Posts
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Vegetable Soup and Apple Pie
I made a vat of everything soup again. This has turkey base with peas potato corn tomato kale garbanzo white bean herbs spices salt vinegar. Vegetable soup and apple pie are winter staples in my house.
Provoking Trouble Again
Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere By Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk and Gram Slattery February 18, 20268:56 PM UTC Updated ago A woman views her phone as she walks past street art on a wall in London, Britain A woman views her phone as she walks past street art on a wall in London, Britain, December 18, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Summary Companies Launch planned for last week was delayed Portal team includes former DOGE member Coristine Officials discussed including a VPN function WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda, a move Washington views as a way to counter censorship, three sources familiar with the plan said. The site will be hosted at "freedom.gov," the sources said. One source said officials had discussed including a virtual private network function to make a user's traffic appear to originate in the U.S. and added that user activity on the site will not be tracked. Sign up here. Headed by Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, the project was expected to be unveiled at last week's Munich Security Conference but was delayed, the sources said. Reuters could not determine why the launch did not happen, but some State Department officials, including lawyers, have raised concerns about the plan, two of the sources said, without detailing the concerns. The project could further strain ties between the Trump administration and traditional U.S. allies in Europe, already heightened by disputes over trade, Russia’s war in Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s push to assert control over Greenland. The portal could also put Washington in the unfamiliar position of appearing to encourage citizens to flout local laws. In a statement to Reuters, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. government does not have a censorship-circumvention program specific to Europe but added: “Digital freedom is a priority for the State Department, however, and that includes the proliferation of privacy and censorship-circumvention technologies like VPNs." The spokesperson denied any announcement had been delayed and said it was inaccurate that State Department lawyers had raised concerns. The Trump administration has made free speech, particularly what it sees as the stifling of conservative voices online, a focus of its foreign policy including in Europe and in Brazil. Europe's approach to free speech differs from the U.S., where the Constitution protects virtually all expression. The European Union's limits grew from efforts to fight any resurgence of extremist propaganda that fueled Nazism including its vilification of Jews, foreigners and minorities. U.S. officials have denounced EU policies that they say are suppressing right-wing politicians, including in Romania, Germany and France, and have claimed rules like the EU's Digital Services Act and Britain's Online Safety Act limit free speech. The EU delegation in Washington, which acts like an embassy for the 27-country bloc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the U.S. plan. In rules that fall most heavily on social media sites and large platforms like Meta's (META.O), opens new tab Facebook and X, the EU restricts the availability — and in some cases requires rapid removal — of content classified as illegal hate speech, terrorist propaganda or harmful disinformation under a group of rules, laws and decisions since 2008. FRICTION WITH EUROPEAN REGULATORS Rogers of the State Department has emerged as an outspoken advocate of the Trump administration position on EU content policies. She has visited more than half a dozen European countries since taking office in October and met with representatives of right-wing groups that the administration says are being oppressed. The department did not make Rogers available for an interview. In a National Security Strategy published in December, the Trump administration warned that Europe faced "civilisational erasure" because of its migration policies. It said the U.S. would prioritize "cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations." EU regulators regularly require U.S.-based sites to remove content and can impose bans as a measure of last resort. X, which is owned by Trump ally Elon Musk, was hit with a 120 million-euro fine in December for noncompliance. Germany, for example, in 2024 issued 482 removal orders for material it deemed supported or incited terrorism and forced providers to take down 16,771 pieces of content. Similarly, Meta's oversight board in 2024 ordered the removal of a Polish political party's posts that used a racial slur and depicted immigrants as rapists, a content category EU law treats as illegal hate speech. Calling the U.S. plan "a direct shot" at European rules and laws, former State Department official Kenneth Propp, who worked on European digital regulations and is now at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, said freedom.gov "would be perceived in Europe as a U.S. effort to frustrate national law provisions." Also involved in the U.S. portal effort is Edward Coristine, a former member of Musk's job-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, two sources said. Coristine works with the National Design Studio, created by Trump to beautify government websites. Reuters was unable to reach Coristine for comment. It was not clear what advantages the U.S. government portal would offer users that are not available from commercial VPNs. The web address freedom.gov was registered on January 12, according to the federal registry get.gov. On Wednesday, the site had no content but showed the National Design Studio's logo, the words "fly, eagle, fly" and a log-in form. Before Trump's second term, the U.S. government helped fund commercial VPNs and other tools as part of efforts to promote democracy globally and help users access free information in China, Iran, Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Myanmar and other countries. Reporting by Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk and Gram Slattery; Additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter in Paris; Editing by Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman
The Monster is Backed Against the Wall So he's going to Launch a War
All of this to protect pedophiles.
BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide. This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.
US judge throws out immigration board's ruling endorsing Trump mass detention policy
you have to be there for that person
“It’s not enough just to send someone to detox – you have to be there for that person,” Baker said. “Because a lot of people on Mass. and Cass are alone. They don’t have anyone, and so they leave detox and go straight back to the streets. But if you have even one person there to support you and push you, like they did with me, then you can get your life back on track.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/18/metro/mass-and-cass-enforcement-drugs-homeless/
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Bacon-Cooking Method: Baking on Parchment Paper Total Time: 18 minutes (regular-cut bacon); 24 minutes (thick-cut bacon) + 10 minutes oven preheating time About This Method: Martha Stewart’s technique promises a “spatter-free” way to get “perfectly crispy bacon.” You simply line one or two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, arrange the bacon on top, and bake at 400°F until it is crisped to your liking. When the bacon is done, you transfer it to a paper towel–lined plate or platter to drain. Results Because the bacon sits in its own rendered fat as it bakes, it cooks more quickly than if you cooked it on a rack. The fatty parts also get wonderfully crispy (if you like that), because they’re basically fried. If you prefer your bacon chewier, you can simply cook it a few minutes less to achieve that effect. Both regular- and thick-cut slices cooked evenly and completely flat, without any need to flip them as they cooked. One cleanup tip: Make sure to cut a large-enough sheet of parchment paper so that there is overhang on all sides. Then fold the excess up so that the drippings don’t seep through any cracks. I tried this (it’s not shown in the photo) and when the bacon came out of the pan, I let the drippings cool slightly, lifted up the parchment, and directed the drippings into a container for storage. I threw away the parchment and inspected the pan — there was not a trace of grease. It went back in the cabinet without even a rinse. My Takeaway: I loved the texture and appearance of this bacon, and that it cooks hands-free with no babysitting. I also loved that this method works for a few slices or up to 20, and that, if you use the overhang trick, cleanup is just so incredibly easy. Bottom Line: Effortless cleanup (that allows you to save drippings), pretty slices, and easy control of the crispiness or chewiness of the bacon. This method has it all.
Beauty Betrayals
A perfectly lovely young woman came to work recently and her face was different. I figured it was part of being out sick with the flu. Then I realized she had her mouth and surrounding tissue altered. She looks like a blow up doll, which is a fashion trend among the 20 somethings. This is tragic to me since she was perfectly lovely and beautiful and now something is very wrong and artificial about her mouth and surrounding skin. Her lips protrude and stay frozen in space. Her face looks plastic, a duck face.
Sometimes people brighten their teeth and I can hardly hear what they are saying because the whitener has been so overdone their teeth jump half a mile ahead of them. Or when a naturally brown or black haired woman dyes her hair blonde, her skin is screaming, clashing with the new hair color. I find these things incredibly distracting.
Playing Fetch
Years ago I threw a stick in a local pond to play fetch with my dog. He jumped in but quickly I realized he was having difficulty navigating sight and sound because he appeared to be lower in the water than any of my previous dogs. We called to him and he was swimming in circles trying to pinpoint our voices. I panicked and jumped into the pond fully clothed to go get him. I continued calling his name and he took off swimming farther from shore. I realized that although I was a good swimmer I was completely panicked and THIS is how people drown. I also realized I should stop shouting and remain quiet for his sake and the neighbors sake and my sake.
My husband was on shore and took off his white straw hat and waved it. The dog spotted the hat and swam back to him. We were stupid again repeating this scenario but then I said we need a solution.
We bought our dog a life jacket and he wore it in the water. We also used long leashes to guide him. He doesn't need the life jacket anymore. After years of swim practice he has developed swimming muscles and loves it but we still use an extra long leash to make sure we can guide him back to shore.