Weekend With Bernie
Plus: U.S. Olympic hockey team wins the gold medal and Mexico kills cartel boss "El Mencho."
When it comes to artificial intelligence, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) have landed firmly in the we're-doomed camp. The duo toured Silicon Valley last week, eventually stopping by Stanford University to warn students about the coming "tsunami." Sanders said that we are about to enter the "most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country," according to The Guardian.
But unlike most AI pessimists who concentrate on the potential harms that advanced computers might pose to human beings—the If Anybody Builds It, Everyone Dies viewpoint—Sanders is mostly just worried that wealthy tech investors are about to make a lot of money.
"We're not against AI and we're not against robotics, but we want those technologies to improve life for all people and not just make the very wealthiest people in this country even wealthier," said Sanders, speaking for himself and Khanna.
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These remarks came during an exchange with a perceptive audience member at the Stanford event, who asked the question that tends to stump adherents of Sanders' progressive economic ideology: Why has the U.S. tech sector outperformed Europe so dramatically?
Bernie Sanders is asked why he thinks the US has more successful businesses than Europe. It's clear he has never thought about this, gives a total non-answer and goes back to his stump speech.
Excellent question by @MacroscopeEcon pic.twitter.com/pVErVOz2qH
— Maxwell Meyer (@mualphaxi) February 21, 2026
Sanders said something about the U.S. having some very talented people, which is true, but it's true because America's lax regulatory environment and comparatively low taxes are ideal for investment and innovation. There is no Silicon Valley in Europe precisely because European bureaucrats would never cosign the hands-off policies that are necessary for massive economic growth. (For instance, the French police recently raided X's headquarters in France over concerns about Grok, Elon Musk's AI.)
But Sanders admires Europe, and has made clear that he prefers the European approach to tech regulation. He reiterated his demand for a moratorium on new AI data centers in order to "slow down" the AI revolution and allow the government a chance to catch up on regulation. (That was a bridge too far for Khanna, whose district includes Silicon Valley.)
Data centers are becoming a hot-button issue; "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) types are fighting back against them all over the country, reciting misleading or outright false talking points about their water and electrical usage. The New Republic has declared data centers "the enemy we've all been waiting for" and predicts that the issue is one that will galvanize people and create a new populist left-right alliance against Big Tech.
They may very well be right about that; knee-jerk opposition to technological innovation and the prosperity it creates is a hallmark of populist thinking. But Sanders and his ilk are wrong on the merits: Data centers are both good for the economy—they do not deprive local populations of precious resources—and necessary for America's AI-led destiny.
"While the rest of the economy wobbles under the weight of trade wars and other forms of government intervention, data center investment is almost exclusively responsible for driving GDP growth," writes Reason's Christian Britschgi. "Contrary to the claims of the not-in-my-backyard technophobes, all this growth comes with minimal environmental downsides."
Mexican forces killed a notorious cartel leader, with an assist from U.S. intelligence. Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," was killed in the Mexican state of Jalisco, where he headed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. While the operation did not involve U.S. forces, the Pentagon did share pertinent intelligence with Mexican authorities, CBS reports.
US played a role in Mexico-led operation that killed drug kingpin "El Mencho" -- a Pentagon joint task force regularly works with the Mexican military, @CBSNews's @ellee_watson reports. The killing triggered violence in Puerto Vallarta and other areas, with some reports the… https://t.co/UiqnbTzVZj
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 22, 2026
The killing prompted widespread violence and looting throughout Jalisco. U.S. airlines had to cancel flights to Puerto Vallarta, a popular vacation destination, and Guadalajara International Airport descended into anarchy. Cartel operatives often try to cause chaos after their members are killed in order to cause panic and discourage the government from confronting them in the future.
Both Republicans and Democrats applauded the killing of El Mencho and called on the Mexican government to take a harder line with the cartels.
The U.S. Olympic hockey team won a huge victory over Canada, taking home the gold medal for the first time since 1980. The New Jersey Devils' 24-year-old Jack Hughes scored the winning goal during three-on-three overtime, despite taking a hockey stick to the face earlier in the game, which knocked out pieces of his teeth.
Hughes' blood-infused grin and patriotic post-game remarks went viral on social media, earning praise. You're either excited about this, or you hate America.
"This is all about our country right now. I love the USA… We're so proud to be Americans."
— Jack Hughes, @usahockey ???????? pic.twitter.com/XI9tcdKein
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 22, 2026
Scenes from Washington, D.C.: We were told to expect more snow in the district—oh, joy—but so far, nothing's sticking. This Midwestern transplant has been shocked by the extent to which even a minuscule amount of snow can incapacitate the nation's capital.
QUICK HITS
- An armed man was shot and killed for trespassing at Mar-a-Lago.
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom is backing age limits for social media use.
- President Donald Trump personally called on Netflix to fire Susan Rice from the board of directors, saying there would be "consequences" if the company failed to do so. This matters, of course, since the Trump administration could kill the Netflix deal to acquire Warner Bros. (Paramount Skydance, a media empire run by close Trump backer Larry Ellison, is also out to acquire Warner Bros.)
- Someone called into C-SPAN pretending to be Trump complaining about the tariff decision.
a guy who claimed to be named John Barron and sounded a lot like Trump called into C-SPAN to complain about the Supreme Court's tariff decision and call Hakeem Jeffries "a dope"
(John Barron is a pseudonym Trump has used for himself when talking to journalists) pic.twitter.com/UixNjll7NB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 22, 2026
