Netflix says it won’t raise its offer for WBD to counter a higher bid made earlier this week by Paramount Skydance. https://ir.netflix.net/investor-news-and-events/financial-releases/press-release-details/2026/Netflix-Declines-to-Raise-Offer-for-Warner-Bros-/default.aspx

Office of Budget and Management Director Russell Vought killed USAID, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths,
and is now using the money he “saved” to bankroll his security detail.

A Reuters report Friday states that the Project 2025 architect who promised to put federal employees “in trauma”
is spending $15 million of former USAID funding
—money that would have gone toward fighting HIV, polio, malaria, and other diseases
—to pay his U.S. Marshal security through the end of the year.

One source told Reuters that Vought has more than a dozen U.S. marshals in his security detail.

While Vought allegedly faced a threat on his life last month,
the irony of the man who ripped disease-fighting funding away from some of the most at-risk people in the world only to use it to beef up his personal bodyguard staff is impossible to ignore.

This is yet another example of Trump officials’ questionable personal spending habits.
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Homeland Security
is leasing a $70 million jet that Secretary Kristi Noem and her alleged boyfriend Corey Lewandowski use to travel in luxury.
And what’s up with that $400 million White House ballroom?
https://newrepublic.com/post/206559/russ-vought-usaid-funds-security

Tesla will end production of its two flagship models, the Model S and Model X, which have long carried the company's prestige.
According to statements by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the fundamental reason behind this decision is the company's desire to shift its resources and production infrastructure toward autonomous driving and robotics.

Planned to take effect from the next quarter, this production halt has generated significant reverberations throughout the automotive industry.

The operational center of this decision is Tesla's Fremont factory in California.
According to Musk's statements, the production lines and factory space allocated for the Model S and Model X will be dedicated to the development and production of the company's humanoid robot, #Optimus.

https://aihaberleri.org/en/news/tesla-halts-model-s-model-x-production-shifts-focus-autonomous-future

Five months later, Nvidia's $100 billion OpenAI investment plan has fizzled out
Two AI giants shake market confidence after investment fails to materialize.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/02/five-months-later-nvidias-100-billion-openai-investment-plan-has-fizzled-out/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

US House takes first step toward creating "commercial" deep space program
"We will continue to rely on the ingenuity of the private sector."
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/us-house-takes-first-step-toward-creating-commercial-deep-space-program/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

WATCH: More than 80% of U.S. children attend public schools.

Some of the Education Department’s ultraconservative advisers, led by Secretary Linda McMahon, want to change that.

Here’s an inside look at their dismantling of public education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NYq_N6fO-w

#Documentary #Film #Journalism #Video #Education #Family #Children #Parenting #School

NEW: Louisiana Paroles Its Lowest Number of Prisoners in 20 Years Under Gov. Jeff Landry

The state parole board freed 185 prisoners during Landry’s tenure, compared with 858 in the two years before he took office.

Hundreds who would have been released under previous governors remain incarcerated with little chance of earning parole.

https://www.propublica.org/article/louisiana-parole-drop-jeff-landry

#news #louisiana #criminaljustice #JeffLandry #government

Border czar, speaking to reporters in Minnesota, pledges “massive changes” — with cooperation. https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/border-czar-homan-to-hold-first-press-conference-since-arrival-in-minnesota/

I am doing my best to respond to this without a string of expletives. But let's be very clear: what just happened in Minnesota was cold blooded murder of a civilian by out of control federal agents, aided and abetted by the entire Trump administration and their fascist enablers.

I've mentioned this before, but one thing I've been closely watching for is when crypto people begin to distance themselves from Trump.

November 2024 vs. January 2026

#USpol #USpolitics #crypto #cryptocurrency

Microsoft Office has been replaced by "Microsoft 365 Copilot App" 🙄 (not a joke, see office.com)

Fortunately there are many good alternatives on the Fediverse:

➡️ @libreoffice - Free open source office suite, can be used entirely offline
➡️ @CollaboraOffice - Online fork of LibreOffice, upstream contributor
➡️ @nextcloud - FOSS personal cloud including collaborative office tools
➡️ @CryptPad - FOSS online office suite with maximum privacy
➡️ @ONLYOFFICE - FOSS online office suite

(via @jbz )

I am really tired of listening to Marco Rubio praising Trump for getting Europe to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence.

No country is spending more on defence to please Trump. We are spending more, because we are alone in the war with Putin. We are spending more, so we can lead the world, now that Trump has put the US in the back seat.

We could have finished Putin together, and the world would have been safer and wealthier. But instead Trump wanted a war with Venezuela. That is how dumb this is.