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6:55 PM ET, February 18, 2026

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Christian Paz / Vox:
The FCC (probably) didn't censor Stephen Colbert  —  For the 12 of us who woke up Tuesday morning wondering what we had missed on Monday's late-night shows, CBS greeted us with a concerning development.  —  Overnight, Stephen Colbert had laid into his network, dedicating time at the top …
RELATED:
John Hendel / Politico:
Carr dismisses Colbert uproar as a ‘hoax’ … “You had a Democrat candidate who understood the way that the news media works, and he took advantage of all of your sort of prior conceptions to run a hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks,” Carr said during …
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Colbert defies CBS over interview with Texas Senate candidate
David Bauder / Associated Press:
Late-night host Stephen Colbert isn't backing down from public dispute with CBS bosses
Barak Ravid / Axios:
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 …
RELATED:
CNN:
US military prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend, but Trump has yet to make a final call, sources say  —  The US military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend, though President Donald Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether he'll authorize such actions, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.
Wall Street Journal:
Iran Is Getting Ready for War With the U.S.
Discussion: Fox News, NewsMax.com and Semafor
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
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 …
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
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.
Discussion: Mock Paper Scissors
RELATED:
Carol Ryan / Wall Street Journal:
Billionaires' Low Taxes Are Becoming a Problem for the Economy  —  Tax avoidance by the superwealthy is an economic issue as well as a political one  —  California's plan to hit its richest residents with a one-off wealth tax is a long shot, and its design has problems.
Discussion: The Hill and The Guardian
Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Billionaire Les Wexner tells lawmakers that he was ‘conned’ by Jeffrey Epstein and did ‘nothing wrong’  —  The 88-year-old former Victoria's Secret CEO denied he was Epstein's “co-conspirator,” and said he “was duped by a world-class con man.”  —  Listen to this article with a free account
RELATED:
Emily Brooks / The Hill:
Les Wexner denies knowledge of Epstein crimes in deposition with skeptical Democrats
Emily Peck / Axios:
Trump's economic adviser says authors of tariff study should be “disciplined”  —  White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the authors of a New York Fed study that found that Americans pay for tariffs should be disciplined, in an interview with CNBC Wednesday morning.
Discussion: Bloomberg, CNBC, Fortune, MS NOW and Joe.My.God.
RELATED:
Victoria Guida / Politico:
Hassett says Fed staff should be ‘disciplined’ for reporting the US pays tariff costs
Nature:
The political effects of X's feed algorithm  — Germain Gauthier orcid.org/0009-0000-4262-7483 1 na1, - Roland Hodler orcid.org/0000-0001-8402-8243 2 na1, - Philine Widmer 3 na1 & - - Ekaterina Zhuravskaya orcid.org/0000-0002-3496-2086 3,4 na1 Show authors  —  Abstract
Discussion: Gizmodo
Reuters:
Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere  —  The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda …
Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:
Pope Rejects Trump's “Board of Peace” Invite  —  The Vatican will not be joining Donald Trump's “Board of Peace,” announcing Tuesday that it was turning down a January invitation from the White House.  —  “For us, there are ... some critical issues that should be resolved,” …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Colorado Democrats Push to Rip Up 2028 House Map for an Extra Edge  —  A proposed ballot measure to give Democrats more seats for the 2028 and 2030 elections signals that the nation's gerrymandering fight is likely to persist for years.  —  A group allied with Colorado Democrats is beginning …
RELATED:
Arthur Delaney / HuffPost:
GOP Lawmaker Reportedly Had Affair With Aide Who Died By Self-Immolation  —  Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) accused his primary opponent of using the story to smear his aide's memory.  —  WASHINGTON — A Republican lawmaker's apparent affair with an aide who later died by suicide has roiled a close primary election in Texas.
Carol Leonnig / MS NOW:
White House directing DHS to hunt for voter fraud by naturalized citizens: Sources  —  The Department of Homeland Security's chief investigations arm this week launched a broader nationwide campaign to investigate and prosecute naturalized citizens who may have improperly voted in past elections …
Karina Petrova / PsyPost:
High IQ men tend to be less conservative than their average peers, study finds  —  The stereotype of the eccentric genius with radical political views is a common trope in fiction.  A new study challenges this assumption by suggesting that highly intelligent adults may hold political views …
Discussion: Raw Story
Lizzy Lawrence / STAT:
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 …
RELATED:
New York Times:
F.D.A. Reverses Decision and Agrees to Review Moderna's Flu Vaccine
Emily Crane / New York Post:
