Uncensored Free Speech Platform

House GOP Members Revolt Against Trump’s Tariffs
This is performative politics again.

Defecting Republicans tanked a leadership-backed measure on Tuesday night that would have blocked future attempts to restrict President Donald Trump’s tariff authority.

The vote’s failure means House members can still advance legislation reining in Trump’s ability to declare national emergencies, his preferred legal method of imposing tariffs.

The rule vote Tuesday was an attempt to revive an effective prohibition on anti-tariff measures which expired at the end of January.

Specifically, the rule contained a provision to block members from advancing resolutions for “terminating a national emergency declared by the President” until July.

Trump has declared national emergencies under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as a legal justification for imposing tariffs. The Supreme Court is currently ruling on the legality of this use of a 1977 law.

The House voted 217-214 to reject the bill, with three Republicans defecting. Republican Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Kevin Kiley of California, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky sided with all Democrats in rejecting the rule. Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., did not vote.

“I don’t like putting the important work of the House on pause, but Congress needs to be able to debate on tariffs,” wrote Bacon on X after the vote. “Article I of the Constitution places authority over taxes and tariffs with Congress for a reason, but for too long, we have handed that authority to the executive branch. It’s time for Congress to reclaim that responsibility.”

I don’t like putting the important work of the House on pause, but Congress needs to be able to debate on tariffs. Tariffs have been a “net negative” for the economy and are a significant tax that American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers are paying. Article I of the…
— Rep. Don Bacon ?????????? (@RepDonBacon) February 11, 2026

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is leading privileged House resolutions which would restrain the president’s tariff authority. The National Emergencies Act lays out a process for Congress to terminate presidentially declared emergencies through privileged resolutions.

Democrat House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., advised Democrats to vote against the rule to support Meek’s measures, which were set to “ripen” for a floor vote on Wednesday.

Due to the rejection of the rule, on Wednesday the House will vote on a resolution from Meeks terminating Trump’s national emergency declaration for drugs coming from Canada. If signed by the president, it would remove his ability to impose tariffs on Canada through IEEPA. However, without a veto-proof majority backing it, Trump could veto the resolution.

Republican Grumblings

Kiley, a moderate from a swing district, told reporters Tuesday morning that he intended to vote down the rule.

“It doesn’t really make sense to put something on the floor that’s not going to pass,” Kiley said. 

He continued, “my main issue here is this isn’t the purpose of a rule. A rule is meant to bring a bill to the floor, set the parameters for debate. It’s not meant to smuggle in unrelated provisions that expand the power of leadership …

Bondi faces grilling in House Judiciary Committee hearing over Epstein files, weaponization allegations
Law enforcement shouldn't be political.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is set to testify Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers are expected to confront her over the Department of Justice’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking case files, numerous high-profile, politically charged indictments and broader structural changes at the department.
The hearing, beginning at 10 a.m., marks Bondi’s first appearance before the House panel since taking the helm of the DOJ.
While some Republicans are likely to praise Bondi for shifting the department’s focus to street crime, drug trafficking and illegal immigration, Democrats and other Republicans have signaled they will grill her on the department’s attempts to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law that required the DOJ to publish all unclassified files related to Epstein’s case.
LAPSED EPSTEIN DEADLINE UNDERSCORES CHALLENGE OF REVIEWING TROVES OF FILES IN 30 DAYS
Republicans on the committee may highlight the DOJ’s efforts to combat transnational drug trafficking and the opioid epidemic, as well as violent crime and immigration, which the Trump administration has made clear are its top priorities.
In the most prominent of the drug cases brought during Bondi's tenure, the DOJ brought a superseding indictment against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, alleging narco-terrorism conspiracy and firearms charges. After his stunning capture last month, Maduro and his wife were brought to the Southern District of New York and are being detained there as they await trial.
Bondi could be forced to address upheaval in the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota, where a weeks-long surge in immigration enforcement has bogged down the federal court there and led to an exodus of prosecutors. 
TOP MINNESOTA FEDERAL PROSECUTORS OFFICIALLY TERMINATED AFTER DISPUTE OVER DOJ SHOOTING PROBE
Several recent controversial judicial developments are also likely to surface during the hearing, as the administration has faced hundreds of adverse rulings in the lower courts, including from some Trump-appointed judges.
Federal judges in Minnesota have put a spotlight on what they view as legal problems with the way the administration has detained alleged illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, other judges have rejected several of Trump's choices to lead the country's 94 U.S. attorney's offices.
A federal judge ruled, for instance, that the interim appointment of Lindsey Halligan, who was leading the U.S. attorney's office in Eastern Virginia, was unlawful.
The move derailed the DOJ's high-profile indictments of FBI Director James Comey …

