Dr. Naismith invented a game that always puts me in wonder. Every time I watch the NBA (just watched 7' of H-Miami highlights) I'm awe-struck. "The game will always save us", the late commissioner David Stern frequently said during the dark days. Yes, it will.
Saturday, February 28, 2026
Publocc Opinion | American-Israeli Assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
In isolation, the heavens did not darken.
In isolation, the heavens will not darken with the deaths of Trump and Netanyahu.
But nothing can ever be "in isolation".
Three pariah states, Iran an ancient, great civilization betrayed by its own peoples' choice, on its death bed, picked apart as carrion before the body is cold.
American is a young, great civilization in marked decline, betrayed by its own peoples' choice, with no more legitimacy than "a gas station with nukes".
Israel is not a civilization, but a client state of America.
The tail wagged the dog. Iran did not threaten the U.S. This was Israel First American foreign policy.
The Trump-Netanyahu regime is drunk on arrogant, survival-of-the-strongest power. We do because we can. There will come a day...
The precedent is set for assassinations of heads of state.
These were not "pin-point" strikes. Hundreds of Iranian civilians, including children in two schools, were killed.
Pottery Barn Rule: Trump-Netanyahu now own Iran's future. They would as soon see Iran's 89 million people dead as fix their country.
Public Occurrences February 28, 2026
TRUMP-NETANYAHU REGIME KILLS
IRAN SUPREME LEADER AYATOLLAH
ALI KHAMENEI
1:54 pm:
Trump-Netanyahu Regime Strike on Iranian School Kills 85
Trump Regime, Netanyahu Regime, Attack Iranian Regime
FT Leeks 0 Manchester City 1. City again within two points of 1st Arsenal.
Arsenal have not handled pressure well under Mikel Arteta. City's win today keeps the pressure on. Arsenal play Swine Chelsea (6th) at the Highbury Library Sunday at 11:30 am Eastern Colonies Time.
Foul Up Three: Cleveland Does Cleveland Things
So, "foul up three" is the tactic of OKC coach Mark Daigneault. It mandates (and is is a mandate) that late in a close game when the leading team has a three-point lead, it should foul the trailing team, you know, to prevent a game-tying trey. The cancre has a natural home in Sensitive City and so spread there. Last night the Sensitives had the beguiling lead with 5 seconds left. So, Sensitive coach Kenny Atkinson did the cancre thing and instructed his cancre players to foul some Blaring Horn. Jaylon Tyson did as instructed. His intentional victim was Blaring Horn Daniss Jenkins. Daniss however is no cancre. Daniss anticipated Cleveland doing Cleveland things and before he had gotten to half court Tyson grabbed him. Rather than curl in the fetal position upon contact, the brilliant Daniss launched a "Hail Mary" as it is called in Christeean precincts. The shot was actually on target but short. If it had gone, Daniss would have had a chance at a four-point play and the dub in regulation. No matter. Daniss sank the three free throws to tie and Blaring Horns needed merely the five extra minutes of overtime to snatch victory from the asshole of defeat.
Thus once again Cleveland did Cleveland things.
Friday Night Fights
OKC outscored Joker and the Rocks 50-38 in the 4Q and OT in a dirty win.
Two marquee games overshadowed by non-basketball stuff.
Friday, February 27, 2026
OKC 77 Pebbles 83, End 3Q
Denver has led 90% of the time in OKC, their largest 16 points. "Thunder's" largest in their 7%: fo'.
SGA has 32, the only Okie in d.d.s. Joker has 15-14-9 and Pebbles has 3 other stones with 10+.
In other Association notes...
Blaring horn after a power surge delays Pistons and Cavaliers in 3rd quarter
😐
Notes from Associated Press:
DETROIT -- — The Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers were delayed for 18 minutes in the third quarter by a blaring horn Friday night after a power surge caused the overhead scoreboard to malfunction.
During a timeout with the Pistons leading 65-64 in a 122-119 overtime victory, the horn sounded to signal the teams to return to the floor. However, it kept blasting despite frantic work from workers at Little Caesars Arena.
The teams returned to the benches for a few minutes and were eventually told to go back on the floor to warm up. After 13 minutes, the arena staff shut down the entire overhead scoreboard and the horn stopped to loud cheers. The scoring crew used a manual airhorn when play resumed.
The officials brought Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson to midcourt for a brief discussion, before announcing the game would resume without the main scoreboard. However, moments after the game got back underway, the scoreboard came back on.
That, unfortunately, is the entirety of the write-up on the marquee game in the Least between two of the top teams that went into OT. :(
Temper, Temper!
Luguentz Dort held Nikola Jokic under the basket, Jokic freed himself by pushing off.
