Billionaires Gone Wild  —  Understanding the oligarchs' power grab and the dire threat to American democracy  —  A few stories about centibillionaires — men whose net worth exceeds $100 billion — and their role in our society:  —  · In 2022 Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, purchased Twitter.

STAT+: FDA reverses course, agrees to review Moderna's flu vaccine  —  WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration reversed course and told Moderna it would review its application for a new flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday.  —  The agency told Moderna earlier this month …

Trump Doesn't Want You To See This  —  So, here you go!  —  Dan Rather and Team Steady  —  We're here today to help out an old colleague call out blatant censorship and support the First Amendment.  Late-night host Stephen Colbert found himself hard up against CBS lawyers on Monday.

Angry Trump Humiliated as Effort to Prosecute Dems Backfires Again  —  Let's start with some good news: Donald Trump's efforts to jail his Democratic enemies have thus far mostly been marked by ham-fisted, buffoonish failure.  The targeting of people like Senator Adam Schiff …

Vatican won't participate in Trump's Gaza “Board of Peace” … - The board is set to hold its inaugural meeting Thursday in Washington. … - One such concern, he said, “is that at the international level it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations.”

Amid Mass ICE Arrests, Trump Pardon Recipient Juan Orlando Hernández Given Special Treatment  —  After the former Honduran president was pardoned, ICE dropped its detainer on him, and he was whisked away to a luxury hotel in New York City.  —  Copy HTML

Report: Staff at Dilley raiding cells to confiscate kids' letters and drawings detailing conditions inside  —  Staff at Dilley's South Texas Family Residential Center have begun raiding cells at the immigrant detention facility to confiscate letters from children detailing the conditions inside …

Where Christian nationalism is most dominant in the U.S.  —  Christian nationalism is now deeply entrenched inside today's Republican Party, according to a sweeping 50-state survey. … - The divide reflects a broader clash over whether America's future is pluralistic or rooted in a singular religious-national identity.

Judges decry treatment of nursing and pregnant detainees in ICE custody … That crystallized over the weekend in Massachusetts, when Djeniffer Benvinda Semedo, a Cape Verdean national who is six months pregnant, was rushed to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for emergency care.

Judge declares mistrial in Texas ‘antifa’ protest case over attorney's T-shirt  —  Lawyer for defendants accused of terrorism at ICE protest decried by Trump appointee over shirt's potential for ‘bias’  —  A federal judge in Texas declared a mistrial on Tuesday after a defense lawyer wore …

Republicans are eyeing major election changes.  Trump's mail voting crackdown isn't one of them. … But other Republicans don't see it that way — many of their own voters have voted by mail consistently for decades.  So far, the type of blanket ban on mail voting Trump wants has not gained traction …

GOP congressman who says he supports dogs over Muslims faces calls to resign  —  House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said Tuesday that Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida) is “an Islamophobic, disgusting and unrepentant bigot.”  —  Democrats are demanding that Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida) …

Trump moves closer to a major war with Iran  —  The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize.  It could begin very soon. … - The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that's much broader in scope …

Democrats Plan to Counter Trump's Speech to Congress With Rally  —  The House Democratic leader has asked rank-and-file members to sit quietly at the speech or skip it altogether, wary of creating a distraction.  —  Democrats knew in real time last year that they had bungled their response …

Credit cards cancelled, Google accounts closed: ICC judges on life under Trump sanctions  —  Kimberly Prost and Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza vow US reprisals will not affect work of international criminal court  —  When the Canadian Kimberly Prost learned Donald Trump's administration …

The Mom-and-Pop Contractors Helping ICE Rapidly Expand  —  Assault training.  Blast-resistant window film.  Sniper programs.  Iris scanners.  With tens of billions of dollars in new funding, ICE can't seem to spend money fast enough, and first-time contractors from across the country …

National Review: “The SAVE Act's Virtuous Goals Are Not Worth the Cost”  —  National Review:  —  Republicans in Congress, supported vocally by the Trump administration, are pushing for passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act.  It now appears to have majority support in the Senate after passing the House.

Chlorine Dioxide, Raw Camel Milk: The FDA No Longer Warns Against These and Other Ineffective Autism Treatments  —  The warning on the government website was stark.  Some products and remedies claiming to treat or cure autism are being marketed deceptively and can be harmful.

California 2026 Poll: Hilton, Swalwell, Bianco Lead Nonpartisan Primary for Governor  —  Home Polls California 2026 Poll: Hilton, Swalwell, Bianco Lead Nonpartisan Primary for Governor  —  A new Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics survey of the primary for Governor finds …

Wes Moore 2028 Drowning in River of Bullshit  —  Democrat Wes Moore's presidential ambitions imploded over the past 10 weeks, but you'd have to be a pretty close student of the Maryland governor to know it, since most of the mainstream press is in cahoots with the aspiring 2028 Democratic presidential cohort.

Extremist rhetoric is often found in government messaging.  Who's the target?  —  A recent social media post from an account belonging to President Trump prompted enough outcry over its use of a familiar racist trope that the White House deleted it.  The Truth Social post included an image …

DOJ acknowledges violating dozens of recent court orders in New Jersey … There were also six missed deadlines to respond to court orders, 12 missed deadlines to provide bond hearings to ICE detainees, 17 out-of-state transfers after judges had issued no-transfer orders …

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.

Donald Trump's AI push fuels revolt in Maga heartlands  —  Republicans fear backlash against White House agenda could undermine support in this year's midterm elections  —  On a cold Tuesday evening last week, about 200 Missourians crammed into a Methodist church to share a message …

Jesse Jackson's Remarkable Life Was a Model for All of Us  —  We would be wise to follow the path he forged.  —  Pocket  —  “Jesse Jackson is one of the very most significant political leaders in this country in the last 100 years,” declared Senator Bernie Sanders, summarizing the importance …

2/18/26☀️ AM: … Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson has held out on redistricting even as the state House has passed the measure by overwhelming margins. … Over the last six months, D.C. Republicans unleashed a tidal wave of TV ads boosting Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

We're All Minnesotans Now  —  How committed is the Trump administration to erasing the history of slavery?  Last month, the National Park Service removed exhibits about slavery from the Philadelphia site where George Washington—and some of the people he enslaved—and John Adams lived …

“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.

The Uncanny Artifice of George Washington  —  I got a number of fascinating replies to yesterday's post about the federal calendar and presidential holidays, specifically whether we should ditch Columbus Day in favor of a national holiday celebrating Abraham Lincoln.