FAA lifts flight restrictions over El Paso and New Orleans hours after instituting closure: ‘Cartel drone incursion’
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its airspace closure over El Paso and New Orleans just hours after instituting it, following a Mexican “cartel drone incursion” into U.S. airspace.

The FAA originally instituted the shutdown for 10 days, through Feb. 21, but it was lifted after a few hours, according to the Associated Press.

“The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region. The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to the FAA for comment.

The order was issued without advance notice and went into effect on Feb. 10 at 11:30 p.m. local time, multiple sources reported. However, NOTAM mentioned that the airspace restriction at El Paso began on “Feb. 11 at 0630 UTC.”

“No pilots may operate an aircraft in the areas covered by this NOTAM (except as described),” information posted in an “Operating Restrictions and Requirements” section said. “EXCLUDING MEXICAN AIRSPACE.”

The official reason posted on the NOTAM for the closure was “Temporary flight restrictions for Special Security Reasons.”

FAA RESTRICTS FLIGHTS OVER NEW ORLEANS AND EL PASO AIRPORT FOR ‘SECURITY REASONS’

The sudden notification took many by surprise and left some travelers temporarily stranded.

An order to shut down all flights, including medivac and police helicopters, has no precedent in U.S. history, going beyond the nationwide shutdown after 9/11, CNN reported.

Lachlan Bruce: Labour’s police shake-up repeats Scotland’s mistakes
Nobody voted for this.

Lachlan Bruce is a Conservative councillor and a policy and public affairs manager at a British health charity.

The Home Secretary’s plan to “radically reduce” the number of police forces in England and Wales is being presented as bold and modern. We are told that 43 forces are inefficient, bureaucratic and ill-equipped to face modern threats, and that consolidation will save money while improving capability.

We have heard all this before.

In Scotland, the SNP forced through the merger of eight regional forces into a single national body: Police Scotland. It was sold as a reform that would cut duplication, strengthen serious and organised crime capability, and free up resources for frontline policing.

More than a decade on, the reality is stark. Centralisation has weakened local policing, not strengthened it. Communities feel less visible police presence, not more. Decision-making has moved further away from the streets and towns officers serve. Local commanders have less autonomy and communities have less influence. The promise that scale would deliver better neighbourhood policing has proved hollow and false.

What Scotland gained in administrative uniformity, it lost in local responsiveness.

Response times have risen. Public confidence has fallen. Officers themselves speak openly about morale and overstretch; many are leaving in their droves. Rural communities feel forgotten by a system geared around priorities in the big cities and metropolitan pressures. When everything is “national”, local problems struggle to compete.

Under the old model, chief constables were rooted in place and answerable to local police authorities. Today, decisions are taken in a national headquarters hundreds of miles from the communities affected. When policing goes wrong, it is far harder for local people to know who is responsible, let alone influence change.

A single force inevitably standardises practice. But Scotland is not uniform and neither are England or Wales. What works in Glasgow or London does not always work in Skye or Ynys Môn. What suits a city centre on a Saturday night is not what a rural village needs on a weekday afternoon. Centralised systems struggle with local nuance.

The clearest verdict on Scotland’s experiment in centralised policing does not come from ministers or management consultants it comes from the public. Fewer than half of adults in Scotland now believe the police in their local area are doing an “excellent” or “good” job. Just 45 per cent hold that view in 2023–24.