Then Jokic (6'11", 284 lbs) shoulder checked Isaiah Puffnstuff (7'0", 249), knocking him to the floor. Jokic got called for a foul but before play stopped the ball went to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ("SGA"; 6'6" 195). Said SGA drove and elbowed said Joker in the left side just above the waistband. Didn't faze Joker who blocked SGA's shot, during which SGA, with the agility that makes him the reigning league MVP caught the ball and threw it at said Joker before his feet hit the ground. Technical on said SGA.
In other game notes, at HT OKC 50 Pebbles 59.
Pebbles leads OKC 40-38 in This Block For Sale* but "Thunder" rolling 19-7 2Q
*search this blog and you'll see.
Tight one in Motown! Zollner 87 Sensitive City 84, 11:12 4Q
Not in Beer. HT Mamdani City 77 Male Deer 57.
Mamdani City Bagging "Bucks" in Beer 46-32, 9:51 2Q
"Knicks" are a puzzling up-and-down team lately, 4-4 last 8. Before that they had won 8 straight. Before that they had lost 4 in a row. Over all of the season they are 3rd in the Least, 7 games behind Zollner.
Hoo Doggie
In under an hour, in the Malice Palace, Least best Zollner fires up against the galloping Cavalry. Donovan Mitchell is out. Beard is game time. Z is -6.5.
To have a "high ceiling" you need "elite talent"
Winderman’s view: In Heat loss, 76ers’ Edgecombe a reminder of the occasional dip into lottery waters
– This was the lesson the Heat will not heed.
– Dealing with injuries, the 76ers took a gap year last season.
– After winning at least 47 games the previous four seasons, they stepped back to 24-58.
– As in 13th in the East.
– As in positioned well enough to land the No. 3 pick in the lottery.
– As in able to land VJ Edgecombe.
– As in the No. 3 rookie scorer.
...
– ...Edgecombe has shown, including Thursday night, how much that elite talent can make a difference.
...the 76ers, who had moved well past the process, nonetheless stepped back last season, got lucky in the lottery, and now have a brighter future because of that. But with the Heat, it’s a mindset, a stubborn refusal to look for any escape hatch. So the 76ers get the No. 3 pick last year while the Heat play on toward a likely No. 15 or later selection. It’s a tale as old as time.
The cognos are getting fed up. That follows the fans.
Riley and Spoelstra will never move off Win Now without Nick Arison Intervention
Q: At best, the Heat will be a play in-team for the fourth straight year and possibly worse, as the Bucks are close behind having won eight of their last 10 games. At what point does Erik Spoelstra and/or Pat Riley take responsibility for this streak of mediocrity? – Joel, Fort Lauderdale.
A: Never. As long as there is a next game to win, the Heat will take the approach that job one is to win that next game. The only way this team resets is for someone like Nick Arison or perhaps a different front-office voice to call for some type of retreat (literally and figuratively), where the team recognizes the benefit of taking a step back to get back ahead. Until then, all-in for the play-in.
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Hi-Cs (8) falling, 31-29, .517 -> 42-39, closer to Queens (10) rising than Phil (6), distancing
Frequently asked Q by "Heat" fans: Does the Heat believe its roster is good enough?
The brain trust knows it could use another premier scorer. But the Heat believes it can be very competitive in the playoffs if healthy.
Heat Central
@HeatCulture13
Ira Winderman on the harsh reality of this Miami Heat team 😬
“We know this is a middling team stuck in the worst place in all of sports, in the middle and refusing to get out. You have the wonderful optimism of Pat Riley, I’m not saying anybody should go slap him in the face, but at some point when you keep trying to make chicken soup out of chicken feathers or worse, you are what you are. You can’t play defense with Norman Powell and Tyler Herro on the court at the end of games against today’s NBA guards. KPJ [Kevin Porter, Jr.] looked like MJ out there… The Heat are chasing the Sixers for that last playoff spot, when you align these rosters and say to yourself, is Bam better than Embiid? No. Is Norman better than Maxey? No. Right now is Tyler Herro better than VJ Edgecombe? Probably not. So who are you fooling? The reality is the teams you are chasing are better!”
9:20 AM · Feb 26, 2026
·37.8K Views
Public Occurrences February 26, 2026*
Democratic Socialists of America, Zohran Mamdani Are Pragmatic Geniuses
Mamdani pitches Trump on housing with mock newspaper in latest White House visit
WASHINGTON (AP) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani presented President Donald Trump with a mock newspaper front page during a visit to the White House on Thursday to discuss massive new housing investments in the city.
It’s a tactic designed to appeal to Trump, who is keenly aware of his media coverage and, aside from being an avid viewer of cable news, is known to voraciously consume coverage in the local New York City publications. The Republican president and Democratic mayor have maintained a cordial relationship since their first meeting last fall.
