Posts on Tuesday, February 17, 2026

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.[snip] In August 2019, 57-year-old Brown was flying out of Pittsburgh International Airport carrying her father’s life savings — $82,373 — which he wanted her to deposit in a joint bank account near her Boston home. A TSA agent noticed the Tupperware loaded with the cash while scanning Brown’s luggage and summoned a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, who speedily announced he was seizing the money.

In the second term of Donald Trump’s presidency, few homegrown political controversies have been as tedious or corrosive as the prolonged Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Among right-wing media figures, precious few bear more responsibility for fanning the Epstein flames than Steve Bannon. This was not because Trump’s administration was part of some cover-up. I purely believe it was because Bannon chose provocation over truth, spectacle over resolution, and self-preservation over honesty. By early 2026, the factual record was no longer ambiguous.

A Trump administration official is accusing Democrat mismanagement of causing the massive sewage pipe break and spill in the Potomac River, and the government workers who have to deal with the spill just got defunded, discourtesy of toilet-brained Democrats. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a subsidiary agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which Democrats just defunded. Leftists’ anti-ICE obsession consumes every other consideration. But FEMA has to deal with a massive sewage spill poisoning the waters of the river that runs through Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., because if there is one thing that is always true of Democrats, it is that they insist on creating catastrophes

In one of the most insulting moves ever, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is introducing legislation to make the LGBTQ pride flag a congressionally authorized symbol, giving it the same federal protections as the U.S. flag, military flags, and POW/MIA flags. Yes, you read that right. Chuck Schumer wants the pride flag to have the same status as Old Glory and the flags honoring those who served and sacrificed for this country. Schumer's legislative push comes in direct response to the Trump administration's removal of the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument outside the Stonewall Inn earlier this month.

A pro-Hamas activist who made her name during the Israel-Hamas war has caused quite a stir with her call to ban dogs in NYC. If that sounds absurd on its face, you haven't been paying attention to what has been going on in Western cities where Muslims have become a significant fraction of the population. Zohran Mamdani has already made significant moves to Islamize New York, including blasting the Islamic call to prayer five times a day. [snip] if you think the idea is absurd, you should know that this idea has gained a lot of traction in the UK.

Civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84. Though a cause of death was not immediately given, Jackson's family said he died peacefully surrounded by loved ones on Tuesday morning. In a statement, the Jackson family said: 'Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world. 'We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei openly taunted President Trump, insinuating that the US military, which has amassed a powerful naval presence in the region, could be “slapped so hard, it cannot get up.” The 86-year-old tyrant’s scorn came as mediators for Washington and Tehran met in Geneva to discuss Iran’s nuclear programs and broader tensions between the two countries. The U.S. President says their army is the world’s strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up,” Khamenei chided, in comments published by Iranian media. The dictator — whose brutal crackdown on nationwide protests last month has killed at least 7,000,

No one has ever accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom of being consistent, or of having any actual principles, or of being much of an intellect, for that matter. Still, the fact that – while trying to bash a sitting president while in Munich – Newsom managed (accidentally, no doubt) to call a Big Lie on himself is a new milestone in self-owning. At a Munich Security Summit, Newsom had this to say: “If there’s nothing else I can communicate today, Donald Trump is temporary. He’ll be gone in three years.” [snip] But that’s not what Newsom has been telling Americans. No. Here in America, Newsom

Joe shared the story yesterday: a terrible shooting occurred at an ice hockey rink in Rhode Island, involving a domestic murder-suicide. The shooter was a biological man who was pretending to be a woman named Roberta Esposito but was born Robert Dorgan. (X) Dorgan shot and killed his wife and three of his children. Three others were also injured in the attack and are in critical condition. We also got a glimpse into his social media activity, and you know the saying, ‘there’s always a tweet.’ Well, look what Dorgan posted before his attack. (X) The shooter also had a slew of mental health issues: (X)

