“After some delays, the United States is dispatching a second aircraft-carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, from the Caribbean to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and threaten Iran. This is the third Atlantic crossing for the Ford’s crew since it set sail from Norfolk, Virginia, in June 2025, and the second time its deployment has been extended, first to redeploy from the Middle East to the Caribbean, and now to redeploy back to the Middle East. There is a grave danger that the US government is preparing to exploit the genuine sympathy of people all over the world for the Iranian civilians massacred during protests in December and January as a pretext for an illegal military assault on Iran.” (02/19/26)
“Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s campaign is $2.5 million richer this week and a bit closer to victory after Stephen Colbert, host of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS, made up a ridiculous lie about being censored by President Trump. It took a few days for the dust to settle, but now that we have a clear picture of what happened, it is about as bad as it can be. In fact, it would likely be a fireable offense if the ratings challenged Colbert was not already slated to get the ax in May. According to Colbert’s version of events, which is falling apart faster than a house of cards in a wind tunnel, he was told by CBS lawyers on Monday, just minutes before he was set to interview Talarico, that he could not air the conversation. Why? Because of the Trump administration Federal Communication Commission’s new rules on equal time.” (02/19/26)
“The Food and Drug Administration plans to drop its longtime standard of requiring two rigorous studies to win approval for new drugs, the latest change from Trump administration officials vowing to speed up the availability of certain medical products. Going forward, the FDA’s ‘default position’ will be to require one study for new drugs and other novel health products, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and a top deputy, Dr. Vinay Prasad, wrote in a New England Journal of Medicine piece published Wednesday. The announcement is the latest example of Makary and his team changing longstanding FDA standards and procedures with the stated goal of slashing bureaucracy and accelerating the availability of new medicines. Since arriving at the agency last April, Makary has launched a series of directives that he says will shorten FDA reviews, including mandating the use of artificial intelligence by staffers and offering one-month drug assessments for new medications that serve ‘national interests.'” (02/19/26)
“Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, his philanthropic organisation said hours before the Microsoft co-founder was due to speak. The Gates Foundation said the decision was made after ‘careful consideration’ and ‘to ensure the focus remains on the [summit’s] key priorities’, but did not elaborate. Gates’s withdrawal comes amid a controversy over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he was named in new files released by the US Department of Justice in January. Gates’s spokesperson has called the claims in the files ‘absolutely absurd and completely false’, and the billionaire has said he regretted spending time with Epstein. Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein’s victims and the appearance of his name in the files does not imply criminal activity of any kind.” (02/19/26)
“The attempted censorship [sic] of Stephen Colbert’s late-night interview with Texas’s U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico backfired so completely, with millions watching the interview on YouTube, that it may have made Talarico more likely to win his Democratic primary against Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Yet regardless of how you feel about the electoral outcome, the episode is another example of David Ellison and the new ownership at Paramount, parent company of CBS, signaling its intention to use one of the nation’s major broadcast networks as a tool for the Trump regime, with only sanctioned content going out over the airwaves. That’s always been the fear associated with Paramount’s numerous attempts to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), parent company of CNN. If that ever went through, the majority of the nation’s main cable news networks would be in the hands of conservative partisans.” (02/19/26)
“The South American nation of Peru is approaching a record that few countries would want: When it completes this year’s elections (scheduled for April, with an expected June runoff), it will have had 10 presidents in 10 years. This week, its Congress named No. 9, José Balcázar, as interim president, after his predecessor (in office for only four months) was ousted for holding clandestine meetings with a Chinese businessman. The country’s constant carousel of leaders underscores complex factors at play across much of Latin America today: increasing crime and corruption; uneven economic progress; declining trust in governing institutions; and geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States. Despite these pressures, according to regional analyst Sara Benítez-Mongelós, 78% of Latin American countries score high on fair election processes. Even with a long history of multiple coups and repressive military rule in the 20th century, the region’s armed forces have not directly stepped back into politics.” (02/19/26)
“President Donald Trump announced Thursday at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting that nine members have agreed to pledge a combined $7 billion toward a Gaza relief package, while five countries have agreed to deploy troops to take part in an international stabilization force to the war-battered Palestinian territory. But $7 billion is only a fraction of the estimated $70 billion needed to rebuild Gaza, where a shaky ceasefire deal looms over Trump’s ambitions for his board to rival the United Nations in solving world conflicts. Trump also announced the U.S. was pledging $10 billion for the Board of Peace but didn’t specify what the money will be used for. Instead, the president is turning his focus to domestic issues: In an hour, he’ll arrive in Georgia for a trip designed to help boost Republicans’ political standing heading into the midterms.” (02/19/26)
“Two weeks ago, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a pit stop at the Tennessee State Capitol to kick off his ‘Take Back Your Health’ tour. On Tuesday, the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Institute continued the momentum and sponsored a Day on the Hill at the Tennessee General Assembly. Yesterday, Tennessee lawmakers made a few more MAHA moves by forwarding two bills related to health and nutrition. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved a bill supported by Governor Bill Lee that would require physicians to complete sufficient continuing education hours in nutrition each year. A bill that would set up a timeline to remove petroleum-based artificial food dyes from meals provided by schools passed despite pushback from food providers. MAHA and MAGA are largely simpatico when it comes to advocating for clean food ingredients and better nutrition, especially for children.” (02/19/26)
“As someone who loves comedy, what ass-clowns like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert have done to the concept is like what Harvey Weinstein did to movie production or what Democrats have done to journalism, if journalism were their cellmate in Super-Max. Colbert is the Jeffrey Epstein of truth and Kimmel is the Luigi Mangione of honesty. That’s why it was not shocking to anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size that Colbert would go on his show and lie, doing his best to help a white guy, James Talarico, beat a black woman, Jasmine Crockett, in the Democratic primary in the Texas Senate race. First, I have to tell you about the concept of equal time.” (02/19/26)
“Former New York City Police Department (NYPD) Chief John Chell blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for walking back the planned hiring of 5,000 more police officers amid a city budget shortfall of billions of dollars, calling it a ‘recipe for disaster.’ Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, proposed at the end of his term that the city hire 5,000 more NYPD officers. Upon entering office, Mamdani moved to cancel all orders signed by Adams after his Sept. 26, 2024, indictment, including the proposed NYPD personnel increase. Under Adams'[s] plan, the NYPD would gradually hire more officers over the coming years, ultimately allowing the NYPD to deploy around 40,000 officers to the streets, while Mamdani’s plan caps the number closer to its current level of around 35,000.” (02/19/26)