Anna Bahr, Mamdani’s communications director, said the mayor’s team created a mock front page and headlines for Trump to look at and demonstrate what kind of reaction new federal housing investments could bring. The mock New York Daily News front page says “Trump to City: Let’s Build” — a riff on the famous 1975 cover that read “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” referring to Gerald Ford’s vow to veto financial assistance to the city.
... Bahr said Trump was “very enthusiastic” about it. When Trump and Mamdani last met in November, the president encouraged Mamdani to return to him with an idea to build big things together in New York City, Bahr said.
Though Trump repeatedly maligned Mamdani as a “communist” as he ran for New York City mayor, the president appeared charmed by him after their one-on-one meeting at the White House in November.
At the meeting on Thursday – which was previously unannounced and lasted for about an hour – Mamdani also brought up the detainment of Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia University student from Azerbaijan who was arrested earlier Thursday by federal immigration agents.
...
...Mamdani urged Trump to consider releasing her.
In a phone call not long after their White House meeting, Trump told the mayor that Aghayeva would be released.
Updated 5:44 pm
Columbia student detained by ICE is abruptly released after Mamdani meets with Trump
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Majestic, Masculine Deer With Big Racks! FT Beer 118 Sensitive City 116
Beard, All-NBA Donovan Mitchell and DPOY Evan Mobley sat out with injuries. Oh, and Beer were without MVP, perennial All-NBA, and NBA title winner Giannis Antetokounmpo.
HERE COMES THE CAVALRY! Male Deer 94 Sensitive City 98, 9:38 4Q
Thunder rolling in Motown: Zollner 113 OKC 107, 3:17 left to play.
Google search "Bucks vs Heat":
In a February 24, 2026 matchup, the Milwaukee Bucks (playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo) exploited specific defensive vulnerabilities in the Miami Heat's lineup to secure a 128-117 win. Coach Doc Rivers highlighted "matchup hunting" in the fourth quarter, targeting the pairing of Tyler Herro and Norman Powell on defense, resulting in a 39-24 fourth-quarter advantage for Milwaukee.
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Bleak House to Barry Jackson
...
Frequently asked Q by "Heat" fans: Does the Heat believe its roster is good enough?
The brain trust knows it could use another premier scorer. But the Heat believes it can be very competitive in the playoffs if healthy. That remains to be seen.
That, to me, is the single most preposterous belief by Bleak House. Last post-season, without Jimmy Butler, we were completely un-competitive in a historic obliteration by Cleveland. We have the same roster back.
There's some squishiness there. What is the Bleak House definition of "very competitive", getting swept in the first round by an average of 10 rather than 30? No. Winning, idk, two games in the first round? I don't consider a 4 games to 2 beginning to summer as "very competitive".
Winning the first round series and winning a couple games in the second? I could go with that as very competitive. But in Pat Riley's dotage, with diminished gray matter that sees "very competitive" in this collection of never-will-be's, T'AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.
If we finish 8th, where we are now, we get the poll-to-poll (at this writing) Least leading Zollner Pistons in the first round. Not winning.
If we make it out of the play-in and finish 7th we'll play, currently, Beans in the first round. Ain't gonna win 4 of 7.
If by some improbability requiring multiple plane crashed we finish sixth we get Mamdani City, as it stands now. Out.
And if we are unfortunate enough to finish fifth, again right now, we would play Sensitive City and they reasonably could sweep us by an average of 30/game again.
In short, if we make the playoffs we will be out in a nanosecond. Ergo we are not going to be "very competitive" in the playoffs, if we make it out of the play-in.
Bleak House is out of touch. We just lost a winnable game in which we were a significant favorite and went 4-2 against six sub-.500 teams. We're barely .500 ourselves. We have no talisman. Parse "very competitive" as you wish but don't parse reasonable meaning away. This roster does not have a High Ceiling and they will not be "very competitive" in the playoffs against the more talented teams they will face..
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article314348366.html#storylink=cpy
Hi-Cs Run Out of Juice in a Fourth Quarter El Foldo (39-24). FT Male Deer 128-117.
This makes us 4-2 against drek in our last six, drop our record to 31-28, .525, x 82 = 43-39. We were 5.5-6.5 favorites. Bang Bus Arena ought to renamed Bleak House.
Male Deer 100 Hi-Cs 102, 9:18 4Q
This is our SIXTH straight game against a sub-.500 team. We're 4-1. The East is Least.
Public Occurrences February 24, 2026
Justice Dep't Withholding Epstein File Docs that Non-Cooperating Victim Alleged that Trump Got Blow Job From and Hit Her When 13 Years Old
MS NOW
Publocc Opinion | The Trump Regime Will Not Make Full War on Iran
Below is from David Sanger of the New York Times on the paper's radio show, The Daily. Full transcript.
