TODAY.html- Friday February 13th, 2026
- "It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
- --Geoff Metcalf
- Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
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World & Nation
2nd US Aircraft Carrier Being Sent to Middle East
The world's largest aircraft carrier has been ordered to sail from the
Caribbean Sea to the Middle East as President Donald Trump considers
whether to take possible military action against Iran.
The move by the USS Gerald R. Ford, according to multiple media reports
citing unnamed government officials, will put two carriers and their
accompanying warships in the region as Trump increases pressure on Iran
to make a deal over its nuclear program.
Trump said earlier this week that he was considering making such a move.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago.
The U.S. has 11 aircraft carriers, and their schedules are usually set well in advance.
Trump's EPA Rolls Back Major Climate Change Rule
The Trump administration on Thursday announced the repeal of a
scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health,
removing the legal basis for federal climate regulations.
It also ended subsequent federal greenhouse gas emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027.
The move represents the most sweeping climate change policy rollback by
the administration to date, after a string of regulatory cuts and other
moves intended to unfetter fossil fuel development and stymie the
rollout of clean energy.
Sudden increase in Nancy Guthrie reward money is worrying: ex-FBI agent
The staggering $100,000 cash reward being offered in Nancy Guthrie’s
disappearance is worrying because it indicates investigators have very
few leads to go on, a former FBI agent has claimed.
The FBI doubled its initial cash reward for information leading to a
breakthrough in the case late Thursday — nearly two weeks after the
84-year-old vanished from her Tucson, Ariz., home.
“When I see the FBI is offering more money for information that tells
me that the FBI doesn’t have the information,” retired FBI agent
Jennifer Coffindaffer told Newsweek.
Coffindaffer warned, though, that offering up such big rewards often triggered an influx of “completely bogus” tips.
French judge’s scores ignites 2026 Olympics ice dancing scandal
The figure skating world is screaming sacré bleu over the scoring by
French judge Jézabel Dabois that cost American pair Madison Chock and
Evan Bates gold in the ice dance competition and handed the
controversial French duo Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume
Cizeron the top prize.
Dabois’ scoring has come under intense scrutiny in the 24 hours since
Beaudry and Cizeron edged out Chock and Bates with a total score of
225.82, a mere 1.43 points better than the U.S. duo to win the gold.
The French judge’s scores drastically differed from those of her fellow
judges and herself when it came to the American and French skaters.
Ukraine Hopes for 'Serious and Responsible' Talks With Russia in Geneva
Ukraine hopes for "serious and responsible" talks with Russia backed by
the U.S. in Geneva on February 17-18, the head of Kyiv's delegation
said on Friday.
The Ukrainian team remains the same and was "formed taking into account
the military, political, and security components of the process,"
Rustem Umerov said on the Telegram app.
Moscow announced earlier on Friday that the Kremlin aide Vladimir
Medinsky will head the Russian delegation instead of Igor Kostyukov,
its head of military intelligence.
GOP senator, Minnesota AG clash at Capitol Hill hearing: 'Sit there and smirk, it's sick'
A Republican senator accused Minnesota’s attorney general of flashing a
"despicable" smirk Thursday following a tense exchange at a hearing on
Capitol Hill, — a reaction the Democrat in turn described as a "nice
theatrical performance."
Tensions escalated at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs oversight hearing after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., alleged
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was encouraging unrest in
Minnesota, which has been rocked by recent anti-U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests and the shooting deaths of Alex
Pretti and Renee Nicole Good.
"Were you ever concerned about encouraging — I guess, people that
support you — to go out and put themselves into harm's way by impeding
and obstructing a legal law enforcement action. Did that ever concern
you?" Johnson asked Ellison.
Russia Pushes Back on US Bid to Build Armenia Nuclear Plant
Senior Russian officials have challenged the viability of U.S.
proposals to build a nuclear power plant in Armenia, in a sign of
Moscow's concern about the risk of losing a lucrative energy deal in a
country it sees as part of its sphere of influence.
Vice President JD Vance, on a visit to Armenia this week, signed an
agreement that could pave the way for the plant's construction and open
what Vance called "a new chapter in the deepening partnership between
Armenia and the United States."
Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia's Security Council, said on Friday
that Soviet technology had enabled Armenia's existing nuclear plant to
withstand a devastating 1988 earthquake. He said the U.S. plan raised
safety concerns. "Armenia, as we know, is a seismically active region,"
state news agency RIA quoted Shoigu as saying.
"If the construction of small
White House fires court-appointed US attorney on day he is sworn in
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche argues that judges don't choose US attorneys, only the president does
President Donald Trump's administration fired a U.S. attorney the same day he was sworn in for the role this week.
A board of judges for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District
of New York tapped Donald T. Kinsella to serve as U.S. attorney for the
Northern District of New York, according to a court announcement that
said Kinsella was sworn in on Wednesday. But Kinsella was then booted
from the post on Wednesday.
Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche was blunt about the firing in a Wednesday post on X.
"Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does. See Article II of our
Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella," Blanche wrote.
DOJ sues Harvard for withholding records on alleged race-based admissions
The Department of Justice is suing Harvard University for allegedly
withholding records that would determine whether the liberal Ivy League
institution is continuing to discriminate on the basis of race in the
admissions process.
The US Supreme Court nearly three years ago found that Harvard had run
afoul of federal civil rights law in its undergraduate admissions,
using “racial balancing” to reduce the number of Asian Americans
accepted at storied institution.
The suit, filed Friday in Massachusetts federal court, claimed that “at
every turn, Harvard has thwarted the Department’s efforts to
investigate potential discrimination.”
Ignore the doomsayers — Trump and Lee Zeldin’s green rollback is a breath of sanity
By Joe Borelli
There once was a time when doomsday cults and apocalyptic predictions
were the realm of messianic preachers and the Book of Revelations.
But buckle up, because we are about to hear some of the wildest
predictions now that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has decided to cut
some of America’s most burdensome, ineffective and costly regulations.
“We are all gonna die!” they’re sure to scream.
Zeldin’s cancellation of the Obama-era Endangerment Finding is sure to
prompt warnings that the Earth’s polar ice will melt, wildfires will
spread, rivers will overrun, locusts, frogs, slaying of the first-born.
The real reason Trump keeps beating the media at its own game
President Trump's knowledge of media
industry's financial struggles, elite bias and attention-driven model
becomes his greatest political asset
By Mark Halperin
There are many reasons why covering Donald Trump is the journalistic challenge of a lifetime.
His temperament. His velocity. His volume. The sheer fact that he can
generate three news cycles before most reporters have finished their
first cup of coffee.
But there is one explanation that is often overlooked, and it may be
the most important of all: Donald Trump understands the business of
news better than any modern president — better, in many cases, than the
people who work in it.
That may sound surprising. It shouldn’t.
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