer took sensitive data on a thumb drive in a major potential security breach, said people familiar with the process.
March 10, 2026 at 10:47 p.m. EDT
By Meryl Kornfield, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Lisa Rein
The Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog is investigating a complaint that alleges a former U.S. DOGE Service employee claimed he had access to two highly sensitive agency databases and planned to share the information with his private employer — a claim that, if true, would constitute an unprecedented breach of security protocols at an agency that serves more than 70 million Americans.
The agency’s inspector general is investigating the disclosure and has alerted members of Congress of its existence, according to a letter by the acting inspector general to top members of four congressional committees reviewed by The Washington Post and two people familiar with the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive deliberations. The inspector general’s office has also shared the disclosure with the Government Accountability Office, which has been conducting its own audit of DOGE’s access to data, according to one of the people. The Post has reviewed the complaint and spoken with the whistleblower, who issued the complaint anonymously for fear of retaliation.
According to the disclosure, the former DOGE software engineer, who worked at the Social Security Administration last year before starting a job at a government contractor in October, allegedly told several co-workers that he possessed two tightly restricted databases of U.S. citizens’ information, and had at least one on a thumb drive. The databases, called “Numident” and the “Master Death File,” include records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers, places and dates of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents’ names. The complaint does not include specific dates of when he is said to have told colleagues this information, but at least one of the alleged events unfolded around early January, according to the complaint. While working at DOGE, the engineer had approved access to Social Security data.
According to the complaint, he allegedly told the whistleblower that he needed help transferring data from a thumb drive “to his personal computer so that he could ‘sanitize’ the data before using it at [the company.]” The engineer told colleagues that once he had removed personal details from the data, he wanted to upload it into the company’s systems. He told another colleague, who refused to help him upload the data because of legal concerns, that he expected to receive a presidential pardon if his actions were deemed to be illegal, according to the complaint.
Ms. Valenti continues to be my go-to source as I want to keep up with the continued attacks on women’s body autonomy across the country.
Republicans Want to Change the Definition of Abortion
Jessica Valenti and Kylie Cheung
Mar 04, 2026
Tennessee GOP Using AI Bill to Codify Fetal Personhood
This is wild: Rachel Wells at TN Repro News flags that Tennessee Republicans have introduced a bill (HB 0849) that would redefine personhood as beginning at fertilization—and they’re doing it through an AI regulation bill.Fetal personhood is already written into Tennessee abortion regulations and criminal code, but as Wells points out, this legislation would establish personhood in the state’s Title 1 definitions. “That means, if passed, this phrase could be used as a legal framework throughout the Tennessee code,” she writes.
They really are coming up with some new nonsense every day.
Republicans Want to Change the Definition of Abortion
While we’re on the topic of Republicans futzing with language, let’s talk about the latest legislative trend: anti-abortion lawmakers in multiple states are trying to change the definition of ‘abortion’.Longtime readers know that I’ve spent years tracking this tactic: in 2023, I warned in The New York Times that anti-abortion legislators and activists were increasingly claiming that women didn’t need life-saving abortions because they could have “maternal fetal separations” instead (aka c-sections and forced delivery). And in 2024, I laid out the goal: to divorce abortion from healthcare entirely and eliminate exceptions for women’s lives.
Conservatives Want to End ‘Exceptions’ for Women’s Lives
Jessica ValentiNow, Republicans are ramping up those efforts.
Utah lawmakers, for example, want medical records to distinguish between “elective” and “medically indicated” abortions. Under HB 480, patients who miscarry, face ectopic pregnancies or fatal fetal abnormalities, need life- or health-saving abortions—or are pregnant after rape—could have their medical records formally changed to note they had a good abortion. Not like those other bad women who wanted their pregnancy to end.
A sign that the bill is part of a coordinated national strategy? Utah isn’t alone. A pre-filed Louisiana bill would do much the same thing: HB 288 mandates that when doctors code pregnancy loss as “spontaneous abortion”—which is standard medical language—that they add a parenthetical that says “miscarriage.”
Meanwhile, the South Dakota Senate just passed HB 1257, which would change the definition of abortion to exclude treatment for miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and “any medical procedure performed for the purpose of saving the life or preserving the health of the unborn child.” (aka, c-sections.)
