“President Donald Trump announced in the early hours of Saturday morning that the United States has launched a massive military operation aimed at toppling the Iranian government as blasts were reported in Tehran, including near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is taking part in the assault. Unnamed Israeli security sources told Channel 12 that Israel and the Trump administration are ’going all in’ against Iran as Trump instructed Iranians to ’stay sheltered’, warning that ‘bombs will be dropping everywhere’. People were seen seeking cover in Tehran as the United States and Israeli bombs began to fall.” (02/28/26)
“In early February, the barbarians reached my gate. There could be no more comfort or denial here on this island where I live. The masked thugs were roving through a town just across the water, a short ferry ride away, harassing and arresting long-time residents. I was shocked, but not surprised. What do we do now? Yes, we all knew they were coming, still…. I was raised in the post-World War II ‘it can’t happen here’ era. Hadn’t my parents’ generation crushed the Nazis for all time? While we’d been taught that democracy, like a faith or a marriage, did need tending, we had mostly taken it for granted. Yes, I did understand that life as I had lived it was under attack, but there was still, I thought, some time to respond.” (02/26/26)
“The Supreme Court’s decision is clear. The president did not have the authority to impose most of his tariffs. President Donald Trump argued that, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, his actions were justified because of a national emergency caused by a foreign threat. In the 6-3 ruling, the court said that, on the contrary, that act provides Congress with that authority, which hadn’t delegated it to the president. The tariffs left standing are largely by sector: cars, semiconductors, steel. Trump, like the infamous honey badger, don’t care. The president immediately insulted the six justices who ruled against him, calling them ‘disloyal’, ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘lapdogs… for the radical left Democrats’. Then he turned around and reimposed a global 15% tariff rate.” (02/26/26)
“It truly is something to behold, the way President Donald Trump plays these Democrats like a cat swats around a mouse. The only difference in that dynamic is that the mouse can’t help itself; it doesn’t know it’s being played. Democrats…well, maybe they are only as smart as a mouse. It’s tough to know. The only things that can be known are just how pathetic Democrats are, and Donald Trump lives rent-free in their head, their dreams and in every breath they take. I expect pathetic Democrat activists to be able to control themselves about as well as a starved Pavlovian dog in a bell factory; they aren’t very bright and have spent their lives buying into the BS the leftist corporate media and their masters in the Democrat Party have been selling.” (02/26/26)
“The use of key security policy terms in public discourse is intended to suggest facts that serve to calm people down. However, there are many reasons for concern that could also trigger peace forces. Political scientist and historian Herfried Münkler called for a European atomic bomb as early as 2023. There is currently an increasingly heated debate about whether Germany should seek refuge under France’s nuclear protective shield in view of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. The leader of the Social Democrats in the European Parliament, Katarina Barley, also raised the issue of acquiring nuclear bombs as part of European armament in 2024. The German and French heads of government, Friedrich Merz and Emmanuel Macron, are also paving the way for talks on European nuclear armament and the extension of France’s nuclear umbrella, according to Merz in his speech at the Munich Security Conference in early 2026.” (02/26/26)
“Americans are rightfully concerned about affordability. From healthcare and housing to groceries and utility bills, Americans have been finding these everyday necessities difficult to afford for far too many years. In response, President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are pursuing multiple policies meant to lower costs for the American people. While the President and our former Republican congressional colleagues usually have good economic and regulatory instincts, there are some policies worth reconsidering, as they could exacerbate the affordability crisis. For example, as Congress assesses the proposed 10% price cap on credit, Republicans should follow their instincts by recognizing price controls like this have a long history of producing harmful unintended consequences for working families and small businesses. When governments mandate an artificially low price for a product or service in a competitive market, the result is always the same: reduced supply.” (02/26/26)
“A rare outbreak of infant botulism that sickened dozens of babies who drank recalled ByHeart formula is over, with no new cases reported since mid-December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. In all, 48 babies were sickened since 2023. That’s actually down from the previous case count, because three infants were ultimately diagnosed with other illnesses not tied to botulism, health officials said. All of the children who got sick were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. It’s still unclear exactly how, when or where the organic, whole-milk powdered baby formula became contaminated with the type of bacteria that can cause serious illness, paralysis and death in children younger than 1, health officials added. Most of the cases had occurred since August, when officials at California’s Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention program detected an alarming rise in reports of the illness in babies who consumed ByHeart formula.” (02/26/26)
“Australia’s prime minister has apologised for calling a former Australian of the Year and sexual abuse survivor ‘difficult,’ saying it was only in reference to the hardships she has faced. During a one-word response game, Anthony Albanese used the adjective to describe Grace Tame, who was named the 2021 Australian of the Year for her advocacy for child sexual abuse survivors. Tame, 31, said the description was ‘misogynist’s code for a woman who won’t comply. History tends to call her ‘courageous.” It prompted Albanese to apologise ‘if there was any misinterpretation’ and that Tame ‘has had a very difficult life, but she deserves great credit for turning that into a benefit for others.’ But hours later, Tame dismissed Albanese’s apology …” (02/26/26)
“Almost nobody noticed earlier this month when the New York Daily News announced what felt like a 500th round of layoffs. Not long ago, the venerable working-class tabloid behind ‘FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD’ would have been the ideal outlet for demystifying the prodigious evils of the Uptown Epstein network for outer-borough New Yorkers who elected Zohran Mamdani. But the latest iteration of ‘New York’s Hometown Newspaper’ has all of four reporters covering national news. The ‘adults in the room’ always say a conspiracy theory becomes less plausible for every individual and institution it implicates. But the Epstein network is so vast and so varied it would suggest that the conspiracy is the system, if we had any institutions capable of making sense of it.” (02/26/26)
“A Homeland Security agent testified in federal court on Thursday that the human smuggling case she initiated against Kilmar Abrego Garcia was strong even as his attorneys tried to persuade a judge to throw out the charges. Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate, claims that the criminal prosecution is vindictive, pushed by officials from President Donald Trump’s administration to punish him after they were forced to bring him back to the United States. While Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen, a court order from 2019 prevents him from being deported to that country. That’s because an immigration judge determined he faced danger in El Salvador from a gang that had threatened his family. (02/26/26)
