Trump says he’ll block Gordie Howe Bridge from Michigan to Canada | CNN Politics (Thanks to Finn for this one)
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President Trump Says U.S. Should Own Half Of Gordie Howe International Bridge
Morouns ramped up bridge lobbying before Trump’s Gordie Howe threats
Why the Gordie Howe Bridge was built and what happens next
The White House is shrugging at Lutnick’s Epstein ties. His foes are too. - POLITICO (Thanks to Graydon for this one)
It’s the latest example of how little weight association with Epstein carries for high-profile figures in the Trump administration.
Epstein Files Reveal Scope of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Role in Clinton Circle - The New York Times (Thanks to Haadi for this one)
Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime companion helped advise on the kickoff of the Clinton Global Initiative and arranged for $1 million in funding for it, emails show.
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| A photograph released by the Justice Department showing former President Bill Clinton with Ghislaine Maxwell. Newly released emails show Ms. Maxwell’s behind-the-scenes role in helping to start the Clinton Global Initiative, one of Mr. Clinton’s signature post-White House endeavors. DOJ. |
Kalshi and Polymarket Create New Competition for Professional Economists - The New York Times
Economists have noticed that betting markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are pretty good at predicting not just political events but economic data, too.
Trump Wants to Revive Shipping. Investors Are Slow to Back Him. - The New York Times
A French logistics behemoth promised $20 billion for the United States, but a year into President Trump’s second term, only a fraction of the money has arrived.
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| “He’s going to be investing $20 billion into the United States because of the election,” President Trump said last year when Rodolphe Saadé, the chief executive of the shipping company CMA CGM, visited the White House. |
Trump Decries a ‘Nation of Renters’ but His New Policy Promotes One - The New York Times
President Trump’s recently announced executive order that would bar big investors from acquiring single-family homes includes an exemption that allows them to build homes for rent.
The rejection was a remarkable rebuke, suggesting that ordinary citizens did not believe that the lawmakers had committed any crimes.
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| Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and the other five Democratic lawmakers had posted a video that enraged President Trump by reminding active-duty members of the military and intelligence community of their obligation to refuse illegal orders. Photo by Eric Lee for NYT. |
(2) FAA Halts All Flights at El Paso Airport for 10 Days: Live Updates - The New York Times
No flights are allowed to or from the airport until Feb. 20 under a flight restriction order that cited unspecified “special security reasons.”
Update: Officials Claim Drone Incursion Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport - The New York Times
The secretary of transportation said the military had neutralized a drug cartel drone. Two officials said testing of counter-drone technology prompted the closure. The F.A.A. initially said it would last 10 days.
DHS Shutdown Looms as Senate Democrats Reject White House ICE Deal - The New York Times
Trump’s Migrant Detention Pipeline Extends From Minnesota to El Paso - The New York Times
Pockets of Republican Pushback to ICE Facilities Point to MAGA Fissures - The New York Times
Top Immigration Officials Refuse to Discuss Minnesota Shootings at Hearing - The New York Times
Trump Administration Claims About Shootings by Federal Agents Unravel in Court - The New York Times
Top Border Official Praised Agent Who Shot Chicago Woman, Evidence Shows - The New York Times
Tumbler Ridge Live Updates: 10 Dead in School Shooting in British Columbia - The New York Times
The shooting occurred at a high school and residence in eastern British Columbia, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which said the suspected shooter was among the dead.
What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn’t Know, Either | The New Yorker
Researchers at the company are trying to understand their A.I. system’s mind—examining its neurons, running it through psychology experiments, and putting it on the therapy couch.
Why Kids Are Starting to Sound Like Their Grandparents
The strange resurgence of words like “yap” and “skedaddle.”
Haruki Murakami Isn’t Afraid of the Dark
The author, who brought Japanese literature into the global mainstream, grapples with aging and his place in the world of letters.
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| Murakami describes his writing process as an act of going “into another world.” Photo by Dana Scruggs for NYT. |
The Mass Market Paperback goes Extinct after 90+ years.
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| “It was one of the most brilliant technologies in the history of the world,” Paula Rabinowitz, author of American Pulp, said, “precisely because you could shove it in your purse or your pocket.” |
Green Day Condemns ICE as Part of Super Bowl Festivities (Thanks to Sam for this one)
The band’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, urged Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to quit their jobs, warning that the Trump administration would inevitably abandon them.
Japan’s Takaichi secures historic supermajority in landslide election victory | CNN
How Japan’s Leader, Sanae Takaichi, Rescued Her Party from the Abyss - The New York Times
How Japan’s prime minister will use her massive new mandate
Related:
Thailand’s Conservative Party Claims Surprise Election Victory - The New York Times
It was the first time in years that a conservative party preaching nationalism, patriotism and respect for the monarchy came out on top.
Hong Kong Court Sentences Jimmy Lai to 20 Years - The New York Times
The media tycoon, a Chinese-born British citizen, had been a persistent critic of Beijing. The sentence is the harshest penalty so far under a national security law.