A decade earlier, before eight regional forces were swept into a single national body, that figure stood at 61 per cent.

That decline is not confined to satisfaction ratings. It reflects a system that has not delivered better policing.

The force has faced …

Immigration fraud faces congressional scrutiny following massive Somali scams
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

Senate Republicans set their sights on immigration fraud at a judiciary hearing on Tuesday, assembling witnesses who highlighted widespread abuse of immigrant-tied government benefits in the midst of Minnesota’s massive Somali fraud scandal.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, noted during opening remarks that Somali scammers overwhelmingly made up most of the fraudsters who were federally indicted in Minnesota over the past few years.

According to Cornyn, out of the 98 federal Minnesota fraud cases filed so far, 85 defendants are of Somali descent.

HOW MINNESOTA’S SOMALI FRAUD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HAS STOLEN MILLIONS FROM MEDICAID

“Much of the fraud is committed by aliens, many of them criminal aliens,” Cornyn continued. 

The senator cited a 2023 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which calculated that Medicaid lost approximately $8 billion in funding a year due to fraud attributable to illegal aliens.

“A quick internet search will reveal numerous instances of foreign nationals who’ve been convicted for fraud, everything from wire fraud, manufacturing and selling counterfeit documents, fraudulently obtaining mass numbers of H-2B visas, and much more,” Cornyn said.

Several of the GOP’s invited guests focused on Somali fraudsters, in particular, targeting and subsequently tapping immigration benefits with little government oversight.

Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s border security and immigration center, said that, as a former consular officer who was tasked with adjudicating visa applications, he encountered rampant visa fraud in high-corruption countries like Somalia.

Hankinson said that, in his experience, the amount of visa fraud in a given country tended to track with the country’s general level of corruption.

“Somalia is one of the most corrupt countries on Earth. Not surprisingly, Somalis commit fraud at high rates when applying for U.S. visas,” Hankinson told the subcommittee. “They continue to commit immigration fraud at high rates once in the U.S. and when seeking additional benefits, such as bringing relatives to the United States or becoming permanent residents and citizens.”

In 2012, a U.S. State Department inspection of Somalia’s conditions found that its “chronic instability has made it a haven for transnational terrorism, piracy, and a threat to stability in the region.” Not much has improved over the years. In …

Mexican cartel drones breach US airspace, are disabled by War Department, Duffy says
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

Drones operated by Mexican drug cartels breached American airspace and were soon disabled by the U.S. military, the Trump administration announced Wednesday.
The breach took place near El Paso International Airport in Texas, leading the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily close the airport late Tuesday. Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy confirmed the breach and lifted the airspace restriction on Wednesday.
"The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion," Duffy announced in a statement on X, referring to the Department of War. "The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region."
"The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming," he added.
CARTEL DRONES POSE 'DANGEROUS' DRUG TRAFFICKING RISK IN BORDER STATE, OFFICIAL WARNS
He did not say how many drones were involved or what specifically was done to disable them.
The FAA's initial announcement had said the El Paso airport would be closed for a period of 10 days, which would have been unprecedented for a U.S. city. The FAA had cited "special security reasons" for the initial closure.
El Paso, a border city with a population of nearly 700,000 people and larger when including the surrounding metro area, is hub of cross-border commerce alongside the neighboring city of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. The brief closure did not include Mexican airspace.
US MILITARY STRIKES NARCO-TERRORIST VESSELS IN LATEST EASTERN PACIFIC DRUG TRAFFICKING OPERATION
Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes El Paso, had urged the FAA to lift the restrictions in a statement Wednesday morning. There was no advance notice given to her office, the city of El Paso or airport operations, she said.
"The highly consequential decision by FAA to shut down the El Paso Airport for 10 days is unprecedented and has resulted in significant concern within the community," Escobar said. "From what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas."
The incident came the same day that the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a warning about a "fake memo circulating online and through media outlets announcing temporary 10-day road closures in the El Paso area."
"This is a fake memo, and DPS is NOT closing the major highways – or any roads – in or out of the area over the next 10 days," DPS said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Slotkin Declares Victory Over Trump Admin Attempt to Indict Lawmakers   
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.

