Top Items:
Trish Bendix / New York Times:
Colbert Doesn't Give an FCC About Calling Out CBS — “And because my network clearly doesn't want us to talk about this, let's talk about this,” Stephen Colbert said after CBS canceled a Texas congressman's appearance on Monday's “Late Show.” … ‘FCC You’
Discussion:
Steady, LateNighter, Mediaite, Deadline, The Hill, Forbes, NewsMax.com, Washington Examiner, Mother Jones, Media Matters for America, RedState, Techdirt, Fox News, The Wrap, The Status Kuo, Variety, Washington Times, IJR, Townhall, The Dean's Report, The Guardian and Page Six, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
Stephen Colbert says network lawyers pulled James Talarico interview over FCC equal time fears — Late-night host Stephen Colbert said his interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico was pulled from Monday night's broadcast over network fears it would violate regulatory guidance …
Discussion:
CNN, The Wrap, Deadline, USA Today, Forbes, The Guardian, Variety, The Hill, The Verge, The Hollywood Reporter, Meidas+, Vox, FIRE, twitchy.com, Al Jazeera, RedState, Daily Mail, Fox News, Townhall, Mediaite, The Texas Tribune, The Contrarian, Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo, UPI, PoliticusUSA, KVIA-TV, RADAR, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, IJR, Breitbart, The Nation, Straight Arrow News, New York Daily News, Newsbusters, Washington Times, Newsweek, Wonkette, New Jersey Online, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, CBS News, Raw Story, New York Sun, OutsideTheBeltway, NOTUS, MS NOW, Blaze Media, Politico, Scripps News, The Independent, The Gateway Pundit, New Republic, Plain Dealer, NewsMax.com and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
South Jersey guy becomes the face of ICE resistance — I was cranking out the newsletter in Tuesday's pre-dawn darkness when we learned that the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who'd been our greatest living bridge to the civil rights heroics of the 1960s and '70s, has died at age 84.
Mirna Alsharif / NBC News:
Stephen Colbert says CBS didn't air interview out of fear of FCC
Discussion:
New York Post, Mediaite, The Independent, Axios, Deadline, Forbes, The Wrap, LateNighter, Gizmodo and Fox News, more at Mediagazer »
John Koblin / New York Times:
Colbert Slams Trump Administration After CBS Pulls Senate Candidate Interview
Colbert Slams Trump Administration After CBS Pulls Senate Candidate Interview
Discussion:
Associated Press, Axios, The Atlantic, Ace of Spades HQ, CNBC, New York Magazine, Ars Technica and Mediaite
Ron Filipkowski / Meidas+:
Today in Politics, Bulletin 310. 2/17/26
Josephine Walker / Axios:
“Corrupt,” “cruel”: Americans send Trump, GOP a midterm warning — Nearly half of Americans would describe President Trump as “corrupt,” “racist” and “cruel” in new polling full of midterm warning signs for Republicans. … - About 47% of those surveyed said they would use “racist” to describe the president.
RELATED:
Jason Lange / Reuters:
Trump's immigration approval hits new low, according to Reuters/Ipsos poll — U.S. public approval of Donald Trump's immigration policies fell to the lowest level since his return to the White House, amid signs he is losing support among American men on the issue, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Discussion:
PoliticusUSA
Politico:
DHS spokesperson to leave Trump administration amid agency turmoil … Noem released her own statement saying “McLaughlin has served with exceptional dedication, tenacity, and professionalism.” — But the news led House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to say, “Another MAGA extremist forced out of DHS.
