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5:15 PM ET, February 17, 2026

memeorandum

 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’
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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.
Matt Webb Mitovich / LateNighter:
Colbert Says CBS Pulled Guest Amid FCC Scrutiny, Posts Interview on YouTube Instead
Discussion: Mediaite
Tom Tapp / Deadline:
Stephen Colbert Defies CBS, Says Network Banned Him From Interviewing James Talarico On ‘The Late Show’
William Kristol / The Bulwark:   American Principles in the Age of MAGA Nihilism
Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
Stephen Colbert says network lawyers pulled James Talarico interview over FCC equal time fears
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.
RELATED:
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.”
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ABC News:
Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies at 84  —  Jackson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.  —  Rev. Jesse Jackson poses in the Rainbow Push headquarters in Chicago, August 4, 2011.  —  The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, Baptist minister …
Char Adams / NBC News:
Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon, dies at 84  —  “Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement Tuesday.  — ADD NBC NEWS TO GOOGLE
Christian Datoc / Washington Examiner:
Trump honors civil rights icon Jesse Jackson: ‘Good man’
CNN:
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, pioneering civil rights activist and racial ‘pathfinder,’ dies at 84
RELATED:
Travis Gettys / Raw Story:   New details emerge about in-flight blow-up between Corey Lewandowski and pilot
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:
Paul Waldman / The Cross Section:   MAGA White Supremacists Are a Bunch of Pathetic Losers
Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Trump's election bill tops 50 Senate votes, but Democrats could still block it  —  The SAVE America Act has passed the House and enjoys President Trump's support, meaning the Senate's 60-vote threshold is the only thing standing in the way of it becoming law.  —  Listen to this article with a free account
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Annie Karni / New York Times:
Republicans, Braced for Losses, Push More Voting Restrictions in Congress
Discussion: MS NOW and The Daily Signal
Dana Nickel / Politico:
Noncitizen voting is rare. Why is Washington so focused on it?
Discussion: twitchy.com and Townhall
NBC News:
Armed man wearing tactical vest arrested outside the U.S. Capitol, police say  —  Police also discovered a Kevlar helmet and a gas mask inside the suspect's vehicle, which was parked near the building.  —  Listen to this article with a free account  —  WASHINGTON — An 18-year-old man …
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Andrew Solender / Axios:
Police arrest suspect with apparent gun near U.S. Capitol
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 …
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 Republic
Ben Kamisar / NBC News:
Republican congressman's anti-Muslim remark prompts calls for his resignation  —  Rep. Randy Fine's post on X drew fire from Democrats and a major Islamic civil rights group.  —  Listen to this article with a free account  —  Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., prompted calls for his resignation …
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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 …
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:   How the Kakistocracy Became a Quackistocracy
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.
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.”
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 …
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.
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
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.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Politico:
Jimmy Kimmel to headline fundraiser for House Democrats in Los Angeles
Geoff Brumfiel / NPR:
U.S. releases new details on alleged secret Chinese nuclear test
Discussion: Washington Post
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Top Republican eyeing FDA overhaul
Samantha Maldonado / The City:
Rent Board Resignation Clears Path for Mamdani Rent Freeze Promise
Thomas B. Edsall / New York Times:
Has Trump Thrown the Democrats a Lifesaver?
Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story
Media Matters for America:
Alex Jones attacks Dan Bongino as “mentally ill, in a power trip” and a “drama queen destroying himself”
Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:
Trump administration strikes three more alleged drug boats in the Pacific and Caribbean
 Earlier Items: 
Axios:
Zelensky says Ukrainian public won't let him hand Russia territory
Discussion: UPI
Nick Bednar / Lawfare:
The Constitutionality of the Civil Service
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
After First Big Overseas Trip, Ocasio-Cortez Expresses Frustrations
David Dayen / American Prospect:
The Quintessential Epstein Files Email
Mike Allen / Axios:
How Trump saved TikTok: Backstory of a 2-year campaign
Discussion: New Republic
Jessica Parker / BBC:
Hillary Clinton accuses Trump administration of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ in BBC interview
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Financial Times:
WBD tells Paramount to make its “best and final offer” within seven days, or get out of the way of Netflix's agreed $83B deal; Netflix granted a weeklong waiver

Krystal Hur / Wall Street Journal:
Filing: Berkshire Hathaway reports that it purchased 5.1M shares of The New York Times during the December quarter; NYT rises 3%+ after hours

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Versant's MS Now signs a deal with Crooked Media to air highlights from Crooked podcasts such as Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It, at 9pm ET on Saturdays

 
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