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:
LateNighter, Mediaite, Deadline, The Hill, Mother Jones, Media Matters for America, RedState, Techdirt, Forbes, The Wrap, Variety, IJR, The Status Kuo, The Dean's Report, Page Six, The Guardian and PBS NewsHour, more at Mediagazer »
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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.
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 Hill, The Wrap, USA Today, Forbes, Variety, The Guardian, The Verge, Deadline, Meidas+, FIRE, twitchy.com, The Hollywood Reporter, Al Jazeera, RedState, Daily Mail, Fox News, Mediaite, The Texas Tribune, Townhall, Lawyers, Guns & Money, UPI, PoliticusUSA, Washington Examiner, KVIA-TV, RADAR, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, IJR, Straight Arrow News, New York Daily News, Newsbusters, Washington Times, Newsweek, Wonkette, New Jersey Online, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, CBS News, Raw Story, The Contrarian, New York Sun, NOTUS, The Nation, Breitbart, OutsideTheBeltway, Blaze Media, MS NOW, The Gateway Pundit, Plain Dealer, NewsMax.com, Politico, The Independent, Scripps News, Mashable, LateNighter and New Republic, more at Mediagazer »
Mirna Alsharif / NBC News:
Stephen Colbert says CBS didn't air interview out of fear of FCC
Discussion:
New York Post, Mediaite, The Independent, Forbes, Axios, Gizmodo and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »
Dan Rather / Steady:
Trump Doesn't Want You To See This — So, here you go! — Dan Rather and Team Steady
Trump Doesn't Want You To See This — So, here you go! — Dan Rather and Team Steady
Discussion:
Vox, Talking Points Memo, Deadline, NewsMax.com, LateNighter, Washington Examiner, New Republic and Fox News
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:
Axios, The Atlantic, CNBC, New York Magazine, Ars Technica, Mediaite and Ace of Spades HQ
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.
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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.
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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
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, Al Jazeera, RedState, Washington Examiner, WNYW-TV, Associated Press, Daily Mail, Newsweek, Raw Story, WUSA, Roll Call, The Hill, NewsMax.com and Joe.My.God.
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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, Al Jazeera, Fox News, New York Post, The 19th, Raw Story, Chicago Sun Times, WUSA, ABC News, France 24, Washington Times, Salon, The Hill, TheJournal.ie, Blaze Media, The Wrap, NewsMax.com, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Signal, New Republic, Politico, UPI, FOX 32 Chicago, Chicago Tribune and Townhall
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ABC News:
Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies at 84
Discussion:
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Chicago Sun Times, CNN, Washington Post, Politico, HuffPost, MS NOW, Chicago Tribune, The Maine Wire, Townhall, France 24, The Daily Wire, masslive.com, The Post Millennial, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Vanity Fair, Block Club Chicago, RNS, Breitbart, Capital B News, LateNighter, Raw Story, Washington Times, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Variety, Protestia, The Independent, RADAR, KING-TV, TMZ.com, The Hill, FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, GB News, Reuters, Deadline and New York Post
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Hegseth Is Said to Have Ordered Pentagon Spokesman's Firing — The spokesman, Army Col. Dave Butler, worked for the Army chief of staff. — One of the Pentagon's most seasoned public affairs officials was fired last week on the orders of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to senior Defense Department officials.
Discussion:
Washington Times and Originally Reported …
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Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:
Hegseth forces ouster of senior Army spokesman in latest internal clash
Discussion:
Associated Press, Fox News, The Atlantic, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Mediaite, Daily Mail, Raw Story, The Hill, NewsMax.com and MS NOW
Politico:
Trump's Cabinet huddles on midterms messaging
Trump's Cabinet huddles on midterms messaging
Discussion:
CBS News and Washington Examiner
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
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
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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, The Daily Beast, Esquire, Mediaite, The Independent, HuffPost, Oregonian and NewsMax.com
Dana Nickel / Politico:
Noncitizen voting is rare. Why is Washington so focused on it? … The SAVE America Act, an updated version of a bill to tighten voter registration standards that narrowly passed the House last year, was approved by the House last week following pressure from President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and far-right influencers.
Discussion:
Townhall and twitchy.com
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Annie Karni / New York Times:
Republicans, Braced for Losses, Push More Voting Restrictions in Congress
Republicans, Braced for Losses, Push More Voting Restrictions in Congress
Discussion:
NBC News, The Daily Signal and MS NOW
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 …
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
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, Washington Times, Breitbart and Raw Story
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.
Discussion:
New York Post, Fox News, The Providence Journal, The Daily Wire, The Guardian, CBS News, Washington Times, OutKick, NewsMax.com, RADAR, Newsbusters, New York Sun, Bangor Daily News, The Daily Signal, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, NBC News, Ace of Spades HQ, Louder With Crowder and The European Conservative
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, Townhall, Tampa Free Press, VTDigger, MS NOW, Al Jazeera, Washington Times, The Daily Wire, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit and The Hill
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 …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hill, Frontpage Mag, Washington Examiner, The Forward, Raw Story, Washington Times, Florida Politics, Truthout, NOTUS, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite
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
Brian Kaylor / A Public Witness:
Doug Wilson Preaches at Pentagon, Compares Services to Day of Pentecost — Controversial Christian Nationalist preacher Doug Wilson stood at a podium inside the Pentagon on Tuesday (Feb. 17) as the guest preacher for the latest monthly Christian worship service held there for leaders of the U.S. military.
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
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
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, KVIA-TV, NewsMax.com and The Aviationist
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 …
Discussion:
Al Jazeera


