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CURIOUSMINDS
A weekly serving of great articles we curate, and original content we produce. So, all you have to do is pick, read, watch and listen. |
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Issue #214 - FEBRUARY 2026
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Stories from Around the World that Affect Us All |
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The “One-Trigger” Moment What the cycle of insurrection looks like in America.
The Department of Homeland Security responded to public outrage not with restraint but with escalation. Protests were met with expanded deployments and conspicuous shows of force. There have now been at least six recorded incidents of ICE agents threatening or presenting deadly force against unarmed individuals to enter homes, effect arrests, or conduct routine operations. ICE now claims authority to conduct traffic stops, enter private residences without judicial warrants, and perform so-called Terry stops without probable cause against citizens and non-citizens alike. This posture has not been disavowed. It has been celebrated. The Secretary of Homeland Security has advised the public to be prepared to “show their papers.” The Vice President of the United States has publicly, and erroneously, asserted that ICE agents have “absolute immunity” in their actions and operations.What followed was not hysteria but coordination.
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 Israeli air strikes kill more Palestinians in Gaza
BBC(Politics)
The civil defence agency, which is operated by Hamas, says children and women were among those killed. It added that in one attack, helicopter gunships hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis. Palestinians have described these strikes as the heaviest since the second phase of the ceasefire, brokered by US President Trump last October, came into effect earlier this month. The Israeli military confirmed that a number of strikes were carried out in response to what it said was a Hamas violation of the agreement on Friday.
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 Five killed in gas explosions in Iran
BBC Five people have been killed in two separate explosions in Iran which local officials and state media say were caused by gas leaks. Is the Wild-West era returning in the 21st century? One person was killed and 14 injured in a blast at a residential building in the southern city of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf coast, a local official told Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency. Another explosion killed four people in the south-western city of Ahvaz, the state-run Tehran Times reported. It comes as tensions persist in the region after a build-up of US forces in the Gulf and pressure that Tehran strike a deal on its nuclear programme from President Donald Trump - who said on Saturday that Iran was "talking to" Washington. |
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People Fact-Checking Their Government
The response to the killing of Alex Pretti shows the internet at its best.
On October 17, 1961, tens of thousands of Algerians marched through the streets of Paris in peaceful defiance of a discriminatory curfew imposed by the French state. Police opened fire, beat protesters, arrested them en masse—and, in some cases, threw people into the Seine, where they drowned. Historians later called it “the bloodiest act of state repression of street protest in Western Europe in modern history.” At least 48—but possibly hundreds—were killed. Yet for decades, the official story minimized the violence. The death toll, it was claimed, was three. Police had acted to defend themselves. The protesters were terrorists. It can't happen today, as the killing of Alex Pretti shows. The official account was clearly at odds with the best available evidence. Four days after the shooting, the Trump administration is already scrambling to save face, cast blame, and “de-escalate” the ICE presence in Minnesota.
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Quote of The Week
I don’t have something to hide and there’s nothing I want you to see.
- James King -
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Top Stories from our favourite publications to stimulate your curious mind, |
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Denying Climate Change is Deliberate Violence
The climate chaos is a direct, conscious choice by a state to allow certain people to die.
Climate change kills through heatwaves, asthma, hunger, and displacement instead of bullets and batons, but the logic behind both is identical: certain people can be sacrificed. They are not two separate emergencies competing for attention, but one story unfolding on different timelines. Climate-fueled droughts extreme weather, and environmental degradation are already contributing to migration pressures around the world. The horrors we’re seeing from ICE now are just a glimpse of the violence that could unfold as climate change worsens, and migration pressures increase. Climate change is also driving a rise in eco-fascist rhetoric, wherein conservatives argue for increased border militarization to prevent brown people from further bespoiling the pristine U.S. environment.
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The Most Valiant Way to Complain Is to Create
THE MARGINALIAN (Literature/Philosophy)
Those who knew William Blake (November 28, 1757–August 12, 1827) cherished his overwhelming kindness, his capacity for delight even during his frequent and fathomless depressions Unseen by his own world, he saw deep into the worlds to come, channeling his visions through anything at hand. It was not the medium that mattered, but its pliancy as he bent it to his vision of the mystery that is itself the message — the message we call art |
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Wednesday Links
PRUFROCK (Literature, Visual Art)
As we look back on this extraordinary era, it’s time to admit not that this once triumphant American literature is dead—that’s a song people have been banging out since Bing Crosby was still alive and Truman Capote was making his last hopeless, inebriated appearances on Johnny Carson—but that American literature simply isn’t. It didn’t die, it just disappeared: gone, evaporated into the thin air of bureaucratic-consumer corporate life. The death or aging out (or buying out) of the final generation of serious and erudite editors has deeply changed the literary wing of trade publishing. |
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A Million Roman Candles
Book 6 - Chapter 1 - False Alarm
He was trapped, and there was no way out of the raging fire. The siren blared, deafening everyone within earshot, as the fire-engine screeched to a halt outside the front door. It was one o’clock in the morning, and Alfie stumbled out of bed looking for the mobile phone. He was sure he left it in the toilet when he came home late last night. When he staggered to the fridge to get some iced water, there it was rattling around in an open biscuit tin.
