Helen Fessenden

Supreme Court weighs whether smoking weed can eliminate your right to a gun The issue before the court is whether the law meets a strict Second Amendment standard that any gun restriction must be consistent with the “Nation’s historical tradition.”

SCOTUS talked A LOT about drugs today -- and not just weed. Lots of hypotheticals about Ambien of all things, but also references to ayahuasca (!!). Some justices seemed unconvinced that taking a weed gummy a few times a week is enough to take someone's gun away. We'll see.

Coordinated with Macron - sometimes that Franco-German cooperation does work - Merz announces that France and Germany have set up a 'nuclear steering group' and that DE will participaty with conventional forces in French nuclear exercises.

France offers to station nuclear weapons across Europe for the first time President Emmanuel Macron lays out nuclear doctrine of ‘forward deterrence’

Long speech (as expected) but will comfort many EU countries worried about Russia and lessening of US security guarantee. Also important for FR to lock in deeper cooperation before 2027 election.
www.ft.com/content/45d9...

I help a lot of people with their budgets but I don't go item by item and tell them what not to spend their money on. Only you know which items are a necessity. If a $7 cup of coffee is going to keep you from slapping a coworker and getting fired, by all means, spend that $7 on a cup of coffee.

Sanders pitches $4.4 trillion tax on billionaires, in 2028 marker The measure comes as Democrats began to jostle ahead of the upcoming presidential primary.

New: Bernie Sanders to unveil $4.4 trillion tax on America's ~1,000 billionaires, saying it would pay for:
— Medicare to cover dental/vision/hearing
— Teacher pay at $60K/yr min.
— $3K/person checks (under $150K/yr)
— Universal childcare
— Housing expansion
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

When newsroom salaries and ink barrels get too expensive.

These are all AP feeds.

“.. this is more or less offering a proxy market on assassination,” Amanda Fischer, a former chief of staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission, wrote on X ..

@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/world/middle...

LINDSEY GRAHAM: Our goal is to make sure Iran cannot become again the largest state sponsor of terrorism.

WELKER: Does the the president have a plan to guarantee that happens?

GRAHAM: No. It's not his job.

An Ohio newspaper has a new star writer. It isn’t human. At the 184-year-old Cleveland Plain Dealer, a top editor’s push to let AI draft news articles is boosting traffic — and spooking staffers.

At a Cleveland newspaper, reporters assigned to the suburbs “are now expected to file four stories a day with the help of AI.”

Also: one reporter “said they were caught off guard when their annual performance review indicated insufficient AI use.”

Gift link wapo.st/4aX44e1

Trump starting a war against Iran is perhaps the most unpopular major use of military force in recent memory, as measured by polls taken just after each attack. Eg, support *among Republicans* is lower than overall approval was for invading Iraq
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/polls-trum...

NEW: Behind the scenes, a lobbying alliance of Saudi Arabia's MBS and Israel's Netanyahu urged Trump to level a major strike against Iran in the days before the president's decision (even as as Riyadh publicly advocated for diplomacy) www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

MAGA’s Midnight War After years of branding Donald Trump as the anti-war “peace president,” much of MAGA Media erupted in cheers as he launched an unauthorized war on Iran—though not everyone is happy.

After years of branding Donald Trump as the anti-war “peace president,” much of MAGA Media erupted in cheers as he launched an unauthorized war on Iran—though not everyone is happy.

Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/iran-trump...

Trump allies claim victory as the Ellisons expand their media empire Paramount’s Warner Bros. deal is seen by many as a win for conservatives seeking greater sway over the media — and raises new scrutiny over President Trump’s role in it.

New: Trump allies claim “VICTORY” as the Ellisons expand their empire to include CNN, HBO and much more. Laura Loomer told me she’s taking credit after the president picked up on her campaign to paint Netflix as Obama-coded.

Our story today w/ fresh details on how it all went down: wapo.st/4qVDnMx

After decades sheltering under the American umbrella, EU allies are warming to Emmanuel Macron’s offer of nuclear protection.

But the French president is running out of time to deliver the major strategic shift needed to lock it in.

www.politico.eu/article/emma...

A special edition of Power Lines has landed.

We break down how Donald Trump delivered Warner Bros. Discovery to David Ellison, the panic inside CNN as staffers brace for Bari Weiss, and how the news network will be reshaped under MAGA-friendly ownership.

Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/nWEG5jUrP2Q?...

America's media consolidation nightmare.

CBS, CNN, HBO, MTV, Warner Bros, Paramount, TikTok, SpongeBob ... How much media can any one billionaire family control? And what happens when so much culture gets captured and politically reshaped?

