memeorandum: Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies at 84 (ABC News)

2:40 PM ET, February 17, 2026

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’

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.

Matt Webb Mitovich / LateNighter:

Colbert Says CBS Pulled Guest Amid FCC Scrutiny, Posts Interview on YouTube Instead — FCC chair Brendan Carr's threatened revisiting of the Equal Time rule has come to fruition, forcing CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to not air an interview with Democratic politician James Talarico.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Tom Tapp / Deadline:

Stephen Colbert Defies CBS, Says Network Banned Him From Interviewing James Talarico On ‘The Late Show’ — At the top of his show tonight, Stephen Colbert introduced the Late Show band, announced guest Jennifer Garner and then asked the audience, “You know who is not one of my guests tonight?”

Discussion: USA Today, New York Daily News, Forbes, RedState, Gizmodo, IJR, The Verge, Mediaite and New Republic

William Kristol / The Bulwark:
American Principles in the Age of MAGA Nihilism

Discussion: Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Novaya Gazeta Europe

Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
Stephen Colbert says network lawyers pulled James Talarico interview over FCC equal time fears

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Stephen Colbert Says CBS Blocked Him From Interviewing Senate Hopeful Over FCC Equal Time Fears

Discussion: Mediaite, The Hill, Axios, The Siren, The Texas Tribune, Variety, Washington Times, Straight Arrow News and Eschaton, more at Mediagazer »

Peter Applebome / New York Times:

Jesse Jackson, Charismatic Champion of Civil Rights, Dies at 84 — An impassioned orator, he was a moral and political force, forming a “rainbow coalition” of poor and working-class people and seeking the presidency. His mission, he said, was “to transform the mind of America.”

Discussion: Associated Press, New Republic, Punchbowl News, Axios, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Straight Arrow News, The Guardian and Election Law Blog

ABC News:
Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies at 84

Discussion: France 24, Townhall, Bloomberg, KING-TV, Breitbart, Deadline, Variety, The Independent, TMZ.com, twitchy.com, RNS, LateNighter, Reuters, CBS News, WJBK-TV, Al Jazeera and Tampa Free Press

Char Adams / NBC News:
Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon, dies at 84

Zoe Christen Jones / CBS News:
Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader who ran for president, dies at age 84

Discussion: NPR, Chicago Sun Times, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, Chicago Tribune, Mashable, New York Daily News, New York Times, Washington Examiner, The Independent and Advocate

CNN:
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, pioneering civil rights activist and racial ‘pathfinder,’ dies at 84

Discussion: The Guardian, The Hill, CNBC, ABC News, Newsweek, KVIA-TV, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, Vanity Fair, The Independent, Townhall, Axios and Governor of California

Edward Walsh / Washington Post:
Jesse Jackson, a leading voice for civil rights, dies at 84

Discussion: New York Times, The Guardian, CBS News, France 24, Chicago Sun Times, Rolling Stone, Althouse and FOX 32 Chicago

Cameron McWhirter / Wall Street Journal:
Jesse Jackson, Civil-Rights Leader and Democratic Presidential Candidate, Dies at 84

Discussion: Washington Post, Esquire, New York Times, New York Magazine, Chicago Sun Times, Newsweek, Tampa Free Press and CBS News

Christian Datoc / Washington Examiner:
Trump honors civil rights icon Jesse Jackson: ‘Good man’

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Washington Times, New York Post, Raw Story, Fox News, The Guardian, The Hill, The Wrap, France 24, The Gateway Pundit, NewsMax.com, Blaze Media, New Republic and Mediaite

Politico:
Jesse Jackson dies at 84

Discussion: The Guardian, The Maine Wire, Al Jazeera, Raw Story, France 24, RADAR, Protestia, FOX 32 Chicago, UPI, The Daily Signal, New York Post, abc7NY and Fox News

Kevin Robillard / HuffPost:
Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leader Who Helped Launch Progressive Movement, Dead At 84

Discussion: The Hill, NBC News, FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, TheJournal.ie, Extra and Just Jared

Claire Moses / New York Times:
Mourners remember Jackson outside his organization's Chicago headquarters.

