Category: News
Ramos de dinero rivalizan con flores como codiciadas muestras de amor en Zimbabue por San Valentín
Por FARAI MUTSAKA
HARARE, Zimbabue (AP) — La liquidez como afecto y la basura como símbolo de un amor duradero. Desde ramos confeccionados con billetes hasta regalos con forma de corazón forjados con chatarra reciclada, el romance en Zimbabue está adoptando formas sorprendentemente inventivas, reflejo de la vida en una economía donde el efectivo reina y la sostenibilidad adquiere un nuevo valor social.
Se dice que el amor no se puede comprar. Pero, desde floristas en mercados tradicionales hasta vendedores en redes sociales que buscan llamar la atención en TikTok, los billetes enrollados y sujetos con alfileres para parecer un ramo de flores rivalizan cada vez más con las flores frescas como los obsequios más codiciados del Día de San Valentín en el país del sur de África.
“Por favor Dios, haz que mi amor vea esto”, comentó una usuaria de TikTok bajo un video que anunciaba relucientes arreglos de dinero y flores. Otro escribió: “Que este ramo me encuentre en el nombre de Jesús, amén”.
Efectivo como cortejo
En un mercado de flores con décadas de antigüedad en la capital, Harare, Tongai Mufandaedza, un florista, arma con paciencia uno de esos “ramos de dinero”. Con adhesivo y varillas de bambú, dobla billetes nuevos de 50 dólares en formas cónicas decorativas, entretejiéndolos con tallos de rosas blancas.
A medida que se acerca el Día de San Valentín, espera que el negocio se dispare.
“El mercado ha mejorado gracias a los ramos de dinero”, afirmó Mufandaedza, quien ha trabajado en el mayor mercado de flores del país durante tres décadas.
“El Día de San Valentín vamos a tener más, más, más clientes, porque esto es algo que está de moda. Todo el mundo quiere impresionar”, señaló, y luego envolvió el arreglo con papel rojo brillante y listones.
Entre quienes recorrían el mercado estaba Kimberleigh Kawadza. Su preferencia era clara.
“A la persona que se le ocurrió la tendencia, sólo puedo dedicarle un aplauso. Hizo un buen trabajo”, manifestó la joven de 23 años. “Es una forma de apreciar a mi pareja, para mí es un 100, es un 100”.
Romance práctico
Aunque la Generación Z está impulsando la fiebre, Mufandaedza indicó que la demanda se está extendiendo entre generaciones. Algunos padres, añadió, incluso compran ramos de dinero para sus hijas “para que no caigan en la presión de grupo y se sientan tentadas a irse con sugar daddies que pueden atraerlas con regalos así”.
Los precios varían mucho. Los ramos pequeños pueden contener apenas 10 dólares estadounidenses, mientras que los arreglos grandes pueden llegar a miles. En algunos casos, incluso resultan más baratos que los regalos florales tradicionales.
Un ramo de billetes de dólar con un valor total de 10 dólares se vende en 25 dólares, mientras que un ramo de 10 rosas rojas de buena calidad cuesta entre 35 y 40 dólares, explicó. Muchos preguntan “¿dónde está el dinero?” si Mufandaedza entrega un ramo de flores sin un diseño con efectivo, comentó.
A diferencia de los regalos florales tradicionales, el atractivo de los ramos de dinero es práctico y romántico para la realidad económica de Zimbabue, donde la liquidez suele tener un valor más inmediato que el lujo.
“A la gente todavía le encantan las flores, pero cuando ven los billetes encima, el amor se siente más intenso y el gesto aún más significativo. La supervivencia importa más en estos tiempos difíciles y el dinero desempeña un papel mayor”, sostuvo.
El dólar estadounidense ha dominado las transacciones desde que la hiperinflación obligó a las autoridades a abandonar la moneda local en 2009. Aunque Zimbabue desde entonces ha reintroducido su propia moneda, el dólar sigue siendo legal y predominante.
Como los billetes nuevos escasean, los billetes estadounidenses gastados y maltratados, a los que a veces se alude en broma como “veteranos de guerra”, difícilmente sirven para ramos decorativos, lo que ha dado pie a negocios de emprendedores que suministran billetes limpios de reemplazo a cambio de una comisión.
Zimbabue no es el único que coquetea con la fusión de efectivo y cortejo. Los ramos de dinero también han aumentado en popularidad en otras partes de África, como Kenia, uno de los mayores exportadores de flores del mundo.
Antes del Día de San Valentín, el banco central de Kenia advirtió sobre duras sanciones de hasta siete años de prisión por doblar, engrapar o pegar billetes para convertirlos en ramos, con el argumento de que los billetes dañados alteran los sistemas de manejo de efectivo y violan las leyes contra la mutilación del dinero. Tal directriz desató un animado debate en internet, y los críticos acusaron a los reguladores de excederse.
Amor hecho de chatarra
En Zimbabue no existen restricciones de ese tipo. Pero para algunos, el amor está encontrando expresión no sólo a través del efectivo, sino también mediante basura reciclada convertida en recuerdos.
En un centro comercial exclusivo de Harare, llaveros de aluminio con forma de corazón, collares, bandejas y soportes para vino elaborados con chatarra recuperada estaban alineados junto a chocolates y cajas de regalo en Simpli Simbi, una tienda de decoración y obsequios. “Simbi” significa metal en el idioma shona local.
“Estamos tomando algo que antes no era querido, lo pulimos y lo volvemos hermoso como un regalo para alguien que pueda atesorarlo para siempre”, explicó Stephanie Charlton, fundadora de la tienda.