Netflix backs out of Warner Bros. purchase, clearing a path for Paramount The streaming giant said it would not raise its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, potentially allowing Paramount Skydance to take over the studio.

Breaking>>

Netflix is OUT on Warner Bros. Discovery, paving the way for Paramount Skydance to buy the entire company. It's a deal with massive implications for both Hollywood and the news industry.

w/ @liamjscott.bsky.social for @washingtonpost.com

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Judge: IRS broke law ‘approximately 42,695 times’ in giving DHS data A court on Thursday issued an opinion on a data-sharing agreement between the taxpayer agency and federal immigration authorities.

Breaking news: A federal judge found that the IRS violated federal law “approximately 42,695 times” when it shared confidential taxpayer addresses with immigration enforcement officials last summer.

Incredible front-page story from Ukraine by a reporter and photojournalist that the Post just laid off wapo.st/4rKFape

POLITICO’s Baton Pass Axel Springer is closing in on POLITICO’s next editor-in-chief, as staffers brace for how John Harris’ successor could steer the publication’s next chapter.

Scoop: Axel Springer chief Mathias Döpfner and other senior execs met with final candidates for Politico’s top editor job this week as the search narrows

Döpfner had a packed week in DC, also meeting with WH chief of staff Susie Wiles

www.status.news/p/politico-e...

Blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol dies in Buffalo. A nearly blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol miles from his home dies in Buffalo after having been missing for nearly a week.

This blind man - a refugee from Burma - was dropped off by Border Patrol at a Tim Horton's in Buffalo, NY.

In the middle of February.
A mile from a home where he no longer lived.
While his relatives were searching for him.

Cops found his body 5 days later

www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/b...

Cuban forces shoot 4 dead on U.S. speedboat, Havana says The crew of the Florida-registered vessel opened fire on Cuban border agents, the country’s Interior Ministry said. Cuban forces returned fire.

Rubio: “Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It’s not something that happens every day."

U.S. forces have attacked 42 boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September, killing at least 143 people

wapo.st/4aOSsto

💥🗳️ Bombshell poll in Hungary: 55–35 lead for Péter Magyar’s TISZA over Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP – enough for a supermajority in parliament.

The survey was conducted by Medián, widely seen as the country’s most reliable pollster, for @hvghu.bsky.social.

Fieldwork: Feb 18–23, 1,000 respondents.

⏲️ New episode out 🌆 @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social are back with a bonus episode on 15-Minute Cities.

How did such a sensible and benign approach to urban planning give birth to a wild conspiracy theory about authoritarianism?

Listen / watch now ➡️ linktr.ee/originstoryp...

The Tax Nerd Who Bet His Life Savings Against DOGE Until Elon Musk came roaring into the nation’s capital, Alan Cole was largely a plain-vanilla investor.

A tax economist put his entire life savings into a prediction market bet that DOGE wouldn’t cut spending.

His wife read the Kalshi comments from the people on the other side and grew *more* confident because “they didn’t seem to understand what they were buying.”

He made a 37% return

Entlassener Berlin-Korrespondent der „Washington Post“: „Donald Trump gewinnt seinen Krieg gegen die Medien“ Um das Berlin-Büro der „Washington Post“ zu leiten, zog Aaron Wiener vor einem halben Jahr mit seiner Familie nach Deutschland. Nun wurde er zusammen mit 300 Kollegen entlassen.

Um das Berlin-Büro der @washingtonpost.com zu leiten, zog @aaronwiener.bsky.social vor einem halben Jahr mit seiner Familie nach Deutschland. Nun wurde er zusammen mit 300 Kollegen entlassen. Sein Gastbeitrag im @tagesspiegel.de: www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/entla...

Gita Gopinath, Harvard economist, formerly #2 at IMF, on Section 122 tariffs.

He witnessed a migrant death at an ICE detention center, then was deported A deported witness describes the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at an El Paso ICE facility, alleging guards beat him while he yelled 'I can't breathe.'

DHS goes through extreme maneuvers to "disappear" a detainee who witnessed the murder of another detainee and loudly stated that ICE claims about what had transpired were a lie (which is also what the county coroner thinks). www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/i...

Exclusive | Trump Administration Considers Requiring Banks to Collect Citizenship Information A potential executive order would enlist banks in the Trump administration’s illegal-immigration crackdown.

The Trump administration is weighing an executive order or other action that would require banks to collect citizenship information from customers

Discussions about the potential order have alarmed banks www.wsj.com/politics/pol...