Discussion: Chicago Sun Times, New York Daily News, Capital B News, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Joe.My.God.

Politico:

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin to leave Trump administration … McLaughlin publicly supported the Trump administration's controversial tactics at some of the most tense moments amid its immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and Minneapolis, frequently sparring with social media detractors.

Brittany Gibson / Axios:
DHS promoting McLaughlin's deputy as new spokesperson

Discussion: Scripps News

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: HuffPost, The Intercept, NewsMax.com, New Republic, Raw Story, The Independent, Oregonian and Mediaite

Travis Gettys / Raw Story:
New details emerge about in-flight blow-up between Corey Lewandowski and pilot

Discussion: The Daily Beast

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: The Cross Section and Joe.My.God.

Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:

Trump somehow got worse on public health after covid — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🧠 Subscribe to PN 🧠 — In the Trump administration's latest assault on public health, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s crankified FDA refused …

Paul Krugman: How the Kakistocracy Became a Quackistocracy

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: New Republic, Raw Story, The Parnas Perspective and Breitbart

Sophia Tareen / Associated Press:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after King, has died at 84 — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, has died.

Discussion: Mississippi Free Press, Zeteo, MS NOW, The Hill, WUSA, Washington Times, New York Times, CBS News, WJBK-TV and KVIA-TV

Sharon Cohen / Associated Press:
AP Was There: A profile of Jesse Jackson as he prepared his 1984 campaign for the presidency

Discussion: Instapundit, Insider NJ, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and CBS News

Oliver Darcy / Status:

Cooper's Final Minutes … On Monday evening, as the media class wrapped up its three-day Presidents' Day weekend, a bombshell development sent shockwaves across the industry. Anderson Cooper, Lachlan Cartwright reported, had declined to sign a new agreement with CBS News …

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: Washington Examiner, The Hill, Fox News, New York Times, Originally Reported …, Raw Story, Daily Mail, NewsMax.com, Mediaite, MS NOW and Joe.My.God.

Jessica Parker / BBC:

Hillary Clinton accuses Trump administration of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ in BBC interview — Hillary Clinton has accused President Donald Trump's administration of a “cover-up” over its handling of files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. — “Get the files out.

Discussion: The Hill, Straight Arrow News, CNN, CBS News, The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, France 24, RedState, NewsMax.com, Wonkette, Newsweek, TheJournal.ie, Mediaite and The Independent

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: New York Sun

Tony Romm / New York Times:

Trump Sought Vast Budget Cuts. Congress Granted Few. … Shortly after returning to office, President Trump embarked on an aggressive campaign to pare back the core functions of the federal government, unveiling a budget that proposed some of the steepest spending reductions in U.S. history.

Discussion: NewsMax.com

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Obama Took On Recession, Health Care and Iraq. What He Didn't See Coming Was Trump. — A new set of oral history interviews documents how Barack Obama and his advisers missed the shifting mood of the country that would ultimately replace him with a successor they considered a “con man,” “clown” and “laughingstock.”

Discussion: Washington Examiner, New Jersey Online, abc7NY and The Hill

Jessica Yellin / News Not Noise:

Let Them Fly First Class: Kristi Noem's DHS Luxury Jet Scandal — For daily news updates and analysis, be sure to follow us on Instagram. If you are able to support independent journalism, please make a tax-deductible donation to News Not Noise here. — Today, we lead with something sure …

Discussion: Wonkette

Mike Allen / Axios:

How Trump saved TikTok: Backstory of a 2-year campaign — President Trump had just won reelection and was basking in the parade of congratulatory pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago. On this day in November 2024, an old friend and a first-time visitor were meeting privately with Trump.

Discussion: New Republic