Charlton contó que su base de clientes, antes dominada por turistas y zimbabuenses de la diáspora, es cada vez más local debido al aumento de la conciencia ambiental.
En una zona industrial cercana, su fundición estaba repleta de radiadores de autos desechados, rines y chatarra recogida en las orillas de las carreteras y en vertederos, para ser fundida en un horno abierto y transformada en regalos hechos a mano.
“A las mujeres les encantan los chocolates y las flores, pero eso está aquí hoy y mañana ya no”, comentó Charlton, una exexportadora de horticultura que ahora emplea a 20 personas.
“Esto es algo que hemos recolectado y que estaría llenando un basurero. Pero lo hemos convertido en algo hermoso que puedes regalar a alguien para mostrarle que lo atesoras. Hay un significado detrás, hay una historia que contar con cada pieza”.
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La periodista de The Associated Press Evelyne Musambi contribuyó a este despacho desde Nairobi, Kenia.
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The Associated Press recibe apoyo financiero de la Fundación Gates para la cobertura de salud global y desarrollo en África. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido. Consulte las normas de AP para trabajar con filantropías, una lista de patrocinadores y las áreas de cobertura financiadas en AP.org.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Stolen Land At The Grammys: How Hollywood Groupthink Threatens Democracy
Stolen Land At The Grammys: How Hollywood Groupthink Threatens Democracy
Authored by Patrick Keeney via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Commentary
Among the consolations of youth is the certainty with which one holds beliefs about the world. There is comfort in the conviction that one’s moral bearings are firmly set, that one’s understanding of complex questions is not only sincere but also correct. The world appears legible; right and wrong seem sharply drawn; doubt and nuance are dismissed as weakness or evasion.
There is rarely a single moment when these certainties collapse. They loosen instead through the slow accumulation of experience. Over time, one discovers that life resists easy judgments. Circumstances complicate principles. Good intentions collide with unintended consequences. Our friends betray us. The world proves denser, more conflicted, and less amenable to neat and tidy conclusions than youthful confidence would suggest.
This recognition of complexity, fallibility, and the limits of one’s own certainty is among the quiet achievements of maturity. It marks the point at which conviction learns restraint and moral seriousness acquires humility.
Yet much of our public culture now moves in precisely the opposite direction. It rewards juvenile certainty while punishing hesitation, qualification, or good-faith disagreements. Confidence is applauded regardless of depth; slogans substitute for argument; restraint is recast as moral failure.
That inversion was on clear display at the recent Grammy Awards, when Billie Eilish declared to enthusiastic applause that “no one is illegal on stolen land.” It was left unspecified just whose land was being referenced, by whom it was stolen, and according to what historical or legal criteria that claim could be made.
The audience, however, needed no clarification. Eilish’s statement was rewarded exactly because it avoided complexity and invited no questions.
What was on display was not moral seriousness but a high school performance, an adolescent sense of righteousness delivered with absolute certainty and accepted as self-evident truth. One might charitably attribute such unthinking, categorical statements to Eilish’s youth. Alas, hers is a posture that we have come to expect from many of Hollywood’s men and women: confident, declarative, and curiously uninterested in the burdens of thought that genuine moral judgment requires.
This brings us to the core issue. The greatest threat to free expression today isn’t obvious censorship or government orders. Instead, it’s a more subtle and widespread force: cultural groupthink. This informal but influential system of rewards and punishments quietly limits the range of acceptable opinions, shaping what people feel allowed to say, what they hesitate to voice, and which questions are no longer asked.
Nowhere is this trend more evident than in modern celebrity culture. Hollywood and the broader entertainment sector have become models of ideological conformity, especially on divisive social and political topics. From climate change and gender issues to racial justice and international conflicts, Hollywood repeats the same messages, all delivered with youthful confidence. The same moral language, slogans, and conclusions are echoed with ritualistic consistency.
The Eilish episode was not an aberration but a symptom. It illustrated a broader pattern in which public speech functions less as a means of inquiry than as a test of ideological conformity. The cost of dissent is not a thoughtful and considered rebuttal. Rather, it takes the form of reputational damage through social media pile-ons, calls for boycotts, professional exclusion, or quiet blacklisting. Under such conditions, silence is often the rational choice. Most people have families to support and livelihoods to protect.
The greater danger lies in the lesson this celebrity culture teaches: that there is only one permissible way to think and speak about certain issues, and that deviation signals not error but moral failure. Political and social questions are reduced to dogma rather than debated. Once moralized in this way, disagreement becomes illegitimate by definition.
This logic now extends well beyond Hollywood. Similar patterns can be found in journalism, medicine, academia, corporate governance, and even the legal profession. Approved vocabularies narrow discussion; certain premises must be affirmed before conversation can begin; others may not be questioned at all. Arguments are no longer answered on their merits but dismissed as evidence of bad character or suspect motives.
The consequences for democratic culture are profound. Democracies do not depend on unanimity but on citizens who can weigh competing claims, tolerate uncertainty, and revise their views in light of evidence and argument. Groupthink undermines these capacities by rewarding conformity and punishing independent judgment. Over time, public discourse loses its corrective function. Errors persist not because they are persuasive, but because questioning them carries too high a cost.
When dialogue is replaced by dogma, democratic societies become brittle. They lose their ability to self-correct and grow more intolerant of internal differences. Public conversations turn into moral theater, where the goal is no longer understanding opposing views but performing virtue and condemning heresy. Speech persists only in its performative form, losing its role in testing ideas and correcting errors.