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that Canadian tourists and businesspeople will be allowed to travel to China without visas, for stays of up to 30 days, beginning this Tuesday and lasting through the end of 2026. Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand confirmed the policy in a post on social media platform X, describing visa-free travel as a commitment China made to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during his visit to Beijing in January. “This will take effect on February 17, making travel easier, supporting business exchanges, and strengthening people-to-people ties between our countries,” Anand said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is facing widespread ridicule after making a series of embarrassing gaffes in Germany that highlighted her ignorance in foreign policy. On Friday, she spoke at the Munich Security Conference where she was questioned about the United States defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. AOC’s performance suggests she is not quite ready for the world stage. When asked directly by Bloomberg TV’s Francine Lacqua, “Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?,” the congresswoman gave a halting, word-salad response filled with pregnant pauses and qualifiers to avoid a clear yes or no answer.

A significant chunk of the money that should be spent on educating all children is being hoovered up by the special educational needs system, and it is increasingly being gamed by sharp-elbowed middle-class parents. A report published last week by the think-tank Policy Exchange lays bare what many working in children’s services have suspected for some time. SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) spending has risen in real terms by 58.5% in the last six years, with a greater rise – 65% – in wealthier local authorities compared to poorer areas, where it increased by 51%.

It is hard to see public education in America as anything more than indoctrination factories. The latest efforts to push a far-left agenda are unfolding in anti-ICE rhetoric and demonstrations taking place at schools across the country, spurred on by teachers and administrators. Now, remarks by Zander Moricz, Executive Director and Founder of the Social Equity and Education (SEE) Alliance at a February 2026 press conference hosted by the Florida Education Association (FEA), Zander Moricz, Executive Director and Founder of the Social Equity and Education (SEE) Alliance, are making headlines. Moricz suggests that children protesting ICE is ‘required.’

Republicans have not held the governor’s mansion in California since 2010. During the Tea Party Wave election, Republicans swept into power nationwide, even in blue states—except for California. Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, threw nearly $200 million at the governor’s race, but she couldn’t overcome the old retread Jerry Brown, who had remained in California politics decades after his prior gubernatorial term. He served as mayor of Oakland and attorney general and then won the governor’s office again. Why do Californians hate themselves so much? It was all downhill from there, as California Republicans slowly but surely faced a complete shutout of every corridor of power.

As RedState previously covered, there was a notable development over the weekend in the case of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old Arizona grandmother who was abducted from her home sometime between the late evening hours of January 31 and the early morning hours of February 1. It centered around the issue of gloves - in particular, one glove with DNA evidence that was recovered around two miles from her Catalina Foothills home that "appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video" released to the public last Tuesday, according to an FBI spokesperson who spoke with NewsNation.

last wrote about AI at AT in mid December 2025, about how AI lets everyone in on “common knowledge” without the annoyance of “experts” controlling the distribution of knowledge. But today December seems like an age ago. That’s because people are now reacting to the latest AI models at OpenAI and Anthropic and declaring that there has been a radical change. Matt Shumer has been following AI all along: Then, on February 5th, two major AI labs released new models on the same day: GPT-5.3 Codex from OpenAI, and Opus 4.6 from Anthropic (the makers of Claude, one of the main competitors to ChatGPT).

Elections in 30 local authorities will now go ahead, reversing the decision to delay them until 2027. The Prime Minister’s latest U-turn follows the launch of the Telegraph’s Campaign for Democracy, which called for the delayed elections to go ahead this year. The Labour Government had justified the delays by claiming that a looming reorganisation of local authorities would make elections expensive, complicated and unnecessary. However, it was accused of disenfranchising 4.6 million voters to avoid a wipeout by Reform UK on May 7th. The policy reversal – which emerged two hours after Sir Keir had suggested he was done with U-turns – was announced in a letter from Steve Reed,

The search for Nancy Guthrie has now reached a little over two weeks. Arizona authorities and the FBI have been working around the clock for the last two weeks in an attempt to find the mother of NBC star Savannah Guthrie, but as of yet, they do not have a name of a potential suspect. On Monday afternoon, President Trump, in an interview with The New York Post, weighed in on the investigation and issued a warning to the kidnappers of Nancy Guthrie. Trump warned the kidnappers must bring Nancy back alive immediately and even suggested the abductors should get the death penalty.

