“Les Wexner’s long-time friendship with Jeffrey Epstein will be the subject of a closed-door congressional deposition in Ohio on Wednesday, where the billionaire retail magnate is expected to face questions about new revelations contained in the latest release of Justice Department documents related to the late sexual predator. Wexner, 88, the retired founder of L Brands, has said he plans to cooperate with a subpoena from Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. As one of Epstein’s most prominent former friends, Wexner has already spent years answering for their decades-long association. In court documents, prominent Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre claimed that Wexner was one of the men Epstein trafficked her to.” (02/17/26)
“When Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, last week announced that ICE’s ‘surge’ in Minnesota would wind down, it marked a significant victory for the thousands of Minnesotans who have fought back against the federal forces terrorizing their state; resistance forced the Trump regime to change its plans. But nothing is ramping down when it comes to the deportation machine at large. When billions of dollars are spent to turn industrial spaces into detention camps, authoritarian desires meet market logic: The warehouses must be filled. Local communities are nonetheless pushing back, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable federal forces with unlimited funding, abetted by powerful private interests who stand to gain from this carceral build-out.” (02/17/26)
“A US immigration judge has rejected efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to deport Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested last year following his participation in pro-Palestinian protests. Lawyers for Mahdawi detailed the immigration judge’s decision in a court filing on Tuesday with a federal appeals court in New York, which had been reviewing a ruling that led to his release from immigration custody in April. It was the latest case in which an immigration judge rejected a case brought as part of the broader effort by Trump’s administration to detain and deport non-citizen students with pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views who engaged in campus activism.” (02/17/26)
“American democracy is facing its most serious crisis since the Civil War, but we have no coherent effort to do anything about it, not even to try to make sense of what’s wrong. That’s not the case in Nordic countries, such as Denmark — which has the world’s best liberal democracy, according to V-DEM’s last three annual Democracy Reports. There, the Danish parliament has launched a multi-year ‘Power and Democracy study’ to analyze how Denmark’s democracy is functioning, what challenges it faces, and what can be done to improve it.” (02/17/26)
“If you get stopped at an airport security checkpoint with $100 or more in cash, Transportation Security Administration agents can fleece you. TSA has stripped more than 10,000 travelers of their money since 2014, but the supposed ‘criminals’ are almost never charged after their cash is taken. A class-action federal court case could finally end this outrage.” (02/17/26)