The defense of free speech, therefore, is not a defense of cruelty, indifference, or provocation for its own sake. It is a defense of intellectual diversity and the recognition that complex problems seldom have simple solutions; progress relies on the open debate of ideas. Democracies do not demand that citizens agree; they require honest argument, careful listening, and acceptance that disagreement is not a moral flaw but a civic essential.
It is a hard truth that others, who are just as committed, moral, or intelligent as we are, nonetheless see the world differently. The challenge is in accepting that our opponents are not simply ignorant or malicious but may have reached their conclusions through reasons as serious as our own. This common insight strips away the adolescent comfort of moral superiority. It forces us to face the possibility that we, too, may be wrong.
Such humility is rarely celebrated. But it is among the foundational virtues of democratic life. The alternative is a culture of silence and self-censorship, in which people say only what is safe and believe only what is approved. Such cultures may appear stable—even virtuous—but they are dangerously fragile. When reality intrudes, as it always does, societies that have lost the habit of open debate are poorly equipped to respond.
The strongest defense of democratic life is not enforced consensus but the courage to dissent, the patience to listen, and the willingness to engage in genuine dialogue, where we can change our minds.
Free speech, properly understood, is not a threat to democracy. It is its foundation.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/13/2026 – 22:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/stolen-land-grammys-how-hollywood-groupthink-threatens-democracy
Elgin council wants more retailer input before voting on plastic bag ban
The Elgin Sustainability Commission has recommended the city implement a ban on single-use plastic bags. Elgin businesses don’t want one. Many residents, according to a poll, aren’t backing it. What the Elgin City Council will do is still up in the air.
At its meeting this past week, the council tabled discussion on the possible single-use plastic bag ban until Feb. 25 to obtain more feedback from businesses.
The ordinance under consideration would ban the use of single-use plastic bags by some retailers, who could charge customers who don’t bring their own bags a 10-cent fee for each recycled paper bag needed for their purchases.
Restaurants, convenience stores and small retailers would be exempt. People on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or other assistance programs wouldn’t be required to pay the fee.
Several towns in Illinois, including Chicago, Batavia, Oak Park, Woodstock and Northbrook, already have such bans and most retailers give shoppers the option of bringing their own bags or purchasing sustainable bags at the checkout lane.
A similar ban has been under consideration by the state, meaning the council could wait for the General Assembly to act rather than adopting its own ban.
As currently written, Elgin’s proposed ordinance would affect 42 retailers, according to research done by city staff and the Elgin Development Group, Sustainability Manager Kristin Iftner told the council.
Last April, the Sustainability Commission recommended the council adopt a bag ban ordinance, prompting city staff to draft language modeled on the state bill, which is currently stuck in committee.
Before deciding whether to move forward with the ban or abandon it, Elgin officials agreed to do a survey in English and Spanish late last year to obtain feedback from residents and businesses, Iftner said.
Survey results showed 57% of the 2,185 respondents opposed a ban, 38% supported it and 5% said they needed more information before forming an opinion, sustainability coordinator Jessica VanDyke said.
“While survey results are intended to serve as a statistically representative sample of the community, they do provide valuable insight into community perceptions and recurring themes,” VanDyke said.
Common themes for those who don’t want a ban were the issues of equity, competitive disadvantages for retailers, concerns about charging for paper bags and a preference for waiting for statewide legislation, she said. Some respondents said they would shop elsewhere if restrictions were implemented in Elgin, she said.
Those who supported the ban cited a reduction in litter and plastic pollution, protection of wildlife and waterways, public health concerns, and the fact that measure aligns with Elgin’s Climate Action Plan.
Retailers say they are concerned about the added cost for customers who don’t bring their own reusable bags, which could result in some making purchases in nearby communities without bag regulations, said Tony Lucenko, Elgin Development Group director.
Lucenko asked the council to delay the discussion so more business owners could give feedback on the ordinance.
Iftner said the council could decide to defer action, allowing the issue to be revisited at some point in the future. If the ordinance is adopted, she would recommend implementation in 2027, she said.
At the council meeting Wednesday night, audience members had differing views on the proposal.
Mike Warren is a longtime business owner whose business would not be affected by a ban, but he believes the council is “charged with creating a healthy economic engine that allows our residents to live, work and play here,” he said. This ban would not do that, he said.
While he’s not diminishing climate change, Warren said he believes the ban would put the city at an economic disadvantage and cause people to shop elsewhere. Elgin should advocate for statewide legislation so everyone is on a level playing field, he said.
Cheryl Brumbaugh Hayford, however, she the local environmental groups she works with have been advocating passage of a bag ban ordinance for nine years.
“We should not wait any longer,” Brumbaugh Hayford said. “Elgin must take action on this as an independent municipality and not wait for the state of Illinois to take action for the health of the river and health of residents. Please do the right thing.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/13/elgin-council-retailer-input-bag-ban-plastic/
WhatsApp & YouTube Blocked In Russia, Telegram Throttled As State “Super-App” Falters
WhatsApp & YouTube Blocked In Russia, Telegram Throttled As State “Super-App” Falters
The West has been calling Russia’s ever-tightening internet regulations on its citizenry a “digital Iron Curtain”. Already over a period of months and years of the Ukraine war, various popular US-based social media apps have been throttled and even banned, but this week things have escalated with YouTube and WhatsApp being blocked in Russia:
Russia’s internet regulator Roskomnadzor has removed“youtube.com” from its DNS (Domain Name System) servers. If a user tries to access the site directly without a VPN (Virtual Private Network), their router can no longer assign the address to its IP address.
This means that You Tube is no longer accessible in Russia. The WhatsApp domain has also disappeared from Roskomnadzor’s servers. The Russian government has also launched a campaign against the messenger app Telegram, leading analysts to say Roskomnadzor is cracking down on platforms beyond its control.