"This is a country of 90 million people. They have considerable ability not only to strike back with missiles, but with a terror network that runs throughout Europe and to some degree has shown some capability to operate inside the United States.
...
"It’s not as if the Iranians are in a position right now to attack us.
...
"Instead, the president might be engaging in what legal and diplomatic historians call a preventive war. A war where we are strong, our adversary is weak, and so we’re going to hit them now because we’ve got a good chance.
"That is, in international just war theory, considered to be an illegal use of force.
"That may not stop the president.
"The president may believe that he’ll go down in history as the one who solved America’s long running conflict with Iran that goes back to 1979.
"But if the president decides to take military action in the next few days or weeks, I suspect that historians will look back at this moment as a war of choice, not a war of necessity."
Monday, February 23, 2026
Sensitive City's Chance? Chaparrals Beat Zollner in Fort Wayne!
114-103 the final. Chaps now 41-16, Z 42-14.
Public Occurrences February 23, 2026
Detached Trump Detaches U.S. From World
[Bank BNP Paribas analyst William] Bratton argued that Asian companies will react by increasingly detaching themselves from U.S. trade.
“We expect U.S. trade policy…to become increasingly complex and more targeted resulting in a patchwork of tariff measures and trade agreements…the global economy will continue to fragment with U.S. trade flows steadily becoming less important as Asian trade becomes increasingly more regional in nature."
"There will come a time when you are challenged, and when that time comes, you must plant your feet. ...
"You must stand firm. You must make a point. About who you are, what you do, and where you come from. When that time comes, you do it."
-inscription on base of Pat Riley statue, Los Angeles.
Sunday, February 22, 2026
I am not making this up
Fire Weather Warning in Effect for Miami Beach 9 am-7 pm Monday
The "Red Flag Warning" is for all of southeast Florida, all of central Florida from above Lake Okeechobee south, and the west coast of the Asshole State from Naples down. High winds, low humidity the causes.
Public Occurrences February 22, 2026
Unrest in Mexico as State Kills Head of Top Drug Cartel
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as "El Mencho", the head of Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) died after being wounded in a firefight with state security forces in a town in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Armored vehicles, rocket launchers and other weaponry were seized by state authorities in the operation.
In western Mexico members of CJNG blocked roadways with burning vehicles to show the cartel's continued potency. Airports shut down and major airlines cut flights. Public transportation was suspended and civilians advised to shelter in place. The U.S. State Department issued an advisory to the same effect to all American citizens in five Mexican states.
2:16 pm:
Boy, you know Google News? We know that. Can't your fucking algorithm sort out old news from new for us? On topic, anything "new" on Nancy Guthrie? How about MH370?
86
The heat wave won't last long. The low at midnight will be 63 (HUGE drop). The Hi-Lo in the next three days: 63/48, 63/44, and 72/55. Friday we'll be back up at 80. Miami is not normal.
Insensitive! "Thunder" Hand "Cavaliers" Rare Loss
Without FOUR starters, OKC was okay. MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (ab. strain), Jalen
Williams (hammy), Ajay Mitchell (ab. strain), and Alex Caruso (ankle sprain) all sat in the 121-113 dub in OKC. Sensitive City's 7-game win streak took a seat, too. The "Thunder" lead virtually the entire game and topped out at 23. "Cavs" largest lead: uno.
In other Least action, Ontario State bagged the "Bucks" 122-94 and Majestic Soaring "Hawks" shook off Rust 115-104. Lizards host Queens (6 pm), Beans are at La-La Lake-Lake (6:30), Seven Foot Sixers are in Ice (7 bells), and Mamdani City is in the Windy City (8 pm). If Dire Wolves devour Phila., and they are 9.5-point favorites to feast, Miam-uh will move into the sixth and final playoff spot.
Painful
HT Tottenham 1 Arsenal 1.
Arsenal had the Premier League title in the palm of its hand. Then Manchester City completed a sweep of Liverpool for the first time in 89 years with a 2-1 win at Anfield. That haunted Arsenal, who could feel the Beast coming off the ground and his hot breath on the back of their necks. The ghosts of going wooly in the knees again.
Arsenal "responded" with a 2-2 draw at dead last Dire Wolves. City had closed the gap at the top.
Then yesterday, City won a nervy match in east Manchester against Newcastle. The gap was 2 on an even number of matches played. Advantage Manchester City, for if we beat Arsenal at home later in the season, and don't drop points that they don't also drop, we will win the title.
Now today. Arsenal scored first in the 32' against a Spurs squad fighting a relegation battle with Dire Wolves and two others. But Spurs responded just 2' later.
