United States | News & Politics

Feb 20, 2026

As Democrats plan boycotts and counterprogramming to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week, progressives are readying their own response to resist not just the historically unpopular commander-in-chief, but the centrist faction of their own party.

For years, the State of the Union has served as a platform for rising stars in the opposition party. The Democrats are rolling out the newly minted Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a darling of the party establishment whose inaugural committee boasts an army of corporate backers—including Amazon and Capitol One, lobbying groups for the gambling industry and car dealerships, and multiple tobacco companies.

Seeking to push an alternative vision, the left-wing Working Families Party (WFP) has chosen Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), whom national director Maurice Mitchell described as “fearless, rooted in working-class communities, and unafraid to take on both MAGA extremism and corporate power.”

Feb 18, 2026

The newspaper spoke to 13 Democratic and independent voters including retirees from Indiana and Michigan, working people from states such as North Carolina and Nevada, and an unemployed voter from Iowa. The topic of discussion was the participants’ frustrations with the Democratic Party as it faces the Trump administration and the president’s aggressive deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the country.

“Spineless” was one word a participant had for the Democratic Party when asked to describe it. Another said the party appears “paralyzed” while a 46-year-old Latina woman from Nevada said Democrats in Congress are “sellouts and suckers.”

A 23-year-old American was shot last March in South Padre Island. ICE’s involvement in the shooting was not disclosed until this week.

I have to wonder how many more murders ICE is covering up.

Donald Trump on Friday railed against the supreme court justices who blocked his use of tariffs, calling the decision a “disgrace to the nation” and claiming he planned to impose even more tariffs under other statutory authorities.

“It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,” the president said during remarks from the White House. He cast that influence as social and cultural. “I’m ashamed of certain members of the court. Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.”

He praised the three justices who dissented in the opinion – Brett Kavanaugh who wrote the main dissent, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The others – including two of his appointees, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch – drew his derision.

Wisconsin lawmakers have scrapped a controversial VPN ban from an age-verification bill following backlash from residents and digital rights experts.

First introduced in March 2025, Senate Bill 130 (and its Assembly counterpart AB 105) originally required any provider distributing "harmful" material to minors to block all users connecting via a VPN.

Republican Senator Van Wanggaard moved to strike the provision on Wednesday, February 19. The amendment also added "virtual service provider" to the bill’s final paragraphs to clarify that VPN firms themselves are not liable under the law. The Senate welcomed the change, and the Assembly concurred the following day, sending the bill to the Governor’s desk for signing.

As tensions mount between the Trump administration and the courts, the judge called “shameless” a claim by officials that her earlier order was not binding.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43359786

A federal judge in Minnesota held a Trump administration attorney in civil contempt for “flagrant disobedience of court orders” in the case of a noncitizen swept up in the immigration crackdown there earlier this year.

The contempt finding by US District Judge Laura Provinzino on Wednesday appears to mark the first time a federal attorney has faced court-ordered sanctions during Donald Trump’s second term.

It comes as judges in the Twin Cities and elsewhere have grown increasingly impatient with the administration’s repeated violations of court orders, particularly in fast-moving immigration cases.

GEO Group and CoreCivic face competition as the agency looks to dramatically reduce the number of immigrant jails by shifting to massive warehouses

What's going on is that people are rejecting most of the warehouse-to-concentration-camp conversions, so they're going to pick a few really huge ones to do, and pick locations where they can overcome local opposition.

Stephen Prager
Feb 19, 2026

Fouad Isadi, an Iranian professor with knowledge of the government’s inner workings, told Scahill last month that in the event of a large-scale strike by Trump, the military was planning a retaliatory strike aimed at killing at least 500 US soldiers.

“We could see the Iranians really hit hard in a way that blows the Americans away on a psychological level and that Trump hasn’t had to deal with before,” Scahill said on Thursday. “I assume that President Trump’s response would be even more enraged and even more brutal than anything one could imagine.”

Brett Wilkins
Feb 19, 2026

The New Brunswick, New Jersey City Council voted Wednesday to cancel plans to construct an artificial intelligence data center and instead build a new public park where the 27,000-square foot facility would have gone.

Artificial intelligence data centers—which house the servers and other infrastructure needed to train and power AI models—have major environmental and climate impacts, as they consume massive amounts of electricity and water, as well as rare earth metals and other resources.

According to New Brunswick Patch, hundreds of people packed into Wednesday evening’s city hall meeting to voice concerns that the proposed data center would send their electricity and water bills skyrocketing, and that the facility would harm the environment.

The Trump administration ordered a Michigan plant to stay open just days before it was set to retire. Now, ratepayers are likely to foot the bill.

In a Feb. 16 statement, the LAPD states it’s unlawful for minors under 18 to be in public places, streets, or amusement spots during school hours. Exceptions include emergencies or being with a parent. The department cited state education code requiring that children between the ages of 6 and 18 “must attend a full-time public day school for the full designated day.”

[…]

A day later, Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, condemned the walkouts in a post on X, saying, “The only thing they will accomplish is ensuring violent agitators will be criminally prosecuted, juveniles included.” Essayli also posted photos of youth he said were sought in connection with a “violent attack on [Federal Protective Service] at our downtown Los Angeles property.”

It’s an absolutely wild misuse of the criminal justice system to target children exercising their constitutional rights after having their community, friends, and possibly family members terrorized or kidnapped by federal agents. I can’t imagine making those kinds of statements and not immediately wanting to crawl in a hole and die of shame.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a memo Wednesday stating that federal immigration agents should arrest refugees who have not yet obtained a green card and detain them indefinitely for rescreening — a policy shift that upends decades of protections

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