But perhaps even more impactful – in terms of Russians quickly getting news, information, and public statements (even from their own government channels) – is the new move to throttle and block Telegram.
An interesting theory, especially in the wake of the shocking Wagner mutiny of 2023…
I still say the Russian MoD is killing Telegram use in Russia because Putin is afraid Telegram will be used as a means to organize a Russian Army Coup attempt. https://t.co/2NvJmKfGOR
— Trent Telenko (@TrentTelenko) February 13, 2026
Russia’s state media watchdog Roskomnadzor has tightened the screws on Telegram, accusing the messaging giant of failing to curb fraud and safeguard user data, which ironically is similar to what the French government accused the company of when it famously detained billionaire Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov.
The platform has an estimated over 93 million Russian users, which is more than 60% of the total population, but the Kremlin hopes to replicate with its state-backed messenger, Max. The all-in-one ‘super-app’ has been described in the following:
Max, a state-backed messenger developed by VK, is being positioned as a patriotic alternative to WhatsApp and Telegram — platforms that in recent weeks have suffered complete or partial disruptions to voice and video calls across the country.
Max is further being dubbed a “state app”:
Beyond the glitzy marketing, Max is built to serve a political purpose. Officials want it integrated with the state services portal Gosuslugi via the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA). That would allow citizens to log into government platforms, pay utility bills or sign documents directly through the app, in effect making Max a digital gateway to basic civil services.
But at a government commission meeting in early August, the Federal Security Service (FSB) initially blocked Max’s immediate connection to ESIA, citing the risk of personal data leaks. According to IT industry sources cited by Russian media, the FSB submitted a multi-page list of requirements ranging from certified encryption systems to source code audits. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, who oversees the project, voiced similar concerns.
BBC has pointed out: “Moscow has made extensive efforts to push Russians to its state-developed Max app, which critics say lacks end-to-end encryption.”
As for Telegram, it’s loss will be huge for Russians, given that for starters every major Russian media outlet operates a Telegram channel, some even publishing there exclusively.
Major state and legacy outlets including RIA Novosti, TASS, RBC, Interfax, and Kommersant maintain large, highly active channels. In border regions like Belgorod, battered by power outages and municipal disruptions from Ukrainian strikes, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov uses Telegram to deliver updates directly to residents.
The same goes for many oblasts across Russia’s south which have remained a frontline of sorts when it comes to cross-border attacks out of Ukraine.
The other problem in getting rid of Telegram is that Russia’s Defense Ministry pushes near-daily battlefield briefings, combat footage, and soldier interviews to its several hundreds of thousands of followers. So clearly any kind of major ‘transition’ – as is now apparently being forced on the population, won’t come easy.
The Kremlin has long warned against Western intelligence infiltration and data exploitation especially via US-based platforms. It has also long battled what it deems ‘propaganda’ via content on these apps. But to some degree they are also mediums where Russian and Ukrainian officials can directly address the other side, serving the cause of public diplomacy, or at least clarifying each’s position.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/13/2026 – 22:10
Refinería cubana sufre un incendio; no se reportan muertos ni heridos
Associated Press
LA HABANA (AP) — Una refinería ubicada en La Habana sufrió un incendio, reportaron el viernes autoridades cubanas. No hubo muertos ni heridos.
El siniestro, en la refinería Ñico López que se encuentra en las afueras de la capital, ocurrió en medio de una profunda crisis energética en la isla, que está semiparalizada luego de que Estados Unidos estableció un cerco que impide la llegada de combustible.
“El incendio ocurrido hoy se controló rápidamente, no se extendió a otras áreas, sólo en el almacén que contenía productos en desuso. No hubo lesionados y se mantiene la investigación para determinar las causas”, informó el Ministerio de Energía y Minas en la red social X.
La dependencia también indicó que la planta sigue operando normalmente. Fue posible ver elevadas columnas de humo negro frente a la bahía de La Habana.
Cuba enfrenta un racionamiento de combustible para usos particulares y de vehículos, y la falta del energético le dificulta generar electricidad, lo cual ha ocasionado apagones de hasta 10 horas.
Aunque la crisis económica en el país caribeño fue avanzando en el último lustro debido a un incremento de las sanciones de Washington, se agudizó en los últimos tres años precisamente por las dificultades de la isla para adquirir petróleo y completar así su escasa producción nacional. Venezuela, Rusia y México eran sus proveedores habituales.
La situación se agravó radicalmente tras el ataque estadounidense a Caracas el 3 de enero para capturar al entonces mandatario Nicolás Maduro –-cercano aliado de Cuba–, y la posterior orden ejecutiva del presidente Donald Trump a fines de ese mes, en la que amenaza con sancionar a los países que le vendan petróleo a la isla.
En estos días las actividades de toda naturaleza se han visto impactadas por el cerco energético: ha habido recortes en las jornadas laborales y los horarios de los bancos, y se han cancelado eventos culturales, entre otras afectaciones.
Aurora students again protest ICE with walkout
Aurora students walked out of school on Friday in protest of the Trump administration’s continued mass deportation campaign, the second walkout staged by the city’s students this week and the third in two weeks.
The Aurora Police Department estimates that 500 to 600 students from up to 11 schools participated in the walkouts. Between around 10:30 a.m. and noon, the students left their schools, marched downtown and gathered in front of City Hall, police said.
East Aurora High School students were seen walking out and marching towards City Hall with flags and signs at around noon.
