Tuesday, February 17, 2026

February 17, 2026

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Jesse Jackson, civil rights firebrand, dies at 84 . . . The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, longtime activist and two-time presidential candidate, died Tuesday at 84, closing a polarizing chapter in modern civil rights politics. A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson cast himself as heir to the movement after King's 1968 assassination and spent decades pressing corporate America and political leaders through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. His career blended high-profile diplomacy, presidential runs, and relentless advocacy for voting rights, jobs, and racial equity. Associated Press

Politics

Congress blocks Trump's sweeping 2026 budget cuts

After returning to office with vows to shrink Washington, President Trump rolled out one of the most aggressive cost-cutting blueprints in modern history. Nearly a year later, Congress has quietly sidelined much of it. Lawmakers preserved major education, health, housing, and research programs the White House targeted, keeping discretionary spending on track to exceed $1.6 trillion for 2026. On paper, the federal government looks much the same—despite promises of a fiscal reset. New York Times

The Swamp always strikes back hard.

Kennedy's Operation Stork Speed stalls in formula fight . . .

When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hauled infant-formula executives to Washington touting Operation Stork Speed, he signaled a crackdown on seed oils, heavy metals, and how U.S. brands compare to Europe. Backed by Make America Healthy Again activists, the review promised a shake-up. Nearly a year on, reality bites: regulators are retreating from the most contentious demands, constrained by the legal and logistical maze guarding one of America's most tightly controlled food industries. Wall Street Journal

Schumer embraced ID laws to counter fraud in the 1990s, but now calls voter ID 'Jim Crow 2.0' . . . "Let's admit the truth. Everywhere people go, they're asked for a Social Security card. In fact, one way to prove you're a bona fide person who can have a job is to ask for a driver's license and a social security card," Mr. Schumer, then a House lawmaker, said in support of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Washington Times

Small 'security force' to stay in Minnesota despite ICE surge ending

Culture

Trans dad Robert Dorgan shoots wife, 3 kids in horror 'family dispute' at crowded RI hockey arena . . . A youth hockey tournament in Pawtucket turned into a bloodbath when 56-year-old Robert Dorgan, who also went by Roberta Esposito, opened fire in the stands at Lynch Arena. Two people were killed and three left fighting for their lives in what police call a targeted family dispute. Dorgan shot his wife, three children and a family friend before killing himself, shattering a North Providence High School event in broad daylight. New York Post

Goldman Sachs scraps board diversity criteria . . . After ditching diversity pledges for companies it takes public, Goldman Sachs is now zeroing in on its own boardroom. The Wall Street titan plans to strip race, gender identity, sexual orientation and ethnicity from the list of factors considered in director searches, according to people familiar with the move. What remains is a vaguer nod to experience and background—another high-profile retreat as corporate America quietly backs away from once-trumpeted DEI commitments. Wall Street Journal

Judge rebukes Trump team over slavery edits at Philadelphia's President's House . . . A federal judge ordered the National Park Service to restore references to slavery at the President's House site in Philadelphia, blasting the Trump administration for drifting into Orwellian territory. U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, said officials were stripping out objective history by removing exhibits about enslaved people who lived there in the 1790s. The Washington's Birthday ruling ignites another courtroom clash over who shapes America's story.Washington Times

The Philadelphia slavery exhibit is seriously flawed

Woke director Spike lee stirs anti-israel drama at Avdija's all-star debut . . . As Deni Avdija celebrated becoming the NBA's first Israeli All-Star, filmmaker Spike Lee grabbed attention for a different reason. Courtside at the Intuit Dome, Lee arrived in pro-Palestinian attire, overshadowing the historic milestone with a pointed political statement. The move reignited scrutiny over Lee's long record of controversy, shifting focus from Avdija's achievement to yet another culture clash playing out on the league's biggest stage. Daily Wire

Truman scholars tilt left, report by college fix finds . . . A taxpayer-funded scholarship meant to cultivate future public servants appears to lean heavily left. Nearly 80% of the 2017 and 2018 Truman Scholars now show clear ties to liberal politics, from working for Democratic lawmakers to promoting progressive causes, according to a College Fix report. The findings fuel fresh scrutiny of higher education's ideological tilt and raise questions about whether public dollars are quietly underwriting a partisan pipeline. Daily Signal

International

Clinton bristles as Czech deputy PM Petr Macinka blasts 'woke revolution' in Munich . . . At the Munich Security Conference, Czech Deputy Prime Minister Petr Macinka told Hillary Clinton that Donald Trump's rise was a backlash against a "woke revolution" that drifted too far from everyday voters. During a panel on Western values, Macinka framed Trump as a corrective to cultural overreach. Clinton pressed him for specifics, visibly irritated, as the exchange exposed a widening transatlantic rift over identity politics and political accountability. Daily Caller

Nigeria Says 100 More U.S. Military Personnel Have Arrived To Tackle Islamists

You should also know

2025 homicide drop shocks experts . . . Violent crime fell dramatically in 2025, setting up what experts expect to be the steepest homicide decline ever recorded. Two new reports from major U.S. cities show the drop accelerating for a fourth straight year after the pandemic's bloody surge. John Roman of the University of Chicago's NORC reports that nearly every FBI-tracked crime category fell, many by near-record margins, marking a striking reversal from the lawless spike that gripped the nation just a few years ago. The Hill

We have a president who cares about reducing crime and the ejection some of the legal immigrants who cause it. Shouldn't be too shocking.

Washington and Brumidi's unlikely bond inside the U.S. Capitol . . . George Washington, born in 1732 Virginia, and Italian artist Constantino Brumidi, born in Rome in 1805, never met, yet both stamped their legacy on the American republic. Washington forged the nation's political and military foundations as its indispensable leader. Decades later, Brumidi emigrated to the United States and transformed the U.S. Capitol with sweeping frescoes and murals, becoming the building's defining artist and immortalizing the ideals Washington helped secure. Daily Signal

Facts About George Washington You Might Not Know

Robert Duvall dies at 95 in Virginia . . . Hollywood lost one of its last towering giants as Robert Duvall died Sunday at 95 at his Virginia home. The Oscar winner carved an indelible mark on American film, from Apocalypse Now and Lonesome Dove to Tender Mercies and his steely turn as the consigliere in the first two Godfather films. Tributes poured in for a performer whose quiet intensity and range defined generations of cinema. Associated Press

Guilty Pleasures

Eric Swalwell, College Erotic Poet: 'Blood Rolled Down Our Chins' . . . One poem, titled "Hungover From Burgundy," tells a story of two lovers having "formless and magnificent" sex on top of a hotel roof in a "flurry of limbs and nails." The poem's narrator then references being bitten as if by a vampire. "While I screamed / She bent her lips to mine," the passage says. The poem then goes on to describe the couple necking "till veins imploded and exploded … For bounded mouths cannot speak of parting." "And there beauty was, formless and magnificent — a flurry of limbs and nails. She chased and I ran, I chased and she ran," it says. "Atop my hotel she stopped, and I lept for cloth and tan, my anxious arm she bit — my scar is beautiful." Breitbart

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