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Netflix Conquers Hollywood
THE NEW REPUBLIC (Performing Arts)
December 2025: Bloomberg broke the news that Warner Bros. president and CEO David Zaslav had agreed to sell the historic studio. Ever since Zaslav took over the company in 2021, the former cable television lawyer showed seemingly no interest in running the place as a profitable business. Zaslav buried films like Clint Eastwood’s excellent Juror #2, sending it to fewer than 50 theaters for just two weeks, despite sold-out screenings and critical acclaim. He canceled releases of already finished projects, like the documentary series Peltz Beckhams vs. the Wedding Planners, about Nicola Peltz Beckham’s lawsuit against her wedding planners, as a favor to Zaslav’s racist billionaire friend Nelson Peltz, Nicola’s father. Even as the studio floundered, Zaslav pillaged Warners for hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation...
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Why Humans Need to Matter
Rebecca Goldstein is a philosopher and novelist. Her latest book is The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us. In this conversation, Yascha Mounk and Rebecca Goldstein discuss why humans have an instinct to matter beyond mere survival, the different approaches people use to feel significant, and whether the desire to matter is a psychological flaw we should overcome or an essential part of human dignity.
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UPGRADE to PAID
CURIOUSMINDS content and opinions contain important information curated from reliable sources. We rely on reader support to keep it FREE. We want it to reach as many people as possible. If you value what we do and would like to help us sustain it, please consider a small monthly or annual contribution. Contributing subscribers get full access to all James King Publications including archives of CURIOUSMINDS, and a valuable BONUS: FREE ebook versions of all James King’s published books.Click - View them at Amazon · Donate via the - Choose a subscription plan - page. If you are not a subscriber already - Go to the Welcome page |
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James King Blog offers valuable resources for students of Arts and Humanities. Particularly those interested in Environments, Literature, Performing Arts, Visual Art, Philosophy, Travel, and Human Rights. The articles provide insights into complex interactions between humans and their environments, and the ethical and moral dimensions of environmental issues. The Blog is relevant to students of all ages and those who are just fascinated by the Arts and Humanities. |
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 Myanmar Human Rights – Best Analysis of the Bad Situation
Myanmar human rights abuses worsened in 2020, with more restriction on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The international community became more concerned after the 2021 military coup. And the junta’s escalating atrocities plunged Myanmar into a humanitarian and human rights disaster. |
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FREE BOOKS223 Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense FreebiesThese Promos Close 25 and 28 FebruaryThriller authors join forces in joint promotion campaigns to introduce themselves to readers. You can download as many books as you like.
I hope you find plenty to entertain you. CLICK THE BANNERS TO VIEW THE PROMOS - AND GRAB AS MANY BOOKS AS YOU WANT |
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A MILLION ROMAN CANDLES - FROM - ALFIE GOES TO THAILAND - SERIES
Like a butterfly, Alfie finds himself, fragile and delicate, flitting around, looking for a soft place to land and settle down. The constant nightmares have become real, and now the ghost of Nin is haunting him. A deep sadness washes over him, and with a heart heavier than the leaden skies that came with the day, he takes the decision. He will not give up on Thailand. He will go on a journey of recovery. A journey that leaves him with no options. He buckles up and drives away, with no plan, just an open heart and an empty mind, a man with no identity other than for official purposes. Just when he thinks he has succeeded, and his journey is over, a shocking event and a quirk of fate take him to a place he could never have imagined existed. Will he recover, or he will end up as another statistic of abuse?
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THE KENRIGHT CHRONICLES - SERIES
The Kenright Chronicles is a psychological thriller series. Jack Kenright, a young investment banker gets involved in an international art swindle. which cripples his business and threatens his life and his family. He ends up a recluse, working for the FBI undercover and exposes massive corruption in the gambling world. |
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The TakeBy Christopher Reich
From New York Times bestselling author Christopher Reich, an international spy thriller featuring Simon Riske: one part James Bond, one part Jack Reacher. Riske is a freelance industrial spy who, despite his job title, lives a mostly quiet life above his auto garage in central London. He is hired to perform the odd job for a bank, an insurance company, or the British Secret Service, when he isn't expertly stealing a million-dollar watch off the wrist of a crooked Russian oligarch.Riske has maintained his quiet life by avoiding big, messy jobs; until now. A gangster by the name of Tino Coluzzi has orchestrated the greatest street heist in the history of Paris: a visiting Saudi prince had his pockets lightened of millions in cash, and something else. Hidden within a stolen briefcase is a secret letter that could upend the balance of power in the Western world. |
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Rules of DeceptionBy Christopher Reich
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A globe-trotting, bomb-ticking, loyalty-blurring thriller.” —People
Dr. Jonathan Ransom, a surgeon for Doctors Without Borders, is climbing in the Swiss Alps with his wife, Emma, when she falls into a hidden crevasse and dies. Twenty-four hours later, Jonathan receives an envelope addressed to his wife containing two baggage-claim tickets. Puzzled, he journeys to a railway station only to find himself inexplicably attacked by the Swiss police. Suddenly forced on the run, Jonathan's only chance at survival lies in uncovering the devastating truth behind his wife's secret life.
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Substack - Creative Xellence -
Join us at Creative Xellence where we are building a home for James King's Poetry, Short Stories and serialised Novels. Subscribe for Free and you will be notified of new content and recieve the Newsletter.
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Medium
At Medium we curate high value informative articles related to A&H from major publishers and authoratative sources. And we publish a smattering of selected articles from James King Blog and articles written by James King for Medium Publications.
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