“Intermittent fasting may not help people who are overweight or obese lose weight, a large review suggests. The researchers say the popular practice of fasting on some days of the week and eating normally on others ‘may make little to no difference to weight loss and quality of life’. But they say intermittent fasting could still improve overall health through helpful changes to some body functions, though more evidence is needed. Examples of intermittent fasting include the 5:2 diet and restricting eating to a short window – often about eight hours – every day. The research team looked at the results of 22 previous studies involving nearly 2,000 adults to find out if short-term intermittent fasting (over a period up to 12 months) was better at helping adults lose weight than standard dietary advice, or no advice at all.” (02/16/26)
“Deep in the coastal mountains above the sparkling Pacific resort of Mazatlan, towns spaced along a twisting road appear nearly deserted, the quiet broken only by the occasional passing truck. It was near one of these towns, Panuco, that 10 employees of a Canadian-owned silver and gold mine were abducted in late January. The bodies of five were located nearby and five more await identification. Most residents of these towns have fled out of fear as two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have been locked in battle since September 2024, said Fermín Labrador, a 68-year-old from the nearby village of Chirimoyos. Others, he said, were ‘invited’ to leave. The abduction of the mine workers under still unclear circumstances has raised fears locally and more widely generated questions about the security improvements touted by President Claudia Sheinbaum.” (02/16/26)
“I released a story last Thursday about MAGA lobbyists pushing the Justice Department to settle its monopolization case against Ticketmaster. By the middle of that day, Gail Slater, who was the head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, resigned, and it was clear that her choice was either to resign or be fired. A lot of reporting about this situation dropped almost immediately after the resignation (CBS, The Guardian, The Free Press, the Financial Times) regarding tensions between Slater and Attorney General Pam Bondi, internal insubordination, whether Vice President JD Vance would act as a shield for his former staffer Slater, what this means for the populist right, and more. As you might expect, I’m not wired into the inner workings of the Trump White House enough to generate one of these palace intrigue articles. But I don’t think they have as much value as the basic facts.” (02/16/26)
“As early voting began for the state primaries, North Carolina college students found themselves walking more than a mile to cast their ballots after the Republican-controlled State Board of Elections closed polling places on their campuses. The board, which shifted to a 3-2 GOP majority, voted last month to close a polling site at Western Carolina University and to reject the creation of polling sites at two other colleges: the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC Greensboro), and the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T), the largest historically [b]lack college in the nation. Each of these schools had polling places available on campus during the 2024 election. The decision, which came just weeks before early voting was scheduled to begin, left many of the 40,000 students who attend these schools more than a mile away from the nearest polling place.” (02/14/26)
“With Vladimir Putin’s war machine sputtering, it’s time to push the Kremlin even harder to force an end to his war on Ukraine. President Donald Trump’s moves such as seizing ‘shadow fleet’ tankers and piling on new tariffs on importers of Moscow’s oil are plainly hitting hard: You can tell because Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is whining that Washington won’t make Kyiv agree to de facto surrender (e.g., Russian control over Ukraine’s post-war government) as he claims President Donald Trump had agreed to do. Why does Russia need America’s intervention, if it’s winning on the battlefield? ‘The United States has effectively declared a goal of economic domination,’ Lavrov cries — a clear sign that Putin’s feeling squeezed.” (02/14/26)
“A now-halted plan to run a hepatitis B vaccine trial involving thousands of newborns in Guinea-Bissau has been criticised by the World Health Organization as ‘unethical.’ The US-funded study had sought to give one set of babies the vaccine at birth, while another would have had the shot delayed until six weeks of age. The WHO said it had ‘significant concerns’ about the plan, and described the birth-dose vaccine as ‘an effective and essential public health intervention, with a proven record.’ The US health department, headed by Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has questioned the effects of vaccines, had sought to use the trial to answer questions about the jab’s broader health effects. The WHO said on Friday that its concerns regarded the study’s scientific justification, ethical safeguards and consistency with established standards for research involving humans.” (02/14/26)
“This is going to be a three-part series defining the following: One, what our Founders (and others of their time) thought about democracy; two, how and why they thought it would fail; three, the kind of government and society they really wanted; and four, the role that feminism has played in destroying American democracy. The Founders didn’t foresee the fourth point, but they weren’t prophets and couldn’t predict everything. They knew history, though, and women have never done to any society what feminists have done to America. There is really no historical parallel. I’ll discuss that later. I have a lot of quotes here, some rather lengthy, some not so long, but all very interesting to those who enjoy history and want to know what our Founding Fathers intended for America.” (02/14/26)
“Senate Republicans gained a key ally in their quest to enshrine voter ID into law, but the lawmaker’s support comes with a condition. A trio of lawmakers, led by Sen. Mike Lee [R-UT] have undertaken a campaign to convince their colleagues to support the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, working social media and closed-door meetings to secure the votes. The campaign has proven successful, with the cohort gaining a crucial vote from Sen. Susan Collins [R-ME], who announced that she would back the SAVE America Act, which recently passed the House. … Collins noted that she did not support the previous version of the bill, known simply as the SAVE Act, because it ‘would have required people to prove their citizenship every single time they cast a ballot.'” (02/14/26)
“If there is a bona fide kickoff moment for this year’s 250th anniversary of American independence, it is Presidents Day. For the three-day holiday weekend, many institutions tied to the nation’s history offered some sort of event. George Washington’s Mount Vernon, for example, announced free admission on Feb. 16, along with ‘a stirring reading’ of ‘Washington’s Prayer for His Country.’ Yet in addition to this year’s celebratory revelry, many Americans are seeking civic repair. … One example of a desire for understanding civic responsibilities is a bipartisan bill introduced last month in Nebraska. Since 2019, teens in the state have had to pass a civics requirement to graduate. But the bill would now require new members of the state Legislature to take a 20-question civics test, much like immigrants take for United States citizenship. And the scores would be made public.” (02/13/26)
“An annual cigar festival in Cuban capital Havana has become the latest casualty of a fuel shortage caused by a US oil blockade. The organising committee of the Festival del Habano announced on Saturday that this year’s event – which was due to take place over five days in late February – would be postponed until further notice. It said the decision was ‘motivated by the complex economic situation’ facing Cuba due to the ‘economic, commercial and financial blockade’ by the US. A fuel shortage causing power cuts on the Caribbean island has been worsened by the US seizing oil shipments from Cuba’s long-standing ally Venezuela. Cuba also has a shortage of aviation fuel, leading several airlines to suspend services there, while some countries, including the UK, have warned against non-essential travel to the island.” (02/14/26)
