The Epstein Class That’s Running Our Country February 10, 2026 But first . . . IS ICE AN AGGRESSIVE IMMIGRATION AGENCY OR A PARAMILITARY FORCE? Two and a half minutes from The Economist. Recruiting neo-Nazis with $50,000 signing bonuses, incentive pay for captures — and impunity. Why are we invading our own cities and massively disturbing their peace and tranquility? To save their pets from being eaten? Show me one Minneapolis pet owner who supports this federal invasion. Watch the Economist interview. AMAZING NEWS OUT OF MISSISSIPPI Nick Kristoff: What We Can Learn From Southern Red States About Education Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana — who woulda thunk it. This strikes me as a big deal that everyone on both sides of the aisle should be aware of and act on. It’s not just that Democrats are skeptical that there’s anything significant to learn from red states. It’s also that Republican leaders themselves seem strangely indifferent. Indeed, instead of trumpeting the gains in three red states and doubling down on successful policies, Republicans even in these states are pushing hard for more vouchers (which have a mixed record at best) so that children can flee the improving public school systems — thus threatening the very progress they should be proud of. Rather than trying to scale Mississippi’s gains, national Republicans have an education agenda that focuses on trans children and school bathrooms, demolition of the federal Department of Education and erasure of ugly bits of history. There are many culture war arguments about what books are in the school library, but not enough talk about how to help children read what’s on the shelf. . . . We liberals need to wake up to the reality that we are being outperformed on education, opportunity and racial equity — supposedly our issues. As recently as 2019, blue states had better average test scores than red states, after adjusting for demographics; now, red states are mostly ahead. We used to say that education was the civil rights issue of the 21st century, and if so, we should be ashamed that by that metric, Mississippi Republicans are ahead of California Democrats. If we care about kids, we must be relentlessly empirical, and that must mean a willingness to learn from red states. Kane said something you don’t expect to hear from a Harvard professor: “I hope that there are lots of governors that are looking at Mississippi and saying, ‘Look, I want us to be next.’” Worth reading in full. And now . . . AMAZING SPEECH OUT OF GEORGIA You’ve likely heard about Senator Jon Ossoff’s speech. Take a two-minute taste . . . or in case you have time, watch the whole thing, in which he decries “the Epstein class” that is running our country. BONUS Ricky Gervais on racist pedophiles (three minutes). He names no names. If he had any in mind, they have been redacted.