Arsenal have finished runners-up three straight seasons. They have the best squad in all of Merry Ol'. But if they drop points today, as they are half way to doing, City will have the league in its palm, and will begin to grasp it.
U.S.A. WINS GOLD! FT 2-1 (OT)
But for an attempt to break a Canadian's wrist (but that's going to happen in hockey, see Bobby Clarke-breaking Valeri Kharlamov's ankle), Tkachuk hate did not win this game for Team U.S.A. The American goalkeeper, Connor Hellebuyck, the Player of the Game, won it.
Canada 1 U.S.hAte 1, End 2P
Will Canada prevail? Will the Tkachuck Brothers maim someone? The third period will tell.
U.S.hAte
2m ago / 9:41 AM EST
Fighting isn't allowed, but the intensity has been high
Avatar
Andrew Greif
Reporting from Milan, Italy
Wayne Gretzky said before the game that the U.S. needed to play physically against Canada and the intensity of this game has been obvious since the opening period. The latest example came with three minutes left in the second period when Canada's Cale Makar took a shot that was saved, then was slashed on the hand. That led to pushing and shoving with the Americans, with the Tkachuck brothers in the middle of a huge scrum behind the net.
The players took that level of physicality to the limit that the Olympics allows. The tournament is played under IIHF rules, and players who fight earn a major penalty as well as an automatic game misconduct, meaning an ejection.
Makar got his revenge a few minutes later when he scored from the right side to tie the game.
Uh, MyGa...
Myron Gardner, a Hi-C, pushed Scottie Pippen, Jr. from behind, knocking the chip off the old migraine to the hardwood near the end of last night's blowout of Memphibians in Bang Bus Arena. ScoPiII reacted in a not rare manner, jogging three-quarters court with malice aforethought directly to MyGa and delivering a two-handed push that sent MyGa half-way back to the G-League, leastwise, the hardwood floor which caused a brief clash of arms between the whole of these two talent-challenged teams.
Young Mr. Gardner, you can't do what you did, and I fail to understand why you done did it.
Saturday, February 21, 2026
FT Miami 136 Memphis 120
Wiggins makes 9-of-10 shots in 28-point outing to lead Heat over Grizzlies 136-120
...Norman Powell finished with 25...
Tyler Herro finished with 14 points, Bam Adebayo added 13, while Kasparas Jakucionis and Jaime Jacquez Jr. each scored 12 for the Heat. Miami’s Kel’el Ware had 11 points and 15 rebounds.
The "Heat" crushed Memphis on the glass 57-35, offensive: 17-9, defensive 40-26.
Powell overcame a 2-of-7 performance at the free-throw line by converting 10-of-16 from the field, including 3-of-8 on 3-pointers.
...
After leading by five at halftime, the Heat pulled away when they outscored the Grizzlies 39-26 in the third quarter. Powell and Jakucionis each scored nine in the period. Jacquez’s bank shot with 1:19 remaining in the quarter gave the Heat their first 20-point lead at 109-89.
"Heat's largest lead was 24.
Despite committing 18 turnovers, the Heat finished with 36 assists.
The 18 t.o.s led to 30 Memphis points. Cannot remember when we last gave up 30 points on turnovers. They had 13 for 21.
...
Memphis stayed within distance in the first half by connecting on nine 3-pointers.
The Grizzlies again were without star guard Ja Morant (left elbow sprain), who missed his 13th consecutive game. Santi Aldama, Cedric Coward and Kyle Anderson are all dealing with knee issues and also sat out for Memphis.
Davion Mitchell (illness) and Nikola Jovic (back) didn’t play for the Heat.
The "Heat" have won three straight and four of five, all against bite teams, Lizards, Moronis, Katrinas, Pigeons, Memphibians. In mid-November when we were New Miami, before the league caught on, we had the breathtaking run that resulted in a 13-6 record and such inflated hopes, winning six in a row over Mamdani City, Peaceniks, at Male Cows, at Seven Foot Sixers, over Dallas and Male Deer.
Miami is 31-27, .534 --> 44-38 (our avg. record for a 12th consecutive year), in seventh place, two-thousandths of a percentage point behind Seven Foot Sixers, who got blown away tonight in Katrina, in the sixth and final playoff spot. We are fifth in the Least in cumulative point difference.
Hi-Cs 66 Tanking Memphibians 58, 2:09 2Q, Hi-Cs FTO
We can't put them away, they won most of the second quarter, until this late push. We were 11.5 point favorites entering. A good team should not be struggling at home against a tanking Memphis team, not in the second quarter or the first half, at no point.
Cle. is +1200 to win the NBA title, which means if you put down $100 and they win it all, you make $1200.