At City Hall, students were chanting things like “ICE out,” in reference to one of the federal agencies spearheading the mass deportations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Some blew whistles, which have become a symbol of resistance to ICE. Others held signs saying things like “Liberty and justice for all,” “Love melts ICE,” “Hate will not make us great” and “Families belong together.”
Between the protesters’ signs, Mexican and other flags flapped in the wind.
Meanwhile, cars driving by honked in apparent support as adults in high-visibility vests stood between the protestors and the road to encourage them to stay on the sidewalk.
For the most part, students remained on sidewalks, did not significantly impact traffic and complied with verbal directions, according to a police spokesperson.
No arrests were made during Friday’s walkouts, but police officers did address several reported disturbances, the spokesperson said.
Multiple drivers were issued traffic-related citations, including a vehicle that was driving recklessly with the driver issued multiple citations, a statement from the police department said.
At one point, a counter-protester holding a Trump flag stood on the opposite side of the street from the student protesters until he was chased away by a group of the students. Officers responded to a report of this incident, police said.
That group of protesters was then seen marching down Broadway before turning on Galena Boulevard and rejoining the rest of the student protesters through the Water Street Mall.
Around 1:30 p.m., groups began leaving the downtown area, separating into smaller groups and traveling to different locations throughout the city, according to a police spokesperson. Most activity was over by around 3 p.m.
But, after the downtown crowd had dispersed, an aggravated battery was reported in the 300 block of North Lincoln Avenue following a fight involving several young people, police said. The incident is still under investigation.
State Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, attended the students’ protest. Speaking with reporters before the walkout at East Aurora High School, she said that she was there because she believes in the right to peacefully assemble.
“The students are our future,” she told The Beacon-News. “They are why I do the work that I do every single day, so I’m here to stand with them.”
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor ICE immediately responded to a request for comment about recent student walkouts in Aurora.
Many students at the protest in downtown Aurora on Feb. 13, 2026, held signs with messages of unity. (R. Christian Smith/The Beacon-News)
West Aurora School District 129 saw 50 students from its middle schools and 200 students from its high school walk out of class Friday, a district spokesperson said. Students from Indian Prairie School District 204 also participated in the walkouts, according to a district spokesperson.
East Aurora School District 131 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, East Aurora School District 131 and West Aurora School District 129 posted on Facebook a joint message from the districts’ two superintendents that discouraged students from walking out, asking students’ family and community members to encourage them to stay in school.
“When we discourage student walkouts, it’s a result of safety and a desire to protect the children placed in our care during the school day,” West Aurora Superintendent Michael Smith said in the video.
East Aurora, West Aurora and Indian Prairie school districts all said that students who walked out of class Friday would be marked as having an unexcused absence from class.
Both a Facebook post from East Aurora and the video message from the two districts’ superintendents included safety guidelines for students to follow if they did decide to walk out, including walking only on the sidewalk, not throwing items at others, having respectful interactions and following traffic laws.
“Videos from Monday’s walkout showed students not following these protocols — this is unacceptable and puts everyone at risk,” said East Aurora’s Facebook post. “We value student voice and encourage expression through safe, respectful means while remaining engaged in learning.”
In their video message, the two school districts’ superintendents said they were committed to finding a time outside of the school day for students and their families to make their voices heard in a way that is safe and respectful.
The Aurora Police Department, also in a post on Facebook, said Friday morning it was aware of several student walkouts planned for that day. Like the posts from the school districts, it also encouraged students to stay in school.
“For those who choose to participate, we ask that they do so peacefully, follow the law and help ensure the situation does not escalate,” the police’s Facebook post said.
The Aurora Police Department increased staffing and worked with community leaders, event marshals and organizers to have open lines of communication, to monitor conditions and to encourage peaceful participation, according to the post. It also warned residents of traffic disruptions near where gatherings would take place and encouraged travelers to find alternative routes.
On Monday, around 1,500 students from area schools walked out of school toward downtown Aurora. Three students were arrested during that protest and later charged with multiple crimes, which drew criticism from local officials and sparked a protest at the Aurora Police Department on Tuesday evening.
Specifically, the three students were charged with improper walking in the roadway, obstructing and resisting a peace officer, officials said. One of the three was also charged with aggravated battery to a police officer.
In a Facebook post, police said that two of the students were “contributing to the unsafe conditions” and were taken into custody after they resisted officers’ attempts to detain and identify them. The third student then “intervened and punched an officer in the head, causing a laceration,” according to the post.
Students were given many opportunities to move out of traffic and continue their demonstration safely, Aurora Chief of Police Matt Thomas said in a separate Facebook post.
As the situation continued, officers saw rocks and water bottles being thrown at police vehicles, physical fights breaking out among students, intimidation of passing drivers and reckless driving close to the crowd, Thomas said in his post.
An officer then approached two protesters who police believed were the main contributors to the ongoing unsafe and unlawful behavior, according to Thomas. He said that, despite clear direction, the encounter quickly escalated when the two pulled away and actively attempted to evade the officer, so several additional officers came to that officer’s assistance.
Videos circulating online seem to show what Thomas describes in his post: police officers tackling and wrestling protesters to the ground, and a protester punching an officer in the head. He said that the video shared online shows an officer tackling someone who appeared to be compliant, but said that the brief clips do not capture the full sequence of events.
The use of force is now under investigation by the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, which has received all body-worn camera footage, reports and related evidence from the Aurora Police Department, the office said in a news release Thursday.
A comprehensive review of all available information will be done to see whether the actions were consistent with department policy, established training and applicable law, according to the release. Officials said that, once the review is complete, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office will publish a full report with its findings to the police department and to the public.
