Posts on Monday, February 16, 2026

PORTLAND, Ore. — A petition to ban hunting in Oregon is picking up steam. Animal rights advocates are fighting to change the law in Oregon, including banning most hunting, fishing and animal research. One of the people leading the charge of getting this petition out there says they have been trying to get this on the ballot for years, getting more and more signatures each time, though he knows it won’t likely pass. Supporters call the proposal the PEACE Act, short for People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions. “We really want to make Oregon the first state to

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: Hillary Clinton, a former all-star American leader, took the stage in Munich expecting a stroll on familiar ground. The setting felt friendly, the crowd leaned globalist, and the talking points seemed well-rehearsed. Then a Czech politician, calmly stepping outside the approved script, asked a question that didn't flatter the room. It was as if a thousand voices

Iran is now signaling a desire to play "Let's Make a Deal" with the United States, acknowledging that they will "discuss" their nuclear ambitions of the United States eases back on sanctions. Bear in mind, this is the largest state sponsor of Islamic terrorism in the world, here, trying to get America to back off. [snip] How much relief Iran would expect is likely a complete and total cessation of all sanctions. But what Iran expects and what they get may be two very different things.

DENVER — A bill introduced into the Colorado State Senate last week would make Colorado the first state in the U.S. to fully decriminalize prostitution if it became law. Senate Bill 26-097 would require the entire state to decriminalize “commercial sexual activity among consenting adults,” both for people who buy sex and who would sell it. This would be unique in the U.S., as the only other states with any form of legal prostitution, Maine and Nevada, still have certain rules around it. In Nevada, for instance, prostitution is only legal within licensed houses of prostitution, or brothels, and some

What does one do with useful grifters who’ve lost their utility? The Democrats Frankenize them. It’s like ostracizing without the pomp and ceremony. If you’re unfamiliar with the process, you can watch it play out on the Clintons over the next few months. Frankenizing became a thing during the good ol’ days of “me too.” It was an era of national insanity, in which every Hollywood starlet wannabe with two X chromosomes insisted she was a victim of toxic masculinity after taking her clothes off to land a part. The Dems demanded that we believe every woman’s tale of harassment, regardless of how improbable.

New York Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a redistricting fight over one of the state's GOP congressional districts. Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, filed an emergency appeal Thursday (snip.) In January, state Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Pearlman, sided with Democratic lawyers who argued that the boundaries of her 11th Congressional District unlawfully diluted the voices of Black and Latino voters in Staten Island. The judge ordered New York's Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the district boundaries and blocked elections until the new lines are finalized.

President Trump has come out swinging against a Utah bill that would require large artificial intelligence companies to implement public safety and child protection plans. “We are categorically opposed to Utah HB 286 and view it as an unfixable bill that goes against the Administration’s AI Agenda,” the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs said in a terse Feb. 12 memo of opposition to the bill sent to Republican leadership in the Utah state Legislature. The measure, HB 286, the Utah AI Transparency Act, applies specifically to big developers of frontier AI models. It requires AI developers to prepare a public safety plan for catastrophic risks and prepare a child protection plan.

The California Governor who blew $450 million on a "Next Generation" 911 system that didn't work, lost calls, misrouted emergencies, and had a half-day power outage, thinks he can magically produce a laughingstock high speed rail system, build an unnecessary and impossible Delta tunnel water conveyance system, solve elusive climate change, and house California's drug-addicted homeless population. (snip) Ben Garrison, the great cartoonist, says it well: "Newsom wants to continue the destruction wreaked by Joe Biden by returning to open borders, massive inflation, climate change bunk, men in women's sports, and the economic destruction of America. Not to mention a surrender to his best buddies, the communist Chinese."

President Donald Trump has barely finished the first year of his second term in office, but already pollsters are looking to the midterm 2026 congressional battle and 2028 presidential election. That includes the I&I/TIPP Poll. Believe it or not, many voters are already deciding whom they will support. The latest national online I&I/TIPP Poll asked registered voters of both major parties and independents two questions about their preferences. The poll, which was taken by 1,126 registered voters from Jan. 27 to Jan. 29, has an overall margin of error of +/-3.1 percentage points. The first question:

A Minneapolis-based activist network is now openly advertising "jury nullification training," raising new concerns about the integrity of jury trials in the Twin Cities. (snip) "Defend 612's training comes as the federal government seeks to prosecute (snip) hundreds (snip) who are reportedly facing charges in connection to anti-ICE activity. (snip) Alpha News asked Doug Wardlow, a Twin Cities attorney (snip) about calls to act neutral during jury selection (snip) to acquit defendants (snip) "telling people to lie to the court to obtain a position on a jury and then engage in jury nullification (snip) seems to me to be illegal," Wardlow said.

Ongoing tensions in Iran featured prominently at this year's Munich Security Conference (MSC), coming after the Islamist regime's deadly crackdown on protesters, and with US President Donald Trump continuing to put pressure on Tehran to end its nuclear program. As Iran's hardline rulers hang on to power after the largest anti-regime protests in decades, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Iranian king and a political activist-in-exile, was active at the conference, pleading his case for regime change in Iran. At a panel about Iran's future on Friday, as well as at a press conference on Saturday, Pahlavi called out the Iranian regime's suppression of human rights, especially the brutal crackdown

After U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke earlier on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, where he said the U.S. and Europe "belong together" and argued for a stronger West, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who served under former President Barack Obama, appeared on a panel later that afternoon and made surprising remarks about mass migration. Clinton participated in a panel titled, "The West-West Divide: What Remains of Common Values," and said that mass migration invasion involving millions of illegal aliens has been "destabilizing" to society. Clinton continued: So this debate that's going on is driven by

It’s about time for another check-in on the Democrat 2028 presidential field. Kamala Harris, the former vice president who made news by “changing the names of her KamalaHQ social media accounts to “headquarters,” using “headquarters_67” on X, where she already had 1.1 million followers, an apparent nod to the viral “6-7” slang term used by Gen Alpha and Gen Z.” No doubt, my single digit aged nephews will be very impressed. Unfortunately for Harris, they won’t be able to vote in 2028. As a female, half-African American, she is the only presidential candidate who has any sizable black support, which

An American statesman was born on a German stage over the weekend. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s impressive performance at the Munich Security Conference gives us an alluring glimpse of the president he could be one day. Rubio drew a standing ovation from the assembled European heads of state, intelligence chiefs, and military leaders for a speech that was no less forceful or frank than VP JD Vance’s address that jarred the same forum last year, but was delivered with a mellifluous voice and calm humility that disarmed even the most arch Euro-socialist.

The disclosures from the Epstein files have been enlightening to say the least, particularly if you wonder if you are seeing what you think you're seeing. More to the point, do you remember that 2023 lawsuit against candidate Donald Trump from E. Jean Carroll? That’s the one where Carroll, who is now 82 years old, waited all these years and, after two of Trump’s presidential races and one term as president, decided to sue the billionaire on allegations of defamation, rape, and sexual abuse. The case was mostly based on unsubstantiated accusations that Trump sexually abused and raped Carroll in 1996, 23 years earlier.

Five years ago, two-thirds of Virginia voters passed a referendum that ostensibly eliminated partisan gerrymandering from the congressional redistricting process that follows each decennial census. This amended the commonwealth’s constitution such that redistricting would thence forth be carried out by the Virginia Redistricting Commission (VRC) rather than state politicians burdened by conflicts of interest. This bill of goods was sold to the Old Dominion’s voters as “election reform” by a very expensive public relations campaign run by various Democrat-affiliated activist groups. It was obvious that the VRC would be jettisoned when it no longer served Democrat interests.