I don't give advice to adults, I especially don't give advice on futures investing, and I have never bet even fun money on the NBA, but I am going to sleep on plopping down a dime on those 12-1 odds. The NBA season is so long and there are so many teams that I can see the Houses overlooking Cleveland, they're only third in the Least, their Ignore-November-December for the late and post-season was breathtaking in its recklessness; or bettirs dismiss them off their last two flameouts in the playoffs. In other words, I don't think bettors are paying sufficient attention to them despite their current streak. They're a sleeper and gamblers are sleeping on them.
Cleveland has Donovan Mitchell, they have the DPOY, Evan Mobley, they have Jarret Allen, they have De'Andre Hunter, Jaylon Tyson, Sam Merrill, the have COTY Kenny Atkinson. And at the trade deadline they got...Beard.
TO ME, an idiot blogger, Cleveland reminds me of the breathtaking Manchester City Centurians. That City team was a superhuman MACHINE that gave me butterflies following them and watching highlights. You got the feeling playing City then, that at any moment they could bury you in goals and you could get humiliated 6-0. They were scary--AND I AM A DIE-NEVER CITY FAN!
Cleveland is not that GOAT. They haven't won shit. But last season's team OBLITERATED the "Heat" in literally historic terms. These mid-season "Cavaliers" would scare me like those great City teams did if I had to play them. There is no team save OKC who can keep up the scoring with Mitchell and Harden and the rest, no team besides the "Thunder" who can defend them. And on the other end they have the DPOY.
12-1 odds for this team to host the Larry O'Brien trophy is a siren call, in my opinion.
Friday, February 20, 2026
FT Pigeons (dropping out of air but not intentionally) 97 MIAMI HI-Cs 128!
Hi-Cs get their 30th win. .526 win % as decimal --> 43-39 record.
That's 2W for only the second time since Jan. 1. We have a High Ceiling to make it 3W tomorrow night in Bang Bus against the tanking Memphibians.
Tyler Herro kept up his point-a-minute pace all game, finishing with 24 in 23.
In the Least the Hi-Cs are a solid 8th, 1/2 game behind Disney, 1 game behind Phila. in 6th (last playoff spot), 3.5 games ahead of 9th Pigeons.
Most importantly in the SouthLeast, we are in second place, 1/2 game out of first (Diz).
Oh my goodness, Queens have the lead over Sensitive City! 77-74, 6:23 3Q
The KK kids are putting the team on their shoulders. Kneuppel 27 pts, 26', Kalkbrenner 10 pts, 11 rebs, 24'.
HT: Hotlanta 51 Miam-a 57
The story of this game at the half is Tyler Herro. Off the bench in his first game back from broken ribs, he has a game-high 16 pts in 13' on 5/8 (2/3). My favorite Miamian Davion Mitchell has 4 rebs, 4 asts, and 3 blocks. He does everything, including good defense.
Pigeons 16 Hi-Cs 29, End 1Q
I looked up if Pigeons are tanking. No. Taking a look at the Southeast standings:
1. Orlando
2. Hi-Cs -1
3. Pigeons -3.5
4. Queens -4
5. Lizards -14
You can see the significance of this game. It just means more in the Southeast.
Sensitive City Crowning Queens 35-49
Sensitively, the "Cavaliers" are my dark horse to win the Larry O'Brien.
Public Occurrences February 20, 2026
Supreme Court's tariff ruling means good news for Pretzel Pete in Hatboro
WHYY
Bum Trump: Unhinged, Lunatic Goes After Supreme Court
WHYY
Thank you for your news stories.
Bum Trump: Unhinged, Lunatic Goes After Supreme Court
"I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country. They’re just being fools and lap dogs. They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution. It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think. I can assure you, the Democrats on the court are thrilled, but they will automatically vote no. They also are a frankly, a disgrace to our nation, those justices. They’re an automatic no, no matter how good a case you have. No, you can’t knock their loyalty. It’s one thing you can do with some of our people. I think it’s an embarrassment to their families, the two of them.” (Justices Gorsuch and Barrett)
Trump is a bum. He has been a bum his whole life.
Trump Calls Justices Who Ruled Against Him ‘Fools and Lap Dogs’
Nytimes lede
Supreme Court strikes down most of Trump's tariffs in a major blow to the president
The decision does not affect all of Trump's tariffs but invalidates those implemented using an emergency law.
NBC lede10:12 am:
UK Blocks U.S. Use of Air Bases for Iran Attack as Breach of International Law
Times of London
Thursday, February 19, 2026
FT Zollner blew out Mamdani City in Peoples Square Garden 126-111
Sensitive City tore the "Nets" to shreds 112-84. It was worse than that. Sensitives led by 43. The whole 4th quarter was garbage time.