A grand jury has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to indict several Democrats over a video where they told members of the U.S. military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., praised the grand jury’s decision, calling it a “score” for the “Constitution, our freedom of speech, and the rule of law.”

The Department of Justice had opened an investigation into the 90-second video that featured Slotkin; Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa.; Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H.; Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.; and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo.

In the video, released in November, the lawmakers speak directly to the U.S. intelligence community and members of the military.

“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” the lawmakers state as they each say different parts of a sentence.

“Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders,” Kelly says personally. “You must refuse illegal orders,” says Deluzio.

I find this type of broad & unclear language to our service members to be a nod & wink to commit sedition. Without clear specifics on what orders they’re telling our service members to ignore, this is absolutely illegal & will cause real harm to our country. I call on…
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) November 19, 2025

Trump called the video “really bad and dangerous to our country.”

“Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???,” the president wrote on Truth Social in November.

Slotkin said that Trump had directed the attempted indictment.

“Today, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro attempted to persuade a grand jury to indict me. This was in response to me organizing a 90-second video that simply quoted the law,” Slotkin wrote on X.

“Pirro did this at the direction of President Trump, who said repeatedly that I should be investigated, arrested, and hanged for sedition.”

“Today, it was a grand jury of anonymous American citizens who upheld the rule of law and determined this case should not proceed,” the senator continued. “Hopefully, this ends this politicized investigation for good.”

Today, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro attempted to persuade a Grand Jury to indict me. This was in response to me organizing a 90-second video that simply quoted the law. Pirro did this at the direction of President Trump, who said repeatedly that I should be investigated, arrested,…
— Sen. Elissa Slotkin (@SenatorSlotkin) February 11, 2026

Slotkin called the jury’s Tuesday decision an “embarrassing day for the administration,” adding it was also “another sad day for our country.”

“Because whether or not Pirro succeeded is not the point. It’s that President Trump continues to weaponize our justice system against his perceived enemies,” Slotkin said.

“It’s the kind of thing you see in a foreign country, not in the United States we know and love.”

The post Slotkin Declares Victory Over Trump Admin Attempt to Indict Lawmakers    appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Pelosi endorses JFK's grandson in Democratic House primary
Same show, different day.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., endorsed Jack Schlossberg — the grandson of the late President John F. Kennedy — who is running for Congress in New York's 12th Congressional District.
"This moment calls for leaders who understand the stakes and how to deliver for the people they serve. Jack Schlossberg is that kind of leader— a candidate for Congress we are all excited about, and someone I am proud to endorse," Pelosi said in part of a lengthy statement that Schlossberg posted on X.
"Jack possesses a unique ability to navigate the digital and the classical political worlds in ways that can get things done for people — and hold President Trump accountable. Those skills are critical right now, and they are also quite rare," she asserted.
JFK'S GRANDSON JACK SCHLOSSBERG DOUBLES DOWN ON ATTACKS AGAINST RFK JR, WARNS OF ‘DANGEROUS’ AGENDA
Schlossberg lavished praise on Pelosi when sharing her statement of the endorsement.
"Speaker Pelosi is a national hero and master legislator — I'm proud to have her support. She's the backbone of the Democratic Party — no one understands Congress like she does," he noted in the post on X.
CAMELOT OR CRINGE?: MEET JFK'S GRANDSON TURNED CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE FOR THE SCROLLING GENERATION
"I sat down with her, told her about our campaign and policy plans for NY12. She believes we can win," he added.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., currently represents the district but announced last year that he will not seek re-election. Pelosi also announced last year that she will not run for re-election.
NANCY PELOSI SWIPES AT TRUMP, ACCUSING HIM OF CROWNING HIMSELF AS ‘KING’
Some of the other candidates running in the Democratic primary for New York's 12th Congressional District include state Assemblymembers Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, as well as George Conway, the ex-husband of Kellyanne Conway, who served as senior counselor to the president during much of President Donald Trump's first term.

Joe Biden heads to South Carolina to commemorate 2020 primary victory
Trust is earned, not demanded.

