Source: CBS News
“Violent clashes erupted in parts of western Mexico on Sunday amid a military operation that led to the death of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader, triggering widespread security concerns throughout the region. Mexican security forces killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as ‘El Mencho,’ during an operation in the western state of Jalisco, Mexico’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement on X. It said he was wounded during the raid in the town of Tapalpa and died while being flown to Mexico City. The state of Jalisco is the base of the cartel known for trafficking huge quantities of fentanyl and other drugs to the United States.” (02/23/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/violence-mexico-jalisco-new-generation-cartel-killed-military-puerto-vallarta/
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by James A Russell
“With not just one — but two — carrier battle groups now steaming in circles somewhere off the coast of Oman out of the range of Iranian missiles, we are all left with the head-scratching question: what is it, exactly, that the United States hopes to accomplish with another round of air strikes on Iran? Trump hasn’t told us. The latest crisis du jour with Iran illustrates the strategic swamp willingly stepped into not just by Donald Trump but his predecessors as well. The swamp is built on a singular and hopelessly misguided assumption: that the use of force either by stand-off, limited strikes from 12,000 feet or even invasions will somehow solve complex political problems on the ground below.” (02/22/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-trump/
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Libertarian Party Time Capsule Jan/Feb 1976 — Tax Revolt.” (02/21/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH0yBjiaP9E
Source: Yahoo! News
“The Supreme Court scrambled the US trade landscape Friday when it struck down the centerpiece of President Trump’s second-term tariff program, ruling 6-3 that his sweeping blanket tariffs are illegal. … Trump attacked the high court in his first response Friday, particularly the justices in the majority, saying they were a ‘disgrace to our nation.’ He hinted that the administration would pursue alternative methods toward implementing its trade goals. His first move: Imposing a 10% ‘global tariff’ under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. … Then on Saturday, he raised the levy to 15%” (02/22/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live/tariff-ruling-live-coverage-trump-attacks-supreme-court-imposes-10-global-tariff-then-raises-it-to-15-184403258.html
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘[The International Emergency Economic Powers Act] does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.’ That’s the single really important sentence from the US Supreme Court’s February 20 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. Trump’s ongoing tariff tantrums, starting with his ‘Liberation Day’ schedule of ‘reciprocal’ tariffs, were illegal under the law in question, and under the US Constitution, which gives Congress, and only Congress, the power to levy taxes. … but don’t hold your breath waiting for relief, let alone recompense.” (02/21/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20387
Source: Fox News
“Tensions flared Sunday across Iran as anti-government protests reignited at major universities and in the streets of Tehran, with reports of tear gas and shots fired in the capital. Students gathered in Tehran and the northeastern city of Mashhad to mark 40-day memorials for those killed during January’s nationwide anti-government demonstrations before violence broke out. … Iran’s state TV showed videos of what it said were people ‘pretending to be students’ attacking pro-government students in Tehran who were taking part in protests to condemn January’s protests. The individuals were allegedly injuring students by throwing rocks, Reuters reported. Some witness accounts and opposition groups described a more forceful response by authorities. Security forces reportedly fired tear gas at crowds of demonstrators, many of them young people.” (02/22/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-unrest-escalates-gunfire-tear-gas-hit-universities-amid-looming-us-strike
Source: Notablog
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“It appears that the legislature in New Hampshire — a state declared in December 2025 as the ‘freest place in North America’ — has passed a bill that bans ‘leftist indoctrination’ and ‘LGBTQ+ teaching in public schools.’ But wait, there’s more! House Bill 1792, known as the CHARLIE Act (in a nod to assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk) is designed to ‘ban certain types of instruction and punish teachers who carried it out.’ CHARLIE is an acronym for ‘Countering Hate And Revolutionary Leftist Indoctrination in Education Act.’ … the bill prohibits the teaching of any ‘critical theories or related practices that promote division, dialectical world-views, critical consciousness or anti-constitutional indoctrination’ (emphasis added). … Dialectical thinking is a crucial component of critical thinking. … Alas, the right-wing zealots know that critical, dialectical thinking is also a component of radical thinking. And it is the radical that they most fear.” (02/21/26)
https://notablog.net/2026/02/21/charlie-against-dialectics/
Source: CNBC
“The Department of Homeland Security on Sunday suspended the TSA PreCheck and Global Entry security programs that speed through airport security checkpoints, citing a partial government shutdown. The move comes as the U.S. Northeast braces for a massive winter storm that could disrupt airline flights for days. … The U.S. Travel Association, which represents major hotel chains and many other businesses in the industry, called DHS’s move ‘extremely disappointing.'” (02/22/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/22/tsa-airlines-weather-shutdown-blizzard-dhs.html
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“When conservative Sanae Takaichi became the new leader of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the country’s prime minister in October 2025, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) clearly was unhappy about that development. Chinese officials became even more annoyed when Takaichi voiced strong support for preserving the de facto independence of Taiwan …. President Xi Jinping’s government responded with vitriol and threats. … However, if Chinese leaders thought that Japanese voters would repudiate their new prime minister and her uncompromising stance toward Beijing, they miscalculated badly. Takaichi gambled by calling a snap election for early February, and the results were a spectacular political success for her and her party.” (02/22/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/on-taiwan-and-japan-chinese-belligerence-backfires/
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A 23-year-old female police officer has been killed and 25 people injured in what Ukrainian officials have called a terror attack in the western city of Lviv. Two homemade explosive devices detonated after police crews responded to a reported break-in shortly after midnight on Sunday, the National Police of Ukraine said. The devices were planted in waste bins, it added. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed ‘an individual suspected of carrying out the terrorist attack’ had been detained. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said she was a Ukrainian woman. The police later said the 33-year-old suspect had made and planted the explosives on the ‘instruction’ of an agent of Russia’s special services.” (02/22/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyz8d79djeo
