“The U.S. military struck dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria while conducting retaliatory strikes for the deaths of two soldiers and their interpreter. CentCom said it conducted 10 strikes on more than 30 ISIS targets in Syria from Feb. 3 through Thursday to ‘sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.’ The strikes over the past 1.5 weeks targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage facilities with precision munitions sent by fixed-wing, rotary-wing and unmanned aircraft, CentCom officials said.” (02/14/26)
“The seven Western states that depend on the Colorado River missed a deadline for the second time Saturday to agree on a plan addressing record drought and water shortages. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo released a joint statement calling on Upper Basin states to offer more concessions. Those states include Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. ‘The Colorado River is essential to our communities and economies, and our states have conserved large volumes of water in recent years to stabilize the basin’s water supplies for years to come,’ the governors said. ‘Our stance remains firm and fair: all seven basin states must share in the responsibility of conservation.’ Arizona, California and Nevada have offered to decrease Colorado River allocation by 27%, 10% and 17%, respectively, according to those states.” (02/14/26)
“A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule glided in for a Valentine’s Day docking at the International Space Station Saturday boosting the lab’s crew back to a full complement of seven one month after four other fliers came home early because of a medical issue. The Crew Dragon docked at the space-facing port of the lab’s forward Harmony module at 3:15 p.m. EST, 34 hours after launch Friday from the Kennedy Space Center atop a Falcon 9 rocket.” (02/15/26)
“The truth is out there. Former President Barack Obama said that aliens are real but he has no idea where they are during a podcast appearance released Saturday. ‘They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,’ Obama told YouTuber Brian Tyler Cowen after he asked him about extraterrestrials. The former president did not offer any further details on what he mean by ‘real’ — and no follow-up questions on the topic were asked — but he used the appearance to cast doubt on several longtime theories as to where they might be. ‘They’re not being kept in Area 51, there’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,’ Obama said.” (02/14/26)
“Britain’s High Court ruled Friday that the government’s decision last year to outlaw the protest group Palestine Action as a designated terrorist organization was unlawful, but it kept the ban in place pending an appeal. Judges Victoria Sharp, Jonathan Swift and Karen Steyn said ‘the nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities’ did not meet the ‘level, scale and persistence’ that would justify proscription. The judges said they were ‘satisfied that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.’ … Last year, the U.K. government declared the pro-Palestinian group a terrorist organization alongside the likes of al-Qaeda and Hamas, making membership in or support for Palestine Action a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since then, more than 2,000 people have been arrested for holding signs saying, ‘I support Palestine Action.'” (02/13/26)
“The chairman of the Marin County Republicans sounded alarms this week about possible voting by dead people during the special election last November. During a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, John Turnacliff requested that the county’s registrar of voters look into the matter. ‘I, along with others on our committee, have been dissecting Marin County voter rolls for over three years,’ Turnacliff said during the public comment portion of the meeting. ‘… And based on our analysis of the ballots that were returned for the Prop. 50 special election on Nov. 4, we found 73 people, 73 dead people had voted in that election.’ Asking Natalie Adona, the county’s registrar of voters, to review those numbers, Turnacliff said, ‘In summary, dead people are voting in Marin County, and we would like to know why.'” (02/14/26)
“The Amazon-owned home security camera provider Ring has cancelled an upcoming partnership with Flock Safety, a surveillance tech provider to US police forces. … In a statement yesterday (12 February), Ring said that after ‘a comprehensive review,’ it found that ‘the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated,’ and therefore was cancelling the partnership. The smart doorbell platform attracted controversy this week around an ad broadcast during TV coverage of the Super Bowl on 8 February publicising another Ring feature, ‘Search Party,’ which was unrelated to Flock. The ad showed multiple Ring cameras throughout a neighbourhood being activated in unison to search for a missing pet. Online criticism of the feature notes that this network of surveillance could also be used to track people.” (02/13/26)
“Three Ukrainian brothers, including an eight-year-old, were killed near the eastern front line and a Russian drone attack killed one person and injured six others at one of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports near Odesa, Ukrainian officials said on Friday. … The ports are Ukraine’s key maritime export arteries, crucial for its foreign trade and the survival of its wartime economy. Moscow has stepped up its attacks on both them and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and Kyiv has targeted Russian oil facilities, as U.S.-led efforts to end the war stall. … The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority did not name the port, saying only that it was one of the three around Odesa and continued to operate despite damage to infrastructure.” (02/13/26)
“The Department of Homeland Security is all but certain to run out of funding at the end of the day Friday as lawmakers left Capitol Hill Thursday with no deal in sight. Senate Democrats voted unanimously to block a DHS spending bill that was negotiated before the [murder] of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, saying it did not address their demands for reform at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An effort by Republican Sen. Katie Britt to extend funding for DHS for two weeks to allow time for further negotiations also failed. The Senate has no further votes scheduled for this week and many senators were boarding planes to Germany for the Munich Security Conference. House members also left town. … ICE, however, will largely continue operating because of the $75 billion already approved by Congress in President Donald Trump’s so-called “one big beautiful bill” that was passed last summer.” [editor’s note: Unfortunately, most of DHS will “continue operating” for all practical purposes – TLK] (02/12/26)
“A federal judge has sided with Sen. Mark Kelly to stop Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from punishing the former Navy captain for advising troops not to follow illegal orders. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, in a Thursday ruling, issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon’s effort to demote the Arizona Democrat’s rank and reduce his retirement pay. ‘This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees,’ Leon wrote. ‘To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it!’ The decision is the second legal setback this week for the Trump administration’s campaign to punish Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers, who released a video last fall telling military personnel they [must not obey] illegal orders.” (02/12/26)