South Dakota lawmakers say they’re just trying to “clarify” the state’s abortion ban because pro-choicers have scared doctors out of providing legal care. That, of course, is the same excuse anti-abortion legislators and activists have used across the country to pass other so-called “clarifications”—bills that actually further restrict women’s rights. (See: Kentucky)
The ACLU of South Dakota points out, for example, that HB 1257 defines an “unborn child” from fertilization, which “could create a legal domino effect that triggers broader restrictions on hormonal contraception, emergency contraception and in vitro fertilization.”
All of which is to say, these bills are not being introduced to help women! The goal is to eliminate all abortion—even to save women’s lives—and to attack any bit of freedom we have.
I want you to read this…
And, then read it again…
Financial Times
@financialtimes.com
Follow
Two people confirmed that Moscow had provided Tehran with intelligence on the location of US military assets in the region, including planes and warships. ft.trib.al/cZbGDEU
Paweł Wójcik 🦋🇵🇱🇪🇺
@saladinaldronni.bsky.socialFollow
Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East, the first indication that another major U.S. adversary is participating in the war if if indirectly.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec…Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East, the first indication that another major U.S. adversary is participating in the war if if indirectly.www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec…
— Paweł Wójcik 🦋🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@saladinaldronni.bsky.social) 2026-03-06T11:30:00.384Z
Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces, officials say
The targeting information has included the locations of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the officials said.
Updated March 6, 2026
By Noah Robertson, Ellen Nakashima and Warren P. Strobel
Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East, the first indication that another major U.S. adversary is participating — even indirectly — in the war, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence.
The assistance, which has not been previously reported, signals that the rapidly expanding conflict now features one of America’s chief nuclear-armed competitors with exquisite intelligence capabilities.
Since the war began Saturday, Russia has passed Iran the locations of U.S. military assets, including warships and aircraft, said the three officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
“It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one of the people said.
Reached by The Washington Post on Friday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, declined to comment on the intelligence findings. Moscow has called for an end to the war, which it labeled an “unprovoked act of armed aggression.”
The extent of Russia’s targeting assistance to Iran was not entirely clear. The Iranian military’s own ability to locate U.S. forces has been degraded less than a week into the fighting, the officials said.
Six U.S. troops were killed and several others were injured by an Iranian drone attack Sunday in Kuwait. Iran has fired thousands of one-way attack drones and hundreds of missiles at U.S. military positions, embassies and civilians, even as the joint American-Israeli campaign has hit more than 2,000 Iranian targets — including ballistic missile sites, naval assets and the country’s leadership.
WHAT THEE ENTIRE PHUCK?!!!
I have no words for this. This is absolute insanity.
Do you know what the topography of Iran looks like?
We have the complete and utter audacity to ask UKRAINE FOR HELP?
Good Morning. I hope that you are enjoying this weekend, fully vaccinated and boosted, with family and friends. That new booster shot has been approved..be sure to get it. Call and see if your pharmacy has it.
Order your free COVID Tests., if you still can.
ESSENCE
@Essence
The power of Sinners lives in the women who helped bring it to life.Ruth E. Carter, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Jayme Lawson, Wunmi Mosaku, Shunika Terry-Jennings, and Hannah Beachler shaped the film’s visual language and cultural depth. Through design, cinematography, hair, performance, and world-building, they helped reimagine Black history through horror, myth, and memory.
The results speak loudly. A box-office phenomenon. Sixteen historic Oscar nominations.
But the real impact lives deeper. These women did more than tell a story about ancestry and survival. They protected it.
Frame by frame, Sinners reminds us that when Black women create with intention, it becomes legacy.The Women of Sinners are our 2026 ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Luminaries. Read more at http://ESSENCE.com.
https://x.com/Essence/status/2029199157072650510?s=20
Clinging to the YTness crosses generations.
You have too many young people who want to party like their parents and grandparents. They actually resent having to compete with others, having been told their entire lives that all you had to be was White to get a middle class lifestyle in America.
And, let’s be honest..the answer to
” Why can’t we have __________ in America, like they do in other countries?”
Is racism.
Mekka Okereke
@mekka.mekka-tech.comFollow
Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !Feb 22: The Youth Vote
Q: Isn’t it true that older people are more racist? Either people get more conservative as they get older, or norms were different and everyone was racist make then? Either way, the next generation will save us! Right?
Unfortunately not.