NYC hospital permanently axes transgender treatment program for kids following Trump's threat to yank funding  —  NYU Langone Health, a major Manhattan hospital, will permanently ax its transgender treatment program for kids after the Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding.
RELATED:
Phillip Nieto / Daily Mail:
Tucker Carlson ‘DETAINED’ in Israel: Journalist ‘dragged into interrogation room’ as explosive interview sparks diplomatic firestorm  —  Conservative podcasting titan Tucker Carlson says he and his staff were detained in Israel on Wednesday following an interview with Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump's current ambassador to the country.
Bridget Bowman / NBC News:
John Cornyn warns of a GOP ‘massacre’ in Texas if Ken Paxton beats him in their Senate primary  —  Cornyn is locked in a hotly contested primary race against state Attorney General Ken Paxton and GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt.  — ADD NBC NEWS TO GOOGLE  —  Listen to this article with a free account
Annie Karni / New York Times:
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 …
Keri Blakinger / ProPublica:
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
Pranav Baskar / New York Times:
Journalists Arrested in Cameroon While Reporting on Trump's Secretive Deportation Program  —  An Associated Press reporter was beaten and held with three other journalists and a lawyer, two detainees said, while at a center for migrants secretively deported from the United States.
Associated Press:
Trump, weeks after backlash over racist post, hosts Black History Month reception  —  President Donald Trump hosted a White House reception for Black History Month on Wednesday, less than two weeks after he sparked a bipartisan outcry by posting a racist video on social media …
Helena Hind / Media Matters for America:
Compared to other cable news channels, Fox News is hiding the latest Epstein revelations from their audience  —  If you exclusively watch Fox News, you likely have no idea about the latest fallout from the Epstein files release … The DOJ's January 30 release of over 3 million pages of files …
Discussion: Daily Mail
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
N.I.H. Director Will Temporarily Run C.D.C. in Leadership Shake-Up  —  Dr. Jay Bhattacharya will serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until President Trump appoints a permanent director.  —  The director of the National Institutes of Health …
Timothy Pratt / The Guardian:
Conservative Georgia town pushes back against ICE detention center: ‘We are Americans after all’  —  Social Circle, a mostly Maga town, builds strange bedfellow coalition against plans to convert warehouse  —  On a recent morning Eric Taylor, city manager for a small Georgia town …
Declan Harty / Politico:
'He's jumping in all the way': A Trump financial regulator backs prediction markets in their clash against states … Kalshi, Polymarket and other prediction markets operate CFTC-regulated financial exchanges that allow wagers on everything from the Winter Olympics to elections to the existence of aliens.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
The ‘Most Massive Attack On Free Speech’ Is Happening Right Now, And The Twitter Files Crew Is Mighty Quiet  —  For the last five years, we had to endure an endless, breathless parade of hyperbole regarding the so-called “censorship industrial complex.”  We were told, repeatedly and at high volume …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Media Matters for America:
Fox's Brian Kilmeade pleads with Trump to drop tariffs on clothing
Discussion: CBS News
Veronika Melkozerova / Politico:
Surprise, surprise: Russia-Ukraine talks yield no peace breakthrough
Jay Kuo / The Status Kuo:
Theres's Credible Evidence of Trump's Sex Crimes
Discussion: Balloon Juice
Tim Dickinson / The Contrarian:
Inside Trump's ICE Concentration Camps
Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
How one country stopped a Trump-style authoritarian in his tracks
Sophie Brams / The Hill:
RFK Jr., Kid Rock go shirtless in new HHS ad
 Earlier Items: 
Philip Bump / MS NOW:
The right's obsession with American ‘heritage’ is all about who gets to be seen as ‘white’
Discussion: KVIA-TV
New Republic:
Minneapolis Mayor's Emotional Message to Trump: You Failed to Break Us
Discussion: Raw Story
Chris Marquette / Politico:
Trump administration releases remaining Gateway funds — and then some
Janna Brancolini / The Daily Beast:
Manic Trump, 79, Unleashes Deranged Conspiracy Posting Rampage
Stephanie Koithan / San Antonio Current:
Report: Staff at Dilley raiding cells to confiscate kids' letters and drawings detailing conditions inside
Discussion: New Republic and Joe.My.God.
Megan O'Matz / ProPublica:
Chlorine Dioxide, Raw Camel Milk: The FDA No Longer Warns Against These and Other Ineffective Autism Treatments
Discussion: New Republic and Joe.My.God.
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jack Dunn / Variety:
Stephen Colbert says CBS released its statement “without ever talking to me” and talk shows have long been exempt from “equal time” rules

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
Sources: the US DOJ has summoned some of the largest theater chains to private conversations about the potential impact of a sale of WBD

David Shepardson / Reuters:
FCC Chair Brendan Carr says, “We're going to be moving forward” with Nexstar's acquisition of Tegna, a merger that requires lifting the station ownership cap

 
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