Discussion:
Axios, New York Post, Townhall, The Guardian, New York Times, Medill on the Hill, NPR, KVIA-TV, Breitbart, NewsMax.com, Straight Arrow News, CBS News, UPI, MS NOW, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, Joe.My.God. and NewsNation
Christian Datoc / Washington Examiner:
Trump honors civil rights icon Jesse Jackson: ‘Good man’ — President Donald Trump posted a lengthy statement defending his record with the black community as he memorialized the death of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. — Jackson, 84, died on Tuesday morning, weeks after the civil rights icon …
Discussion:
NPR, The Guardian, New York Times, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Bangor Daily News, Washington Blade, Rolling Stone, Politico, Al Jazeera, Fox News, New York Post, The 19th, Raw Story, Chicago Sun Times, The Wrap, WUSA, ABC News, France 24, Washington Times, Salon, The Hill, TheJournal.ie, Blaze Media, NewsMax.com, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Signal, New Republic, UPI, Chicago Tribune and Townhall
RELATED:
ABC News:
Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies at 84
Discussion:
NBC News, CNN, Chicago Sun Times, Politico, HuffPost, MS NOW, Chicago Tribune, The Maine Wire, Townhall, France 24, The Daily Wire, The Post Millennial, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Vanity Fair, LateNighter, Block Club Chicago, RNS, Breitbart, Capital B News, Raw Story and Washington Times
Andrew Stiles / The Washington Free Beacon:
Jesse Jackson, Activist Who Threatened To Castrate Barack Obama, Dead at 84
Jesse Jackson, Activist Who Threatened To Castrate Barack Obama, Dead at 84
Discussion:
CBS News, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Newsweek, ABC News, RedState, Breitbart, The Independent, TMZ.com and Chicago Tribune
United States Capitol Police:
USCP Officers Stop & Arrest Man with Loaded Shotgun Outside the U.S. Capitol — United States Capitol Police (USCP) officers surrounded and arrested a man who ran toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun. — The arrest happened shortly after noon on Tuesday, February 17, on the Lower West Terrace.
Discussion:
HotAir, New York Post, Washington Examiner, RedState, WNYW-TV, Associated Press, Daily Mail, Newsweek, Raw Story, WUSA and Roll Call
RELATED:
Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:
Hegseth forces ouster of senior Army spokesman in latest internal clash — It marks the defense secretary's latest move to force out an officer who worked for retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, a target of President Donald Trump's. — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has forced the ouster …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Fox News, The Atlantic, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Hill, Daily Mail and NewsMax.com
RELATED:
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Hegseth Is Said to Have Ordered Pentagon Spokesman's Firing
Discussion:
Washington Times and Originally Reported …
Politico:
Trump's Cabinet huddles on midterms messaging
Trump's Cabinet huddles on midterms messaging
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and CBS News
Washington Post:
Trump picks his White House assistant for panel reviewing ballroom — Chamberlain Harris, a 26-year-old White House aide and the president's longtime executive assistant, is set to be sworn in Thursday. — When Congress created the Commission of Fine Arts more than a century ago …
Discussion:
Daily Mail, Mediaite and New Republic
NBC News:
Noem's use of Coast Guard resources strains her relationship with the military branch, sources say — Some early decisions by the Homeland security secretary, including to divert Coast Guard resources from a search-and-rescue mission to the deportation of migrants, set the tone early.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Department of Homeland …, The Intercept, Esquire, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, HuffPost and The Independent
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Major corporations bankroll political ad featuring white supremacist slogan — Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY), who is running to replace Mitch McConnell in the United States Senate, released his first television ad earlier this month. In the ad, Barr speaks directly to the camera and declares, “It's not a sin to be white.”
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Scoop: Dems eye forced vote to censure Randy Fine — House Democrats are discussing a forced vote to censure Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) doesn't take action, Axios has learned. … - While the increasingly irreverent and partisan use of censure in recent years …
RELATED:
Ben Kamisar / NBC News:
Republican congressman's anti-Muslim remark prompts calls for his resignation
Republican congressman's anti-Muslim remark prompts calls for his resignation
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Post, Axios, Poynter, The Hill, Reuters, Washington Examiner, HotAir, The Forward, Washington Times, Straight Arrow News, twitchy.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, Florida Politics, Townhall, Truthout, The Dean's Report, NOTUS, The Independent, Breitbart and Joe.My.God.
Eric Bazail-Eimil / Politico:
ICE officials knew use of force was rising well before Minneapolis shootings … Days before, Vitello was informed that the use of force in the first two weeks of March alone had quadrupled compared with the same timeframe the year before, per another email.