While the Ukrainian leader is going around the world showing off his defiance, back home things go from bad to worse: blackout and lack of heating, millions of draft dodgers, hundreds of thousands of soldiers going AWOL, massive corruption scandals unfolding… and of course, Russian forces keep advancing, even in the harsh winter conditions. Besides that, the destruction of the power generation and transmission grids deeply hurts the means of production in Ukraine, which now not only face energy shortages but the energy itself has become economically unviable.

California Republicans have been handed a great, big, knobbly, Fred Flintstone-style club to beat California Democrats over the head with, and that may just make a difference in this fall's elections in the once-Golden State. That club? Gas prices are the highest in the nation thanks to Democrats in general and the impeccably coiffed Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom in particular. For years now, they have tried to drive energy producers out of the state, and now they have succeeded. Refineries are shutting down. Entire companies are up and leaving.

Over the weekend, we got a nostalgic glimpse of what could have been had Hillary Clinton defeated President Donald Trump back in 2016. My colleagues Stephen Kruiser and David Manney both captured a uniquely "Hillary moment" that happened over the weekend. Here's how David described Clinton’s panel discussion appearance at the Munich Security Conference: Here’s how that turned out. Now that Clinton’s political career is firmly in the nation’s rearview mirror, we can laugh, can’t we? I mean, those things she said and did that once scared the bejeebers out of us for our country, we can laugh about them now, right?

Time to cure that communist chancre sore that’s been suppurating off America’s coast for over 60 years since that sissy JFK failed to send in the Air Force, the Navy, and the 82nd Airborne to back up the Cuban freedom fighters at the Bay of Pigs. Fidel Castro should have been swinging from a telephone pole in 1961; maybe, then Kennedy would not have been murked by some Marxist malcontent from the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Lesson: Always take out the commies when you have the chance,

Democrats are changing maps of congressional districts in order to wipe out Republicans in Congress. While it’s atrocious, they are getting away with it since the Founding Fathers did not anticipate this level of cheating, so failed to place checks against it in the Constitution. The Supreme Court cannot step in and end the practice because they determined in 2019 that it is a nonjusticiable political question prohibiting judicial intervention; the Founding Fathers assigned redistricting to state legislatures with oversight by Congress under the Elections Clause.

Secretary Marco Rubio went out of his way in this joint presser to emphasize the personal relationship between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and U.S. President Donald Trump. Orban is facing a serious election challenge this April and all of the EU/NATO systems are actively trying to create pressure points to remove him. Secretary Marco Rubio is in Budapest today for meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government to include the signing of a civilian-nuclear cooperation agreement heralded by the Trump administration. Hungary is one of the few voices within the European Union who is pushing back against Brussels efforts to go to war against Russia.

Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab is preparing to eliminate race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other diversity-related factors from the criteria its board uses to assess prospective candidates, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Since taking office last year, U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a broad campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in both the government and the private sector, alleging that these programs are discriminatory. Several corporate giants including Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab and Citi (C.N), opens new tab have softened their diversity commitments amid pressure from the Trump administration.

A dispute stemming from questions about the use of AI firm's Anthropic’s model during the U.S. operation targeting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has triggered a Pentagon review of the company’s partnership, with senior officials raising concerns that Anthropic could represent an alleged "supply chain risk." Axios first reported on the growing tensions between the Pentagon and Anthropic, a tech company known for emphasizing safeguards on AI. Anthropic won a $200 million contract with the Pentagon in July 2025. ts AI model, Claude, was the first model brought into classified networks. Now, "the Department of War’s relationship with Anthropic is being reviewed," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told Fox News Digital.