Democratic Underground: Forums for U.S. Liberals and Democrats

No clear path to ending the partial government shutdown as lawmakers dig in over DHS oversight

(AP) A partial government shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump’s team failed to reach a deal on legislation to fund the department through September. Democrats are demanding changes to how immigration operations are conducted after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal officers in Minneapolis last month. Congress is on recess until Feb. 23, and both sides appear dug into their positions.

B.See

Crimes Against Humanity: Tens of Thousands Under Mass Internment, Many with No Criminal History

(Mother Jones) The Trump administration’s immense increase in detainments rests, in part, on their decision to detain people while their immigration cases are moving through the system—a departure from previous administrations’ interpretation of immigration law. This has led to a steep increase in immigrants petitioning the courts to be released, as Reuters reports, and the thousands of rulings finding that these prolonged detainments were unlawful. According to a recent report from the American Immigration Council, the Trump administration’s arrest practices have led to a 2,450 percent increase in people with no criminal record being held in ICE detention on any given day.

BumRushDaShow

Lawyers urge federal court to stop Trump's latest 'chill on voting rights'

(Raww Story) Earlier this month, the Trump administration dispatched FBI agents accompanied by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to raid the Fulton County, Georgia, election office. Agents took around 700 boxes of material related to the 2020 general election, including ballots, voting data, and the county's voter rolls. Lawyers from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the NAACP argued in a court filing before the federal court in the Northern District of Atlanta that the raid violated their clients' civil rights. They also argued that Trump's repeated attempts to undermine U.S. elections are only "heightening the chill on registration and voting."

orleans

ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here's Where It's Going Next.

(Wired) Federal records obtained by WIRED show that over the past several months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have carried out a secret campaign to expand ICE’s physical presence across the US. Documents show that more than 150 leases and office expansions have or would place new facilities in nearly every state, many of them in or just outside of the country’s largest metropolitan areas. In many cases, these facilities, which are to be used by street-level agents and ICE attorneys, are located near elementary schools, medical offices, places of worship, and other sensitive locations.

KS Toronado

Monday's Condensed News Cartoons

BlueWaveNeverEnd

Fury as Trump's policies 'force' giant car factory in Kentucky to shut at cost of 1,600 jobs

(Daily Mail) Ford and South Korean battery manufacturer SK On opened the sprawling 1,500-acre site in Glendale in summer 2025, and it was hailed as a game changer for the region. By December, that optimism had evaporated when the companies ended their joint venture at the site. Soon after, Ford said it would idle the facility for roughly 18 months while shifting production toward energy storage systems instead of car batteries. Ford says the slowdown in EV demand - blamed in part with changes in federal policy under President Donald Trump - upended the company’s original plans.

BumRushDaShow

Kristi Noem snaps back amid anger over her claim she'll ensure the 'right people' elect the 'right leaders' in midterms

(The Independent) Over the weekend, lawmakers, democracy advocates and political commentators raised alarm bells at Noem’s claim that her department, which oversees domestic security and immigration, played a role in safeguarding elections “to make sure we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders.” But Noem brushed off those concerns, telling CNN anchor Jake Tapper and ABC News’s White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl: “It must be exhausting to regularly manufacture outrage even over the most commonsense statement.”

In It to Win It

'South Texas will never be red again': Home builders warn GOP over Trump's immigration raids

(Politico) Construction executives have held multiple meetings over the last month with the White House and Congress to discuss how immigration busts on job sites and in communities are scaring away employees, making it more expensive to build homes in a market desperate for new supply. Beyond the affordability issue, the executives made an electability argument, raising concerns to GOP leaders that support among Hispanic voters is eroding, particularly in regions that swung to Trump in 2024.

BumRushDaShow

Tillis won't support Fed nominee confirmation before DOJ investigation of Powell is done

(The Hill) Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) reiterated Sunday that he will not support Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, until the Department of Justice (DOJ) concludes its probe into Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “I’ve tried to make it very clear that I have no intention of supporting any confirmation of any Fed board member, chair or otherwise … until this is resolved,” Tillis told host Ed O’Keefe on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

orangecrush

Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show did not violate any rules following investigation

(Euronews) US Conservative lawmakers called for a federal investigation into Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show... And they should have kept quiet. An investigation by the Federal Communications Commission has proved that the Puerto Rican superstar’s show did not violate any rules. Following Donald Trump’s bellyaching on the matter, a number of Republican congressmen called for a probe accusing the Puerto Rican superstar of potentially violating broadcast decency standards - despite the fact he censored or omitted his most explicit lyrics from the show.

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A measure giving Congress the power to block Trump pardons draws Republican backing

8 min ago - 7h A proposed Constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to block presidential pardons gained its first House Republican co-sponsor on Monday. Why it matters: It's a rare display of GOP defiance against President Trump, whose pardons ... (msn/Axios)

Teddy Roosevelt's descendants press senators on public lands

48 min ago - 02/16/26 11:52 AM ET Descendants of former President Theodore Roosevelt, known for his conservationism, are pressing senators over public lands in Minnesota. In a letter from earlier this month obtained by The New York Times and addressed to members ... (The Hill)

2 killed, several injured in 'targeted' shooting at ice skating rink in Rhode Island: Police

49 min ago - Two victims were killed and several were injured from an apparently targeted shooting at an ice skating rink in Rhode Island on Monday, authorities said. The gunshots rang out around 2:30 p.m. at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, about 5 miles ... (ABC News)