Villa, in a statement made following Monday’s protest, said that the videos circulating online are “deeply disturbing and unacceptable” and show young people being “restrained and handled like criminals in front of their peers,” she said.
“Young people from our community peacefully exercised their constitutional right to protest the harmful actions of ICE and were met with force and violence by the institution entrusted with their safety,” she said. “Police officers are responsible for protecting every member of our community, especially children.”
A protest was held on Tuesday evening in response to the actions of police at the Monday event and the arrest of three students during the walkout. Those protesters, standing in front of the Aurora Police Department, chanted and held signs against both ICE and the police department, called for the charges to be dropped against the students and called for Police Chief Thomas to be fired.
George Gutierrez, who was one of many speakers at the Tuesday evening protest and last year was awarded $1 million in a lawsuit against an Aurora police officer for excessive force, said he attended to hold the Aurora Police Department accountable.
There’s a right way to protest that’s respectful, according to Gutierrez. But even if the students did something wrong, he said, that doesn’t make it right for the police to use excessive force.
“They need to be held accountable, because they always talk about holding us accountable, but they never hold themselves accountable,” Gutierrez said.
Aurora Mayor John Laesch, at a meeting of the Aurora City Council on Tuesday evening, said he admired the students’ efforts to take a stand and make their voices heard but encouraged them to take an “alternative and equally-effective course of action” by getting involved in local community watch and rapid response groups or by forming their own groups to “strengthen the community response” to federal immigration enforcement agents.
If students are going to protest, Aurora wants to work with them to make sure their voices are heard in a safe way, according to Laesch. At Monday’s protest, many stuck to sidewalks but a small number insisted on walking in the street and antagonized the police by throwing water bottles at their vehicles, he said.
“I’m disturbed that children feel compelled to leave school in the first place and march in the streets over an issue that adults should be dealing with in Washington, D.C., but that’s the times that we’re living in,” he said.
After Friday’s protest, Laesch told The Beacon-News that students may not have been the most coordinated, but they seemed to hear the message about staying on the sidewalks. Plus many adults from local groups came out to marshal the protest, he said.
“The community stepped up. The police hung back,” Laesch said of the protest on Friday. “We didn’t have any interactions between protesters and police, which is what I wanted, and no kids got hurt.
“So overall, I think it was a success,” he said.
Student walkouts to protest ICE have been happening in the Chicago area since at least October, when hundreds of students in Little Village walked out of class after several people were taken into custody in their neighborhood the week before. But this month has seen a high number of these types of protests, including in Chicago’s North Side, Elgin, Naperville, Waukegan and Hammond, Indiana.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/13/aurora-student-walkout-protesting-mass-deportation/
Amazon’s Ring And Google’s Nest Unwittingly Reveal The Severity Of The U.S. Surveillance State
Amazon’s Ring And Google’s Nest Unwittingly Reveal The Severity Of The U.S. Surveillance State
Authored by Glenn Greenwald via Substack,
That the U.S. Surveillance State is rapidly growing to the point of ubiquity has been demonstrated over the past week by seemingly benign events. While the picture that emerges is grim, to put it mildly, at least Americans are again confronted with crystal clarity over how severe this has become.
The latest round of valid panic over privacy began during the Super Bowl held on Sunday. During the game, Amazon ran a commercial for its Ring camera security system. The ad manipulatively exploited people’s love of dogs to induce them to ignore the consequences of what Amazon was touting. It seems that trick did not work.
The ad highlighted what the company calls its “Search Party” feature, whereby one can upload a picture, for example, of a lost dog. Doing so will activate multiple other Amazon Ring cameras in the neighborhood, which will, in turn, use AI programs to scan all dogs, it seems, and identify the one that is lost. The 30-second commercial was full of heart-tugging scenes of young children and elderly people being reunited with their lost dogs.
But the graphic Amazon used seems to have unwittingly depicted how invasive this technology can be. That this capability now exists in a product that has long been pitched as nothing more than a simple tool for homeowners to monitor their own homes created, it seems, an unavoidable contract between public understanding of Ring and what Amazon was now boasting it could do.
Amazon’s Super Bowl ad for Ring and its “Search Party” feature.
Many people were not just surprised but quite shocked and alarmed to learn that what they thought was merely their own personal security system now has the ability to link with countless other Ring cameras to form a neighborhood-wide (or city-wide, or state-wide) surveillance dragnet. That Amazon emphasized that this feature is available (for now) only to those who “opt-in” did not assuage concerns.
Numerous media outlets sounded the alarm. The online privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) condemned Ring’s program as previewing “a world where biometric identification could be unleashed from consumer devices to identify, track, and locate anything — human, pet, and otherwise.”
Many private citizens who previously used Ring also reacted negatively. “Viral videos online show people removing or destroying their cameras over privacy concerns,” reported USA Today. The backlash became so severe that, just days later, Amazon — seeking to assuage public anger — announced the termination of a partnership between Ring and Flock Safety, a police surveillance tech company (while Flock is unrelated to Search Party, public backlash made it impossible, at least for now, for Amazon to send Ring’s user data to a police surveillance firm).
The Amazon ad seems to have triggered a long-overdue spotlight on how the combination of ubiquitous cameras, AI, and rapidly advancing facial recognition software will render the term “privacy” little more than a quaint concept from the past. As EFF put it, Ring’s program “could already run afoul of biometric privacy laws in some states, which require explicit, informed consent from individuals before a company can just run face recognition on someone.”
Those concerns escalated just a few days later in the context of the Tucson disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, mother of long-time TODAY Show host Savannah Guthrie. At the home where she lives, Nancy Guthrie used Google’s Nest camera for security, a product similar to Amazon’s Ring.
