Reported this two weeks ago

a graph of year-on-year change in US tech employment

Brutal numbers for US tech sector jobs released today—overall, employment decreased by 12k last month and is down 57k over the last year

That's now nearly as bad as the worst of the 2024 tech-cession, and significantly worse than either the 2008 or 2020 recessions

People criticizing Carney for hypocrisy but in the narrow technical sense of globalism, he’s perfectly consistent: transgressions of international economic law are more concerning than other violations. Protecting free trade and capital rights are the prime directives for guardians of world order.

Wealthy Dubai residents race back to UAE to avoid tax bills Some risk spending too few days in the emirate and too many in the UK

Tax exiles stuck in London desperately trying to get *back* to Dubai to avoid becoming tax resident in the UK? Just great stuff. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Israel’s goal is to turn Iran into Syria: collapse the state, ignite a civil war to kill hundreds of thousands in endless cycles of slaughter

This will also create brand new terror groups, incite massive refugee flight — destabilizing politics in Western & Central Europe already moving far right

We are urging strongly that Iran's statehood be preserved. We do not want to see a Syrian scenario here, but rather we want this state to become functional from within itself. And that is why I also appeal, both in Washington and in all talks with the Israeli government, to create the conditions as quickly as possible for this country to be stabilized, for it to get a democratically legitimized government, and for it to be able to continue to exist as a state. It is a country with over 90 million inhabitants, and we naturally also have a high self-interest in this in order to avoid new refugee flows from the region.

Finally someone mentions the upcoming refugee problem that I raised here about a week ago - this should’ve been considered BEFORE the strike.

Merz:

BREAKING: U.S. Central Command is now saying internally that this war against Iran is likely to last through September, per POLITICO

ISRAELI MEDIA: U.S. AND ISRAEL CONSIDER REDUCING ATTACK FREQUENCY AMID DECLINING WEAPON STOCKS TO SUSTAIN LONGER MILITARY OPERATIONS

Quietly, calmly and forensically, BBC just dismantled the Trump communications shitshow on Iran.

No hyperbole, just laying out an unprecedented military, diplomatic and reputational shambles.

Worth a watch.

(🎥 BBC News/BBC Verify)

Maybe I'm kirking out but the unreality of this war is wild. People posting that thousands of Kurds are fighting the regime for the CIA, while the Kurds say it isn't happening. Every video of a missile attack I just have to assume is AI whether it is real or not.

“.. REMINDER: Every day that the Trump administration delays refunds will cost taxpayers more than $20 million in legally-obligated interest payments”

@scottlincicome.bsky.social

“.. We’ve heard absolutely nothing more, other than that Truth Social statement,” said David Smith of specialist broker McGill .. “Would it apply, for example, to a cargo of Chinese oil carried on a European tanker?” Smith said. “We don’t know.”

@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/865d...

This is the point. If your vaunted trillion-dollar military can't get through a few days of airstrikes because you've consolidated the industrial base so badly, then you don't have a trillion-dollar military, you just have contractors in No. Virginia getting rich

Page One

@us.theguardian.com

Melania Trump is chairing a UN Security Council meeting.

I'm not joking.

The US currently holds the presidency of the council and that's who Trump chose as chair.

Prof. Robert Pape:

"I have studied every air campaign since WWI... I've modelled the bombing of Fordow and regime change in Iran for 20 years... We are now in the grip of the escalation trap... This has never worked in over 100 years... Trump is up against the weight of history".

Federal judges who've ruled against Trump administration denounce threats against themselves, their families Federal judges say criticism from President Trump can put their safety at risk. The White House says the president "understands the dangers of political violence."

"Most [judges] would not appear on camera, fearful for their safety. Judge Coughenour [Reagan appt'ee] is one of few who would. He blocked Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship.

Coughenour: My wife & I are at home. And the doorbell rings...& there's, I think, 5 sheriffs there w/long rifles..."

Sarandos’ first interview since they exited the race for Warner is pretty lit.

@bloomberg.com $NFLX
@lucasshaw.bsky.social
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Whoever made this, it’s BRILLIANT.

Trump’s “Board of Peace.”

OpenAI posted the terms of the deal. Reveals that it absolutely does allow for domestic surveillance. EO 12333 is how the NSA hides its domestic surveillance by capturing communications by tapping into lines *outside the US* even if it contains info from/on US persons.

openai.com/index/our-ag...

Disengagement: if you don’t do it, you’re what’s for dinner

bsky.app/profile/raph...

“.. Industry data show that much of the recent surge in construction jobs is tied to data centers and the power infrastructure that supports them, not a wave of new factories ..”

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Staring around minute 50 in the Q4 call: lots of waterworks business flows from datacenter construction in the first place. It’s a great business and management team but currently a bit one sided in terms of growth drivers

COLLINS: In 2021, you began using psychedelic mushrooms. Do you stand by encouraging people to try them?

MEANS: There's exciting work in that area

C: What about when you heard an internal voice whispering, 'it's time to prepare'?

M: In my meditations I had a sense something ominous was coming

The growth is all datacenter related same as other distributors like $WCC

Government Docs Reveal New Details About Tesla and Waymo Robotaxis’ Human Babysitters Self-driving vehicle companies are revealing new details about their safety-critical “remote assistance” programs—but questions remain.

I am, per usual, obsessed with the people behind the robots, and we got more info on robotaxis' safety-critical remote assistance/operations this week:

www.wired.com/story/govern...

BREAKING: Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been convicted of insurrection for declaring martial law in December 2024, and has been sentenced to life in prison.

And after all that, the Pitt/Cruise AI fight scene appears to have been just digital BG and face replacement on multi-angle green screen reference videos of two real live human stuntees fighting.

In other words, like most AI hype — it was a con. www.shokunin.studio/blog/2026/2/...