To China, Jimmy Lai Was an Arch Villain. To His Supporters, He Was Their Hope. - The New York Times
Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong publisher and democracy campaigner, was convicted of national security charges in a city where even minor dissent is now whispered.
Iran sentences Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi to 7 more years in prison | CNN
Seahawks bully Drake Maye, Patriots on way to dominant Super Bowl 60 win - The Athletic
Seahawks’ Kenneth Walker III earns Super Bowl MVP after dad attends first NFL game - The Athletic
Reviewing Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show: Grading the performance - The Athletic
Green Day delivers tame Super Bowl performance after condemning ICE in earlier events | CNN
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| Running back Kenneth Walker III rushed for 135 yards and helped the Seahawks control much of Super Bowl 60 against the Patriots. |
Trump’s Greenland Threats Rattle the Faroe Islands - The New York Times
Many people in the Faroe Islands, a tiny archipelago in the North Atlantic, want to be their own state. The crisis over Greenland, Denmark’s other territory, has complicated that, for now.
The Winter Olympics get 8 new events, including the first new sport in decades (Thanks to Sara for this one)
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2026 Winter Olympics Live Updates
2026 Winter Olympics Medal Count
The Impossible Jump, for All but One (Quad God capturing Gold)
See How Breezy Johnson Won Downhill Gold by 0.04 Seconds
Reports: Lindsey Vonn fractured leg in Olympic downhill crash, had surgery
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| Athletes compete during the men's sprint race at the Ski Mountaineering World Cup event in Bormio, Italy, in February 2025, a year before the sport makes its debut at the Winter Olympics. |
Behind the Scenes at the 150th Westminster Dog Show
Brushing, panting, licking and leaping: Here’s what we saw backstage, where show dogs could let their fur down before taking to the ring.
Rethinking Shakespeare in Shanghai
A recent production of “Othello” proves that small creative flowers can grow between the dreary slabs of cultural concrete laid by the Communist Party.
How Trump Brought the Fight Over American History to Philadelphia - The New York Times
The administration took a crowbar to a site that focused on George Washington and slavery. But can the contradictions of the Founding Era be erased?
In Philadelphia, a few steps from the Liberty Bell, there stands a ghost house. It consists of partially reconstructed red brick walls, an empty door frame and windows and, etched on a free-standing stone slab, the names of nine enslaved people who served George Washington there.
The President’s House, as the open-air site is known, was the seat of the executive branch of the United States’ fledgling democracy from 1790 to 1800, when Washington and then John Adams lived there. But since Jan. 22, when workers arrived unannounced with crowbars and pried all 30 interpretive signs off the walls, it has become a front in the red-hot political battle over American history.
The National Park Service, whose leadership ordered the removals, says it was merely complying with President Trump’s executive order last March calling for the removal or revision of displays that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”
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| Since the removals, local people have come to the site, which is next to the Liberty Bell, to tape up messages, share information and read aloud. |
China’s Xi Presses Trump on Taiwan in Phone Call - The New York Times
Both leaders gave versions of what they discussed, but the Chinese president’s take made clear the issue of the island was front and center.
Mr. Xi told Mr. Trump that the American position on Taiwan was “the most important issue in China-U.S. relations,” it said, and asserted that China “will never allow Taiwan to be separated from China.”
“The U.S. must handle arms sales to Taiwan with extreme caution,” Mr. Xi told Mr. Trump, according to the description in Chinese state media.
“He’s trying to set the table for telling President Trump, ‘When you come in April, be ready to have a serious, sit-down conversation about Taiwan because it’s very important to me,’” Ryan Hass, the director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.
Related:
Trump Tells Xi Jinping U.S. Will Honor ‘One China’ Policy - The New York Times (2017)
Nuclear Arms Control Era Comes to End Amid Global Rush for New Weapons - The New York Times
Beijing, Moscow and shaken American allies are seeking new warheads as President Trump ends more than a half century of nuclear arms control with Russia.
Russia hits Ukraine energy targets with hundreds of drones, missiles, ahead of talks - ABC News (Thanks to Graydon for this one)
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| In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire at a multi-storey apartment building following a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 3, 2026. |
Investigation Finds Credit Suisse Had Wider Nazi Ties Than Previously Known - The New York Times (Thanks to Haadi for this one)
But a lawyer who has been scrutinizing archives and UBS are in a dispute over access to about 150 documents.
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| “Shining light on Credit Suisse’s past is part of turning the page, a very dark chapter of history,” said Senator Charles E. Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Photo by Eric Lee/NYTimes |
What is Moltbook - the 'social media network for AI'?
Moltbook is a new social media platform exclusively for AI
I Spent 6 Hours in Moltbook. It Was an AI Zoo. - Business Insider
Why social media for AI agents Moltbook is dividing the tech sector
Born of a Factory Mistake, This Sad Toy Horse Captures China’s Mood - The New York Times
A manufacturing error turned a Lunar New Year toy into an unlikely emblem of workplace fatigue. China is experiencing a backlash to the 996 work culture and a young generation that has embraced nature activities (or staying in bed) rather than consumerism as they are finding opportunities for upward mobility disappearing.
