Atlanta: 59°, thunderstorms — sky splitting open like the government's credibility, 97% chance of getting soaked in every sense

Detroit: 42°, mostly cloudy — mid-February thaw, 15 degrees above average, a clenched fist slowly uncurling

Kansas City: 63°, AM clouds/PM sun — spring arrived a month early like a process server nobody expected

New York: 42°, clouds thickening — 2 to 5 inches of snow by tonight, burying the city right before Presidents' Day

San Francisco: 57°, partly cloudy — mild enough to forget the whole coast is one weather pattern from catastrophe

Miami: 78°, sunny — 99% of Florida in drought, the tropics baking dry while the state pretends the sea isn't coming

Iron on your tongue this morning — that metallic tang of a republic watching its government spy on congressional oversight, strip Pride flags from sacred ground, and throw a tantrum over a Puerto Rican man dancing on television.

First time here? Welcome to The Gathering

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Editor's note: Tennessee's own turd-munching ass-waffle Rep. Andy Ogles watched 135 million people enjoy Bad Bunny's halftime show and saw "gay pornography" — which tells you everything about what lives rent-free in that man's skull.

The DOJ released 3.5 million pages of Epstein files on January 30 — 2,000 videos, 180,000 images. Deputy AG Todd Blanche, that cock-juggling thunder-cunt, announced no additional prosecutions. Three and a half million pages of a dead predator's empire, and nobody else goes down.

The damage: AG Pam Bondi was photographed holding printouts of Rep. Pramila Jayapal's search history from the unredacted files — the DOJ is literally tracking which documents lawmakers examine. Victims' names exposed while perpetrators stay redacted. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, that shit-stained ball-sack, admitted under oath to visiting Epstein's island in 2012, seven years after claiming he cut contact. The files mention him 223 times. Bipartisan calls for his resignation — including from GOP Rep. Thomas Massie — met with White House support for Lutnick. In Britain, three officials have already fallen over these same files.

Action: Demand subpoena power for the House Oversight Committee. Read more

The predators got protection. The survivors got their names leaked.

The European Commission prohibited companies from destroying unsold textiles on February 11. Currently 4–9% of unsold textiles are incinerated before being worn, generating 5.6 million tons of CO2 annually — equivalent to Sweden's entire 2021 net emissions. Globally, 92 million tonnes hit landfills yearly, projected to reach 134 million tonnes by 2030.

The new rules require standardized waste disclosure and limit destruction to safety or contamination — not seasonal inventory clearance. American fashion companies incinerate unsold stock every damn day and nobody's making them tell you about it.

Action: Support secondhand. Mend what you own. Demand U.S. transparency. Read more

Your t-shirt shouldn't outlast the ice caps, but right now it will.

Trump's administration removed the Pride flag from Stonewall National Monument on February 10. Then over 2,000 people showed up on February 12 — led by Manhattan BP Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Rep. Dan Goldman, HRC President Kelley Robinson. When officials offered a separate pole, the crowd demanded it fly alongside the American flag. Activists cut down the compromise and reattached it where it belonged.

What the fuck does it say about these dick-sniffing butt-trumpets that removing a flag from a monument to queer liberation is a priority while Epstein's accomplices walk free?

Meanwhile: Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed a bill putting marriage equality on the 2026 ballot, removing a 2006 constitutional ban. This is what momentum looks like when people refuse to be erased.

Action: Support Stonewall National Monument Conservancy. Register voters in Virginia. Read more

Survival wisdom: Walker wrote about the growth that costs you something — where you lose the people who needed you small. The DOJ is spying on oversight. They're pulling down flags and calling dancing "pornography." Every piece of silence you offer them is a brick in the wall they're building around you. Your survival isn't quiet today. It's the phone call, the shared article, the refusal to look away.

Queer Love on Display: Reneé Rapp & Towa Bird, Tom Daley & Dustin Lance Black, Sarah Paulson & Holland Taylor — 15 LGBTQ+ couples making Valentine's season a revolution in roses. Read more

NBC Apologizes for Misgendering Trans Olympian: Commentators repeatedly misgendered Swedish trans skier Elis Lundholm — the first openly trans Winter Olympian — at Milano Cortina 2026. NBC scrubbed the feed while 41+ out LGBTQ+ athletes from 13 countries compete. Read more

Neanderthals Were Landscapers: Hunter-gatherers shaped 47% of European plant distribution through fire and megafauna hunting — "pristine wilderness" never existed. Read more

Easter Island Adapted, Didn't Collapse: A megadrought starting ~1550 dropped rainfall 24–31 inches annually for a century — Rapanui communities restructured leadership and persisted. Read more

And now for your heroes — building the world while these fuck-knuckle tit-weasels tear at it.

Dua Saleh — Sudanese-American nonbinary musician bending R&B and electronic indie like smoke, pouring queer survival into every syllable.

Teddy Quinlivan — first openly trans woman to work for Chanel, turning fashion's guarded stages into declarations.

Geo Socomah Neptune — nonbinary Two-Spirit Passamaquoddy basketweaver, educator, and first openly transgender elected official in Maine, braiding Indigenous sovereignty and queer liberation into one unbreakable strand.

Three people existing so loud the whole damn world has to listen.

Presidents' Day "Sales" Are Traps → Check CamelCamelCamel price history before buying anything — most "50% off" was inflated two weeks ago. Average savings from walking away: $200+. Feeling: Money still in your pocket where it belongs.

The 2-Minute Vagus Reset → Feet flat, palms pressed together hard for 10 seconds, release. Bilateral pressure resets your nervous system faster than any app. Feeling: Your body shifting from alarm to attention.

Bulk Bin Liberation → Grocery bulk spices cost 60–80% less than bottled. Bring your own jars. Cumin, chili flake, oregano — pennies per ounce without the branding tax. Feeling: Pantry full, wallet unbruised.

Blood oranges are peaking → Slice thin over shaved fennel, drizzle olive oil and flaky salt. Five minutes. The citrus bleeds garnet onto white ceramic like a sunset you can eat.

Windowsill rosemary → $3 plant versus $4 plastic clamshell that wilts in three days. One pot, six months of herbs. South-facing window. Water. Done.

White Bean Smash (feeds 4, under $3) → Canned white beans mashed with olive oil, garlic, lemon, smoked paprika, salt. Spread on toast. Seven ingredients, four minutes. Feeding people shouldn't require a credit check.

GOP Senators View Lutnick's Epstein Ties as Liability — The Hill. Even Republican senators call his 223 mentions a problem — Tillis called it an "interesting relationship," Massie says resign yesterday. Read more

Noem Claims DHS Authority Over "Right People Voting" — The Hill. That ass-kissing dick-cheese stood in Arizona claiming election security jurisdiction while communities organize voter registration drives in all 50 states. Read more