Former President Joe Biden will head to South Carolina later this month to commemorate the anniversary of his 2020 primary win. 

Biden’s primary victory in South Carolina reinvigorated his presidential campaign, marking the first primary win of his successful 2020 presidential campaign. Rep. Jim Clyburn’s (D-SC) endorsement of Biden is credited as helping the former president win the state.

“We’re honored to welcome President Joe Biden to Columbia on Friday, February 27, for a reception commemorating his pivotal 2020 South Carolina primary victory and thank him for a lifetime of public service,” the Facebook post announcing the event said.

Tickets for the Feb. 27 reception are available for purchase on ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s political action committee and fundraising platform. The event location is available upon purchase of a ticket.

Each ticket costs $125, with the option to donate additional funds.

This will be Biden’s first visit to the state since spending the final full day of his presidency in Charleston, where he visited a historic black church in North Charleston and the International African American Museum.

The former president’s visit comes ahead of the midterm elections, in which South Carolina voters will cast ballots for the Senate, House, and governor.

In 2020, Biden won 48.4% of the vote in the South Carolina Democratic primary, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) earning 19.9%.

An exit poll for the South Carolina primary found that 60% of black voters chose Biden, according to the Washington Post.

At the time, Biden said the win meant that his campaign was “very much alive.”

“Just days ago, the press and the pundits had declared his candidacy dead. Now, thanks to all of you — the heart of the Democratic Party — we just won, and we’ve won big because of you,” Biden said at an event in Columbia, South Carolina.

During his remarks following his win, Biden credited Clyburn for helping his campaign, referencing the congressman’s last-minute endorsement.

“My buddy Jim Clyburn, you brought me back,” he said at the time.

In South Carolina, 25.7% of the population identifies as black, and 2.3% identify as two or more races, according to the Census Bureau.

The reception honoring Biden comes during Black History Month and in the wake of President Donald Trump‘s now-deleted, racist post of former first lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama, whom Biden served as vice president under.

Trump faced a wave of criticism …

Two million children in Utah had health data mistakenly accessible to state employees
This is a governance problem, not a headline.

Utah’s health agency is guilty of the “critical failure” to secure millions of patient records, putting sensitive data at risk, according to an official audit released Tuesday. 

Utah Auditor Tina Cannon’s investigation found that the state’s Department of Health and Human Services did not adequately protect sensitive case records for over 2 million people, leaving them easily accessible to over 2,000 employees. Roughly 6 million records contained in the Division of Child and Family Services, which lies under DHHS, were left vulnerable. 

“The deficiencies we uncovered at the Department of Health and Human Services represent a critical failure to protect the privacy of families, individuals, and our most vulnerable, Utah’s children,” Cannon said in a statement. 

“When systems that store confidential data about children and individuals lack fundamental safeguards, the potential for misuse and long-term harm is immense,” she said. “This is not merely saved data or historical files. These are key aspects that represent and open people’s private lives.”

The audit found most data privacy issues within SAFE, a child welfare information system in DCFS. SAFE records include case notes, case management of in-home and foster care cases, adoption cases, and child abuse and neglect cases. Problems were also found within EChart, the record system Utah State Hospital uses for patients with mental health needs. EChart currently contains records related to 10,587 individuals, according to the auditor’s office. 

The audit identified systemic problems in access controls, records dissemination, and monitoring across systems and teams handling sensitive records. DHHS lacks adequate oversight of incident records, adequate employee training, and effective monitoring to detect and manage privacy and security incidents, according to Cannon’s office. The weaknesses in oversight, awareness, and internal controls allow privacy violations to go undetected or unaddressed for extended periods, according to the review. 

“Without effective monitoring and safeguards, staff are vulnerable to external pressures, and a single point of failure can compromise entire systems, potentially exposing millions of records to unauthorized access,” the audit reads. 

Cannon’s review revealed that DHHS “is aware of intentional breaches of policy and confidentiality agreements occurring, along with known instances where workers access or disclose records to the wrong persons by mistake.”

UTAH JUDGE …