Pigeons shat on Seven Foot Sixers in Filthydelphia 117-111.
H-Town beat Queens in Chazz 105-101. Rockettes much the better record, and from the West, but only 6-4 last 10. Queens now 8-2.
In the Least, Sensitive City keeps climbing. They are now in a statistical tie with Mamdani City 7 games behind Z one game behind 2nd-place Beans. Queens are in the Play-In now only .5 behind Pigeons in 9th. Without playing (tomorrow at Pigeons, Saturday in Bang Bus agin Memphibians), the High-Cs closed to withing .5 of Disney in seventh, 1.5 from 6th and Filthydelphia. Probably best we don't play any games.
Night. USMLE tomorrow 8:30 wakeup, 9:30 start.
The Association is back
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Sensitive City is blasting the Rust away in the Pawn Shop at HT 70-48. I know, it's just Rust, but Sensitive City has had a plan all season long to ignore results in November and December to prioritize a strong finishing kick and the playoffs. Well, look at them now. 9-1 in past ten, 13 games above .500., and now with James Harden. They're still 7 games back of Zollner, who have been consistent all season, (8-2 last ten), but if the "Pistons" misfire just a leetle, Sensitive City reasonably could catch them and win the Least. Look out for Sensitive City.
Public Occurrences February 19, 2026
Trump appears ready to attack Iran as U.S. strike force takes shape
WaPo9:07 am:
Former Prince Andrew Arrested in Epstein Case
"Before he came back three doctors came into the room."
"I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of medicine have a tendency to seek one another's company and aid in consultation. A doctor who cannot take out your appendix properly will recommend to you a doctor who will be unable to remove your tonsils with success. These were three such doctors."
Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (95)
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Public Occurrences February 18, 2026
Thomas L. Friedman:
Netanyahu plays Trump and American Jews for fools — again
Let’s stop beating around the bush: Israel’s far-right government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is spitting in America’s face and telling us it’s raining. It’s not raining. Netanyahu is playing President Donald Trump and American Jews for fools. And if the U.S. lets him get away with it, we are fools.
While keeping Trump focused on the Iranian missile and nuclear threat — which, though reduced, is still very real and will have to be dealt with diplomatically or militarily — Netanyahu is fundamentally threatening broader U.S. interests in the Middle East, not to mention the security of Jews all over the world. In what way? I cannot put it any more succinctly than Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, did.
“A violent and criminal effort is underway to ethnically cleanse territories in the West Bank,” he wrote in an essay in Haaretz this month. “Gangs of armed settlers persecute, harm, wound and even kill Palestinians living there. The rampages include burning olive groves, houses and cars; breaking into homes; and physically assaulting people.” He continued, “The rioters, the Jewish terrorists, storm Palestinians with hate and violence with one objective: to force them to flee from their homes. All this is done in the hopes that the land will then be prepared for Jewish settlement, en route to realizing the dream of annexing all the territories.”
Israel’s accelerating attempts toward annexation of the West Bank and to permanently remain in the Gaza Strip — and deny Palestinians political rights in both areas — are as morally reckless and demographically insane as would be the U.S. annexing Mexico.
If it were just Israelis who were going to be hurt by the crazy fantasy that some 7 million Israeli Jews can control about 7 million Palestinian Arabs in perpetuity, I might be tempted to say that if Israel’s leaders want to commit national suicide, I can’t stop them.
But the effects will not be confined to Israel. I believe that this messianically driven endeavor will make today’s Israel permanently indistinguishable from apartheid South Africa and will have seriously detrimental implications for U.S. interests and the interests and security of Jews all over the world.
If Netanyahu’s government stays on this course, it will rip apart Jewish institutions everywhere as members of the Jewish diaspora are forced to decide whether to stand with or against an apartheidlike Israel. It will also accelerate the trend begun by Israel’s devastation of Gaza wherein growing numbers of young Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. are turning against Israel and, at the fringes, against Jews in general.
A poll by the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, conducted by YouGov in November, found that 51% of Republican voters younger than 45 said they preferred to support a candidate in the 2028 presidential primary who favored reducing taxpayer-funded weapon transfers to Israel. Only 27% favored a candidate who would increase or maintain weapon supplies. Democratic candidates today who do not describe Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide face real headwinds with young progressive voters.
At the Munich Security Conference last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was asked if she thought “the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2028 elections should reevaluate military aid to Israel.” She answered, “I think that, personally, the idea of completely unconditional aid, no matter what one does, does not make sense. I think it enabled a genocide in Gaza.”
As I said when I began, Netanyahu has played Trump for a sucker, as well as the pro-Israel lobby led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and many other so-called American Jewish leaders. He has gotten them to focus on Iran and ignore the fact that everything he is doing in Gaza, in the West Bank and inside Israel will strain ties between the U.S. and its major Middle East allies, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar.