Guthrie, however, did not pay Google for a subscription for those cameras, instead solely using the cameras for real-time monitoring. As CBS News explained, “with a free Google Nest plan, the video should have been deleted within 3 to 6 hours — long after Guthrie was reported missing.” Even professional privacy advocates have understood that customers who use Nest without a subscription will not have their cameras connected to Google’s data servers, meaning that no recordings will be stored or available for any period beyond a few hours.
For that reason, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos announced early on “that there was no video available in part because Guthrie didn’t have an active subscription to the company.” Many people, for obvious reasons, prefer to avoid permanently storing comprehensive daily video reports with Google of when they leave and return to their own home, or who visits them at their home, when, and for how long.
Despite all this, FBI investigators on the case were somehow magically able to “recover” this video from Guthrie’s camera many days later. FBI Director Kash Patel was essentially forced to admit this when he released still images of what appears to be the masked perpetrator who broke into Guthrie’s home. (The Google user agreement, which few users read, does protect the company by stating that images may be stored even in the absence of a subscription.)
Image obtained through Nancy Guthrie’s unsubscribed Google Nest camera and released by the FBI.
While the “discovery” of footage from this home camera by Google engineers is obviously of great value to the Guthrie family and law enforcement agents searching for Guthrie, it raises obvious yet serious questions about why Google, contrary to common understanding, was storing the video footage of unsubscribed users. A former NSA data researcher and CEO of a cybersecurity firm, Patrick Johnson, told CBS: “There’s kind of this old saying that data is never deleted, it’s just renamed.”
It is rather remarkable that Americans are being led, more or less willingly, into a state-corporate, Panopticon-like domestic surveillance state with relatively little resistance, though the widespread reaction to Amazon’s Ring ad is encouraging. Much of that muted reaction may be due to a lack of realization about the severity of the evolving privacy threat. Beyond that, privacy and other core rights can seem abstract and less of a priority than more material concerns, at least until they are gone.
It is always the case that there are benefits available from relinquishing core civil liberties: allowing infringements on free speech may reduce false claims and hateful ideas; allowing searches and seizures without warrants will likely help the police catch more criminals, and do so more quickly; giving up privacy may, in fact, enhance security.
But the core premise of the West generally, and the U.S. in particular, is that those trade-offs are never worthwhile. Americans still all learn and are taught to admire the iconic (if not apocryphal) 1775 words of Patrick Henry, which came to define the core ethos of the Revolutionary War and American Founding: “Give me liberty or give me death.” It is hard to express in more definitive terms on which side of that liberty-versus-security trade-off the U.S. was intended to fall.
Read the rest here…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/13/2026 – 21:45
El lanzador de los Dodgers Alex Vesia agradece el apoyo tras la muerte de su hija
Por DAVID BRANDT
GLENDALE, Arizona, EE.UU. (AP) — El lanzador zurdo Alex Vesia regresó con los Dodgers de Los Ángeles a los entrenamientos de primavera el viernes, menos de cuatro meses después de la muerte de su hija recién nacida Sterling, lo que provocó que se perdiera la Serie Mundial del año pasado.
Vesia leyó un emotivo comunicado después del primer entrenamiento oficial del equipo, en el que agradeció a su esposa Kayla, a los Dodgers, a los Azulejos de Toronto y a los aficionados por su apoyo durante una experiencia devastadora.
“La lección que hemos aprendido de esto es que la vida puede cambiarnos en un instante. Sólo hicieron falta diez minutos. Sterling era la niña más hermosa del mundo. Pudimos sostenerla, cambiarle el pañal, leerle y amarla. Nuestro tiempo juntos fue demasiado corto”, expresó Vesia.
Señaló que perderse la Serie Mundial fue complicado. Sin embargo, fue “una decisión fácil, porque mi familia me necesitaba”, comentó.
Los Dodgers vencieron a los Azulejos en siete juegos para conquistar su segundo título consecutivo.
Vesia también agradeció a los Rams de Los Ángeles de la NFL, quienes le enviaron una camiseta con las firmas de todo el equipo, la cual, según comentó, enmarcará en su casa. El lanzador indicó que él y su esposa comenzaron terapia hace seis semanas y que “hablar con alguien ha marcado la diferencia”.
Vesia animó a quienes atraviesan una situación difícil a hablar con alguien.
“No tengan miedo de alzar la voz. Su salud mental importa”, afirmó Vesia.
Vesia tuvo marca de 4-2 con efectividad de 3,02 en 68 juegos de temporada regular y de 2-0 con efectividad de 3,86 en siete apariciones de postemporada. El equipo anunció el 23 de octubre, un día antes del primer juego contra los Azulejos, que el pitcher no estaba con el equipo en Toronto.
Los relevistas de los Dodgers llevaron el número 51 de Vesia en sus gorras como homenaje a su compañero ausente. Los relevistas de los Azulejos se sumaron al homenaje en el sexto juego.
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Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Un eclipse solar de “anillo de fuego” deslumbrará a personas y pingüinos en la Antártida
Por ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN
NUEVA YORK (AP) — El primer eclipse solar del año engalanará la Antártida, aunque sólo unos pocos afortunados podrán disfrutar el espectáculo.
El eclipse solar anular del martes, conocido como un “anillo de fuego”, sólo será visible en el continente más austral, hogar de estaciones de investigación y de una fauna diversa.
“Los pingüinos van a tener un gran espectáculo”, comentó el astrónomo Joe Llama, del Observatorio Lowell.
