“Fresh off a record 18 gold medals at the February Winter Olympics, Norway heads into the March Winter Paralympics holding the most cumulative golds in the history of those games (140). But its international sports successes are not confined just to those performed on snow and ice, both of which are plentiful in Norway. The country of just 5.6 million people also fields winning athletes in soccer, tennis, golf – and even Olympic beach volleyball. This record is all the more notable for Norwegians’ unconventional approach to developing high-caliber athletes: When introducing children to sports, schools, parents, and local sports clubs seek to build on their innate joy in the fun and friendship of physical activity. Youthful curiosity and interest in exploring a variety of sports are encouraged, through high school and up to college age. National guidelines forbid competitive teams, scorekeeping, or ranking for children below age 12.” (02/27/26)
“It is the most significant economic and sociological challenge we face. It’s worldwide. It has been worsening for decades. And there is no reason to expect the trend to change. People are not having as many children as they used to. Almost all the developed countries are below the ‘replacement rate’ of 2.1 children per woman of childbearing age. (The U.S. number is 1.6.) Overall, two-thirds of the world’s population now lives in countries below the replacement rate. If a country is below the replacement rate, its population will eventually peak and begin to decline.” [editor’s note: “Worsening” implies that it’s necessarily negative. It isn’t – TLK] (02/28/26)
Source: Common Dreams
by Alvin Thomas & Conial Caldwell
“It is 1955 and the hot Mississippi sun is blazing overhead. Miles away in Chicago a Black mother is having a conversation with her 14-year-old son. She tries to impress upon him the often subtle but dangerous realities of what it means to be Black in America, and how one misinterpretation, one lie, could result in his death. That boy is Emmett Till, and in her memoir, Death of Innocence, Mamie Till-Mobley reflects on ‘The Talk’ she delivered to her son before his historically tragic trip to Mississippi. This version of The Talk dates back to American chattel slavery and has been passed down for generations in Black families, shaped by ongoing racial violence and unequal treatment.” (02/28/26)
“With the launch of attacks on Iran, some have already declared the strikes unconstitutional. That includes the immediate condemnation of Rep. Thomas Massie. The precedent, however, favors the president in this action, though the attack triggers obligations of notice and consultation with Congress. I am highly sympathetic to those who criticize the failure to seek declarations of war from Congress before carrying out such operations. Indeed, I have represented members of Congress in opposing such wars. We lost. The courts have allowed presidents to order such attacks unilaterally.” (02/28/26)
“Bettors on the prediction platform Polymarket made a killing with suspiciously timed wagers that the United States would attack Iran by February 28, the day President Donald Trump announced a bombing campaign against the Middle East nation. Bloomberg reported that six accounts on Polymarket, all newly created this month, ‘made around $1 million in profit’ by betting on the timing of the US attack on Iran. The accounts, according to Bloomberg, ‘had only ever placed bets on when US strikes might occur’, and ‘some of their shares were purchased, in some cases at roughly a dime apiece, hours before the first explosions were reported in Tehran.’ One account with the name Magamyman raked in over $515,000 by betting roughly $87,000 that ‘the US strikes Iran by February 28, 2026.'” (03/01/26)
“What started as a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery became an unconditional surrender Thursday. Netflix had a deal in place for a couple of months, but Paramount, under the direction of MAGA heir David Ellison, made a hostile takeover bid, and this week upped its offer from $30 to $31 a share for all of WBD, including its cable channels. The total purchase comes to $111 billion, and on Thursday the WBD board pronounced the offer superior to Netflix’s, giving the streamer four days to match it. Netflix, whose CEO was at the White House on Thursday (what was he told?), barely needed an hour, dropping its effort. So what many see as a worst-case scenario is realized: the Ellison family wresting control of two major movie studios, CBS, HBO, CNN, and secondarily TikTok. There are certainly echoes of media-political consolidation as we see in dictatorships the world over.” (02/27/26)
“Violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi and in the country’s north left at least 22 people dead and more than 120 others injured as demonstrators supportive of the Iranian government attempted to storm a U.S. Consulate on Sunday, authorities said. In the north of the country, demonstrators attacked U.N. and government offices. The violence came after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials at a hospital in Karachi said that at least 50 people were also wounded in the clashes and some of them were in critical condition.” (03/01/26)
“The rampant fraud uncovered in the state of Minnesota has shocked America and ended the political career of Gov. Tim Walz. Yet as I told Attorney General Pam Bondi at a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing, the fraud in Minnesota pales in comparison to what taxpayers have suffered in California. California is undoubtedly the Fraud Capital of America. Here’s what we already know: The state allowed an estimated $32 billion in unemployment fraud during the COVID years, far more than any state, after ignoring ‘repeated warnings’. Perhaps more stunningly, the state auditor recently found unemployment fraud is still costing the state billions. Incidentally, in part because of this staggering fraud, California was forced to take out a $20 billion loan from the federal government to shore up its unemployment benefits. The state then defaulted on the loan – the only state to do so – triggering an automatic tax increase on employers.” (02/27/26)
“The gunman who killed two people at a bar in Texas early Sunday in a mass shooting that left 14 others wounded was wearing a sweatshirt that said ‘Property of Allah,’ and another shirt with an Iranian flag design, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The shooter has been identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, the law enforcement official and another person familiar with the matter said. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation. The shooting erupted a day after Israel and the United States launched an attack on Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The FBI said it was investigating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism. Diagne was originally from Senegal, according to multiple people briefed on the investigation. One of the people told the AP that Diagne came to the U.S. in 2006 and was a naturalized U.S. citizen.” (03/01/26)
“President Donald Trump announced in the early hours of Saturday morning that the United States has launched a massive military operation aimed at toppling the Iranian government as blasts were reported in Tehran, including near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is taking part in the assault. Unnamed Israeli security sources told Channel 12 that Israel and the Trump administration are ’going all in’ against Iran as Trump instructed Iranians to ’stay sheltered’, warning that ‘bombs will be dropping everywhere’. People were seen seeking cover in Tehran as the United States and Israeli bombs began to fall.” (02/28/26)