Mekka Okereke
@mekka.mekka-tech.comFollow
Almost all generations of white US voters, vote the same way: mostly GOP.What changes is the percent of the voter base that is white in each generation.
The most common age for a white person in the US is 58.
The most common age for a Black person is 27.
4:42 AM · Feb 22, 2026Mekka Okereke
@mekka.mekka-tech.comFollow
“youth vote” is just a euphemism for “Some of the people in this room are Black and brown.”84% of the silent generation is white, but only 48% of Gen Alpha is white.
🙂🙃The majority of white voters under 30 didn’t chosen the Dem candidate in 2016, 2020, or 2024.🤷🏿♂️
4:58 AM · Feb 22, 2026Mekka Okereke
@mekka.mekka-tech.comFollow
If we want the US to be less racist? Then we need to address racism.We can’t just do nothing and hope the problem kind of goes away by itself.🤡
5:00 AM · Feb 22, 2026
Continue reading
Once again, the Founding Fathers were very deliberate with their design around elections.
They wanted a DECENTRALIZED SYSTEM WITH CONTROL BY THE STATES.
With some input by Congress.
They are attempting to FEDERALIZE ELECTIONS.
WHY would the Department of Homeland Security need to have ACCESS TO VOTER ROLLS?
ABSOLUTELY NOT
ABSOLUTELY NOT
Republicans, Braced for Losses, Push More Voting Restrictions in Congress
Republicans, Braced for Losses, Push More Voting Restrictions in Congress
Legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote was only the beginning as the G.O.P. presses to sharply limit voting in line with President Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud.
By Annie Karni
Feb. 17, 2026The strict voter identification measure that Republicans have pushed through the House is just their opening salvo in a broader legislative effort aimed at keeping control of Congress this fall and helping to amplify the president’s false claims of mass voter fraud in the event that they lose.
The G.O.P.’s relentless focus on the bill and an even more restrictive measure making its way through the House — both of which face a steep uphill path to becoming law — is aimed chiefly at intensifying pressure within their own ranks to muscle through new voting restrictions and seek to reshape the electorate in their favor.
But it also allows Republicans to hammer President Trump’s falsehoods about widespread illegal voting particularly by undocumented immigrants, helping them build a case, however groundless, that any Democratic victories in November will be a result of cheating.
Next up is a measure from Representative Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Committee on House Administration, whose “Make Elections Great Again Act” would go even further in imposing federal control over elections than the Save America Act, which squeaked through on a near-party-line vote last week. That bill would require proof of American citizenship to register to vote and allow the Department of Homeland Security to have access to voter rolls.
Not a Texan, but, yes, I am observing the Senate Race down there. And, the disrespect being shown Congresswoman Crockett.
Today is Primary Day in Texas.
We will see what happens in those Senate Primaries.
KennyMack1971
@kennymack1971.bsky.socialFollow
This Texas Senate Primary has exposed a lot of White Democrats. I am certainly not going to forget about this behavior towards Jasmine Crockett and will pull this receipt every time they pull the “I don’t hate Black women candidates I don’t like her” shit.
9:35 AM · Feb 22, 2026
Everybody can replyThis Texas Senate Primary has exposed a lot of White Democrats.I am certainly not going to forget about this behavior towards Jasmine Crockett and will pull this receipt every time they pull the “I don’t hate Black women candidates I don’t like her” shit.
— KennyMack1971 (@kennymack1971.bsky.social) 2026-02-22T15:35:13.032Z
KennyMack1971
@kennymack1971.bsky.socialFollow
Truth be told people were prepared to let that race cook but the reaction to Crockett running from people of the Caucasian persuasion spoke volumes.
9:36 AM · Feb 22, 2026Truth be told people were prepared to let that race cook but the reaction to Crockett running from people of the Caucasian persuasion spoke volumes.
— KennyMack1971 (@kennymack1971.bsky.social) 2026-02-22T15:36:45.837Z
KennyMack1971
@kennymack1971.bsky.socialFollow
And again I live here and can tell you that this seat wasn’t seen as a pickup opportunity and honestly Talarico looks like a Fetterman/Manchin/Sinema in the making anyway. But the attacks on Crockett for merely running…. I see y’all.