Si el cielo está despejado, más personas podrán ver un eclipse parcial, con pequeños “mordiscos” al Sol, desde los extremos de Chile y Argentina y en partes del sureste de África, incluyendo Madagascar, Lesoto y Sudáfrica.
Los eclipses solares ocurren cuando el Sol, la Luna y la Tierra se alinean de manera precisa. La luna proyecta una sombra que puede bloquear parcial o totalmente la luz del Sol desde la perspectiva de la Tierra.
La astrofísica Emily Rice, de la City University of New York, explicó que se trata de “esta hermosa coincidencia entre el tamaño y la distancia de la Luna y el Sol”.
Durante un eclipse anular, o con forma de anillo, la Luna resulta estar más lejos de la Tierra en su órbita, por lo que no cubre por completo al Sol y deja visible una delgada franja.
Los eclipses solares ocurren unas cuantas veces al año, pero sólo son visibles desde lugares que se encuentran en la trayectoria de la sombra de la Luna. El año pasado se produjeron dos eclipses parciales, y el último eclipse solar total recorrió Norteamérica en 2024.
Mirar directamente al Sol es peligroso incluso cuando la mayor parte está cubierta, así que asegúrese de conseguir gafas para eclipses. Bloquean la luz ultravioleta del Sol y casi toda la luz visible. Las gafas para sol y los binoculares no ofrecen suficiente protección.
Las gafas para eclipses deben indicar que cumplen con la norma ISO 12312-2, aunque algunas falsificaciones pueden incluir esto.
También hay maneras de disfrutar los eclipses solares de forma indirecta. Haga un proyector de orificio con materiales domésticos o sostenga un colador o un rallador de queso hacia el cielo y mire hacia abajo para ver imágenes del eclipse proyectadas en el suelo.
En agosto se espera un eclipse solar total que será visible en Groenlandia, Islandia, España, Rusia y parte de Portugal. Amplias zonas de Europa, África y Norteamérica podrán disfrutar de un eclipse parcial.
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El Departamento de Salud y Ciencia de The Associated Press recibe apoyo del Departamento de Educación Científica del Instituto Médico Howard Hughes y de la Fundación Robert Wood Johnson. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Tim Walz Demands Federal Government Foot Bill For Minnesota’s ‘Recovery’ From Anti-ICE Riots
Tim Walz Demands Federal Government Foot Bill For Minnesota’s ‘Recovery’ From Anti-ICE Riots
Last month, President Donald Trump sent Homan to Minnesota to personally oversee immigration enforcement operations and end the chaos, after ICE and CBP officers shot two protesters and the situation began to spiral out of control. Soon after, Homan successfully convinced Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to allow local law enforcement to coordinate with federal agents, prompting an initial drawdown of 700 agents.
“Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration, and as a result of the need for less law enforcement officers to do this work in a safer environment, I have announced effective immediately, we will draw down seven hundred people effective today. Seven hundred law enforcement personnel,” Homan said at the time.
TOM HOMAN: “Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration and as a result of the need for less law enforcement officers to do this work in a safer environment, I have announced effective immediately, we’ll draw down 700 people effective today.” pic.twitter.com/uKPt9LPT4p
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) February 4, 2026
On Thursday, Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, declaring it a successful mission accomplished. The operation, which began in early December with approximately 3,000 immigration enforcement officers deployed to the sanctuary state, achieved thousands of arrests.
Border Czar Tom Homan said this morning in Minneapolis that the federal immigration enforcement surge operation for Minnesota is coming to an end.
He also said that fraud investigations will continue.
“With that, and success that has been made arresting public safety threats… pic.twitter.com/H8phRav8Ih
— Paul Villarreal (AKA Vince Manfeld) (@AureliusStoic1) February 12, 2026
Despite the operation’s obvious success, Gov. Tim Walz spun the news as a victory for the agitators and thanked Minnesotans for driving federal agents out.
“Minnesota, on behalf of not just this state but the country, thank you. That same energy now needs to be directed towards recovery, to finding ways that people have done during these challenging months to go forward,” he said.
Walz then promptly pivoted to pushing the narrative that Minnesota needs to recover from immigration enforcement efforts that took place.
“So, I want to say, this damage is still being assessed, but we do know … we’re going to be proposing a reinstitution of our small business emergency fund. It’s what we use very successfully during COVID in the recovery, the economic recovery that we saw in Minnesota that outpaced most of the rest of the country. We’re going to be proposing a first-time $10 million one-time targeted loans, forgivable loans that we know, and I want to be very clear, is a very small piece of this.”
And Walz wants the federal government to pay for it.
“But what I am going to challenge, as we get ready to start here in a few days the legislative session, this legislative session needs to be about recovery of the damage that’s been done to us,” Walz continued. “I am also asking our team—and I’m going to make appeals to our federal delegation—the federal government needs to pay for what they broke here.”
According to a report, the city of Minneapolis spent $1 million in rental assistance for those impacted by the raids, and burned through $4.3 million in police overtime during the anti-ICE riots and protests, and that figure is still climbing. The department had only 600 officers trying to manage the chaos created by anti-ICE rioters destroying property.
“They are going to be accountability [sic] on the things that happen, but one of the things is the incredible and immense costs that were born by the people of this state,” Walz continued. “The federal government needs to be responsible. You don’t get to break things and then just leave without doing something about it.”
While Walz talks tough about demanding that the federal government pay for the mess he and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey created, he appeared to concede that the effort to get the federal government to fund this “recovery” plan would fail.
“So the changes that need to be made, the investments that need to come back, they need to show—they being the federal government and they being this administration—they need to do more. But I’m not going to hold my breath that the federal government is going to do the right thing.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/13/2026 – 21:20