Discussion:
Esquire, Bloomberg, The Independent, New Republic and Washington Times
Brandy Zadrozny / MS NOW:
Trump wants to prosecute anti-fascists as terrorists. This Texas trial will test his power. — A July 4 shooting at an ICE detention center could change the way the federal government prosecutes activists. — On July 4 last year, a few hours after sundown, about a dozen left-wing activists …
Discussion:
The Texas Observer, The Guardian, Breitbart, The Mahablog and Raw Story
Garrett Shanley / Miami Herald:
‘Professor Uthmeier’: Inside Florida attorney general's $100k teaching job at UF — Within months of Gov. Ron DeSantis handpicking him as Florida's new attorney general last winter, James Uthmeier landed a lucrative side gig: a $100,000-a-year teaching assignment at University of Florida's law school …
Associated Press:
Federal judge rules Kilmar Abrego Garcia can't be re-detained by immigration authorities — Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia because a 90-day detention period has expired and the government has no viable plan for deporting him, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, CNN, twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, Tampa Free Press, VTDigger, MS NOW, Al Jazeera, Washington Times, The Daily Wire, Associated Press and The Hill
Meghan Blonder / The Washington Free Beacon:
Liberal Media Outlets Refuse To Call Rhode Island Shooter ‘Transgender’ As Number of Transgender Killers Grows — Liberal media outlets have refused to identify the perpetrator who went on a shooting spree at a Rhode Island youth hockey game on Monday as transgender.
Geoff Brumfiel / NPR:
U.S. releases new details on alleged secret Chinese nuclear test — The U.S. government has released fresh intelligence on what it claims was an illicit Chinese nuclear test conducted in 2020. — On June 22 of that year, a remote seismic station in Kazakhstan detected a tiny earthquake.
Discussion:
Reuters, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post
Axios:
Zelensky says Ukrainian public won't let him hand Russia territory — The Ukrainian people would reject a peace deal that involves Ukraine unilaterally withdrawing from the eastern Donbas region and turning it over to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios in an interview Tuesday.
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Post, NewsMax.com and UPI
Jonathan Blitzer / New Yorker:
How Legal Immigration Became a Deportation Trap — Under Trump, the Homeland Security agency responsible for processing visas and green cards has become a site for easy arrests. — One morning last month, a Minneapolis resident, whom I'll call Anna, was pulling into the parking lot at work …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Ashleigh Fields / The Hill:
Air Force One jets to be repainted in Trump's preferred colors — Air Force One jets are expected to receive a new paint job in President Trump's preferred colors of red, white, gold and dark blue, The Hill's sister network NewsNation has confirmed. — Both the luxury jet donated by Qatar …
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Post, CBS News, The War Zone, The Aviationist, KVIA-TV and NewsMax.com
Jasper Ward / Reuters:
Allegations in Epstein files may amount to ‘crimes against humanity,’ UN experts say — Millions of files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggest the existence of a “global criminal enterprise” that carried out acts meeting the legal threshold of crimes against humanity …
Anna Kramer / NOTUS:
Trump Promises Federal Action to Clean Up Potomac River Sewage Spill — President Donald Trump weighed in Monday on the ongoing sewage crisis on the Potomac River in a Truth Social post promising federal action to fix the situation, while accusing Maryland Gov. Wes Moore of “gross mismanagement.”
Discussion:
CNBC, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, WUSA, Raw Story, MS NOW, Daily Mail and The Gateway Pundit
Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:
Trump administration strikes three more alleged drug boats in the Pacific and Caribbean — The strikes killed 11 people, U.S. Southern Command announced in a post on X. — Listen to this article with a free account — U.S. Southern Command announced that the military launched strikes …
Jasmine Wright / NOTUS:
'It's Chaos': How Trump's Pardoning Process Keeps Changing — Alice Marie Johnson was set to bring her latest list of pardon recommendations to President Donald Trump in a meeting just before Christmas last year, an exclamation point at the end of a year marked by the reemergence of a muscular pardoning operation at the White House.
Discussion:
The Independent, New Republic, Raw Story and Mock Paper Scissors