9:39 AM · Feb 22, 2026And again I live here and can tell you that this seat wasn’t seen as a pickup opportunity and honestly Talarico looks like a Fetterman/Manchin/Sinema in the making anyway. But the attacks on Crockett for merely running…. I see y’all.
— KennyMack1971 (@kennymack1971.bsky.social) 2026-02-22T15:39:38.954Z
KennyMack1971
@kennymack1971.bsky.socialFollow
IMO This race is a test case to see if there’s a way to marginalize Black candidates and push them into the background within the Democratic Party. If Talarico wins the primary watch White consultants roll this strategy out to other states.
https://bsky.app/profile/kennymack1971.bsky.social/post/3mfhmdbjrc22e
Law of unintended consequences?
And, there are always a lot of players in GeoPolitics. Some we may never think of.
Shanaka Anslem Perera
@shanaka86Twenty million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. Today the number may be zero. Not because Iran mined the water. Not because a tanker was hit. Because Lloyd’s of London picked up the phone.
War risk underwriters began canceling policies for strait transits hours after Operation Epic Fury launched. The Financial Times confirmed premiums surging 50 percent. Baseline war risk sits at 0.25 percent of hull value. For a hundred million dollar tanker that is 250,000 dollars per voyage.At peak escalation rates, one million per transit. Vessels linked to American or Israeli interests are becoming uninsurable entirely. No price. No policy. No passage. The KHK Empress was loaded with Omani crude heading for Basra when it executed a U-turn mid-strait and redirected to India. The Eagle Veracruz halted at the western approach carrying two million barrels of Saudi crude bound for China. The Front Shanghai stopped off Sharjah with Iraqi crude destined for Rotterdam. Nippon Yusen ordered its entire fleet to avoid Hormuz. Greece told its merchant armada to reassess passage. Hapag-Lloyd suspended all transits.
None of them were fired upon. Every one of them got the same call. More than fifty million years ago the Arabian plate collided with the Eurasian plate and compressed the Persian Gulf into a basin that drains through a single geological bottleneck twenty one miles wide. Twenty one percent of global petroleum. Twenty percent of all seaborne LNG. One fifth of industrial civilization’s energy supply forced through a tectonic accident narrower than the English Channel, bordered on one side by the country whose supreme leader was killed yesterday morning. The USS Abraham Lincoln carries enough Tomahawks to sink every IRGC patrol boat in 48 hours. Operation Praying Mantis crippled Iran’s operational naval forces in eight hours in 1988. The Fifth Fleet has rehearsed this scenario for decades.
None of that matters. Aircraft carriers cannot force an underwriter to rewrite a policy. Tomahawks cannot lower a premium. The most powerful navy in human history cannot make a Lloyd’s syndicate decide that a VLCC transiting Iranian coastal waters represents an acceptable risk on a Saturday afternoon when missiles are landing in Dubai. Goldman Sachs estimates Brent could peak at 110 dollars per barrel. JP Morgan projects 120 to 130. At those levels every airline bleeds cash. Every central bank watches three years of inflation fighting reignite overnight. Bypass pipelines from Saudi Arabia and the UAE handle roughly three million barrels. Hormuz handles twenty million. The math does not close.
Iran figured out something the Pentagon still has not.
You do not need to close a strait. You just need to make it uninsurable.
https://open.substack.com/pub/shanakaanslemperera/p/the-arithmetic-of-collapse-irans?r=6p7b5o&utm_medium=ios
https://x.com/shanaka86/status/2027936080541131106?s=20
Good Morning. I hope that you are enjoying this weekend, fully vaccinated and boosted, with family and friends. That new booster shot has been approved..be sure to get it. Call and see if your pharmacy has it.
Order your free COVID Tests., if you still can.
RIP, Neil Sedaka
Variety
@Variety
Neil Sedaka, the legendary singer-songwriter behind hits like “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” “Bad Blood,” “Laughter in the Rain” and “Calendar Girl,” has died at 86 years old.“Our family is devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather, Neil Sedaka,” a statement from the family reads. “A true rock and roll legend, an inspiration to millions, but most importantly, at least to those of us who were lucky enough to know him, an incredible human being who will be deeply missed.”
Even though 3Chics Politico is written and curated by three women: Ametia, Rikyrah, and SouthernGirl2, I must nominate this as one of the most engaging blogs I've found. Devoted to politics and culture, these three shine a light on contemporary life with humor and spirit.
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