JUST IN: Anderson Cooper Leaving 60 Minutes -- Turned Down Offer to Renew His Deal With CBS News

1 hr ago - Feb 16th, 2026, 4:54 pm Anderson Cooper is leaving 60 Minutes after turning down an offer from CBS News to renew his contract, reported Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright on Monday. Cooper, who also anchors his AC360 show weeknights on CNN and is a c ... (MEDIAite)

Major school photo company defends privacy policy amid speculation over Epstein links

1 hr ago - Posted 11:02 AM, Feb 16, 2026 The company that produces school pictures for millions of children is pushing back against online speculation tying it to Jeffrey Epstein. According to reporting by The Associated Press, some school districts have dropp ... (Scripps News)

Agreements that allow local police to work with ICE skyrocket

2 hrs ago - Feb. 16, 2026, 6:00 AM EST Agreements between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement that allow officers to make federal immigration arrests have increased by 950% in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, ... (NBC News)

DOJ May Have Only Released 2% of Epstein Cache - Despite Bondi's Claim 'All' Files Released, Report Finds

2 hrs ago - Feb 16th, 2026, 6:49 am A new investigation examining emails sent between federal investigators and prosecutors has raised fresh doubts over the Department of Justice’s claim that it has released the full cache of Jeffrey Epstein files, suggest ... (MEDIAite)

Nancy Guthrie kidnapping investigators work with Walmart after identifying suspect's backpack

3 hrs ago - By SCOTT BAUER Updated 1:17 PM CST, February 16, 2026 Leer en español Investigators working on the disappearance of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother are consulting with Walmart management to develop leads because a b ... (AP)

Trump donor who criticized offshoring to close Ohio plant and move work to China

3 hrs ago - Mon 16 Feb 2026 08.00 EST Last modified on Mon 16 Feb 2026 11.10 EST John Paulson, a hedge fund billionaire and one of Donald Trump’s earliest Wall Street backers, is planning to offshore an Ohio manufacturing plant to China despite heavy pushba ... (The Guardian)

California governor 'a loser', says Trump as state signs green energy deal with UK

4 hrs ago - Donald Trump has vented his fury against a green energy deal between the British government and California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, a likely future Democratic presidential candidate. “The UK’s got enough trouble without getting involv ... (Guardian)

Federal judge orders Trump administration to restore slavery exhibits to the President's House

5 hrs ago - Updated Feb. 16, 2026, 1:53 p.m. ET Published Feb. 16, 2026, 1:25 p.m. ET A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump's administration to restore the slavery exhibits that the National Park Service removed from the President's House last month. ... (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Robert Duvall, All-Purpose Actor With Few Peers, Dies at 95

5 hrs ago - February 16, 2026 10:05am Robert Duvall, the steely-eyed actor whose performances in the first two Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, The Great Santini, Lonesome Dove and The Apostle made him one of the finest actors of any generation, has died. He wa ... (Hollywood Reporter)

Even Republican election officials are balking at Trump Justice Department's voter roll crusade

6 hrs ago - PUBLISHED Feb 16, 2026, 5:30 AM ET As the Trump administration has sued 25 mostly Democratic state election chiefs for their voter rolls, it has also encountered quieter resistance from Republican officials who have balked at the Justice Department&# ... (CNN Politics)

Metro Atlanta USPS worker shot, killed delivering mail

6 hrs ago - A community is mourning a U.S. Postal Service worker who family and friends say was shot and killed while delivering mail. Loved ones say it happened Thursday near Oxford Drive in DeKalb County. The victim is 31-year-old Dequavious Graves. Moments la ... (WSB TV)

Republicans worry party won't do enough to address costs before midterms

7 hrs ago - 02/16/26 6:00 AM ET Some Senate Republicans are warning that the party is not doing enough to address affordability entering the midterm elections, with hopes of passing more big-ticket items this year quickly fading away. Legislating has been diffic ... (The Hill)

Rubio Plugs Orban's Bid For Another Term After April Elections During A Visit To Budapest

8 hrs ago - Feb 16, 2026, 03:11 AM EST | Updated 2 hours ago BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday enthusiastically endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s bid to serve a fifth straight term after upcomi ... (Huff Post/AP)

Nurses at Providence Cedars-Sinai in Tarzana to strike

8 hrs ago - By City News Service • Published 37 minutes ago • Updated 37 minutes ago Registered nurses and other licensed medical professionals at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center will begin a five-day strike Monday, officials said this w ... (NBC Loc Angeles)

Iran meets UN nuclear watchdog in Geneva ahead of a second round of US talks

9 hrs ago - By JAMEY KEATEN and STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN Updated 6:04 AM CST, February 16, 2026 GENEVA (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat met with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency on Monday, ahead of a second round of negotiations with the United St ... (AP)

George W. Bush Subtly Trashes Trump in Presidents Day Message

9 hrs ago - Updated Feb. 16 2026 8:45AM EST Published Feb. 16 2026 8:20AM EST George W. Bush has penned a Presidents Day essay that made some pointed observations about power, humility, and presidents who refuse to step down from office. The essay was publish ... (Daily Beast)

Italy's famous Lovers' Arch collapses into the sea on Valentine's Day

10 hrs ago - Rock structure which served as backdrop to countless proposals disappears into the Adriatic after storm Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo Mon 16 Feb 2026 04.48 EST The rocky arch, one of the best-known natural landmarks on the Adriatic coast, got its name a ... (the guardian)