Yes, Iran remains a reduced but very real nuclear threat after Israeli and U.S. airstrikes hit its nuclear enrichment and ballistic missile facilities in June. It has already largely rebuilt its stock of ballistic missiles that could do real physical damage to Israel if war resumes. I take that very seriously.
But focusing exclusively on the external threat from Iran ignores the internal threat Netanyahu’s government poses to Israel and its standing as a rule-of-law democracy and unified society. Netanyahu has been engaged in a three-year effort, even during the war in Gaza, to carry out a judicial coup that would all but eliminate the separation of powers in Israel — one that enables its Supreme Court to check the excesses of the governing political party. Is Iran responsible for that? No.
Has Iran been engaged in a relentless effort to purge or disempower Israel’s courageous, independent attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara? No, but Netanyhu has. That attorney general, backed by the Supreme Court, is the only thing standing in the way of further assaults on a rules-based government: the dismissal of Netanyahu’s corruption trial but also Netanyhus’s efforts to politicize civil service appointments and a wholesale exemption from military service for the ultra-Orthodox Jews who keep him in power.
Has Iran blocked establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into the incredible intelligence and leadership failure before Hamas’ murderous Oct. 7, 2023, invasion? No, but Netanyhu has. That invasion not only happened on Netanyahu’s watch but was clearly caused in part by his efforts to prove to the world that Israel could have peace with the Arab states without making peace with the Palestinians.
Hamas grew in strength thanks to Netanyahu’s long efforts to prop up Hamas with Qatari money so the Palestinian leadership would always be divided between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. That way, Netanyahu could tell every U.S. president that he was so sorry that he had no unified Palestinian peace partner to negotiate with.
Did Iran nominate Netanyahu cronies with inexperienced backgrounds to run Israel’s most important security organizations — the Shin Bet and Mossad? No, Netanyahu did.
What prompted Trump to publicly demand that the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, pardon Netanyahu — even before a verdict — for the corruption charges he has been indicted on? It would be a terrible blow to the rule of law in Israel. It certainly was not Iran.
And here is what is truly crazy. Israel today has never been more militarily feared and technologically admired by its Arab neighbors, because of the blows that it dealt Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. If Netanyahu engaged in negotiations for a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority — on any reasonable terms — it would pave the way for peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
The whole neighborhood, and the whole Muslim world beyond it, would open up to Israel; Iran would be totally isolated. Israeli technology and Arab energy would create an amazing synergy for the age of artificial intelligence.
That would be a huge boon to U.S. interests. While some complications would surely persist, the Middle East would essentially be making peace under a U.S. umbrella. And the reduction in tensions between Israel and the Arab world would allow the Trump administration to do what the past several U.S. administrations have craved doing: reduce its military presence in the region and shift its focus to counterbalancing China in Asia. Unfortunately, Netanyahu has other priorities.
The annexationist ambitions of the Netanyahu Cabinet directly clash with Trump’s 20-point plan, which imagines a two-state solution one day. The Board of Peace, which Trump created to oversee that plan, is holding its inaugural meeting in Washington on Thursday, but Netanyahu is skipping it.
Netanyahu'ss Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday that after elections this fall, he would in his next term be “encouraging the migration” of Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, all of America’s key Arab allies and Turkey, which are central to Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal, got together on a statement strongly condemning Israel’s decision to designate land in the occupied West Bank as Israeli state land.
When Israel is engaged in de facto annexation, with what human rights groups describe as ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank, it is turning itself into a major contributor to permanent conflict in the region. None of that is in America’s interest, but it is greatly appreciated by Iran.
Iran’s Islamo-fascist rulers pose a very real threat to Israel. They lead a terrible regime whose downfall would be a blessing to its people and the region. But please — please — spare me the nonsense that Iran is the only threat to Israel today.
Iran is not the greatest threat to Israel as a democracy governed by the rule of law. It is not the greatest threat to U.S.-Israeli relations. It is not the greatest threat to the unity and security of Jews around the world. It is not the reason so many talented Israeli technologists, engineers and doctors are moving away. And it is not the biggest reason Israel is becoming an apartheid state not only by refusing to try anymore to create a separate Palestinian state but also by working instead to make that impossible.
That title goes to the government of messianic zealots, Arab-hating nationalists and anti-modern ultra-Orthodox Israelis put together by Netanyahu to keep himself in power.
10:50 PM:
Things are getting BAD!
7:26 PM
Trump meets with top Iran advisers as war threat grows
Why it matters: The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize.
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Both Axios
Nine People Killed in Lake Tahoe Avalanche
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